To gain the happiness of heaven we must know, love,
and serve God in this world. Man must know, love and serve God in a
supernatural manner in order to gain happiness of heaven. Man is raised to the
supernatural order only by grace, a free gift of God.
We learn to know, love, and serve God from Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, who teaches us through the Catholic Church.
In order to be saved, all persons who have attained
the use of reason must believe explicitly that God exist and that he rewards
the good and punishes the wicked; in practice they must also believe in the
mysteries of the Blessed Trinity and the Incarnation.
By the Blessed Trinity we mean one and the same God
in three divine persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
By the Incarnation is meant that the Son of God,
retaining His divine nature, took to Himself a human nature, that is, a body
and soul like ours.
The Church is the congregation of all baptized
persons united in the same true faith, the same sacrifice, and the same
sacraments, under the authority of the Sovereign Pontiff and the bishops in
communion with him.
We find the chief truths taught by Jesus Christ
through the Catholic Church in the Apostles' Creed.
The Commandments
Besides believing what God has revealed, we must
keep His law.
The Two Great Commandments that contain the
whole law of God are:
You shall love the Lord your God with your whole
heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind, and with your whole
strength; you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
To love God, our neighbor, and ourselves, we must
keep the commandments of God and of the Church, and perform the spiritual and
corporal works of mercy.
The Chief Commandments or Laws, of the Church
To assist at Mass on all Sundays and holy days of
obligation.
To fast and abstain on the days appointed.
To confess our sins at least once a year.
To receive Holy Communion during the Easter time.
To contribute to the support of the Church.
To observe the laws of the Church concerning
marriage.
Father in Heaven, Creator of all and source of all
goodness and love, please look kindly upon us and receive our heartfelt
gratitude in this time of giving thanks.
Thank you for all the graces and blessings. You
have betowed upon us, spiritual and temporal: our faith and religious heritage.
Our food and shelter, our health, the loves we have for one another, our family
and friends.
Dear Father, in Your infinite generosity, please
grant us continued graces and blessing throughout the coming year.
Popular Prayers
O Christ, our Morning Star, Splendour of Light
Eternal, shining with the glory of the rainbow, come and waken us from the
greyness of our apathy, and renew in us your gift of hope. Amen.
