Catholic Belief, Catholic Facts and General Knowledge

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.