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Catholic Facts & General Knowledge

Catholic Belief

I. 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 the happiness of heaven. Man is raised to the supernatural order only by grace, a free gift from God.

II. We learn to know, love, and serve God from Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who teaches us through His Catholic Church.

III. In order to be saved, all persons who have attained the use of reason must believe explicitly that God exists 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 (taught through the Church).

IV. By the Blessed Trinity, we mean the one and the same God in three divine persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

V. 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.

VI. 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 (the pope) and the bishops in communion with him.

VII. We find the chief truths taught by Jesus Christ through His 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 His Church, and perform spiritual and corporal works of mercy.

The Ten Commandments of God

I. I am the Lord your God; you shall not have strange gods before me. II. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
III. Remember to keep holy the Lord's Day.
IV. Honor your father and your mother.
V. You shall not kill.
VI. You shall not commit adultery.
VII. You shall not steal.
VIII. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
IX. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
X. You shall not covet you neighbor's goods.

The Chief Commandments (or Laws) of the Church

I. To assist at Mass on all Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.
II. To fast and abstain on the appointed days.
III. To confess our sins at least once a year.
IV. To receive Holy Communion during the Easter Season.
V. To contribute financially to the support of the Church.
VI. To observe the laws of the Church concerning marriage.

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