Chapter Vocab: Introduction

Question 1

Actual Grace

Answer 1

supernatural, free, and undeserved help from God given for specific circumstances to help us choose what is good and avoid what is evil

Question 2

Charism

Answer 2

A specific gift or grace of the Holy Spirit which directly or indirectly benefits the Church, given in order to help a person live out the Christian life, or to serve the common good in building up the Church.

Question 3

Church

Answer 3

The name given the assembly of people whom God has called together from the ends of the earth. This word has three meanings: the people that God gathers together, the local church (diocese), and the liturgical assembly. Also, the name given to a building used for public Christian worship.

Question 4

Concupiscence

Answer 4

Human appetites or desires remain disordered due to the temporal consequences of Original Sin; it remains even after Baptism and constitutes an inclination to sin. It is often used to refer to desires resulting from strong sensual urges or attachment to things of this world.

Question 5

Covenant

Answer 5

A solemn agreement between people or between God and man involving mutual commitments and guarantees.

Question 6

Ex Opere Operato

Answer 6

A term in sacramental theology (literally, “by the work done”), meaning that sacraments are effective by means of the sacramental rites themselves, and not because of the worthiness of the minister or recipient.

Question 7

Form

Answer 7

The necessary ritual words and signs that accompany a sacrament.

Question 8

Habitual Grace

Answer 8

An infused gift of the Holy Spirit by which a person receives the divine life of God in one’s soul. This is also called “sanctifying” grace and through it a person receives the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity. It enables one to live as a true disciple of Christ.

Question 9

Image of God

Answer 9

The image of God, present in all humans by virtue of their creation by Almighty God, is made even more explicit through the Sacrament of Baptism, whereby one is “baptized into” Christ and made “a new creation.” That image of Christ is enhanced through living a life of grace or marred by the commission of sin.

Question 10

Matter

Answer 10

The material or physical sign of a sacrament. Examples include water (Baptism) and bread and wine (the Eucharist).

Question 11

Messiah

Answer 11

Hebrew for “anointed.” This is used in reference to Jesus because he accomplished perfectly the divine mission of priest, prophet, and king, signified by his being anointed as Christ.

Question 12

Minister

Answer 12

The person who administers or celebrates a sacrament.

Question 13

Mystical Body of Christ

Answer 13

Based on the teaching of St. Paul found in his First Letter to the Corinthians, this doctrine holds that believers are united to Christ as branches to a vine and, due to that union, united to one another

Question 14

Original Sin

Answer 14

Adam and Eve’s abuse of their human freedom in disobeying God’s command. As a consequence, they lost the grace of original holiness and justice, and became subject to the law of death; sin became universally present in the world; every person is born into this condition. This separated mankind from God, darkened the human intellect, weakened the human will, and introduced into human nature an inclination toward sin.

Question 15

Protoevangelium

Answer 15

From the Greek proto meaning “first” and evaggelos meaning “bringing good news.” The first message of Good News—the first Gospel—is Genesis 3: 15 in which the promise of the Messiah and Redeemer is foretold.

Question 16

Redemption

Answer 16

Literally meaning “being bought back,” the act by which Jesus Christ, through his sacrificial Death on the Cross, set us free from the slavery of sin, thus “buying us back” from the power of the Devil.

Question 17

Resurrection

Answer 17

The bodily rising of Jesus from the dead, as he had foretold, on the third day after his Death on the Cross and burial in the tomb.

Question 18

Sacrament

Answer 18

An efficacious sign of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed through the work of the Holy Spirit. There are seven.

Question 19

Sacramental Character

Answer 19

An indelible mark, i.e., a permanent and unrepeatable spiritual quality, imprinted on the soul by the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders, that gives the Christian a share in the priesthood of Christ.

Question 20

Sacrilege

Answer 20

Profaning the sacraments or other liturgical actions, or things consecrated to God in a special way, such as priests, religious women and men, churches, shrines, convents or monasteries, icons, statues, etc. Extreme irreverence by word or deed.

Question 21

Sanctifying Grace

Answer 21

The free and unmerited favor of God given through the sacraments. This heals human nature wounded by sin by giving man a share in the divine life infused into the soul by the Holy Spirit to heal from sin and sanctify.