Gardner Chapter 3

Question 0

Fiat

Answer 0

Latin for “let it be done.” This was the Blessed Virgin Mary’s response to God’s plan of redemption; it was her consent to become the Mother of God (Lk 1: 38).

Question 1

Annunciation

Answer 1

The visit of the Archangel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary to inform her she would be the Mother of the Savior, commemorated on March 25. Having given her consent to God’s word, the Blessed Virgin Mary became the Mother of God the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Question 2

Incarnation

Answer 2

From the Latin for “to become flesh;” the mystery of the hypostatic union of the divine and human natures in the one divine Person of the Word, Jesus Christ. To bring about man’s salvation, the Son of God made flesh (cf. Jn 1:14) and became man

Question 3

Immaculate Conception

Answer 3

In light of God’s free choice of the Blessed Virgin Mary from all eternity to be the Mother of his Son, it was ordained, from the first moment of her conception, she—by a singular grace of God and by virtue of the foreseen merits of Jesus Christ—was preserved from all stain of Original Sin. Believed from antiquity, this dogma was formally defined by Pope Bl. Pius IX in 1854.

Excerpt From: Peter V. Armenio. “The Mystery of Redemption.”

Question 4

Mary

Answer 4

The Mother of Jesus. Her greatest privilege is her divine Motherhood and, hence, her title Bearer of God, or Mother of God.

Question 5

Redemption

Answer 5

Jesus Christ, through his sacrificial Death on the Cross, set man free from the slavery of sin

Question 6

Sanctifying Grace

Answer 6

The free and unmerited favor of God dispensed through the sacraments. This grace heals human nature, which has been wounded by sin, giving man a share in the divine life, which is infused into the soul by the Holy Spirit

Question 7

Visitation

Answer 7

The Blessed Virgin Mary visited her kinswoman St. Elizabeth (cf. Lk 1: 39-80). St. Elizabeth’s greeting, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” forms part of the Hail Mary. St. Elizabeth went on to call the Blessed Virgin Mary “mother of my Lord.

Question 8

Genealogy

Answer 8

From the Greek for “tracing of descent”; the study of ancestry or a list of someone’s ancestors. Sts. Matthew and Luke contain genealogies of Christ in their Gospels.

Question 9

Elizabeth

Answer 9

The wife of St. Zechariah, mother of St. John the Baptist, and kinswoman of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Question 10

Gabriel

Answer 10

One of the Archangels named in Sacred Scripture and the special messenger of God to the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Annunciation (cf. Dn 9: 21; Lk 1:19, 26).

Question 11

Finding in the Temple

Answer 11

Described in Luke 2: 41-52, Christ and his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. On the return journey, the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph discovered Christ was not with them and, after three days, found him in the Temple, discoursing with the teachers of the Law.

Question 12

Magi

Answer 12

The wise men described in Matthew 2. They came from the East (likely Persia) to adore the newborn King of the Jews and brought him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Tradition has given them the names Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar.

Question 13

Nativity

Answer 13

The Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ in Bethlehem as well as the events surrounding his Birth

Question 14

Simeon

Answer 14

Recognized Jesus as the Christ at the Presentation in the Temple.

Question 15

Virgin Birth

Answer 15

The Blessed Virgin Mary conceived Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. She, therefore, was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus Christ. The Virgin Birth is also an implicit proclamation of the divinity of Jesus Christ.

Question 16

Presentation

Answer 16

The Presentation of Christ in the Temple (Lk 2: 22-40) was performed in obedience to the Mosaic Law, which required the offering of the firstborn male, as well as the ritual purification of the mother, forty days after childbirth. Commemorated February 2, it is sometimes called Candlemas and, in the extraordinary form of the Latin Rite, marks the end of the Christmas season.

Question 17

Anna

Answer 17

The prophetess who recognized Jesus as the Messiah when he was presented in the Temple. Anna, or Ann, is also the name of the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Question 18

Atonement

Answer 18

Reparation for an offense through a voluntary action that expiates the injustice done.

Question 19

Incarnation

Answer 19

From the Latin for “to become flesh”; the mystery of the hypostatic union of the divine and human natures in the one divine Person of the Word, Jesus Christ. To bring about man’s salvation, the Son of God was made flesh (cf. Jn 1:14) and became man.

Question 20

Indwelling of the Blessed Trinity

Answer 20

The Blessed Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—are present in the soul from the moment of Baptism and remain as long as that soul is in a state of grace.

Question 21

Justification

Answer 21

Being made right with God. It is a free and undeserved gift of God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Question 22

Paschal Mystery

Answer 22

Christ’s work of redemption accomplished by his Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension, whereby, “dying he destroyed our death, rising he restored our life” (CCC 1067; cf. 654). The Paschal Mystery is celebrated and made present in the liturgies of the Church, and its saving effects are communicated especially through the Sacrament of the Eucharist, which renews the Paschal Sacrifice of Christ as the sacrifice offered by the Church (CCC 571, 1362-1372).