Irr Chapter 3

Question 0

Genealogy

Answer 0

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 1

Elizabeth

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Paschal Mystery

Answer 2

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).

Question 3

Visitation

Answer 3

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 4

Redemption

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Virgin Birth

Answer 5

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 6

Mary

Answer 6

The Mother of Jesus. The Blessed Virgin Mary’s greatest privilege is her divine Motherhood and, hence, her title Bearer of God, or Mother of God.

Question 7

Fiat

Answer 7

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 8

Annunciation

Answer 8

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 9

Gabriel

Answer 9

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 10

Immaculate Conception

Answer 10

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.

Question 11

Nativity

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Presentation

Answer 12

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 13

Simeon

Answer 13

St. Simeon recognized Jesus as the Christ at the Presentation in the Temple.

Question 14

Incarnation

Answer 14

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 15

Anna

Answer 15

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 16

Finding in the Temple

Answer 16

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 17

Atonement

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Justification

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Magi

Answer 19

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 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

Sanctifying Grace

Answer 21

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.