Unit 2 Vocabulary Flashcards
Actual Graces
God’s interventions and support for us in the everyday moments of our lives. Actual graces are important for conversion and for continuing growth in holiness.
Blessing
A prayer asking that God care for a particular person, place, or activity. A simple blessing is usually made with the Sign of the Cross.
Contemplation
A form of wordless prayer in which one is fully focused on the presence of God; sometimes defined as “resting in God”; a deep sense of loving adoration of God.
Efficacious
The power something holds to cause a desired effect. The Sacraments are efficacious in bringing about the spiritual reality they signify.
ex opere operato
The Latin phrase that literally means “by the work worked” or, according to the Catechism, “by the very fact of the action’s being performed” (CCC, 1128), indicating that Sacraments are efficacious.
Freedom
The ability to choose for the good; in light of the Sacraments, true freedom comes from the positive response to God’s grace.
Grace
The free and undeserved gift of God’s loving and active presence in the universe and in our lives, empowering us to respond to his call and to live as his adopted sons and daughters. Grace restores our loving communion with the Holy Trinity, lost through sin.
Intercession
A prayer on behalf of another person or group.
Liturgy of the Hours
Also known as the Divine Office, the official, public, daily prayer of the Catholic Church. The Divine Office provides standard prayers, Scripture readings, and reflections at regular hours throughout the day.
meditation
A form of prayer involving a variety of methods and techniques in which one engages the mind, imagination, and emotions to focus on a particular truth, biblical theme, or other spiritual matter.
Petition
A prayer form in which one asks God for help and forgiveness.
Popular piety
Religious reverence or devotion of the people, including customs such as novenas (nine days of prayer), honoring or requesting the intercession of a particular saint, praying the Rosary, and so on.
Praise
A prayer of acknowledgment that God is God, giving God glory not for what he does, but simply because he is.
Prayer
Lifting up of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from him. The five basic forms of prayer are blessing, praise, petition, thanksgiving, and intercession. In prayer we communicate with God in a relationship of love.
Redemption
From the Latin redemptio, meaning “a buying back”; referring, in the Old Testament, to Yahweh’s deliverance of Israel and, in the New Testament, to Christ’s deliverance of all Christians from the forces of sin.
