BASIC CHRISTIAN DOCTRINES

Formulas of Catholic doctrine and key excerpts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church and its Compendium

Download the one-page leaflet here.

The plan of God for man:  to know and love God

God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of pure goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. God the Father sent his Son as the Redeemer and Savior of all human beings, fallen into sin, thus calling all into his Church and, through the work of the Holy Spirit, making them adopted children and heirs of his eternal happiness.

God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”, that is, of Jesus Christ. For this reason, Christ must be proclaimed to all according to his own command, “Go forth and teach all nations”.

I. PROFESSION OF FAITH. Faith is man’s response to God who reveals himself and gives himself to man. It means the full surrender of ourselves to God and the acceptance of his truth.

The Apostles’ Creed: summary of the faith of the Apostles. I believe in God the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty, from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.

The center of the Christian life is Jesus and his Paschal Mystery. The Paschal Mystery of Jesus, which comprises his passion, death, resurrection, and glorification, stands at the center of the Christian faith because God's saving plan was accomplished once for all by the redemptive death of his Son Jesus Christ.

Three offices of Christ, in which all Christians participate: Priest, Prophet and King

Four properties of Christ’s Church: One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic

Four last things: Death, Judgment, Hell and Heaven

II. THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY. Christ makes present his work of salvation through the liturgy. In the liturgy, it is principally his own Paschal mystery that Christ signifies and makes present. 

The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church. Through them divine life is given to us as a gift.

Seven sacraments: Sacraments of Christian Initiation: (1) Baptism, (2) Confirmation, (3) Holy Eucharist. Sacraments of Healing: (4) Penance, (5) Anointing of the Sick. Sacraments at the Service of Communion: (6) Holy Orders, and (7) Matrimony.

The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. It makes the Paschal Mystery present. It is the culmination of Christ's saving action and our worship. 

III. LIFE IN CHRIST. Through the sacraments, Christians receive the grace which give them the capability of living a new life as children of God in Christ whom they have received in faith. “O Christian, recognize your dignity.” (Saint Leo the Great)  All the faithful are called to Christian holiness. Jesus said “Come, follow Me”. To follow Jesus involves keeping the commandments.

Ten commandments: makes explicit the response of man’s love to God. (1) I am the LORD your God: you shall not have strange Gods before me. (2) You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain. (3) Remember to keep holy the LORD’S day. (4) Honor your father and your mother. (5) You shall not kill. (6) You shall not commit adultery. (7) You shall not steal. (8) You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (9) You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. (10) You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods. 

Two commandments of love: the fullness of the law, which interprets the 10 commandments.  (1) You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. (2) You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Three theological virtues: foundation of Christian moral activity. God is their origin, motive and object. Faith, Hope and Charity (Love). Charity, friendship and communion, is the greatest virtue and the goal towards which we run.

Four cardinal virtues: pivotal human virtues which dispose man for communion with divine love. Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, Temperance

Eight Beatitudes: depict the countenance of Christ and authentic Christian life. Blessed are: (1) The poor in spirit (2) They who mourn (3) The meek (4) They who hunger and thirst for righteousness, (5) The merciful, (6) The pure of heart, (7) The peacemakers, (8) Those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.

Golden Rule: Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Works of mercy.  Corporal: (1) Feed the hungry. (2) Give drink to the thirsty. (3) Clothe the naked. (4) Shelter the homeless.  (5) Visit the sick. (6) Visit the imprisoned. (7) Bury the dead. Spiritual: (1) Counsel the doubtful. (2) Instruct the ignorant. (3) Admonish sinners. (4) Comfort the afflicted. (5) Forgive offenses. (6)  Bear wrongs patiently. (7) Pray for the living and the dead.

Seven capital sins: engender other sins and vices. (1) Pride (2) Avarice (3) Lust  (4) Envy (5) Gluttony (6) Anger (7) Sloth

IV: CHRISTIAN PRAYER. Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God. It is the personal and living relationship of the children of God with their Father, with his Son Jesus Christ, and with the Holy Spirit. It ought to animate us at every moment.

Essential forms of Christian prayer: Blessing and adoration, the prayer of petition and intercession, thanksgiving and praise.

Suitable time for prayer. Anytime. To nourish continual prayer, the Church proposes: morning and evening prayer, before and after meals, Liturgy of the Hours, Sunday Eucharist, Rosary and feasts.

Expressions of prayer: Vocal prayer, meditation and contemplation. Common to all is the recollection of the heart.

Our Father: “summary of the Gospel” and “perfect prayer” taught by Jesus. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

JESUS: OUR LIFE OF LOVE

To receive Jesus is to have everything; to give him is to give the greatest gift of all. – Pope Francis 

An overview of all of Jesus’ key doctrines based on  his Church’s “Catechism of the Catholic Church” 

You can download the one-page easily multipliable leaflet (EML) here.

In brief: What is the Good News that Jesus revealed?

God loves us and he made us for one purpose: to live God’s life of love and supreme joy. God the Son became man, Jesus, to save us from sin and make us holy children of God who are one with Jesus.   

Basis: Why do Catholics believe this to be true?

God helps us to believe, and God is Truth and Good who cannot deceive us. Our faith is reasonable: it is a historic fact that Jesus lived, worked awe-inspiring miracles, honestly claimed to be the one God, and after he was killed, was seen alive by 500, many of whom gave up their lives to witness to Jesus and his truths. Jesus built his Church on the head of his 12 Apostles, Peter, to whom he gave the powers of a King’s chief minister and teacher. Jesus committed his divine presence to his Church, so it can transmit his doctrine in its oral and scriptural Tradition. Jesus told it, “He who hears you hears me.”  

CREED: We believe in God’s love

There is one God, a loving almighty Father.  Through his Son, he created everything from nothing and sustains it in existence. He created angels, pure spirits and the material universe. He created humans who are spirit and matter: incarnate spirits. In an excess of love, God gave us “sanctifying grace”, a share in his divine life! The grace in one man is greater than the whole natural universe! Made in the image of God who is love, we are persons endowed with intelligence and free will who are called to live God’s life of love.

Tempted by a sinful angel, the devil, the first humans, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God. From then on, the intelligence and free will of all their descendants fell into disorder and weakened. Worst of all, we lost grace, a state called original sin. Since we are unable to create grace and save ourselves, our God who is faithful and who draws good from evil, sought to bring us back to holiness. In the end, God himself came as a man, Jesus, to speak to us of his love. 

Jesus is God the Son, our Savior. His name means “God saves.”  He was born of the Virgin Mary, grew up in his family, worked and “did all things well”, obeying God and authorities. After rejecting the devil’s lure to greed, self-glory and self-interest, he began to preach: “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!” As Christ, the Anointed One, he saves us as our King (Way) who guides our wills with his laws; as Prophet (Truth), who forms our intelligence to know God and his plan; and as Priest (Life) who prays and gives us his grace.

Jesus faced opposition and was killed. He freely offered his death as the one sacrifice that glorifies God, saving us from sin by acting as the New Adam who is always obedient to the Father and who gives each one total self-giving love: “Greater love than this no one has, than he who lays down his life for his friend.” Jesus rose to life on a Sunday, gaining for us the grace of being God’s children living his life of love.

After he ascended to be our glorious King in heaven, Jesus sent us his Gift, God the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Triune God, to give life to his one Church, his Body, granting it all the truth and means to sanctify men. All Church members share these holy things in common as one family. Each man will die, and Jesus will judge his love. He who dies in God’s grace and friendship will be with him in heaven; those who need to be purified will pass through purgatory. He who chose to offend God in mortal sin will suffer in hell. At the end of time, Jesus will return, raise all the dead to life and, revealing the consequences of our actions, will judge all. The saints will reign with Jesus in his eternal Kingdom where God who is Love will be all in all.

SACRAMENTS: We celebrate and receive Jesus’ life of love

To gives us grace, his own divine life of love, Jesus acts in his Church’s liturgy or worship, which revolves around the seven sacraments. A sacrament is an effective sign of grace. In Baptism, the first sacrament, Jesus acts through his priest, who pours water, to bring about the removal of original sin by giving us Jesus’ life. Thus, we are made another Christ, Christ himself: “Christ lives in me”!

The life of Jesus, the Son of God, grows in us through Jesus’ other sacraments: Confirmation (to strengthen us), Matrimony (to make family life holy), Holy Orders (to ordain priests through whom Jesus gives us the sacraments), and Anointing of the Sick (to sanctify the dying).  Due to our need of God, without whom we are nothing, it is important to humbly and often receive: God’s mercy in Penance, to restore grace lost by mortal sin, and heal the soul; and Jesus himself in the Eucharist: it “makes present” his death and resurrection, the center of his life, and of a Christian’s.  Our desires revolve around the Bread, our sole satisfier: Jesus who is madly in love with us.

MORALITY: We live Jesus’ life of love

A Christian lives with the dignity and joy of a child of God who loves his Father back and is Jesus’ intimate friend. Love means willing the good of the other and total self-giving. With our freedom, we have the power to act or not to act, and are responsible for our actions. By repeatedly choosing to do good shown by our conscience and allowing Jesus to love us through his law and grace, we grow in virtue and freedom.  If we choose evil in sin and offend our Father, we truly say sorry: he celebrates our return and fills us with joy.

We live by Jesus’ values, the Beatitudes and his two greatest commandments: love God with all our heart, mind, strength and soul, and to love others as ourselves for God.  We adore, trust and hope in him, try to know as much as we can about him; cherish and repeat his name; and rest in God, offering Mass on Sundays (1st-3rd commandments). We love our family (4th), respect everyone’s dignity (5th), reverence sexuality in chastity (6th-9th), practice justice (7th-10th), and live in the truth (8th). We are responsible for the brotherhood of all men, working for the common good and for social justice.  We are merciful to the poor, those in need, in whom we meet Jesus.

APOSTOLATE: We live Jesus’ life of love by saving all men

We are one with Jesus’ sole mission of saving all men by obeying God and his Church in our daily lives. It is our duty to be king, prophet and priest for those around us. We serve, and take initiative to manage the world based on Jesus’ values; we evangelize, spread Jesus’ truths, and make disciples; and we pray, offering the sacrifice of doing all our duties excellently in union with Jesus’ Eucharist.

PRAYER: We live Jesus’ life of  love by dialogue with God

Following Jesus’ example and command “pray always”, a Christian lives continually in God’s presence, speaks with Jesus as a friend and offers his daily work and activity for God’s glory. We allot time daily to be with God: to meditate on God’s Word and his Church’s teachings and to contemplate Jesus with a loving gaze. We say “I love you, thank you, I’m sorry and help us more.”  As children of God, we pray the “Our Father” and go to Mary who gives us Jesus.

In support of the New Evangelization, please copy and distribute. You can download the one-page easily multipliable leaflet (EML) here.

JESUS: A DIGEST OF HIS WISDOM

To receive Jesus is to have everything; to give him is to give the greatest gift of all. – Pope Francis 

A quick overview of Jesus’ entire doctrine based on the structure of his Church’s “Catechism of the Catholic Church”

 

You can download the one-page easily multipliable leaflet (EML) here.

Synthesis: What is the Good News that Jesus revealed?

God loves us and he made us for one purpose: to live God’s life of love and supreme joy. God the Son became man, Jesus, to save us from sin and make us holy children of God in union with Jesus.   

Basis: Why do Catholics believe this to be true?

God helps us to believe, and God is Truth and Good who cannot deceive us. Faith is also reasonable: it is a historic fact that Jesus lived, worked awe-inspiring miracles, bravely claimed to be the one God, and after the Romans killed him, he was seen alive by 500. He built his Church on the head of his 12 Apostles, Peter, to whom Jesus gave the powers of a King’s chief minister and teacher. Peter passed on his powers to his successors, the Popes. Jesus committed his presence to his Church, so it can transmit his doctrine in its oral and scriptural Tradition. Jesus told it, “He who hears you hears me.”  

CREED: We believe in God’s love

There is one God, the Creator.  He is a loving, almighty Father who created everything from nothing and sustains it in existence. He created the angels, pure spirits, and also the material universe of 180 billion galaxies.  He created humans who are both spirit and matter. As incarnate spirits made in the image of God who is love, we have intelligence and free will, live in a family and work, and are called to love. In an excess of love, God gave us “sanctifying grace”, a share in his divine life! The grace in one man is greater than the whole created universe!

Tempted by a sinful angel, the devil, the first humans, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God. From then on, the intelligence and free will of all their descendants became disordered and were weakened. Worst of all, we lost sanctifying grace, our share in God’s life. All babies are born in this state of lack of grace, called original sin. Since we are unable to create grace and save ourselves, our God who is faithful and provident, sought to bring us back to himself gradually, by stages. In the end, God himself came as a man, Jesus.

Jesus is God the Son, our Savior. His name means “God saves.”  He was born of the Virgin Mary, lived in a family and “did all things well” as a worker, obeying God and authorities. After rejecting the devil’s lure to greed, self-glory and self-interest, he started preaching: “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!” As Christ, the Anointed One, he saves us as our King (Way) who guides our wills with his laws; as Prophet (Truth), who forms our intelligence to know God and his plan; and as Priest (Life) who gives us back his life of grace.

Jesus faced opposition, was tortured by the Romans and killed. He freely offered his death as the one sacrifice that glorifies God, saving us by acting as the New Adam who is always obedient to the Father and who gives each of us total-self-giving love: “Greater love than this no one has, than he who lays down his life for his friend.”

After he rose on a Sunday, and ascended to heaven, Jesus sent us a Gift, God the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Triune God, to give life to the Church, his Body, granting it all the truth and means to sanctify men. Each man will die, and Jesus will judge his love. He who loves Jesus will be with him in the eternal joy of heaven; those who need to be purified will pass through purgatory. He who chooses to reject him will suffer in hell. At the end of time, Jesus will return, raise all the dead to life and, revealing the utmost consequences of our actions, will judge all men, Then Jesus will bring about the new heavens and a new earth, and God who is Love will be all in all.

SACRAMENTS: We celebrate and receive Jesus’ life of love

To gives us sanctifying grace, his own divine life, Jesus acts in the liturgy, a celebration of worship, which revolves around the seven sacraments. A sacrament is an effective sign of grace. In Baptism, the first sacrament, Jesus acts through his priest who pours water to bring about the removal of original sin by giving us Jesus’ life. Thus, we are made another Christ, Christ himself! “Christ lives in me.”

The life of Jesus, the Son of God, grows in us through Jesus’ other sacraments: Confirmation (to strengthen us), Matrimony (to make family life holy), Holy Orders (to ordain priests through whom Jesus gives us the sacraments), and Anointing of the Sick (to sanctify the dying).  Due our radical need of God, as poor in spirit, it is important to often receive (1) Jesus’ mercy in Penance to restore grace lost by mortal sin, and to heal the soul; and (2) the Eucharist,  which “makes present” Christ’s death and resurrection, the very center of his life, and thus also of a Christian’s life.  Our daily desires revolve around the Bread, our sole satisfier: Jesus who is madly in love with us.

MORALITY: We live Jesus’ life of love

A Christian lives with the dignity of a child of God who is loved by our Father God and loves him back.  As shown by Jesus, love means willing the good of the other and total self-giving. With our freedom, we have the power to act or not to act, and are responsible for our actions. By repeatedly choosing to do good shown by our conscience and allowing Jesus to love us through his law and grace, we grow in virtue and freedom.  If we choose evil in sin, and offend God, we truly say sorry to him: he celebrates our return and fills us with joy.

We live by Jesus’ values, the Beatitudes and his two greatest commandments: love God with all our heart, mind, strength and soul, and to love our others as ourselves for God.  We adore, trust and hope in him, try to know as much as we can about him; cherish his name; and rest in God, offering Mass on Sundays (1st-3rd commandments). We love our family (4th), respect everyone’s dignity (5th), reverence sexuality in chastity (6th-9th), practice justice (7th-10th), and live in the truth (8th). We are responsible for the brotherhood of all men, working for the common good and for social justice.  We are merciful to the poor, those in need, in whom we meet Jesus.

APOSTOLATE: We live Jesus’ life of love by saving men

As another Christ, we are one with his sole mission of saving all men by obeying God in our daily lives. It is our duty to be king, prophet and priest for the people around us. We serve, and take initiative to manage the world based on Jesus’ values; we evangelize, spread Jesus’ truths, and make disciples; and we pray, offering the sacrifice of doing all our duties excellently in union with Jesus’ Eucharist.

PRAYER: We live Jesus’ life of love by dialogue with God

Following Jesus’ example and command “pray always”, a Christian lives continually in God’s presence, speaks with Jesus as a friend and offers his daily work and activity for God’s glory. We allot time daily to be with God: to meditate on God’s Word and his Church’s teaching, and to contemplate Jesus with a loving gaze. We say “I love you, thank you, I’m sorry and help us more.” We say the Our Father as God’s children, and go to Mary who brings us Jesus.  

You can download the one-page easily multipliable leaflet (EML) here.