Religion 4

Baptism

The first of the Seven Sacraments that gives access to the other Sacraments; first and chief Sacrament of Forgiveness of Sins because the baptized Christian receives the remission of both personal and Original Sin [1]. It incorporates him or her into the Church, the Body of Christ [1]. The baptized receives sanctifying grace, allowing him or her to grow in holiness and moral virtue [1].

Beatitude

Happiness, or blessedness; this refers especially to the eternal happiness of heaven, which is the greatest human desire [2].

Church

The assembly of God’s people, called together and united through Baptism in a common profession of faith [2].

Communion

The reception of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist; the bond of union with Christ and all baptized; the state of being united with God [2].

Discernment

The process by which a person discovers God’s will for his or her life, particularly in determining a vocation or a state of life [2].

Faith

The theological virtue by which a person believes in all that God has said and revealed and that the Church proposes for belief [2].

Freedom

A gift from God that allows a person to choose to love him [2].

Free Will

The power to make choices that are unconstrained by external circumstances or by an entity such as fate or even divine will [2].

Grace

The free and unmerited favor of God; a share in the divine life infused into the soul by the Holy Spirit to heal from sin and sanctify [2].

Holiness

Spiritual perfection or purity arising from a likeness unto God; an attribute describing God's complete separation from the sphere of the profane [2].

Image and Likeness

A representation such as a statue or picture [3]. Each person is made in the image of God; that is, like God insofar as having intelligence, free will, and the capacity to love [3].

Reason

The intellectual power or faculty to adapt thought or action to some end [2].

Religious Being

A being created by God in order to live in communion with God [3]. Every human person, by nature and vocation, is a religious being, and refusing to freely live in this bond with God keeps one from living a truly human life [3].

Saints

A member of the Church on earth, in Purgatory, or in heaven; an officially declared member of the Church in heaven [2].

Sanctification

The process of being made holy, which begins with Baptism, continues throughout the life of the Christian, and is completed when a person enters heaven and becomes united with God in the Beatific Vision [3].

Universal Call to Holiness

Refers to the fact that God calls every baptized person to seek holiness — Christian perfection — regardless of his or her state in life [3]. This call was reaffirmed by the Second Vatican Council [3].

Vocation

The particular plan or calling that God has for each individual in this life and hereafter [2].