YOUCAT*: Faith is knowledge and trust. It has seven characteristics: Faith is a sheer gift of God, which we receive when we fervently ask for it. Faith is the supernatural power that is absolutely necessary if we are to attain salvation. Faith requires the free will and clear understanding of a person when he or […]

YOUCAT:* A sin is a word, deed, or intention by which man deliberately and voluntarily offends against the true order of things, as God’s loving providence has arranged them. [1849-1851, 1871-1872] “Only someone who has seriously meditated on how heavy the Cross is can understand how serious sin is.” —St. Anselm of Canterbury Sin is […]

YOUCAT*: The Sacrament of Matrimony comes about through a promise made by a man and a woman before God and the church, which is accepted and confirmed by God and consummated by the bodily union of the couple. Because God himself forms the bond of sacramental marriage, it is binding until the death of one […]

YOUCAT*: Christians bring their life before God through the language of the body: they cast themselves down before God. They fold their hands in prayer or stretch them out. They genuflect or kneel before the all holy God. They listen to the Gospel while standing. They meditate while seated. A few weeks ago I was […]

YOUCAT: The right way to read Sacred Scripture is to read it prayerfully, in other words, with the help of the Holy Spirit, under whose influence it came into being. It is God’s Word and contains God’s essential communication to us. [109-119, 137] Pick up the Bible, open it, and start reading. Sounds easy, right? […]

YOUCAT*: To believe in the Holy Spirit means to worship him as God just like the Father and the Son. It means to believe that the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts so that we as children of God might know our Father in heaven. Moved by God’s Spirit, we can change the face of […]

YOUCAT*: “Confirmation is the Sacrament that completes Baptism; in it the gift of the Holy Spirit is bestowed upon us. Anyone who freely decides to live a life as God’s child and asks for God’s Spirit under the signs of the imposition of hands and anointing with Chrism receives the strength to witness to God’s […]

Why did God create us? God created us out of free and unselfish love. [Catechism of the Catholic Church 1-3] At the Easter Vigil, we hear the creation story from Genesis chapter one. After each day of creation, “God saw how good it was.” And after six days of creating, God rested. He rested knowing […]

YOUCAT*: As successor of St. Peter and head of the college of bishops, the pope is the source and guarantor of the Church’s unity. He has the supreme pastoral authority and the final authority in doctrinal and disciplinary decisions. [880-882,936-937] The pope announced that he would resign at the end of February “due to advanced […]

YOUCAT*: Charity is the power by which we, who have been loved first by God, can give ourselves to God so as to be united with him and can accept our neighbor for God’s sake as unconditionally and sincerely as we accept ourselves. [1822-1829, 1844] Charity is the greatest of three theological virtues (the other […]