Category: Doctrines

The Holy Spirit
The Biggest Heresy You Rarely Hear About

https://www.catholic.com/audio/cot/the-biggest-heresy-you-rarely-hear-about

Where Does the Bible Teach That the Holy Spirit is God?

https://stpaulcenter.com/posts/where-does-the-bible-teach-that-the-holy-spirit-is-god

The heresy of Pneumatomachi

https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/pneumatomachi

The 21 Ecumenical Councils

https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/the-21-ecumenical-councils&lang=en

Pneumatomachianism Refuted: Defending the Divinity of the Holy Ghost

Pneumatomachianism Refuted: Defending the Divinity of the Holy Ghost

Pneumatomachi

https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/pneumatomachi

Holy Ghost – The Third Person of the Holy Trinity

https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/holy-ghost

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed Explained

Understanding the Holy Spirit – BISHOP BARRON

The Holy Spirit is a person, it’s not an impersonal force. It is The Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity.

In theology a person is an individual substance of a rational nature and so the Holy Spirit is a person, it is of the same essence of God The Father and of God The Son, it is the same Divine Essence, the same Divinity therefore it is God but it has its own intellect and will.

A careful study of the Holy Scriptures perfectly shows that the Holy Spirit speaks, the Holy Spirit says, the Holy Spirit prevented Paul from going to Asia (Acts 16: 6), the Holy Spirit moves into action, the Holy Spirit is saddened…. the Holy Spirit is quoted in dozens of texts in specific action cleary proving that He is a rational person with an intellect.

A person is a substance with a will and an intellect with a rational nature is the same difference between a human person and an animal: we would never say that an animal is a person because, although it has some instinct and even feelings,it doesn’t has an intellect nor a rationality and neither an intelligent will. An animal doesn’t reflect upon itself. Most animals don’t even know that they are their own entity: a cat may mistake his own image for another cat in the mirror they don’t have this intellectual concept of their individuality, they don’t have a will, they don’t plan the future as we do, they don’t worry, they don’t study, they don’t rationalize as we do that’s why we do not consider animals as “persons”.

Yes they do have a body therefore having a body doesn’t define a person, having an intellect and a will does.

Likewise, angels are persons. Every single angel is an individual person.

Also God is one God ,only one Divine Essence, only one Divine Nature, it’s not three Gods, there is ONLY ONE GOD but in three persons:

God The Father, God The Son and God The Holy Spirit do have their own individualities within the Holy Trinity and this Divine Holy Family forms the Family we are called to belong to, to be Sons and Daughters of the Holy Trinity. They become hosts of our souls and we are to receive the Holy Trinity inside the temple of our body, blood soul and humanity. Inside each of our own human inner personal universe, we are to receive the Holy Trinity as a guest into our souls.

SEE SECTION ON “THE HOLY TRINITY” AND ARTICLES “DEFINITION OF A PERSON” – https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=35539&randomterm=false#:~:text=AND https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11726a.htm

We get to pray for the Holy Spirit to come, to enlighten us, to guide us, to impart to us His 7 gifts as recorded in Isaiah 11:1 -3. The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are, according to the Catholic Tradition: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of God. Starting to develop a personal relationship with God The Holy Spirit adds a whole other dimension in our relationship with God!!!

SEE ARTICLES “The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit – What are the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, and why do they matter?” https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/the-seven-gifts-of-the-holy-spirit AND https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_gifts_of_the_Holy_Spirit#:~:text=

DEFINITION OF A “PERSON”

In Catholic theology, a person is fundamentally an individual substance of a rational nature, defined by intelligence, will, distinctiveness, and self-subsistence (incommunicability), meaning they are complete in themselves but called to communion with others. This definition applies analogously to God (the Trinity), angels, and humans, but for humans, personhood also involves being a body-soul composite, uniquely reflecting God’s image through intellect and love in relationship, and possessing inherent dignity from conception.

Core Characteristics
- Individual Substance: A complete, self-existing entity, not a part of something else.
- Rational Nature: Possesses intellect and will, enabling knowledge and love, distinguishing persons from animals or inanimate objects.
- Incommunicability: Each person is unique and distinct, unable to be completely merged into another.
- Openness to Others: While distinct, persons are made for communion, not isolation, finding fulfillment in relationships, especially with God.
Types of Persons in Theology
- God: The Holy Trinity is three distinct Persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) in one divine nature.
- Angels: Purely spiritual, intellectual beings, existing as individual persons.
- Humans: A unique composite of a rational soul and a body, made in God’s image, with inherent dignity from the first moment of existence.
Key Distinctions for Humans
- Body-Soul Union: Humans are not just spirits but are embodied, allowing for unique forms of thought, love, and procreation.
- Capacity for Change: Unlike angels, human persons have the capacity for growth, development, and change through their embodied lives.
- Dignity: Every living human individual, regardless of developmental stage or capability, is a person with intrinsic worth and rights, reflecting God’s image.
Person

According to the generally accepted definition of Boethius, a person is an individual substance of a rational or intellectual nature. The notion of person is subject to analogical differences depending on whether the term is referring to human, angelic, or divine persons.

PERSON

“An individual substance of a rational nature” (Boethius). Therefore every individual intellectual substance which is complete in itself, uncommunicated and existing for itself, is a person. Essential to person in theological terms are intelligence and substantiality, wholeness in oneself and especially individuality. From individuality flow such features of personhood as distinctiveness, incommunicability, and uniqueness. Among human persons there are also the elements of responsibility and possession of distinctive rights. (Etym. Latin persona, actor’s mask; character; supposition of a rational nature.)

https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=35539&randomterm=false#:~:text=

Person

https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11726a.htm

The Latin word persona was originally used to denote the mask worn by an actor. From this it was applied to the role he assumed, and, finally, to any character on the stage of life, to any individual. This article discusses (1) the definition of “person”, especially with reference to the doctrine of the Incarnation; and (2) the use of the word persona and its Greek equivalents in connection with the Trinitarian disputes. For the psychological treatment see PERSONALITY.

Definition

The classic definition is that given by Boethius in “De persona et duabus naturis”, c. ii: Naturæ rationalis individua substantia (an individual substance of a rational nature).

Substantia — “Substance” is used to exclude accidents: “We see that accidents cannot constitute person” (Boethius, op. cit.). Substantia is used in two senses: of the concrete substance as existing in the individual, called substantia prima, corresponding to Aristotle’s ousia prote; and of abstractions, substance as existing in genus and species, called substantia secunda, Aristotle’s ousia deutera. It is disputed which of the two the word taken by itself here signifies. It seems probable that of itself it prescinds from substantia prima and substantia secunda, and is restricted to the former signification only by the word individua.

Individua — Individua, i.e., indivisum in se, is that which, unlike the higher branches in the tree of Porphyry, genus and species, cannot be further subdivided. Boethius in giving his definition does not seem to attach any further signification to the word. It is merely synonymous with singularis.

Rationalis naturae — Person is predicated only of intellectual beings. The generic word which includes all individual existing substances is suppositum. Thus person is a subdivision of suppositum which is applied equally to rational and irrational, living and non-living individuals. A person is therefore sometimes defined as suppositum naturae rationalis.

The definition of Boethius as it stands can hardly be considered a satisfactory one. The words taken literally can be applied to the rational soul of man, and also the human nature of Christ. That St. Thomas accepts it is presumably due to the fact that he found it in possession, and recognized as the traditional definition. He explains it in terms that practically constitute a new definition. Individua substantia signifies, he says, substantia, completa, per se subsistens, separata ab aliia, i.e., a substance, complete, subsisting per se, existing apart from others (III, Q. xvi, a. 12, ad 2um).

If to this be added rationalis naturae, we have a definition comprising the five notes that go to make up a person: (a) substantia– this excludes accident; (b) completa– it must form a complete nature; that which is a part, either actually or “aptitudinally” does not satisfy the definition; (c) per se subsistens–the person exists in himself and for himself; he is sui juris, the ultimate possessor of his nature and all its acts, the ultimate subject of predication of all his attributes; that which exists in another is not a person; (d) separata ab aliis–this excludes the universal, substantia secunda, which has no existence apart from the individual; (e) rationalis naturae–excludes all non-intellectual supposita.

To a person therefore belongs a threefold incommunicability, expressed in notes (b), (c), and (d). The human soul belongs to the nature as a part of it, and is therefore not a person, even when existing separately. The human nature of Christ does not exist per se seorsum, but in alio, in the Divine Personality of the Word. It is therefore communicated by assumption and so is not a person. Lastly the Divine Essence, though subsisting per se, is so communicated to the Three Persons that it does not exist apart from them; it is therefore not a person.

Theologians agree that in the Hypostatic Union the immediate reason why the Sacred Humanity, though complete and individual, is not a person is that it is not a subsistence, not per se seorsum subsistens. They have, however, disputed for centuries as to what may be the ultimate determination of the nature which if present would make it a subsistence and so a person, what in other words is the ultimate foundation of personality. According to Scotus, as he is usually understood, the ultimate foundation is a mere negation. That individual intellectual nature is a person which is neither of its nature destined to be communicated–as is the human soul–nor is actually communicated–as is the Sacred Humanity. If the Hypostatic Union ceased, the latter would ipso facto, without any further determination, become a person. To this it is objected that the person possesses the nature and all its attributes. It is difficult to believe that this possessor, as distinct from the objects possessed, is constituted only by a negative. Consequently, the traditional Thomists, following Cajetan, hold that there is a positive determination which they call the “mode” of subsistence. It is the function of this mode to make the nature incommunicable, terminated in itself, and capable of receiving its own esse, or existence. Without this mode the human nature of Christ exists only by the uncreated esse of the Word.

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

I. “IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT”

https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_one/section_two/chapter_one/article_1/paragraph_2_the_father.html#:~:text=

232 Christians are baptized “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”⁵³ Before receiving the sacrament, they respond to a three-part question when asked to confess the Father, the Son and the Spirit: “I do.” “The faith of all Christians rests on the Trinity.”⁵⁴

233 Christians are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: not in their names,⁵⁵ for there is only one God, the almighty Father, his only Son and the Holy Spirit: the Most Holy Trinity.

234 The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the “hierarchy of the truths of faith”.⁵⁶ The whole history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the means by which the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, reveals himself to men “and reconciles and unites with himself those who turn away from sin”.⁵⁷

235 This paragraph expounds briefly (I) how the mystery of the Blessed Trinity was revealed, (II) how the Church has articulated the doctrine of the faith regarding this mystery, and (III) how, by the divine missions of the Son and the Holy Spirit, God the Father fulfils the “plan of his loving goodness” of creation, redemption and sanctification.

236 The Fathers of the Church distinguish between theology (theologia) and economy (oikonomia). “Theology” refers to the mystery of God’s inmost life within the Blessed Trinity and “economy” to all the works by which God reveals himself and communicates his life. Through the oikonomia the theologia is revealed to us; but conversely, the theologia illuminates the whole oikonomia. God’s works reveal who he is in himself; the mystery of his inmost being enlightens our understanding of all his works. So it is, analogously, among human persons. A person discloses himself in his actions, and the better we know a person, the better we understand his actions.

237 The Trinity is a mystery of faith in the strict sense, one of the “mysteries that are hidden in God, which can never be known unless they are revealed by God”.⁵⁸ To be sure, God has left traces of his Trinitarian being in his work of creation and in his Revelation throughout the Old Testament. But his inmost Being as Holy Trinity is a mystery that is inaccessible to reason alone or even to Israel’s faith before the Incarnation of God’s Son and the sending of the Holy Spirit.

II. THE REVELATION OF GOD AS TRINITY

The Father revealed by the Son

238 Many religions invoke God as “Father”. the deity is often considered the “father of gods and of men”. In Israel, God is called “Father” inasmuch as he is Creator of the world.⁵⁹ Even more, God is Father because of the covenant and the gift of the law to Israel, “his first-born son”.⁶⁰ God is also called the Father of the king of Israel. Most especially he is “the Father of the poor”, of the orphaned and the widowed, who are under his loving protection.⁶¹

239 By calling God “Father”, the language of faith indicates two main things: that God is the first origin of everything and transcendent authority; and that he is at the same time goodness and loving care for all his children. God’s parental tenderness can also be expressed by the image of motherhood,⁶² which emphasizes God’s immanence, the intimacy between Creator and creature. the language of faith thus draws on the human experience of parents, who are in a way the first representatives of God for man. But this experience also tells us that human parents are fallible and can disfigure the face of fatherhood and motherhood. We ought therefore to recall that God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God. He also transcends human fatherhood and motherhood, although he is their origin and standard:⁶³ no one is father as God is Father.

240 Jesus revealed that God is Father in an unheard-of sense: he is Father not only in being Creator; he is eternally Father by his relationship to his only Son who, reciprocally, is Son only in relation to his Father: “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”⁶⁴

241 For this reason the apostles confess Jesus to be the Word: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”; as “the image of the invisible God”; as the “radiance of the glory of God and the very stamp of his nature”.⁶⁵

242 Following this apostolic tradition, the Church confessed at the first ecumenical council at Nicaea (325) that the Son is &uot;consubstantial” with the Father, that is, one only God with him.⁶⁶ The second ecumenical council, held at Constantinople in 381, kept this expression in its formulation of the Nicene Creed and confessed “the only-begotten Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father”.⁶⁷

The Father and the son revealed by the spirit

243 Before his Passover, Jesus announced the sending of “another Paraclete” (Advocate), the Holy Spirit. At work since creation, having previously “spoken through the prophets”, the Spirit will now be with and in the disciples, to teach them and guide them “into all the truth”.⁶⁸ The Holy Spirit is thus revealed as another divine person with Jesus and the Father.

244 The eternal origin of the Holy Spirit is revealed in his mission in time. the Spirit is sent to the apostles and to the Church both by the Father in the name of the Son, and by the Son in person, once he had returned to the Father.⁶⁹ The sending of the person of the Spirit after Jesus’ glorification⁷⁰ reveals in its fullness the mystery of the Holy Trinity.

245 The apostolic faith concerning the Spirit was confessed by the second ecumenical council at Constantinople (381): “We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father.”⁷¹ By this confession, the Church recognizes the Father as “the source and origin of the whole divinity”.⁷² But the eternal origin of the Spirit is not unconnected with the Son’s origin: “The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is God, one and equal with the Father and the Son, of the same substance and also of the same nature. . . Yet he is not called the Spirit of the Father alone,. . . but the Spirit of both the Father and the Son.”⁷³ The Creed of the Church from the Council of Constantinople confesses: “With the Father and the Son, he is worshipped and glorified.”⁷⁴

246 The Latin tradition of the Creed confesses that the Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son (filioque)”. the Council of Florence in 1438 explains: “The Holy Spirit is eternally from Father and Son; He has his nature and subsistence at once (simul) from the Father and the Son. He proceeds eternally from both as from one principle and through one spiration… And, since the Father has through generation given to the only-begotten Son everything that belongs to the Father, except being Father, the Son has also eternally from the Father, from whom he is eternally born, that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Son.”⁷⁵

247 The affirmation of the filioque does not appear in the Creed confessed in 381 at Constantinople. But Pope St. Leo I, following an ancient Latin and Alexandrian tradition, had already confessed it dogmatically in 447,⁷⁶ even before Rome, in 451 at the Council of Chalcedon, came to recognize and receive the Symbol of 381. the use of this formula in the Creed was gradually admitted into the Latin liturgy (between the eighth and eleventh centuries). the introduction of the filioque into the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed by the Latin liturgy constitutes moreover, even today, a point of disagreement with the Orthodox Churches.

248 At the outset the Eastern tradition expresses the Father’s character as first origin of the Spirit. By confessing the Spirit as he “who proceeds from the Father”, it affirms that he comes from the Father through the Son.⁷⁷ The Western tradition expresses first the consubstantial communion between Father and Son, by saying that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son (filioque). It says this, “legitimately and with good reason”,⁷⁸ for the eternal order of the divine persons in their consubstantial communion implies that the Father, as “the principle without principle”,⁷⁹ is the first origin of the Spirit, but also that as Father of the only Son, he is, with the Son, the single principle from which the Holy Spirit proceeds.⁸⁰ This legitimate complementarity, provided it does not become rigid, does not affect the identity of faith in the reality of the same mystery confessed.

III. THE HOLY TRINITY IN THE TEACHING OF THE FAITH

The formation of the Trinitarian dogma

249 From the beginning, the revealed truth of the Holy Trinity has been at the very root of the Church’s living faith, principally by means of Baptism. It finds its expression in the rule of baptismal faith, formulated in the preaching, catechesis and prayer of the Church. Such formulations are already found in the apostolic writings, such as this salutation taken up in the Eucharistic liturgy: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”⁸¹

250 During the first centuries the Church sought to clarify her Trinitarian faith, both to deepen her own understanding of the faith and to defend it against the errors that were deforming it. This clarification was the work of the early councils, aided by the theological work of the Church Fathers and sustained by the Christian people’s sense of the faith.

251 In order to articulate the dogma of the Trinity, the Church had to develop her own terminology with the help of certain notions of philosophical origin: “substance”, “person” or “hypostasis”, “relation” and so on. In doing this, she did not submit the faith to human wisdom, but gave a new and unprecedented meaning to these terms, which from then on would be used to signify an ineffable mystery, “infinitely beyond all that we can humanly understand”.⁸²

252 The Church uses (I) the term “substance” (rendered also at times by “essence” or “nature”) to designate the divine being in its unity, (II) the term “person” or “hypostasis” to designate the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the real distinction among them, and (III) the term “relation” to designate the fact that their distinction lies in the relationship of each to the others.

The dogma of the Holy Trinity

253 The Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three persons, the “consubstantial Trinity”.⁸³ The divine persons do not share the one divinity among themselves but each of them is God whole and entire: “The Father is that which the Son is, the Son that which the Father is, the Father and the Son that which the Holy Spirit is, i.e. by nature one God.”⁸⁴ In the words of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), “Each of the persons is that supreme reality, viz., the divine substance, essence or nature.”⁸⁵

254 The divine persons are really distinct from one another. “God is one but not solitary.”⁸⁶ “Father”, “Son”, “Holy Spirit” are not simply names designating modalities of the divine being, for they are really distinct from one another: “He is not the Father who is the Son, nor is the Son he who is the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit he who is the Father or the Son.”⁸⁷ They are distinct from one another in their relations of origin: “It is the Father who generates, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds.”⁸⁸ The divine Unity is Triune.

255 The divine persons are relative to one another. Because it does not divide the divine unity, the real distinction of the persons from one another resides solely in the relationships which relate them to one another: “In the relational names of the persons the Father is related to the Son, the Son to the Father, and the Holy Spirit to both. While they are called three persons in view of their relations, we believe in one nature or substance.”⁸⁹ Indeed “everything (in them) is one where there is no opposition of relationship.”⁹⁰ “Because of that unity the Father is wholly in the Son and wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Son is wholly in the Father and wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is wholly in the Father and wholly in the Son.”⁹¹

256 St. Gregory of Nazianzus, also called “the Theologian”, entrusts this summary of Trinitarian faith to the catechumens of Constantinople: Above all guard for me this great deposit of faith for which I live and fight, which I want to take with me as a companion, and which makes me bear all evils and despise all pleasures: I mean the profession of faith in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. I entrust it to you today. By it I am soon going to plunge you into water and raise you up from it. I give it to you as the companion and patron of your whole life. I give you but one divinity and power, existing one in three, and containing the three in a distinct way. Divinity without disparity of substance or nature, without superior degree that raises up or inferior degree that casts down. . . the infinite co-naturality of three infinites. Each person considered in himself is entirely God. . . the three considered together. . . I have not even begun to think of unity when the Trinity bathes me in its splendour. I have not even begun to think of the Trinity when unity grasps me. .⁹²

IV. THE DIVINE WORKS AND THE TRINITARIAN MISSIONS

257 “O blessed light, O Trinity and first Unity!”⁹³ God is eternal blessedness, undying life, unfading light. God is love: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God freely wills to communicate the glory of his blessed life. Such is the “plan of his loving kindness”, conceived by the Father before the foundation of the world, in his beloved Son: “He destined us in love to be his sons” and “to be conformed to the image of his Son”, through “the spirit of sonship”.⁹⁴ This plan is a “grace [which] was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began”, stemming immediately from Trinitarian love.⁹⁵ It unfolds in the work of creation, the whole history of salvation after the fall, and the missions of the Son and the Spirit, which are continued in the mission of the Church.⁹⁶

258 The whole divine economy is the common work of the three divine persons. For as the Trinity has only one and the same natures so too does it have only one and the same operation: “The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are not three principles of creation but one principle.”⁹⁷ However, each divine person performs the common work according to his unique personal property. Thus the Church confesses, following the New Testament, “one God and Father from whom all things are, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things are, and one Holy Spirit in whom all things are”.⁹⁸ It is above all the divine missions of the Son’s Incarnation and the gift of the Holy Spirit that show forth the properties of the divine persons.

259 Being a work at once common and personal, the whole divine economy makes known both what is proper to the divine persons, and their one divine nature. Hence the whole Christian life is a communion with each of the divine persons, without in any way separating them. Everyone who glorifies the Father does so through the Son in the Holy Spirit; everyone who follows Christ does so because the Father draws him and the Spirit moves him.⁹⁹

260 The ultimate end of the whole divine economy is the entry of God’s creatures into the perfect unity of the Blessed Trinity.¹⁰⁰ But even now we are called to be a dwelling for the Most Holy Trinity: “If a man loves me”, says the Lord, “he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him”:¹⁰¹

O my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me forget myself entirely so to establish myself in you, unmovable and peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing be able to trouble my peace or make me leave you, O my unchanging God, but may each minute bring me more deeply into your mystery! Grant my soul peace. Make it your heaven, your beloved dwelling and the place of your rest. May I never abandon you there, but may I be there, whole and entire, completely vigilant in my faith, entirely adoring, and wholly given over to your creative action.¹⁰²

IN BRIEF

261 The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith and of Christian life. God alone can make it known to us by revealing himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

262 The Incarnation of God’s Son reveals that God is the eternal Father and that the Son is consubstantial with the Father, which means that, in the Father and with the Father the Son is one and the same God.

263 The mission of the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father in the name of the Son (⇒ Jn 14:26) and by the Son “from the Father” (⇒ Jn 15:26), reveals that, with them, the Spirit is one and the same God. “With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified” (Nicene Creed).

264 “The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father as the first principle and, by the eternal gift of this to the Son, from the communion of both the Father and the Son” (St. Augustine, De Trin. 15, 26, 47: PL 42, 1095).

265 By the grace of Baptism “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”, we are called to share in the life of the Blessed Trinity, here on earth in the obscurity of faith, and after death in eternal light (cf. Paul VI, CPG # 9).

266 “Now this is the Catholic faith: We worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity, without either confusing the persons or dividing the substance; for the person of the Father is one, the Son’s is another, the Holy Spirit’s another; but the Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal” (Athanasian Creed: DS 75; ND 16).

267 Inseparable in what they are, the divine persons are also inseparable in what they do. But within the single divine operation each shows forth what is proper to him in the Trinity, especially in the divine missions of the Son’s Incarnation and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
February 22, 2026
The Incarnation

Explaining the Faith – Why God Became Man: The Meaning of the Incarnation

https://www.thedivinemercy.org/videos/why-god-became-man-meaning-incarnation-explaining-faith

God’s Mercy in the Mystery of the Incarnation

https://www.thedivinemercy.org/articles/gods-mercy-mystery-incarnation

ABSOLUTE MUST SEE: We bow at the line of the Creed about the Incarnation because Heaven touches the earth. Minute 29′

Explaining What the Creed Means Line by Line: Explaining the Faith with Fr. Chris Alar

GOD’S PLAN A WAS ALWAYS TO COME DOWN TO RAISE MANKIND TO HIS DIVINITY

Incarnation – Treatment of the doctrine

https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/incarnation

OFFICIAL CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH : He Was Conceived By The Power Of The Holy Spirit, And Was Born Of The Virgin Mary

“HE WAS CONCEIVED BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND WAS BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY”

https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_one/section_two/chapter_two/artcile_3.html

Paragraph 1. THE SON OF GOD BECAME MAN

I. WHY DID THE WORD BECOME FLESH?

456 With the Nicene Creed, we answer by confessing: “For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit, he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.”

457 The Word became flesh for us in order to save us by reconciling us with God, who “loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins”: “the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world”, and “he was revealed to take away sins”:⁷⁰

Sick, our nature demanded to be healed; fallen, to be raised up; dead, to rise again. We had lost the possession of the good; it was necessary for it to be given back to us. Closed in the darkness, it was necessary to bring us the light; captives, we awaited a Saviour; prisoners, help; slaves, a liberator. Are these things minor or insignificant? Did they not move God to descend to human nature and visit it, since humanity was in so miserable and unhappy a state?⁷¹

458 The Word became flesh so that thus we might know God’s love: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.”⁷² “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”⁷³

459 The Word became flesh to be our model of holiness: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me.” “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.”⁷⁴ On the mountain of the Transfiguration, the Father commands: “Listen to him!”⁷⁵ Jesus is the model for the Beatitudes and the norm of the new law: “Love one another as I have loved you.”⁷⁶ This love implies an effective offering of oneself, after his example.⁷⁷

460 The Word became flesh to make us “partakers of the divine nature”:⁷⁸ “For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God.”⁷⁹ “For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.”⁸⁰ “The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.”⁸¹

II. THE INCARNATION

461 Taking up St. John’s expression, “The Word became flesh”,⁸² The Church calls “Incarnation” the fact that the Son of God assumed a human nature in order to accomplish our salvation in it. In a hymn cited by St. Paul, the Church sings the mystery of the Incarnation:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. and being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.⁸³

462 The Letter to the Hebrews refers to the same mystery:

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, Lo, I have come to do your will, O God.”⁸⁴

463 Belief in the true Incarnation of the Son of God is the distinctive sign of Christian faith: “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God.”⁸⁵ Such is the joyous conviction of the Church from her beginning whenever she sings “the mystery of our religion”: “He was manifested in the flesh.”⁸⁶

III. TRUE GOD AND TRUE MAN

464 The unique and altogether singular event of the Incarnation of the Son of God does not mean that Jesus Christ is part God and part man, nor does it imply that he is the result of a confused mixture of the divine and the human. He became truly man while remaining truly God. Jesus Christ is true God and true man. During the first centuries, the Church had to defend and clarify this truth of faith against the heresies that falsified it.

465 The first heresies denied not so much Christ’s divinity as his true humanity (Gnostic Docetism). From apostolic times the Christian faith has insisted on the true incarnation of God’s Son “come in the flesh”.⁸⁷ But already in the third century, the Church in a council at Antioch had to affirm against Paul of Samosata that Jesus Christ is Son of God by nature and not by adoption. the first ecumenical council of Nicaea in 325 confessed in its Creed that the Son of God is “begotten, not made, of the same substance (homoousios) as the Father”, and condemned Arius, who had affirmed that the Son of God “came to be from things that were not” and that he was “from another substance” than that of the Father.⁸⁸

466 The Nestorian heresy regarded Christ as a human person joined to the divine person of God’s Son. Opposing this heresy, St. Cyril of Alexandria and the third ecumenical council, at Ephesus in 431, confessed “that the Word, uniting to himself in his person the flesh animated by a rational soul, became man.”⁸⁹ Christ’s humanity has no other subject than the divine person of the Son of God, who assumed it and made it his own, from his conception. For this reason the Council of Ephesus proclaimed in 431 that Mary truly became the Mother of God by the human conception of the Son of God in her womb: “Mother of God, not that the nature of the Word or his divinity received the beginning of its existence from the holy Virgin, but that, since the holy body, animated by a rational soul, which the Word of God united to himself according to the hypostasis, was born from her, the Word is said to be born according to the flesh.”⁹⁰

467 The Monophysites affirmed that the human nature had ceased to exist as such in Christ when the divine person of God’s Son assumed it. Faced with this heresy, the fourth ecumenical council, at Chalcedon in 451, confessed: Following the holy Fathers, we unanimously teach and confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: the same perfect in divinity and perfect in humanity, the same truly God and truly man, composed of rational soul and body; consubstantial with the Father as to his divinity and consubstantial with us as to his humanity; “like us in all things but sin”. He was begotten from the Father before all ages as to his divinity and in these last days, for us and for our salvation, was born as to his humanity of the virgin Mary, the Mother of God.⁹¹

We confess that one and the same Christ, Lord, and only-begotten Son, is to be acknowledged in two natures without confusion, change, division or separation. the distinction between the natures was never abolished by their union, but rather the character proper to each of the two natures was preserved as they came together in one person (prosopon) and one hypostasis.⁹²

468 After the Council of Chalcedon, some made of Christ’s human nature a kind of personal subject. Against them, the fifth ecumenical council, at Constantinople in 553, confessed that “there is but one hypostasis [or person], which is our Lord Jesus Christ, one of the Trinity.”⁹³ Thus everything in Christ’s human nature is to be attributed to his divine person as its proper subject, not only his miracles but also his sufferings and even his death: “He who was crucified in the flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ, is true God, Lord of glory, and one of the Holy Trinity.”⁹⁴

469 The Church thus confesses that Jesus is inseparably true God and true man. He is truly the Son of God who, without ceasing to be God and Lord, became a man and our brother: “What he was, he remained and what he was not, he assumed”, sings the Roman Liturgy.⁹⁵ and the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom proclaims and sings: “O only-begotten Son and Word of God, immortal being, you who deigned for our salvation to become incarnate of the holy Mother of God and ever-virgin Mary, you who without change became man and were crucified, O Christ our God, you who by your death have crushed death, you who are one of the Holy Trinity, glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit, save us!”⁹⁶

IV. HOW IS THE SON OF GOD MAN?

470 Because “human nature was assumed, not absorbed”,⁹⁷ in the mysterious union of the Incarnation, the Church was led over the course of centuries to confess the full reality of Christ’s human soul, with its operations of intellect and will, and of his human body. In parallel fashion, she had to recall on each occasion that Christ’s human nature belongs, as his own, to the divine person of the Son of God, who assumed it. Everything that Christ is and does in this nature derives from “one of the Trinity”.

The Son of God therefore communicates to his humanity his own personal mode of existence in the Trinity. In his soul as in his body, Christ thus expresses humanly the divine ways of the Trinity:⁹⁸

The Son of God. . . worked with human hands; he thought with a human mind. He acted with a human will, and with a human heart he loved. Born of the Virgin Mary, he has truly been made one of us, like to us in all things except sin.⁹⁹

Christ’s soul and his human knowledge

471 Apollinarius of Laodicaea asserted that in Christ the divine Word had replaced the soul or spirit. Against this error the Church confessed that the eternal Son also assumed a rational, human soul.¹⁰⁰

472 This human soul that the Son of God assumed is endowed with a true human knowledge. As such, this knowledge could not in itself be unlimited: it was exercised in the historical conditions of his existence in space and time. This is why the Son of God could, when he became man, “increase in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man”,¹⁰¹ and would even have to inquire for himself about what one in the human condition can learn only from experience.¹⁰² This corresponded to the reality of his voluntary emptying of himself, taking “the form of a slave”.¹⁰³

473 But at the same time, this truly human knowledge of God’s Son expressed the divine life of his person.¹⁰⁴ “The human nature of God’s Son, not by itself but by its union with the Word, knew and showed forth in itself everything that pertains to God.”¹⁰⁵ Such is first of all the case with the intimate and immediate knowledge that the Son of God made man has of his Father.¹⁰⁶ The Son in his human knowledge also showed the divine penetration he had into the secret thoughts of human hearts.¹⁰⁷

474 By its union to the divine wisdom in the person of the Word incarnate, Christ enjoyed in his human knowledge the fullness of understanding of the eternal plans he had come to reveal.¹⁰⁸ What he admitted to not knowing in this area, he elsewhere declared himself not sent to reveal.¹⁰⁹

Christ’s human will

475 Similarly, at the sixth ecumenical council, Constantinople III in 681, the Church confessed that Christ possesses two wills and two natural operations, divine and human. They are not opposed to each other, but co-operate in such a way that the Word made flesh willed humanly in obedience to his Father all that he had decided divinely with the Father and the Holy Spirit for our salvation.¹¹⁰ Christ’s human will “does not resist or oppose but rather submits to his divine and almighty will.”¹¹¹

Christ’s true body

476 Since the Word became flesh in assuming a true humanity, Christ’s body was finite.¹¹² Therefore the human face of Jesus can be portrayed; at the seventh ecumenical council (Nicaea II in 787) the Church recognized its representation in holy images to be legitimate.¹¹³

477 At the same time the Church has always acknowledged that in the body of Jesus “we see our God made visible and so are caught up in love of the God we cannot see.”¹¹⁴ The individual characteristics of Christ’s body express the divine person of God’s Son. He has made the features of his human body his own, to the point that they can be venerated when portrayed in a holy image, for the believer “who venerates the icon is venerating in it the person of the one depicted”.¹¹⁵

The heart of the Incarnate Word

478 Jesus knew and loved us each and all during his life, his agony and his Passion, and gave himself up for each one of us: “The Son of God. . . loved me and gave himself for me.”¹¹⁶ He has loved us all with a human heart. For this reason, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced by our sins and for our salvation,¹¹⁷ “is quite rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that. . . love with which the divine Redeemer continually loves the eternal Father and all human beings” without exception.¹¹⁸

IN BRIEF

479 At the time appointed by God, the only Son of the Father, the eternal Word, that is, the Word and substantial Image of the Father, became incarnate; without losing his divine nature he has assumed human nature.

480 Jesus Christ is true God and true man, in the unity of his divine person; for this reason he is the one and only mediator between God and men.

481 Jesus Christ possesses two natures, one divine and the other human, not confused, but united in the one person of God’s Son.

482 Christ, being true God and true man, has a human intellect and will, perfectly attuned and subject to his divine intellect and divine will, which he has in common with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

483 The Incarnation is therefore the mystery of the wonderful union of the divine and human natures in the one person of the Word.

Incarnationis Mysterium – BULL OF INDICTION OF THE GREAT JUBILEE OF THE YEAR 2000

https://www.vatican.va/jubilee_2000/docs/documents/hf_jp-ii_doc_30111998_bolla-jubilee_en.html

JESUS CHRIST – TRUE GOD AND TRUE MAN

You Too Are Christ: The Ongoing Incarnation, Then and Now

How the Incarnation Made Your World Possible

https://www.catholic.com/audio/caf/how-the-incarnation-made-your-world-possible

The Incarnation of God

https://www.catholic.com/audio/caf/the-incarnation-of-god

How the Incarnation Reveals God’s Love

https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/how-the-incarnation-reveals-gods-love

How Exactly Did Jesus Take on a Body?

https://www.catholic.com/video/how-exactly-did-jesus-take-on-a-body

If God Became Man, Didn’t God Change?

And if God can’t change, then isn’t all of Christianity refuted?

https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/did-the-incarnation-cause-god-to-change

The Incarnation: A Revolution for the Ancient World

God made man was the epicenter of a transformative explosion, spawning new revolutions of thought and practice

https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/the-incarnation-a-revolution-for-the-ancient-world

January 15, 2026
COMMUNION

OFFICIAL CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH – Article 3 The Sacrament Of The Eucharist

https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_two/section_two/chapter_one/article_3.index.html#part_two

THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST

1322 The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with the whole community in the Lord’s own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist.

1323 “At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet ‘in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.’”¹³³

The Importance of Holy Communion – Explaining the Faith

Watch https://www.youtube.com/live/gZK3sqihhOk?si=8RltPPGDsz7iUJ6_

Understanding the Sacraments: A New Summary! (Part 1 of 2)

Explaining the Faith with Fr. Chris Alar

Part 2 of 2: Understanding the Sacraments. A New Summary

Explaining the Faith w/Fr. Chris Alar

The Eucharist In Scripture – Explaining the Faith

Communion: Hand or Tongue? Allowed or Sacrilege? – Explaining the Faith

Can Someone Be Denied Holy Communion?

Why We Have to Attend Mass and Receive Communion in a State of Grace

Is Holy Communion a Right?

COMMUNION: Catholic priest explains: Someone goes to communion and receives only the bread, but not the wine?

Spiritual Communion

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2020-04/spiritual-communion.html

What Happens When You Eat the Body of Christ? (Aquinas 101)

El «síndrome de Chesterton»

Chesterton sudó al comulgar por primera vez: temblor y temor reverencial ante la Presencia Real. El autor reflexiona sobre ese estremecimiento –mysterium tremendum– para resaltar su contraste con una praxis litúrgica hoy cada vez más horizontal y banalizada, donde gestos, mediaciones y silencio se erosionan. Recuperar la comunión en la boca, de rodillas y administrada por un ministro ordenado no debe ser opción marginal, sino pedagogía medular, necesaria, de lo sagrado.

https://www.infocatolica.com/?t=opinion&cod=54183

September 10, 2025
Where Was Jesus Between Resurrection and Ascension?

Where Was Jesus Between Resurrection and Ascension?

https://www.catholic.com/qa/where-was-jesus-between-resurrection-and-ascension

September 10, 2025
GOD’S KINGDOM

NOTE ON JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES BIBLE NEW WORLD TRANSLATION TEACHING THAT THE KINGDOM IS ONLY “AMONG” OR “IN THE MIDST” OF THE DISCIPLES BECAUSE JESUS THE KING WAS PHYSICALLY PRESENT WHICH IS ONLY THE CHRISTOLOGY DIMENSION PERSPECTIVE OF THE KINGDOM : THEY OMITTHE MEANING THAT THE KINGDOM IS ALSO “IN/WITHIN” OR “INSIDE” OUR HEARTS

CATHOLIC BIBLE TRANSLATION AND NOTE

MUST READ THE 3 DIMENSIONS OF GOD’S KINGDOM: What is the Kingdom of God?

https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/what-is-the-kingdom-of-god

The Christological Dimension

Here we see that “the Kingdom is not a thing, it is not a geographical dominion like worldly kingdoms. It is a person; it is he. On this interpretation, the term ‘Kingdom of God’ is itself a veiled Christology. By the way in which he speaks of the Kingdom of God, Jesus leads men to realize the overwhelming fact that in him God himself is present among them, that he is God’s presence.” (Pope Benedict, Jesus of Nazareth, Part 1)

The Idealistic/Mystical Dimension

Here we see that The Kingdom of God resides in the heart of man. Church Father, Origen wrote, “those who pray for the coming of the Kingdom of God pray without any doubt for the Kingdom of God that they contain in themselves, and they pray that this kingdom might bear fruit and attain its fullness.”

The Ecclesiastical Dimension

Here we see that the kingdom of God is in the here and now, present in and through the Church. Yet it is a mixed reality that will only be perfectly realized at the end of history. This current “mixed” state can be seen as the Church on earth which now grows in the field of the world with both weeds and wheat until the harvest when Christ says he will “tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned. But gather the wheat into my barn” (Matt 13:30).

Kingdom of God

Signifies not so much the actual kingdom as the sway of the king

https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/kingdom-of-god

In the second petition of the “Our Father”—”Thy kingdom come”—we are taught to pray as well for grace as for glory. As men grew to understand the Divinity of Christ they grew to see that the kingdom of God was also that of Christ—it was here that the faith of the good thief excelled: “Lord, remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom.” So, too, as men realized that this kingdom stood for a certain tone of mind, and saw that this peculiar spirit was enshrined in the Church, they began to speak of the Church as “the kingdom of God“; cf. Col., i, 13; I Thess., ii, 12; Apoc., i, 6, 9; v, 10, etc. The kingdom was regarded as Christ’s, and He presents it to the Father; cf. I Cor., xv, 23-28; II Tim., iv, 1. The kingdom of God means, then, the ruling of God in our hearts; it means those principles which separate us off from the kingdom of the world and the devil; it means the benign sway of grace; it means the Church as that Divine institution whereby we may make sure of attaining the spirit of Christ and so win that ultimate kingdom of God where He reigns without end in “the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God” (Apoc., xxi, 2).

GOD’S KINGDOM WITH JESUS REIGNING INSIDE OUR HEARTS IS THE ONLY WAY TO BRING PEACE

SAINT LOUIS MARIA GRIGNON DE MONTFORT

Tratado de la Verdadera Devoción…, núms. 12-38
Si queréis comprender a la Madre, dice un santo, comprended al Hijo, pues es una Madre digna de Dios: Que aquí toda lengua enmudezca. Para demostrar que la divina María ha estado desco nocida hasta ahora, y que es una de las razones por las cuales Jesucristo no es conocido como debe serlo. Si, pues, como es cierto, el reino de Jesucristo ha de venir al mundo, no será sino con secuencia necesaria del conocimiento del reino de la Santísima Virgen María, que le trajo al mundo la vez primera y le hará resplandecer en la segunda venida. Confieso con toda la Iglesia que no siendo María sino una pura criatura salida de las manos del Altísimo, comparada con la Majestad infinita es menos que un átomo, o más bien nada, puesto que sólo Dios es quien es, y por consiguien te, confieso que este gran Señor, Ser soberano y absoluto, ni ha tenido ni ahora tiene necesidad alguna de la Santísima Virgen para hacer su voluntad santísima y para manifestar su gloria. Basta que Dios quiera, para que todo se haga. Digo, sin embargo, que así y todo, habiendo querido Dios empezar y concluir sus más grandes obras por la Santísima Virgen desde que la formó, es de creer que no cambiará de conducta en el transcurso de los siglos, pues es Dios y no varía en sus sentimientos ni en su proceder. María es la Reina del cielo y de la tierra por la gracia, como Jesús es Rey por naturaleza y por conquista; pues el reino de Jesucristo consiste principalmente en el corazón y en el interior del hombre, según estas palabras: “EI reino de Dios está dentro de vosotros”, del mismo modo el reino de la Santísima Virgen está principalmente en el interior del hombre, es decir, en las almas, y en las almas es en donde principalmente está más glorificada con su Hijo que en todas las criaturas visibles, y podemos llamarla con los santos, Reina de los corazones.

“IF YOU DO NOT BELONG TO THE KINGDOM THAT GOD JESUS INSTITUTED WHEN HE CAME ON EARTH, YOU BELONG TO THE KINGDOM OF THE DEVIL” – EXORCIST FATHER MARTIN – Minute 10’10

The Christological Dimension when speaking BEFORE THE INTRODUCTION OF EUCHARIST and addressing NON-BELIEVERS: “The Kingdom of Heaven Is Within You”

https://www.catholic.com/qa/the-kingdom-of-heaven-is-within-you

Question:

What did Christ mean when he said, “The kingdom of heaven is within you?”

Answer:

The words of Jesus you cite, “The kingdom of God is within you,” is from Luke 17:21 and was delivered to the Pharisees. A better translation is provided in the RSV Catholic Second Edition:

Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Lo, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”

Given that the question came from the Pharisees who largely opposed him, it’s difficult to think that Jesus meant the Pharisees had embraced the kingdom of heaven. Even his closest disciples, including the apostles, had not yet been baptized, by which they and all Christians become “temples of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 6:9), i.e., in which God and the power of his kingdom dwells with us.

Given the time frame in which Jesus spoke his words, “the kingdom of God is in the midst of you” refers to his being the King and that he was in their midst advancing his kingdom through his teaching, including the Sermon on the Mount, and the signs and wonders that also illustrated what his kingdom would be like. So Jesus was teaching the Pharisees and others that the kingdom was available to them, within their reach, if only they became his disciples. It’s an implicit reference to their made in the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26-27), and that they thereby had the God-given ability to cooperate with God’s grace to make the kingdom of God a reality.

September 10, 2025
PRAYING FOR THE DEAD
PRAYER FOR THE DEAD

Because Onesiphorus had served so well and was no longer alive, Paul prays for God’s blessing on his surviving family. All implications are that Onesiphorus has died. But Paul prays for him! In 2 Timothy 1:18, while in prison awaiting his death, Paul prays for the dead man and it is recorded in the Bible.
Did-the-Apostle-Paul-pray-for-Onesiphorus-after-he-had-died-in-2-Timothy.pdf

Click to access Onesiphorus.pdf

PRAY FOR SOULS IN PURGATORY AND THEY WILL REPAY YOU IN HEAVEN

Praying for the Dead

https://www.catholic.com/audio/ddp/praying-for-the-dead-2

Prayers for the Dead
1. General Statement and Proof of Catholic Doctrine; II. Questions of Detail; III. Practice in the British and Irish Churches
https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/prayers-for-the-dead

Praying to Dead Folks

https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/praying-to-dead-folks

Praying for the Dead

https://www.catholic.com/audio/caf/praying-for-the-dead

Why do Catholics pray for the dead? — and other questions about purgatory answered

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/252694/why-do-catholics-pray-for-the-dead-and-other-questions-about-purgatory-answered
September 10, 2025
THE MASS

Understanding the Mass as Biblical: A Walk-Thru (Part 1) – Explaining the Faith

Understanding the Mass: A Walk-Thru (Part 2) – Explaining the Faith

¿La MISA es un SACRIFICIO? | El Memorial que no conocías | TEOLOGIA PARA LAICOS | CURSO DE TEOLOGIA

MISA EXPLICADA POR PADRE PIO

Click to access 3013cb6217a04063.pdf

Dr. Scott Hahn | The Bible and the Sacrifice of the Mass | Franciscan University of Steubenville

Explicación de las partes de la Misa con imágenes

How to Prepare for Mass & Holy Communion | Before, During & After ~ Fr. Ripperger

Aprende a acolitar en unos minutos a través de este video y anímate a colaborar en tu parroquia.

Liturgy and Sacrifice: Understanding the Mass’ True Meaning ~ Fr. Ripperger

A Protestant walks into a Catholic Mass… and everything changes.

The Sacrifice of the Mass (Aquinas 101)

Fulton Sheen: The Deep Sacrifice of the Mass Explained

LATIN MASS / NOVUS ORDO MASS / ST JAMES RITE

THE LITURGY OF THE MASS REFLECTED IN ST. JOHN’S VISION OF DIVINE WORSHIP IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION

What makes a consecration valid – EX OPERE OPERATO – MINUTE 7″ 35

The first miracle of Jesus was turning water into wine, his last on earth was to turn wine into blood – What Really Happened at Cana and Why It Matters: Explaining the Faith with Fr. Chris Alar

EX OPERE OPERANTIS – THE GRACE OF MASS DEPENDS ON THE RECIPIENT – MINUTE 9’43

LES OBJETS LITURGIQUES

Click to access les-objets-liturgiques.pdf

https://dioceseparis.fr/les-objets-liturgiques-de-la-messe.html

LES PARTIES DE LA MESSE

La messe expliquée

LES ORNEMENTS DU PRÊTRE

LA FORMATION DES SERVANTS ET SERVANTES

https://www.youtube.com/@lavalparoissesvirtual9411/videos

Catalina Rivas on THE MASS

El Gran Milagro: La Santa Misa · Testimonio de Catalina Rivas

THE TRADITIONAL LATIN RITE MASS – The Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter is a Society of Apostolic Life of Pontifical right, that is, a community of priests who do not take religious vows.

Presentation

https://fssp.es

THE TRADITIONAL LATIN RITE MASS – Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest

“By the grace of God, in the midst of the confusion and heterodoxy of the 1970s, the founders of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest — Monsignor Gilles Wach, STD, and Father Phillipe Mora, STD — cultivated a deep love for the unbroken stream of Catholic tradition under the tutelage of Cardinal Giuseppe Siri and other orthodox Cardinals and clergymen.

Since then, they have sought to defend and pass on to the members of the Institute and Catholics throughout the world the majestic patrimony of Catholic tradition.”

https://www.institute-christ-king.org/

PRIESTHOOD & GENDER: GENDER IS SCRIPTURE – CHRIST CAME TO REPAIR THE SIN OF ADAM NOT EVE

¿Por qué tenemos 2 Credos en la Iglesia?

September 9, 2025
THE SOUL

What Exactly Is a Soul?

https://www.catholic.com/qa/what-exactly-is-a-soul

Body and Soul (Aquinas 101)

Powers of the Soul: A Closer Look (Aquinas 101)

Philosophy Shows You Have an Immortal Soul (Aquinas 101)

Take Care of Your Soul

ABSOLUTE MUST SEE: THE BODY AND THE SOUL WERE ONE BEFORE SIN

Rev 6:9-11 – Martyred Souls

Church Fathers: What is the meaning of the soul that sinneth it shall die? — Ezekiel 18:4

https://www.catholiccrossreference.online/fathers/index.php/Ezek%2018:4;%20Ezek%2018:20

ABSOLUTE MUST SEE: THE BODY AND THE SOUL WERE ONE BEFORE SIN

The Immortality of the Soul

From the moment of conception, every person has a unique and immortal soul. Death is the moment the soul is separated from the body, not a moment when the soul ceases to exist.

https://www.catholic.com/bible-navigator/immortality-of-the-soul

Does the Soul Survive Death?

https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/does-the-soul-survive-death

MUST SEE: WHAT WE ARE: WE ARE INSOULED BODIES

WE ARE BODIES AND WE ARE SOULS

Does the human body “have” a soul? The Bible said in Genesis 2:7 that when God breathed in his nostrils the breath of life he “became a living soul”, he “came to “be” not that he came to “have” a soul.”

Actually that is correct. JWs say that Catholics believe that bodies have a soul. That accusation is not accurately theologically founded and anyone saying the contrary does not know Catholic theology. The Catholic Church teaches that a human person is composed of 2 undissociable components: a body AND a soul. The body does not “have” a soul. One does not possess the other. The body does not possess a soul and the soul does not possess a body. The human person IS the ensemble of those 2 characteristics and when Adam and Eve were created, these 2 components were undivisable, undissociable, unseparable.
When Adam and Eve sinned, the punishement was death, the separation of those 2 previouly undissociable entities and the decompositon of the human body into dirt. But originally, death or the separation of the two was not part of the divine plan. It is the consequence of the original sin.
ABSOLUTE MUST SEE VIDEO:
THE BODY AND THE SOUL WERE ONE BEFORE SIN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgqA59NVfAE

We are souled bodies, angels are spirits without bodies

ABSOLUTE MUST SEE – SOURCE OF MATERIAL COSMOS IN THE SOUL – MINUTE 24’29

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FINITE, INFINTE AND ETERNAL

MINUTE 48′

September 9, 2025

BAPTISM

STUDY OF OFFICIAL CATECHISM REFERENCE BOOK OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

CCC 1213-1280

https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM

https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P3G.HTM

Article 1 The Sacrament Of Baptism

https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_two/section_two/chapter_one/article_1.html#:~:text=

THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM

1213 Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua),⁴ and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: “Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word.”⁵

I. What is This Sacrament Called?

https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_two/section_two/chapter_one/article_1/i_what_is_this_sacrament_called.html

1214 This sacrament is called Baptism, after the central rite by which it is carried out: to baptize (Greek baptizein) means to “plunge” or “immerse”; the “plunge” into the water symbolizes the catechumen’s burial into Christ’s death, from which he rises up by resurrection with him, as “a new creature.”⁶

1215 This sacrament is also called “the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit,” for it signifies and actually brings about the birth of water and the Spirit without which no one “can enter the kingdom of God.”⁷

1216 “This bath is called enlightenment, because those who receive this [catechetical] instruction are enlightened in their understanding . . . .”⁸ Having received in Baptism the Word, “the true light that enlightens every man,” the person baptized has been “enlightened,” he becomes a “son of light,” indeed, he becomes “light” himself:⁹

Baptism is God’s most beautiful and magnificent gift….We call it gift, grace, anointing, enlightenment, garment of immortality, bath of rebirth, seal, and most precious gift. It is called gift because it is conferred on those who bring nothing of their own; grace since it is given even to the guilty; Baptism because sin is buried in the water; anointing for it is priestly and royal as are those who are anointed; enlightenment because it radiates light; clothing since it veils our shame; bath because it washes; and seal as it is our guard and the sign of God’s Lordship.¹⁰

II. Baptism in the Economy of Salvation

https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_two/section_two/chapter_one/article_1/ii_baptism_in_the_economy_of_salvation.html#:~:text=

Prefigurations of Baptism in the Old Covenant

1217 In the liturgy of the Easter Vigil, during the blessing of the baptismal water, the Church solemnly commemorates the great events in salvation history that already prefigured the mystery of Baptism:

Father, you give us grace through sacramental signs which tell us of the wonders of your unseen power.

In Baptism we use your gift of water, which you have made a rich symbol of the grace you give us in this sacrament.¹¹

1218 Since the beginning of the world, water, so humble and wonderful a creature, has been the source of life and fruitfulness. Sacred Scripture sees it as “oveshadowed” by the Spirit of God:¹²

At the very dawn of creation

your Spirit breathed on the waters,

making them the wellspring of all holiness.¹³

1219 The Church has seen in Noah’s ark a prefiguring of salvation by Baptism, for by it “a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water”:¹⁴

The waters of the great flood

you made a sign of the waters of Baptism,

that make an end of sin and a new beginning of goodness.¹⁵

1220 If water springing up from the earth symbolizes life, the water of the sea is a symbol of death and so can represent the mystery of the cross. By this symbolism Baptism signifies communion with Christ’s death.

1221 But above all, the crossing of the Red Sea, literally the liberation of Israel from the slavery of Egypt, announces the liberation wrought by Baptism:

You freed the children of Abraham from the slavery of Pharaoh,

bringing them dry-shod through the waters of the Red Sea,

to be an image of the people set free in Baptism.¹⁶

1222 Finally, Baptism is prefigured in the crossing of the Jordan River by which the People of God received the gift of the land promised to Abraham’s descendants, an image of eternal life. the promise of this blessed inheritance is fulfilled in the New Covenant.

Christ’s Baptism

1223 All the Old Covenant prefigurations find their fulfillment in Christ Jesus. He begins his public life after having himself baptized by St. John the Baptist in the Jordan.¹⁷ After his resurrection Christ gives this mission to his apostles: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”¹⁸

1224 Our Lord voluntarily submitted himself to the baptism of St. John, intended for sinners, in order to “fulfill all righteousness.”¹⁹ Jesus’ gesture is a manifestation of his self-emptying.²⁰ The Spirit who had hovered over the waters of the first creation descended then on the Christ as a prelude of the new creation, and the Father revealed Jesus as his “beloved Son.”²¹

1225 In his Passover Christ opened to all men the fountain of Baptism. He had already spoken of his Passion, which he was about to suffer in Jerusalem, as a “Baptism” with which he had to be baptized.²² The blood and water that flowed from the pierced side of the crucified Jesus are types of Baptism and the Eucharist, the sacraments of new life.²³ From then on, it is possible “to be born of water and the Spirit”²⁴ in order to enter the Kingdom of God.

See where you are baptized, see where Baptism comes from, if not from the cross of Christ, from his death. There is the whole mystery: he died for you. In him you are redeemed, in him you are saved.²⁵

Baptism in the Church

1226 From the very day of Pentecost the Church has celebrated and administered holy Baptism. Indeed St. Peter declares to the crowd astounded by his preaching: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”²⁶ The apostles and their collaborators offer Baptism to anyone who believed in Jesus: Jews, the God-fearing, pagans.²⁷ Always, Baptism is seen as connected with faith: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household,” St. Paul declared to his jailer in Philippi. and the narrative continues, the jailer “was baptized at once, with all his family.”²⁸

1227 According to the Apostle Paul, the believer enters through Baptism into communion with Christ’s death, is buried with him, and rises with him:

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.²⁹

The baptized have “put on Christ.”³⁰ Through the Holy Spirit, Baptism is a bath that purifies, justifies, and sanctifies.³¹

1228 Hence Baptism is a bath of water in which the “imperishable seed” of the Word of God produces its life-giving effect.³² St. Augustine says of Baptism: “The word is brought to the material element, and it becomes a sacrament.”³³

III. How is the Sacrament of Baptism Celebrated?

https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_two/section_two/chapter_one/article_1/iii_how_is_the_sacrament_of_baptism_celebrated.html

Christian Initiation

1229 From the time of the apostles, becoming a Christian has been accomplished by a journey and initiation in several stages. This journey can be covered rapidly or slowly, but certain essential elements will always have to be present: proclamation of the Word, acceptance of the Gospel entailing conversion, profession of faith, Baptism itself, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and admission to Eucharistic communion.

1230 This initiation has varied greatly through the centuries according to circumstances. In the first centuries of the Church, Christian initiation saw considerable development. A long period of catechumenate included a series of preparatory rites, which were liturgical landmarks along the path of catechumenal preparation and culminated in the celebration of the sacraments of Christian initiation.

1231 Where infant Baptism has become the form in which this sacrament is usually celebrated, it has become a single act encapsulating the preparatory stages of Christian initiation in a very abridged way. By its very nature infant Baptism requires a post-baptismal catechumenate. Not only is there a need for instruction after Baptism, but also for the necessary flowering of baptismal grace in personal growth. the catechism has its proper place here.

1232 The second Vatican Council restored for the Latin Church “the catechumenate for adults, comprising several distinct steps.”³⁴ The rites for these stages are to be found in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA).³⁵ The Council also gives permission that: “In mission countries, in addition to what is furnished by the Christian tradition, those elements of initiation rites may be admitted which are already in use among some peoples insofar as they can be adapted to the Christian ritual.”³⁶

1233 Today in all the rites, Latin and Eastern, the Christian initiation of adults begins with their entry into the catechumenate and reaches its culmination in a single celebration of the three sacraments of initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist.³⁷ In the Eastern rites the Christian initiation of infants also begins with Baptism followed immediately by Confirmation and the Eucharist, while in the Roman rite it is followed by years of catechesis before being completed later by Confirmation and the Eucharist, the summit of their Christian initiation.³⁸

The mystagogy of the celebration

1234 The meaning and grace of the sacrament of Baptism are clearly seen in the rites of its celebration. By following the gestures and words of this celebration with attentive participation, the faithful are initiated into the riches this sacrament signifies and actually brings about in each newly baptized person.

1235 The sign of the cross, on the threshold of the celebration, marks with the imprint of Christ the one who is going to belong to him and signifies the grace of the redemption Christ won for us by his cross.

1236 The proclamation of the Word of God enlightens the candidates and the assembly with the revealed truth and elicits the response of faith, which is inseparable from Baptism. Indeed Baptism is “the sacrament of faith” in a particular way, since it is the sacramental entry into the life of faith.

1237 Since Baptism signifies liberation from sin and from its instigator the devil, one or more exorcisms are pronounced over the candidate. the celebrant then anoints him with the oil of catechumens, or lays his hands on him, and he explicitly renounces Satan. Thus prepared, he is able to confess the faith of the Church, to which he will be “entrusted” by Baptism.³⁹

1238 The baptismal water is consecrated by a prayer of epiclesis (either at this moment or at the Easter Vigil). the Church asks God that through his Son the power of the Holy Spirit may be sent upon the water, so that those who will be baptized in it may be “born of water and the Spirit.”⁴⁰

1239 The essential rite of the sacrament follows: Baptism properly speaking. It signifies and actually brings about death to sin and entry into the life of the Most Holy Trinity through configuration to the Paschal mystery of Christ. Baptism is performed in the most expressive way by triple immersion in the baptismal water. However, from ancient times it has also been able to be conferred by pouring the water three times over the candidate’s head.

1240 In the Latin Church this triple infusion is accompanied by the minister’s words: “N., I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” In the Eastern liturgies the catechumen turns toward the East and the priest says: “The servant of God, N., is baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” At the invocation of each person of the Most Holy Trinity, the priest immerses the candidate in the water and raises him up again.

1241 The anointing with sacred chrism, perfumed oil consecrated by the bishop, signifies the gift of the Holy Spirit to the newly baptized, who has become a Christian, that is, one “anointed” by the Holy Spirit, incorporated into Christ who is anointed priest, prophet, and king.⁴¹

1242 In the liturgy of the Eastern Churches, the post-baptismal anointing is the sacrament of Chrismation (Confirmation). In the Roman liturgy the post-baptismal anointing announces a second anointing with sacred chrism to be conferred later by the bishop Confirmation, which will as it were “confirm” and complete the baptismal anointing.

1243 The white garment symbolizes that the person baptized has “put on Christ,”⁴² has risen with Christ. the candle, lit from the Easter candle, signifies that Christ has enlightened the neophyte. In him the baptized are “the light of the world.”⁴³ The newly baptized is now, in the only Son, a child of God entitled to say the prayer of the children of God: “Our Father.”

1244 First Holy Communion. Having become a child of God clothed with the wedding garment, the neophyte is admitted “to the marriage supper of the Lamb”⁴⁴ and receives the food of the new life, the body and blood of Christ. the Eastern Churches maintain a lively awareness of the unity of Christian initiation by giving Holy Communion to all the newly baptized and confirmed, even little children, recalling the Lord’s words: “Let the children come to me, do not hinder them.”⁴⁵ The Latin Church, which reserves admission to Holy Communion to those who have attained the age of reason, expresses the orientation of Baptism to the Eucharist by having the newly baptized child brought to the altar for the praying of the Our Father.

1245 The solemn blessing concludes the celebration of Baptism. At the Baptism of newborns the blessing of the mother occupies a special place.

IV. Who can Receive Baptism?

https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_two/section_two/chapter_one/article_1/iv_who_can_receive_baptism.html

1246 “Every person not yet baptized and only such a person is able to be baptized.”⁴⁶

The Baptism of adults

1247 Since the beginning of the Church, adult Baptism is the common practice where the proclamation of the Gospel is still new. the catechumenate (preparation for Baptism) therefore occupies an important place. This initiation into Christian faith and life should dispose the catechumen to receive the gift of God in Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist.

1248 The catechumenate, or formation of catechumens, aims at bringing their conversion and faith to maturity, in response to the divine initiative and in union with an ecclesial community. the catechumenate is to be “a formation in the whole Christian life . . . during which the disciples will be joined to Christ their teacher. the catechumens should be properly initiated into the mystery of salvation and the practice of the evangelical virtues, and they should be introduced into the life of faith, liturgy, and charity of the People of God by successive sacred rites.”⁴⁷

1249 Catechumens “are already joined to the Church, they are already of the household of Christ, and are quite frequently already living a life of faith, hope, and charity.”⁴⁸ “With love and solicitude mother Church already embraces them as her own.”⁴⁹

The Baptism of infants

1250 Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by original sin, children also have need of the new birth in Baptism to be freed from the power of darkness and brought into the realm of the freedom of the children of God, to which all men are called.⁵⁰ The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant Baptism. the Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth.⁵¹

1251 Christian parents will recognize that this practice also accords with their role as nurturers of the life that God has entrusted to them.⁵²

1252 The practice of infant Baptism is an immemorial tradition of the Church. There is explicit testimony to this practice from the second century on, and it is quite possible that, from the beginning of the apostolic preaching, when whole “households” received baptism, infants may also have been baptized.⁵³

Faith and Baptism

1253 Baptism is the sacrament of faith.⁵⁴ But faith needs the community of believers. It is only within the faith of the Church that each of the faithful can believe. the faith required for Baptism is not a perfect and mature faith, but a beginning that is called to develop. the catechumen or the godparent is asked: “What do you ask of God’s Church?” the response is: “Faith!”

1254 For all the baptized, children or adults, faith must grow after Baptism. For this reason the Church celebrates each year at the Easter Vigil the renewal of baptismal promises. Preparation for Baptism leads only to the threshold of new life. Baptism is the source of that new life in Christ from which the entire Christian life springs forth.

1255 For the grace of Baptism to unfold, the parents’ help is important. So too is the role of the godfather and godmother, who must be firm believers, able and ready to help the newly baptized – child or adult on the road of Christian life.⁵⁵ Their task is a truly ecclesial function (officium).⁵⁶ The whole ecclesial community bears some responsibility for the development and safeguarding of the grace given at Baptism.

VI. The Necessity of Baptism

https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_two/section_two/chapter_one/article_1/vi_the_necessity_of_baptism.html

1257 The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation.⁵⁹ He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them.⁶⁰ Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament.⁶¹ The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are “reborn of water and the Spirit.” God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.

1258 The Church has always held the firm conviction that those who suffer death for the sake of the faith without having received Baptism are baptized by their death for and with Christ. This Baptism of blood, like the desire for Baptism, brings about the fruits of Baptism without being a sacrament.

1259 For catechumens who die before their Baptism, their explicit desire to receive it, together with repentance for their sins, and charity, assures them the salvation that they were not able to receive through the sacrament.

1260 “Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery.”⁶² Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity.

1261 As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus’ tenderness toward children which caused him to say: “Let the children come to me, do not hinder them,”⁶³ allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Church’s call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism.

Baptism Arrangement – CHECK: Jehovah’s witnesses versus Bible

https://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/baptism.php

Jesus commanded to baptise in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Over time, Watchtower has changed the question asked prior to immersion, replacing “holy spirit” with “spirit-directed organization,” and then removing reference to the “holy spirit” altogether. Scriptural precedence is ignored in order to elevate the Watchtower organization.

Bible	Watchtower
Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the holy spirit”.	(1) “Have you repented of your sins, dedicated yourself to Jehovah, and accepted his way of salvation through Jesus Christ?” (2) “Do you understand that your baptism identifies you as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in association with Jehovah’s organization?”

At Matthew 28:19, Jesus outlined a simple yet powerful baptismal process. It was to be “in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the holy spirit”. He made no mention of affiliation with any earthly organization. Whilst the Watchtower baptism arrangement originally followed the requirements set by Jesus, it has gradually deviated from his guidelines.

From a sermon by Saint Caesarius of Arles, bishop (d. AD 542)

(Sermo 229, 1-3: CCL 104, 905-908)

We have all been made temples of God through baptism

My fellow Christians, today is the birthday of this church, an occasion for celebration and rejoicing. We, however, ought to be the true and living temple of God.

Nevertheless, Christians rightly commemorate this feast of the church, their mother, for they know that through her they were reborn in the spirit. At our first birth, we were vessels of God’s wrath; reborn, we became vessels of his mercy. Our first birth brought death to us, but our second restored us to life.

Indeed, before our baptism we were sanctuaries of the devil; but after our baptism we merited the privilege of being temples of Christ. And if we think more carefully about the meaning of our salvation, we shall realize that we are indeed living and true temples of God. God does not dwell only in structures fashioned by human hands, in homes of wood and stone, but rather he dwells principally in the soul made according to his own image and fashioned by his own hand. Therefore, the apostle Paul says: The temple of God is holy, and you are that temple.

When Christ came, he banished the devil from our hearts, in order to build in them a temple for himself. Let us therefore do what we can with his help, so that our evil deeds will not deface that temple. For whoever does evil, does injury to Christ. As I said earlier, before Christ redeemed us, we were the house of the devil, but afterward, we merited the privilege of being the house of God. God himself in his loving mercy saw fit to make of us his own home.

My fellow Christians, do we wish to celebrate joyfully the birth of this temple? Then let us not destroy the living temples of God in ourselves by works of evil. I shall speak clearly, so that all can understand. Whenever we come to church, we must prepare our hearts to be as beautiful as we expect this church to be. Do you wish to find this basilica immaculately clean? Then do not soil your soul with the filth of sins. Do you wish this basilica to be full of light? God too wishes that your soul be not in darkness, but that the light of good works shine in us, so that he who dwells in the heavens will be glorified.

Just as you enter this church building, so God wishes to enter into your soul, for he promised: I shall live in them, and I shall walk the corridors of their hearts.

Office of Readings Wed. of 31 st week Ordinary Time

What is required for a baptism to be valid – Minute 1h38′

Why babies are baptized? – Minute 1h41′

Not a child of God until you are baptized

IN BAPTISM THE HOLY SPIRIT DWELLS IN US

MINUTE 1H02′

THE THREE BAPTISMS : WATER, BLOOD, DESIRE

PART OF THE CHURCH BY BAPTISM, BLOOD OR DESIRE

Minute 20:25

WHAT IS THE CHURCH? BAPTISM BY WATER, DESIRE OR BLOOD

ANY BAPTISM DONE NOT IN THE NAME OF THE PERSONS OF THE HOLY TRINITY IS INVALID

OUR BAPTISM GIVES US WHAT WE NEED TO BE SAINTS

Arian, Jehovah’s Witnesses Baptisms Invalid

https://www.catholic.com/qa/arian-jehovahs-witnesses-baptisms-invalid

ANY BAPTISM DONE NOT IN THE NAME OF THE PERSONS OF THE HOLY TRINITY IS INVALID

WHAT ARE THE 3 BAPTISMS

Baptism and Confirmation (Aquinas 101)

Why Can’t You Be Baptized More Than Once? Baptism and Sacramental Character (Aquinas 101)

Where is Baptism in the Bible? The Origins of Baptism (Aquinas 101)

What is the Sacrament of Baptism? (Aquinas 101)

How Baptism Changes You: The Effects of Baptism (Aquinas 101)

Why Baptize With Water? Explaining the Rite of Baptism (Aquinas 101)

The Trinity and Baptism: Why it Matters What You Say (Aquinas 101)

Do You Need to Be Baptized to Be Saved? (Aquinas 101)

THE 3 INFUSED VIRTUES AT BAPTISM

Fr. Joseph Iannuzzi: How the Holy Trinity Operated in Adam and Eve before Original Sin and how He operates in us at baptism

September 5, 2025

SIN

STUDY OF OFFICIAL CATECHISM REFERENCE BOOK OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

I. Mercy and Sin

https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_three/section_one/chapter_one/article_8.html

1846 The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God’s mercy to sinners.¹¹³ The angel announced to Joseph: “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”¹¹⁴ The same is true of the Eucharist, the sacrament of redemption: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”¹¹⁵

1847 “God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without us.”¹¹⁶ To receive his mercy, we must admit our faults. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”¹¹⁷

1848 As St. Paul affirms, “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”¹¹⁸ But to do its work grace must uncover sin so as to convert our hearts and bestow on us “righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ ourLord.”¹¹⁹ Like a physician who probes the wound before treating it, God, by his Word and by his Spirit, casts a living light on sin:

Conversion requires convincing of sin; it includes the interior judgment of conscience, and this, being a proof of the action of the Spirit of truth in man’s inmost being, becomes at the same time the start of a new grant of grace and love: “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Thus in this “convincing concerning sin” we discover a double gift: the gift of the truth of conscience and the gift of the certainty of redemption. the Spirit of truth is the Consoler.¹²⁰

II. The Definition of Sin

https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM

1849 Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as “an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law.”121

1850 Sin is an offense against God: “Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight.”122 Sin sets itself against God’s love for us and turns our hearts away from it. Like the first sin, it is disobedience, a revolt against God through the will to become “like gods,”123 knowing and determining good and evil. Sin is thus “love of oneself even to contempt of God.”124 In this proud self-exaltation, sin is diametrically opposed to the obedience of Jesus, which achieves our salvation.125

1851 It is precisely in the Passion, when the mercy of Christ is about to vanquish it, that sin most clearly manifests its violence and its many forms: unbelief, murderous hatred, shunning and mockery by the leaders and the people, Pilate’s cowardice and the cruelty of the soldiers, Judas’ betrayal – so bitter to Jesus, Peter’s denial and the disciples’ flight. However, at the very hour of darkness, the hour of the prince of this world,126 The sacrifice of Christ secretly becomes the source from which the forgiveness of our sins will pour forth inexhaustibly.

III. The Different Kinds of Sins

https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_three/section_one/chapter_one/article_8/iii_the_different_kinds_of_sins.html

1852 There are a great many kinds of sins. Scripture provides several lists of them. the Letter to the Galatians contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit: “Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.”¹²⁷

1853 Sins can be distinguished according to their objects, as can every human act; or according to the virtues they oppose, by excess or defect; or according to the commandments they violate. They can also be classed according to whether they concern God, neighbor, or oneself; they can be divided into spiritual and carnal sins, or again as sins in thought, word, deed, or omission. the root of sin is in the heart of man, in his free will, according to the teaching of the Lord: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man.”¹²⁸ But in the heart also resides charity, the source of the good and pure works, which sin wounds.

IV. The Gravity of Sin: Mortal and Venial Sin

https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_three/section_one/chapter_one/article_8/iv_the_gravity_of_sin_mortal_and_venial_sin.html#:~:text=

1854 Sins are rightly evaluated according to their gravity. the distinction between mortal and venial sin, already evident in Scripture,¹²⁹ became part of the tradition of the Church. It is corroborated by human experience.

1855 Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God’s law; it turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him. Venial sin allows charity to subsist, even though it offends and wounds it.

1856 Mortal sin, by attacking the vital principle within us – that is, charity – necessitates a new initiative of God’s mercy and a conversion of heart which is normally accomplished within the setting of the sacrament of reconciliation:

When the will sets itself upon something that is of its nature incompatible with the charity that orients man toward his ultimate end, then the sin is mortal by its very object . . . whether it contradicts the love of God, such as blasphemy or perjury, or the love of neighbor, such as homicide or adultery…. But when the sinner’s will is set upon something that of its nature involves a disorder, but is not opposed to the love of God and neighbor, such as thoughtless chatter or immoderate laughter and the like, such sins are venial.¹³⁰

1857 For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: “Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.”¹³¹

1858 Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments, corresponding to the answer of Jesus to the rich young man: “Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother.”¹³² The gravity of sins is more or less great: murder is graver than theft. One must also take into account who is wronged: violence against parents is in itself graver than violence against a stranger.

1859 Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God’s law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice. Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart¹³³ do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin.

1860 Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave offense. But no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man. the promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders. Sin committed through malice, by deliberate choice of evil, is the gravest.

1861 Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God’s forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ’s kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back. However, although we can judge that an act is in itself a grave offense, we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God.

1862 One commits venial sin when, in a less serious matter, he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law, or when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter, but without full knowledge or without complete consent.

1863 Venial sin weakens charity; it manifests a disordered affection for created goods; it impedes the soul’s progress in the exercise of the virtues and the practice of the moral good; it merits temporal punishment. Deliberate and unrepented venial sin disposes us little by little to commit mortal sin. However venial sin does not set us in direct opposition to the will and friendship of God; it does not break the covenant with God. With God’s grace it is humanly reparable. “Venial sin does not deprive the sinner of sanctifying grace, friendship with God, charity, and consequently eternal happiness.”¹³⁴

While he is in the flesh, man cannot help but have at least some light sins. But do not despise these sins which we call “light”: if you take them for light when you weigh them, tremble when you count them. A number of light objects makes a great mass; a number of drops fills a river; a number of grains makes a heap. What then is our hope? Above all, confession.¹³⁵

1864 “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.”¹³⁶ There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit.¹³⁷ Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.

Original Sin (Aquinas 101)

What is sin? Feeling Broken? How to Find True Happiness | Fr. Mike Schmitz | SEEK25

What’s the Difference Between Mortal and Venial Sins? (Aquinas 101)

Mortal vs Venial Sin | What’s the Difference?

Do We Really Inherit Original Sin from Adam and Eve? (Aquinas 101)

Bishop Barron on Original Sin

Why Confess Your Sins to a Priest? (Aquinas 101)

Cardinal Arinze clearly explains Mortal Sin

Mortal vs. Venial Sin

WHAT REALLY HAPPENS WHEN WE SIN – MINUTE 9’44

DIFFERENT PARTS OF SIN

LOS 3 PECADOS – EJERCICIOS ESPIRITUALES DE SAN IGNACIO DE LOYOLA

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/giuXxbQchqg 

AUDIO: https://soundcloud.com/ejerciciosive/comprender-el-pecado-para-ordenar-nuestra-vida-segun-dios-p-andres-torres-ee-2025/s-VJ3R28sklaa 

TEXTO: https://ejerciciosespirituales.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/2025_Andres-Torres_Tres-pecados.pdf

The Seven Deadly Sins and how to overcome them in your life

https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/the-seven-deadly-sins

¿Cuál es el pecado contra el Espíritu Santo? MAT 12:32

https://es.catholic.net/op/articulos/63628/cat/13/cual-es-el-pecado-contra-el-espiritu-santo.html

CONFESS MORTAL SIN AS FAST AS YOU CAN

DIFFERENT PARTS OF SIN

Sins of the father?

https://www.catholic.com/qa/sins-of-the-father

September 4, 2025

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The Biggest Heresy You Rarely Hear About

Where Does the Bible Teach That the Holy Spirit is God?

The heresy of Pneumatomachi

The 21 Ecumenical Councils

Pneumatomachianism Refuted: Defending the Divinity of the Holy Ghost

Pneumatomachi

Holy Ghost – The Third Person of the Holy Trinity

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed Explained

Understanding the Holy Spirit – BISHOP BARRON

The Holy Spirit is a person, it’s not an impersonal force. It is The Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity.

DEFINITION OF A “PERSON”

Person

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

I. “IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT”

Explaining the Faith – Why God Became Man: The Meaning of the Incarnation

God’s Mercy in the Mystery of the Incarnation

ABSOLUTE MUST SEE: We bow at the line of the Creed about the Incarnation because Heaven touches the earth. Minute 29′

GOD’S PLAN A WAS ALWAYS TO COME DOWN TO RAISE MANKIND TO HIS DIVINITY

Incarnation – Treatment of the doctrine

OFFICIAL CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH : He Was Conceived By The Power Of The Holy Spirit, And Was Born Of The Virgin Mary

Incarnationis Mysterium – BULL OF INDICTION OF THE GREAT JUBILEE OF THE YEAR 2000

JESUS CHRIST – TRUE GOD AND TRUE MAN

You Too Are Christ: The Ongoing Incarnation, Then and Now

How the Incarnation Made Your World Possible

The Incarnation of God

How the Incarnation Reveals God’s Love

How Exactly Did Jesus Take on a Body?

If God Became Man, Didn’t God Change?

The Incarnation: A Revolution for the Ancient World

OFFICIAL CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH – Article 3 The Sacrament Of The Eucharist

The Importance of Holy Communion – Explaining the Faith

Understanding the Sacraments: A New Summary! (Part 1 of 2)

Part 2 of 2: Understanding the Sacraments. A New Summary

The Eucharist In Scripture – Explaining the Faith

Communion: Hand or Tongue? Allowed or Sacrilege? – Explaining the Faith

Can Someone Be Denied Holy Communion?

Why We Have to Attend Mass and Receive Communion in a State of Grace

Is Holy Communion a Right?

COMMUNION: Catholic priest explains: Someone goes to communion and receives only the bread, but not the wine?

Spiritual Communion

What Happens When You Eat the Body of Christ? (Aquinas 101)

El «síndrome de Chesterton»

Where Was Jesus Between Resurrection and Ascension?

CATHOLIC BIBLE TRANSLATION AND NOTE

MUST READ THE 3 DIMENSIONS OF GOD’S KINGDOM: What is the Kingdom of God?

Kingdom of God

GOD’S KINGDOM WITH JESUS REIGNING INSIDE OUR HEARTS IS THE ONLY WAY TO BRING PEACE

SAINT LOUIS MARIA GRIGNON DE MONTFORT

“IF YOU DO NOT BELONG TO THE KINGDOM THAT GOD JESUS INSTITUTED WHEN HE CAME ON EARTH, YOU BELONG TO THE KINGDOM OF THE DEVIL” – EXORCIST FATHER MARTIN – Minute 10’10

The Christological Dimension when speaking BEFORE THE INTRODUCTION OF EUCHARIST and addressing NON-BELIEVERS: “The Kingdom of Heaven Is Within You”

PRAYER FOR THE DEAD

PRAY FOR SOULS IN PURGATORY AND THEY WILL REPAY YOU IN HEAVEN

Praying for the Dead

Prayers for the Dead

Praying to Dead Folks

Praying for the Dead

Why do Catholics pray for the dead? — and other questions about purgatory answered

Understanding the Mass as Biblical: A Walk-Thru (Part 1) – Explaining the Faith

Understanding the Mass: A Walk-Thru (Part 2) – Explaining the Faith

¿La MISA es un SACRIFICIO? | El Memorial que no conocías | TEOLOGIA PARA LAICOS | CURSO DE TEOLOGIA

MISA EXPLICADA POR PADRE PIO

Dr. Scott Hahn | The Bible and the Sacrifice of the Mass | Franciscan University of Steubenville

Explicación de las partes de la Misa con imágenes

How to Prepare for Mass & Holy Communion | Before, During & After ~ Fr. Ripperger

Aprende a acolitar en unos minutos a través de este video y anímate a colaborar en tu parroquia.

Liturgy and Sacrifice: Understanding the Mass’ True Meaning ~ Fr. Ripperger

A Protestant walks into a Catholic Mass… and everything changes.

The Sacrifice of the Mass (Aquinas 101)

Fulton Sheen: The Deep Sacrifice of the Mass Explained

LATIN MASS / NOVUS ORDO MASS / ST JAMES RITE

THE LITURGY OF THE MASS REFLECTED IN ST. JOHN’S VISION OF DIVINE WORSHIP IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION

What makes a consecration valid – EX OPERE OPERATO – MINUTE 7″ 35

The first miracle of Jesus was turning water into wine, his last on earth was to turn wine into blood – What Really Happened at Cana and Why It Matters: Explaining the Faith with Fr. Chris Alar

EX OPERE OPERANTIS – THE GRACE OF MASS DEPENDS ON THE RECIPIENT – MINUTE 9’43

LES OBJETS LITURGIQUES

LES PARTIES DE LA MESSE

La messe expliquée

LES ORNEMENTS DU PRÊTRE

LA FORMATION DES SERVANTS ET SERVANTES