Posted on 12/13/2002 1:39:13 PM PST by ex-snook
A
OF
PREPARED AND ENJOINED
BY ORDER OF THE
THIRD PLENARY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE
(1884)
No. 3
Known also as "Baltimore Catechism No.3"
Contains 1,400 Precise and Concise Questions & Answers
on Truths We Must Believe and Things We Must Do to Serve God.
CHM Layout © 2002 by CDIA Associates
Q. 126. What do we mean by the "end of man"?
A. By the "end of man" we mean the purpose for which he was created: namely, to know, love, and serve God.
Q. 127. How do you know that man was created for God alone?
A. I know that man was created for God alone because everything in the world was created for something more perfect than itself: but there is nothing in the world more perfect than man; therefore, he was created for something outside this world, and since he was not created for the Angels, he must have been created for God.
Q. 128. In what respect are all men equal?
A. All men are equal in whatever is necessary for their nature and end. They are all composed of a body and soul; they are all created to the image and likeness of God; they are all gifted with understanding and free will; and they have all been created for the same end - God.
Q. 129. Do not men differ in many things?
A. Men differ in many things, such as learning, wealth, power, etc.; but these things belong to the world and not man's nature. He came into this world without them and he will leave it without them. Only the consequences of good or evil done in this world will accompany men to the next.
Q. 130. Who made the world?
A. God made the world.
Q. 131. What does "world" mean in this question?
A. In this question "world" means the universe; that is, the whole creation; all that we now see or may hereafter see.
Q. 132. Who is God?
A. God is the Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things.
Q. 133. What is man?
A. Man is a creature composed of body and soul, and made to the image and likeness of God.
Q. 134. Does "man" in the Catechism mean all human beings?
A. "Man" in the Catechism means all human beings, either men or women, boys, girls, or children.
Q. 135. What is a creature?
A. A creature is anything created, whether it has life or not; body or no body. Every being, person, or thing except God Himself may be called a creature.
Q. 136. Is this likeness in the body or in the soul?
A. This likeness is chiefly in the soul.
Q. 137. How is the soul like to God?
A. The soul is like to God because it is a spirit that will never die, and has understanding and free will.
Q. 138. Is every invisible thing a spirit?
A. Every spirit is invisible - which means can not be seen; but every invisible thing is not a spirit. The wind is invisible, and it is not a spirit.
Q. 139. Has a spirit any other quality?
A. A spirit is also indivisible; that is, it can not be divided into parts, as we divide material things.
Q. 140. What do the words "will never die" mean?
A. By the words "will never die" we mean that the soul, when once created, will never cease to exist, whatever be its condition in the next world. Hence we say the soul is immortal or gifted with immortality.
Q. 141. Why then do we say a soul is dead while in a state of mortal sin?
A. We say a soul is dead while in a state of mortal sin, because in that state it is as helpless as a dead body, and can merit nothing for itself.
Q. 142. What does our "understanding" mean?
A. Our "understanding" means the "gift of reason," by which man is distinguished from all other animals, and by which he is enabled to think and thus acquire knowledge and regulate his actions.
Q. 143. Can we learn all truths by our reason alone?
A. We can not learn all truths by our reason alone, for some truths are beyond the power of our reason and must be taught to us by God.
Q. 144. What do we call the truths God teaches us?
A. Taken together, we call the truths God teaches us revelation, and we call the manner by which He teaches them also revelation.
Q. 145. What is "Free Will"?
A. "Free Will" is that gift of God by which we are enabled to choose between one thing and another; and to do good or evil in spite of reward or punishment.
Q. 146. Have brute animals "understanding" and "free will"?
A. Brute animals have not "understanding" and "free will." They have not "understanding" because they never change their habits or better their condition. They have not "free will" because they never show it in their actions.
Q. 147. What gift in animals supplies the place of reason?
A. In animals the gift of "instinct" supplies the place of reason in guiding their actions.
Q. 148. What is instinct?
A. "Instinct" is a gift by which all animals are impelled to follow the laws and habits that God has given to their nature.
Q. 149. Have men as well as brutes "instinct"?
A. Men have "instinct," and they show it when placed in sudden danger, when they have not time to use their reason. A falling man instantly grasps for something to support him.
Q. 150. Why did God make you?
A. God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.
Q. 151. Why is it necessary to know God?
A. It is necessary to know God because without knowing Him we cannot love Him; and without loving Him we cannot be saved. We should know Him because He is infinitely true; love Him because He is infinitely beautiful; and serve Him because He is infinitely good.
Q. 152. Of which must we take more care, our soul or our body?
A. We must take more care of our soul than of our body.
Q. 153. Why must we take more care of our soul than of our body?
A. We must take more care of our soul than of our body, because in losing our soul we lose God and everlasting happiness.
Q. 154. What must we do to save our souls?
A. To save our souls, we must worship God by faith, hope, and charity; that is, we must believe in Him, hope in Him, and love Him with all our heart.
Q. 155. What does "worship" mean?
A. "Worship" means to give divine honor by acts such as the offering of prayer or sacrifice.
Q. 156. How shall we know the things which we are to believe?
A. We shall know the things which we are to believe from the Catholic Church, through which God speaks to us.
Q. 157. What do we mean by the "Church, through which God speaks to us"?
A. By the "Church, through which God speaks to us," we mean the "teaching Church"; that is, the Pope, Bishops, and priests, whose duty it is to instruct us in the truths and practices of our religion.
Q. 158. Where shall we find the chief truths which the Church teaches?
A. We shall find the chief truths which the Church teaches in the Apostles' Creed.
Q. 159. If we shall find only the "chief truths" in the Apostles' Creed, where shall we find the remaining truths?
A. We shall find the remaining truths of our Faith in the religious writings and preachings that have been sanctioned by the authority of the Church.
Q. 160. Name some sacred truths not mentioned in the Apostles' Creed.
A. In the Apostles' Creed there is no mention of the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist, nor of the Infallibility of the Pope, nor of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, nor of some other truths that we are bound to believe.
Q. 161. Say the Apostles' Creed.
A. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified; died, and was buried. He descended into hell: the third day He arose again from the dead: He ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty: from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Oh, my, yes! This is woefully out of date! No phenomenological existentialism at all!
Q. 186. How many persons are there in God?
A. In God there are three Divine persons, really distinct, and equal in all things -the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Q. 187. What do "divine" and "distinct" mean?
A. "Divine" means pertaining to God, and "distinct" means separate; that is, not confounded or mixed with any other thing.
It is heretical to teach that the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity are separate.
"Distinct" does not mean "separate." A and B are distinct if A is not B. A and B are separate if A exists independently of B.
The Three Persons of the Holy Trinity are distinct, but they are not separate.
I hope they didn't mean to imply that God is other than 'One'.
1499-1532 deal with the Annointing of the Sick. Were you addressing a person's last days with your post? Maybe I'm confused.
I was posting just the Q&A at the start of the Baltimore Catechism for those who might want to see a sample.
By asking anything new, I meant does current writing (Catechism, et al) change any of the 1884 answers which are stated in a shorter, simpler and less scholarly way. Just a question.
A. God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him forever in the next.
Flashback to First Grade! Committed to memory because the good sisters said we would be given a test on this. Back then, class sizes exceeded 50 and the sisters ruled with tough love and the Jesuit system of rote. We learned! Would that we could restore this process today.
Amen. However, today the world thinks complicated is better. Somehow I wonder what the good Sisters have been using for the past dozens of years because it does not seem "we are passing on what was given to us." Merry Christmas.
Council of Toledo (675): And we profess that the Father is not born, not created, but unbegotten. For He Himself, from whom the Son has received His birth and the Holy Spirit His procession, has His origin in no one. He is therefore the source and origin of the whole Godhead.... We also confess that the Son was born, but not made, from the substance of the Father, without beginning, before all ages, for at no time did the Father exist without the Son, nor the Son without the Father.... We also believe that the Holy Spirit, the third Person in the Trinity, is God, one and equal with God the Father and God the Son, of one substance and of one nature, not, however, begotten nor created but proceeding from both, and that He is the Spirit of both. Nor can it properly be said that in the one God there is the Trinity, but the one God is the Trinity. In the relative 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. Although we profess three Persons, we do not profess three substances, but one substance and three Persons.
Therefore we say that the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God, each one distinctly; yet there are not three gods, but one God. Theirs is one, undivided and equal deity.... Hence we confess and believe that each Person distinctly is fully God, and the three Persons together are one God. Theirs is one, undivided and equal Godhead.... For we distinguish the Persons, but do not divide the Godhead. Hence, we recognize the Trinity in the distinction of Persons and we profess the unity on account of the nature or substance. Thus, the three are one as a nature, not as person. Nevertheless these three Persons are not to be considered separable since, according to our beliefs, none of them ever existed or acted before another, after another, without another. For they are inseparable both in what they are and in what they do.... For this reason we profess and believe that this Trinity is not separable but is distinct.... Therefore, neither do we confuse these three Persons whose nature is one and inseparable, nor do we preach that they are in any way separable.... While then these Three are One and this One Three, each of the Persons retains His own characteristics: the Father has eternity without birth; the Son has eternity with birth; the Holy Spirit has procession without birth from eternity.
All separate things are distinct, but not all distinct things are separate. My voice has tone and volume. Get it?
Not every version of the Baltimore Catechism has this problem. This version does. Whoever wrote this answer for this version was using poor language, and unintentionally teaches error.
The good sisters were "liberated" by Vatican II. Just up the road from where I live is the Provincial House of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. Our pastor is also responsible for ministering to them. After a heated discussion on the (in)validity of Liturgical Dance, he (in full support of it) advised me that the sisters enjoy dancing at the Liturgy. No wonder their ranks are shrinking. May God have mercy on their souls.
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