To gain the happiness of
heaven we must know, love, and serve God in this world. Man
must know, love and serve God in a supernatural manner in
order to gain happiness of heaven. Man is raised to the
supernatural order only by grace, a free gift of God.
We learn to know, love, and serve God from Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, who teaches us through the Catholic Church.
In order to be saved, all persons who have attained the use
of reason must believe explicitly that God exist and that he
rewards the good and punishes the wicked; in practice they
must also believe in the mysteries of the Blessed Trinity
and the Incarnation.
By the Blessed Trinity we mean one and the same God in three
divine persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
By the Incarnation is meant that the Son of God, retaining
His divine nature, took to Himself a human nature, that is,
a body and soul like ours.
The Church is the congregation of all baptized persons
united in the same true faith, the same sacrifice, and the
same sacraments, under the authority of the Sovereign
Pontiff and the bishops in communion with him.
We find the chief truths taught by Jesus Christ through the
Catholic Church in the Apostles' Creed.
The Commandments
Besides believing what God has revealed, we must keep His
law. The Two Great Commandments
Two Great Commandments that contain the whole law of God
are:
- You shall love the
Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole
soul, and with your whole mind, and with your whole
strength; you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
- To love God, our
neighbor, and ourselves, we must keep the commandments
of God and of the Church, and perform the spiritual and
corporal works of mercy.
The Ten Commandments of
God
- I am the Lord your
God; you shall not have strange gods before me.
- You shall not take the
name of the Lord your God in vain.
- Remember to keep holy
the Lord's day.
- Honor your father and
your mother.
- You shall not kill.
- You shall not commit
adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not bear
false witness against your neighbor.
- You shall not covet
your neighbor's wife.
- You shall not covet
you neighbor's goods.
The Chief Commandments
or Laws, of the Church
- To assist at Mass on
all Sundays and holy days of obligation.
- To fast and abstain on
the days appointed.
- To confess our sins at
least once a year.
- To receive Holy
Communion during the Easter time.
- To contribute to the
support of the Church.
- To observe the laws of
the Church concerning marriage.
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