The seven Spiritual Works of Mercy are: Counsel the doubtful, instruct the ignorant, admonish sinners, comfort the afflicted, forgive offenses, bear wrongs patiently, and prray for the living and the dead.

The seven Corporal Works of Mercy are: Feed the hungry; give drink to the thirsty; clothe the naked; shelter the homeless; visit the sick; visit the imprisoned; bury the dead.

Vices are the opposite of virtues.  They are perverse habits which darken the conscience, make us more inclined to evil, and are linked to the seven capital sins: pride, avarice, envy, anger, lust, gluttony and sloth.
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 398

Prudence allows us to discern our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it.  It is not to be confused with timidity or fear, nor with duplicity or dissimulation.

Fortitude ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good.  It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life.  It enables us to overcome fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions.

Temperance moderates the attraction of pleasures and provides balance in the use of created goods.  It ensures the will’s mastery over instincts and keeps desires within the limits of what is honorable.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1806-1809, 1835-1838

There are seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, and twelve fruits of the gifts: Charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control and chastity; Galatians 5:22-23.  The fruits of the gifts of the Holy Spirit are perfections formed in us as the first fruits of eternal glory.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1832
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 390

There are seven gifts of the Holy Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.  The gifts of the Holy Spirit are permanent dispositions that complete and perfect the virtues of those who receive them, and help us to follow divine inspirations.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1831
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 389

The altar is the symbol of Christ himself who is present both as sacrificial victim, the altar of the sacrifice, and as food from heaven which is given to us, the table of the Lord.
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 288

Transubstantiation means the change of the whole substance of bread and wine into the substance of the Body and Blood of Christ.  This change is brought about in the Eucharistic prayer through the efficacy of the Word of Christ and by the Action of the Holy Spirit.  However, the outward characteristics of bread and wine remain unaltered.
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 283

The name is important because God knows each of us by name, that is, in our uniqueness as persons.  In Baptism, a Christian receives his or her own name in the Church.  It should preferably be the name of a saint who might offer the baptized a model of sanctity and an assurance of his or her intercession before God.
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 264

Baptism is necessary for salvation for all to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament.
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 261

The Church baptizes infants because they are born with original sin.  They need to be freed from the power of the Evil One and brought into that realm of freedom which belongs to the children of God.  It is a manifestation of the free grace of salvation and accords with the parents’ role as nurturers of the life that God has entrusted to them.  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.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1250
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 258

Hell consists in the eternal damnation of those who die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love through their own free choice. The principal suffering of hell is eternal separation from God in whom alone we can have life and happiness for which we were created and for which we long.  Christ proclaimed this reality with the words, “Depart from me, you cursed, into eternal fire.” Matthew 25:31  We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him.  But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves.  God predestines no one to go to hell; for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1033; 1037

Purgatory is the state of all who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1030

After death, which is the separation of body and soul, the body becomes corrupt while the soul, which is immortal, goes to meet the judgment of God and awaits its reunion with the body when it will rise transformed at the time of the return of the Lord.  From the beginning, Christian faith in the resurrection has met with incomprehension and opposition.  It is very commonly accepted that the life of the human person continues in a spiritual fashion of judgment.  Christ rose from the dead but did not return to an earthly life.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 996-999
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 205

There is a bond between all peoples which comes especially from the common origin and end of the entire human race.  The Catholic Church recognizes that whatever is good or true in other religions comes from God and is a reflection of His truth.  As such it can prepare for the acceptance of the Gospel and act as a stimulus toward the unity of humanity in the Church of Christ.  The Catholic Church recognizes in other religions that search, among shadows and images, for the God who is unknown yet near since he gives life and breath and all things and wants all men to be saved.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 843
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 170

The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims.  They profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 841

The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God’s revelation in the Old Covenant.  The Catholic Church recognizes a particular link with the Jewish people in the fact that God chose them before all others to receive his Word.  To the Jewish people belong “the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, the promises, and the patriarchs; and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 839
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 169

In the churches and ecclesial communities which are separated from full communion with the Catholic Church, many elements of sanctification and truth can be found. All of these blessings come from Christ and lead to Catholic unity.  Members of these churches and communities are incorporated into Christ by Baptism and so we recognize them with respect and affection as brothers and sisters.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 818
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 163

The Immaculate Conception means that Mary was preserved from original sin from the first instant of her conception.  It does not refer to the fact that she was a virgin when Jesus was born.  She remained pure from all personal sin throughout her life.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 508
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 96

The Hebrew name “Jesus” means “God Saves.”  The name expresses both His identity and His mission.  Jesus was both the messenger and the message.
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 81

Original sin, in which all human beings are born, is the state of deprivation or original holiness and justice.  It is a sin “contracted” by us not “committed”; it is a state of birth and not a personal act.  Because of the original unity of all human beings, it is transmitted to the descendants of Adam “not by imitation, but by propagation”.
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 76

The spiritual soul does not come from one’s parents but is created immediately by God and is immortal.  It does not perish at the moment when it is separated from the body in death and it will be once again reunited with the body at the moment of the final resurrection.  In Sacred Scripture the term “soul” often refers to human life or the entire human person.  But “soul” also refers to the innermost aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him, that by which he is most especially in God’s image: “Soul” signifies the spiritual principle in man.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 363
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 70

Ordinary time means ordinal or counting, not common.

The outer garment the priest wears while saying Mass is called a chasuble.

The priest stands at the altar In Persona Christi meaning In the Person of Christ when he offers the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

The angels are purely spiritual creatures, without bodies, invisible, immortal, and personal beings endowed with intelligence and will.  They ceaselessly contemplate God face-to-face and they glorify him.  They serve him and are his messengers in the accomplishment of his saving mission to all.

Angels have been present since creation and throughout the history of salvation, serving the accomplishment of the divine plan: they closed the earthly paradise; protected Lot; saved Hagar and her child; stayed Abraham’s hand; led the people of God, announced births and callings.  From the Incarnation to the Ascension, the service of angels is recorded: they worship at the birth of our Savior; they protect Jesus in his infancy, serve him in the desert, and strengthen him in his agony in the garden.

They will be present at Christ’s return, which they will announce, to serve at his judgment.  In the meantime, the whole life of the Church benefits from the mysterious and powerful help of angels.  From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession.  “Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life.” -- St. Basil
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 331-314
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 60

Faith gives us the certainty that God would not permit evil if he did not cause a good to come from that very evil.  This was realized in a wondrous way by God in the death and resurrection of Christ.  In fact, from the greatest of all moral evils, the murder of His Son, He has brought forth the greatest of all goods, i.e. the glorification of Christ and our redemption.

Angels and men, as intelligent and free creatures, have to journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice and preferential love.  They can, therefore, go astray.  Indeed, they have sinned.  Thus has moral evil, more harmful than physical evil, entered the world.  God is no way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil.  He permits it, however, because he respects the freedom of his creatures and knows how to derive good from it.

In time we can discover that God in his almighty providence can bring a good from consequences of an evil, even a moral evil, caused by his creatures, “It was not you,” said Joseph to his brothers “Who sent me here, but God…You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive.”
Genesis 45:8
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 311-312
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 58

The Church obliges the faithful to participate at Holy Mass every Sunday and on Holy Days of obligation, and prepared by the Sacrament of Reconciliation, to receive the Eucharist at least once a year, if possible at Easter.  The Church strongly encourages the faithful to receive the Holy Eucharist on Sundays and Feast Days, or more often still, daily.

It is considered a mortal sin to miss mass on Sundays or holy days without sufficient reason, e.g..illness.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1389

When we make the sign of the cross, sprinkling ourselves with holy water, it recalls our Baptism.  The Christian begins his day, his prayers, and his activities with the sign of the cross: “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.”  The baptized person dedicates the day to the glory of God and calls on the Savior’s grace which lets him act in the Spirit as a child of the Father.  The sign of the cross   strengthens us in temptations and difficulties.
Catechism  of the Catholic Church, 1668

Liturgically and biblically, Easter is the most important Christian holiday because it is the Lord’s Resurrection, the day He conquered death.

“Holy” of God, “Spirit” from the Hebrew word “ruah” which means “breath, air, wind.”  So “Holy Spirit” means “Breath of God.”

As the third person of the Holy Trinity, “Holy Spirit” is the proper name of the One whom we adore and glorify with the Father and the Son.  The church has received this name from the Lord and professes it in the baptism of her new children.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 691

The Pope lives in Vatican City, not in Italy.  Vatican City is actually a country within the city of Rome. Click here for a map of Vatican City

“I believe” or “Yes, it is true!”

In Baptism we have been called to form but one body.  The Eucharist fulfills this call:  “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?  The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?  Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

If you are the body and members of Christ, then it is your sacrament that is placed on the table of the Lord; it is your sacrament that you receive.  To that which you are, you respond “Amen” and by responding to it you assent to it.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1396

The Sabbath or seventh “day”, on which God rested after the work of the “six days” of creation was completed as recounted in the opening narrative of the Bible, Genesis 2:1-3, and is the day to be kept holy for the praise and worship of God.

Just as the seventh day, Saturday, or Sabbath completes the first creation, so the “eighth” day, Sunday, the day of the week on which Jesus rose from the dead, is celebrated as the “holy day” by Christians; it is the day on which the “new creation” began.  Thus the Christian observance of Sunday fulfills the commandment to remember and keep holy the Sabbath day.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2175

The celebration of the Eucharist is an action of the whole Church.  It is a people made one by sharing in the Communion of Christ’s Body & Blood and as such it is proper to stand as one until all have received.  Once all have received the Eucharist then we may sit or kneel while the period of sacred silence after Communion is observed.  If one is prevented from assuming the above postures by reasons of health, lack of space, or some other good reason then it is appropriate to assume another posture.

It is true: Lent is 40 days, beginning on Ash Wednesday. If you count, there are 46 days, so if you subtract the 6 Sundays of Lent, you are left with 40 days of observance.

Yes, if done deliberately or without pastoral dispensation or serious causes. Some of the reasons listed in our Catechism as "serious cause" include illness, need to care for an elderly or infirm relative or sick child. When it is necessary to miss Mass, we should spend 30-45 mins. in prayer, reading of Scripture, and reflection.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2181

It is expected that you make a reasonabe effort to locate a Catholic church and attend Mass, or a eucharistic service if no Mass is available.  Call 1-410-676-6000 to find masses anywhere in the United States while traveling.

As Catholics we believe in the sanctity of life from conception to natural death, and that no human being has the right to kill, whether a fetus, baby, old, seriously or terminally ill person.

When someone brings up abortion, first pray. Try not to be judgmental as you may not know where their heart and mind may be: many women deeply regret their abortions and live with tremendous remorse.  If we have the opportunity, we must use our best efforts to help the mother choose life for her child. If the abortion has already occurred, we still can love and pray for the person.

In humility and love, it is our obligation to speak out against abortion, under any circumstances, and refuse to play any role in bringing one about.