The Catholic Church - Article Example

Within a few short years of the Resurrection, the followers of Jesus began calling themselves "Christians" (Acts 11:26), and by the end of the first century, the word "catholic"-meaning "universal"-was applied to the Church. Catholic religion provides a full-fledged membership with the application of the seven blessed sacraments which marks the life of every Catholic. Catholics become a full fledged member of the People of God, Christ's mystical body, the Church that Jesus Christ built on the Rock, Peter (Mt. 16: 16), and on his successors, the Bishops of Rome.

For this purpose of His incarnation Jesus taught man His gospel, suffered and died on the cross and then arose from the dead. He instituted the sacraments and established one true church, a society made of the baptized. It is one, holy, catholic and apostolic, indefectible and infallible. Its rulers are the Bishops, successors of the apostles, under the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome. The Catholic Church also fosters the ways that God provides fervenient graces which helps Catholics to continue to strengthen their faith.

The channels of God's grace are principally the seven sacraments, which are sensible signs (words and acts) that signify ad confer grace, and are administered by the Church. Baptism makes us Catholics and remits the original sin inherited from our first parents, and the personal sins we may have at the time. Confirmation gives us the grace of the Holy Spirit to make us strong in the faith we received in Baptism. Holy Eucharist is the offering to the Father of the same victim of Calvary, Our Lord Jesus Christ, under the species of bread and wine whom we receive under the same species in the Holy Communion.

The sacrament of the sick is for giving us spiritual strength in time of serious sickness and for restoring health to us should it be for our good. Holy orders constitute the Bishops and other ministers of the Church, giving them the power and grace for the fulfillment of their duties. Matrimony unites the baptized in lawful marriage, giving them the grace they need for their married state. The Catholic Church also states the possibility of redemption and salvation. Those who follow the commandments of God and are sorry for their sins before they die are rewarded by God and received into the Kingdom of Heaven.

And hell is the punishment for those who do not obey His commandments and die unrepentant of their sins. Sin is described as a free, voluntary and conscious violation of the commandments of God and of those who with God and of those who with God's authority rule over us. Man has been given specific commandments or laws to be able to prevent himself from committing sin. The principal commandments of the Church are: to hear mass and to abstain from servile work on Sundays and days of obligation; to fast and abstain from meat on days appointed; to confess at least once a year and to receive Holy Communion during the prescribed time; to contribute to the support of the Church and of our pastors and to observe the marriage laws of the Church.

The ten commandments also applies to Catholics. The Catholic religion is monotheistic which can be less complicated compared to other religions. There is only one God, creator of heaven and earth, of all that is visible and invisible. In the one true God there are three Persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The plurality is only in regards to the Persons, each of whom possess fully the one divine nature. This is a mystery called the Holy Trinity. God the Son, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, became man, being born by the Holy Spirit, of the Immaculate Virgin Mary.

The name of the Son of God made man is Jesus Christ He is the true God, and the true man. Jesus Christ became man in order to reveal God to man, to redeem him from sin and to enable him to attain to his supernatural end, the Kingdom of Heaven.REFERENCES:K. O. Johnson, Why Do Catholics Do That' (Ballantine, 1994).