CATHOLIC

REFRESHER for
CCD PARENTS
 Opening Prayer
Come, Holy Spirit
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and
enkindle in them the fire of Your love.
V. Send forth Your Spirit and they shall be created.
R. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray. O God, by the light of the Holy Spirit, You have
taught the hearts of Your faithful. In the same Spirit help
us to know what is truly right and always to rejoice in Your
consolation. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
First Joyful Mystery The Annunciation

The Second Joyful Mystery—The Visitation

And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the

salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb.
And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And
she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art
thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy
womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of
my Lord should come to me? Luke 1:41-43
 The Twelve Articles of Faith
1. I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth
2. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.
3. Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.
4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.
5. He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead.
6. He ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the
Father almighty.
7. From thence He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
8. I believe in the Holy Spirit,
9. The Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints,
10. The forgiveness of sins,
11. The resurrection of the body
12. And life everlasting. Amen.
 I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of
Heaven and Earth
"I believe in God": The whole Creed
speaks of God. The other articles of the
Creed all depend on the first. CCC 199

To Israel, his chosen, God revealed himself

as the only One: "Hear, O Israel: The
LORD our God is one LORD; and you
shall love the LORD your God with all
your heart, and with all your soul, and with
all your might." CCC 201

Jesus himself affirms that God is "the one Lord" whom you must love
"with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and
with all your strength." CCC 202
 I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of
Heaven and Earth

We firmly believe and confess without

reservation that there is only one true God,
eternal, infinite (immensus) and
unchangeable, incomprehensible, almighty,
and ineffable, the Father and the Son and the
Holy Spirit; three persons indeed, but one
essence, substance or nature entirely simple.
Lateran Council

The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the

central mystery of Christian faith and life.
CCC 234
 And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord

"But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of
a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the
law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." CCC 422
The name "Jesus" signifies that the very name of God is present in
the person of his Son… is the divine name that alone brings
salvation... there is no other name under heaven given among men
by which we must be saved CCC 432
The name of Jesus is at the heart of Christian prayer. All liturgical
prayers conclude with the words "through our Lord Jesus Christ."
CCC 435
 And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord

Jesus' messianic consecration reveals his divine mission, "for the

name ‘Christ' implies ‘he who anointed.' CCC 438
In the Old Testament, "son of God" is a title given to the angels, the
Chosen People, the children of Israel, and their kings. CCC 441
Such is not the case for Simon Peter when he confesses Jesus as
"the Christ, the Son of the living God," for Jesus responds
solemnly: "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my
Father who is in heaven." CCC 442
By attributing to Jesus the divine title "Lord,"... the Church's faith
affirm[s] from the beginning that the power, honor, and glory due
to God the Father are due also to Jesus CCC 449
Who Was Conceived by the Holy Spirit, Born of the
Virgin Mary

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" CCC 457
The Word became flesh so that thus we
might know God's love CCC 458
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."
CCC 463
Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was Crucified, Died and
Was Buried

The Church remains faithful to

the interpretation of "all the
Scriptures" that Jesus gave both
before and after his Passover:
"Was it not necessary that the
Christ should suffer these
things and enter into his glory?"
CCC 572
Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was Crucified, Died and
Was Buried
In her Magisterial teaching of the faith and in the witness of her saints,
the Church has never forgotten that "sinners were the authors and the
ministers of all the sufferings that the divine Redeemer endured."
CCC 598
The Scriptures had foretold this divine plan of salvation through the
putting to death of "the righteous one, my Servant” CCC 601
Man's sins, following on original sin, are punishable by death. By
sending his own Son in the form of a slave...God "made him to be sin
who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of
God." CCC 602
Jesus did not experience reprobation as if he himself had sinned.
CCC 603
He Descended into Hell; the Third Day He Rose Again
from the Dead

Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to

which the dead Christ went down,
"hell"—Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in
Greek—because those who are there
are deprived of the vision of God.
CCC 633
"The gospel was preached even to the
dead.” The descent into hell brings the
Gospel message of salvation to
complete fulfillment. This is the last
phase of Jesus' messianic mission,
CCC 634
He Ascended into Heaven, and Sits at the Right Hand
of God the Father Almighty

The veiled character of the glory of the

Risen One during this time is intimated in
his mysterious words to Mary Magdalene:
"I have not yet ascended to the Father; but
go to my brethren and say to them, I am
ascending to my Father and your Father, to
my God and your God."
This indicates a difference in manifestation
between the glory of the risen Christ and
that of the Christ exalted to the Father's
right hand, a transition marked by the
historical and transcendent event of the
Ascension. CCC 660
From Thence He Will Come Again to Judge the Living
and the Dead
Though already present in his Church, Christ's reign is nevertheless
yet to be fulfilled "with power and great glory" by the king's return
to earth. CCC 671
Following in the steps of the prophets and John the Baptist, Jesus
announced the judgment of the Last Day in his preaching. Then
will the conduct of each one and the secrets of hearts be brought to
light. CCC 678
Yet the Son did not come to judge, but to save and to give the life
...

he has in himself. By rejecting grace in this life, one already judges

oneself, receives according to one's works, and can even condemn
oneself for all eternity by rejecting the Spirit of love. CCC 679
 I believe in the Holy Spirit

The One whom the Father has sent into our hearts, the Spirit of his
Son, is truly God. Consubstantial with the Father and the Son, the
Spirit is inseparable from them...In adoring the Holy Trinity, life-
giving, consubstantial, and indivisible, the Church's faith also
professes the distinction of persons. When the Father sends his
Word, he always sends his Breath. In their joint mission, the Son and
the Holy Spirit are distinct but inseparable. To be sure, it is Christ
who is seen, the visible image of the invisible God, but it is the
Spirit who reveals him. CCC 689
 The Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints

The article of faith about the

Church depends entirely on the
articles concerning Christ Jesus.
The Church has no other light
than Christ's; according to a
favorite image of the Church
Fathers, the Church is like the
moon, all its light reflected from
the sun. CCC 748
The Church is, in a phrase used
by the Fathers, the place "where
the Spirit flourishes." CCC 749
 The Holy Catholic Church, the Communion of Saints

In the Apostles' Creed we profess "one Holy Church" (Credo . . .

Ecclesiam), and not to believe in the Church, so as not to confuse God
with his works CCC 750
"What is the Church if not the assembly of all the saints?" CCC 946
"Since all the faithful form one body, the good of each is
communicated to the others . . . We must therefore believe that there
exists a communion of goods in the Church. But the most important
member is Christ, since he is the head. . . . Therefore, the riches of
Christ are communicated to all the members, through the
sacraments." ”As this Church is governed by one and the same
Spirit, all the goods she has received necessarily become a common
fund.” CCC 947
The Forgiveness of Sins

The Apostle's Creed associates faith in the forgiveness of sins not only
with faith in the Holy Spirit, but also with faith in the Church and in
the communion of saints. It was when he gave the Holy Spirit to his
apostles that the risen Christ conferred on them his own divine power
to forgive sins. CCC 976
Our Lord tied the forgiveness of sins to faith and Baptism CCC 978
It is through the sacrament of Penance that the baptized can be
reconciled with God and with the Church CCC 980
There is no offense, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive.
CCC 982
We do not believe in “substitutionary atonement” CCC 1472-7
 The Resurrection of the Body

We firmly believe, and hence we hope that, just as Christ is truly

risen from the dead and lives for ever, so after death the righteous
will live for ever with the risen Christ and he will raise them up on
the last day CCC 989
What is "rising"? In death, the separation of the soul from the body,
the human body decays and the soul goes to meet God, while
awaiting its reunion with its glorified body. God, in his almighty
power, will definitively grant incorruptible life to our bodies by
reuniting them with our souls, through the power of Jesus'
Resurrection. CCC 997
All the dead will rise, "those who have done good, to the resurrection
of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of
judgment." CCC 998
 And Life Everlasting
Death puts an end to human life as the
time open to either accepting or rejecting
the divine grace manifested in Christ.
The New Testament speaks of judgment
primarily in its aspect of the final
encounter with Christ in his second
coming, but... each will be rewarded
immediately after death in accordance
with his works and faith. CCC 1021

Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the
very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to
Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven—through a
purification or immediately,—or to immediate and everlasting
damnation. CCC 1022