Catholic Family Catechism

AN ILLUSTRATED CATHOLIC FAMILY CATECHISM Book II

Daily Prayers The Eight Ordinary Morning and Night Prayers

The Sign of the Cross In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, 	Amen.

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, bu t deliver us from evil. Amen.

The Angelic Salutation

Hail Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

The Apostles' Creed

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 power of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into Hell; the third day He rose 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 Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen. The Confiteor

I confess to Almighty God, to blessed Mary ever Virgin, to blessed Michael the Archangel, to blessed John the Baptist, to the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and to all the Saints, that I have sinned exceedingly in thought word and deed through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. Therefore, I beseech blessed Mary ever Virgin, blessed Michael the Archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and all the Saints, to pray to the Lord our God for me. May Almighty God have mercy on me, forgive me my sins, and bring me to everlasting life. Amen. May the Almighty and merciful Lord, grant me pardon, absolution, and remission of all my sins. Amen.

An Act of Faith

O my God, I firmly believe that Thou art one God in three Divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; I believe that Thy Divine Son became man, and died for our sins, and that He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches, because Thou hast revealed them, who canst neither deceive nor be deceived.

An Act of Hope

O my God, relying on Thy infinite goodness and promises, I hope to obtain pardon for my sins, the help of Thy grace, and life everlasting, through Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer.

An Act of Charity – or Love

O my God, I love Thee above all things with my whole heart and coul, because Thou are all good and worthy of all my love. I love my neighbor as myself for love of Thee. I forgive all who have injured me, and ask pardon of all whom I have injured.

An Act of Contrition

O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because I have offended Thee, my God, Who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of They grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, to amend my life, and to avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen.

Prayers Before Meals Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

Prayers After Meals

We give Thee thanks, for all Thy benefits, O Almighty God, who livest and reignest forever. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Angel of God

Angel of God, my guardian dear, To whom God's love commits me here. Ever this day (night) be at my side, To light, to guard, to rule, and guide. From sinful stain, O keep me free, and at my death, my helper be. Amen.

Other Helpful Prayers

God the Father made me, God the Son died to save me, God the Holy Spirit sanctifies me.

O Sacrament most holy, O Sacrament Divine, All praise and all thanksgiving, Be every moment Thine.

Soul of Christ sanctify me, Body of Christ save me, Blood of Christ inebriate me, Water from the side of Christ wash me, Passion of Christ strengthen ne. O Good Jesus hear me, In Thy wounds hide me, Suffer me not to be separated from Thee, At the hour of my death call me, And bid me to come to Thee, That with Thy Angels and Saints I may praise Thee, for all eternity. Amen.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, assist me in my last agony. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, may I die in peace in your holy company.

The Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, That never was it known, That any one who fled to Thy protection, Implored Thy help, or sought Thy intercession, was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I (we) fly unto Thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother. To Thee do I (we) come, before Thee I (we) stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, But in Thy mercy, hear and answer me. Amen.

Hail Holy Queen

Hail Holy Queen, Mother of mercy; Hail our life, our sweetness and our hope; To Thee do we cry poor banished children of Eve; To Thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale 	of tears. Turn then most gracious advocate, Thine eyes of mercy towards us, and after this, our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of Thy womb, 	Jesus. O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God, That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray: O God, our refuge and our strength, look down with favor upon Thy people who cry to Thee; And through the intercession of the Glorious and Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of Blessed Joseph her Spouse, of thy holy Apostles, Peter and Paul, and of all Thy Saints, in Thy mercy hear the prayers which we pour forth to Thee for the freedom and exaltation of Holy Mother the Church, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayer to Saint Michael

Saint Michael, the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil; and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host,by the power of God, cast into hell, Satan, and all the evil spirits who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: Have mercy on us. (Pray 3 times)

Immaculate Heart of Mary; Pray for us. (Pray 3 times.)

May the Divine Assistance remain always with us: and may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

SACRAMENT OF PENANCE (ALSO  CALLED RECONCILICATION OR CONFESSION)

The Sacrament of Penance 1.It remits the sins committed after baptism. 2.Confession is the telling of our sins to the priest to obtain forgiveness for them. 3.Frequent confession (about once a month) helps us keep in the state of grace; helps us resist temptation; makes us spiritually stronger. 4.For a good confession we must: 1st, Examine our conscience; 2nd, Arouse true sorrow for sin; 3rd, Firmly resolve to stop sinning; 4th, tell our sins clearly, one by one, and the number of each; and 5th, Say our penance humbly.

Prayer Before Confession O Holy Ghost, assist me by your light to know and detest all my sins as if this were to be my last confession, and I were standing before Christ in judgment. Grant me true sorrow and a firm purpose of sinning no more, so that I may be forgiven and again gain divine grace and God's holy Friendship. Mary, my Mother, my Guardian, Angel, and patron Saints, pray for me and aid me to make a good confession.

Examination of conscience--

A)On the Commandments of God. B)On the Precepts of the Church. C)On the Duties of life (as a child, or young adolescent or adult, single or married). D)On the capital Sins: Pride, Avarice, Lust, Anger, Gluttony, Envy, and Sloth (laziness).

a)Say a fervent Act of Contrition. b)Say the Confiteor (I confess, etc.) before going into the confessional. c)Tell your sins: Clearly, Slowly, Distinctly. d)Tell the number of each sin, and the circumstances that may change grave sins. e)Answer 'Amen' after absolution.

Prayer After Confession Act of Thanksgiving: Behold me covered with confusion at the consideration of my sins; I come to detest them before You, with sincere grief for having offended a God, so good and so worthy of all my love. Was this then, O Lord, what you had a right to expect from a creature in gratitude, after having created me, suffered, and shed your blood in pain for me? Yes, Lord, I have pushed too far my malice and my ingratitude. I humbly ask Your pardon, and I shall make serious and constant efforts to avoid the occasion and not fall again, especially into the sins I have so often committed in the past, and for which I am determined to correct myself. To the Sacred Heart: O most Sacred Heart of Jesus, source of all blessings, I adore You, I love You; I am truly sorry for all my sins. I offer You my poor heart. Make it humble, patient, chaste, pure, and conform it to Your Will in all things. Protect me form dangers, console me in afflictions, grant me health of body and of mind, and success needed to fulfill my duties, especially Your holy grace until death.

Say the Hail Holy Queen or the Memorare. Say some prayers to the great St. Joseph. Say prayers from your heart to your Guardian Angel and Patron Saints Say the Prayer Before the Crucifix: Look down upon me good and gentle Jesus, etc.

Prayer Before a Crucifix Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, while before Thy face I humbly kneel, and with burning soul beg Thee to impress deep into my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope, and charity, true contrition for my sins, and a firm purpose of amendment; and while I contemplate Thy five most sacred wounds, having before me the words which David the Prophet said of Thee: They have pierced my hands and my feet; they have numbered all my bones. (Add one Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be).

Baptismal Vow I renounce Satan, with all his works and deceptions, and I attach myself to Jesus Christ forever. (repeat often in temptation) O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!

The Apostles' Creed About Revelation 1.God can speak to men since He has given them the faculty or power to understand. 2.God has really spoken to men; this is what we call Revelation 3.Without supernatural Revelation, we could not, ordinarily, have been saved, because without God's grace it would be very hard for us to know what we must believe and what we must do to be saved. 4.We distinguish three kinds of revelations: first, the Christian revelation made to us through Jesus Christ; second, the preparatory revelations given to the patriarchs, to Moses and to the prophets of the Old Testament; third, the natural revelation of God through man's knowledge of good and evil, under God, through our natural reason and conscience. (But is this third kind actually “revelation,” or just a third way of knowing God?) The Apostles' Creed 5.The Apostles' Creed is a profession of faith summarizing the main teachings of the Apostles and containing, in twelve articles, the principal truths we must believe. 6.The first truth we must believe is that there is a God, one and only one God. 7.We believe in God because He Himself revealed to us His existence. 8.Our reason tells us that there is a God for if there were no God the world would not exist. The world in fact cannot make itself, any more than a house can make itself, or a watch, or an automobile. 9.God is a Pure Spirit, infinitely perfect, Creator of heaven and earth and sovereign Master and Lord of all things. 10.By pure spirit we mean that God has no body. He cannot be seen by bodily eyes nor touched by human hands. 11.We say that God is infinitely perfect because he possesses every perfection and these perfections have no limit. 12.God has always been. He has had no beginning and will never have an end. 13.God is in heaven, on earth and everywhere. There is no place where God is not. (Might also need to find answer to: Is God also in hell?) 14.God knows all things; the past, the present and the future; even our most secret thoughts, words, and deeds. He sees us always, event he sins we hide from others and try to conceal from Him. The Mystery of the Trinity 15.A mystery is a truth revealed by God which therefore we must believe although we cannot fully understand it, since God has said so. 16.The mystery of the Blessed Trinity is the mystery of one God in three Divine Persons, namely, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit. 17.The Father is God, the Son is God and the Holy Spirit is God. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are but one and the same God; they are equal in all things for they have, together, the same Divine nature and substance and Divinity. Explanation of the Picture 18.In this picture the Blessed Trinity is represented in the center, in a large triangle in which we see God the Father resting on the world and holding the arms of the cross upon which His Son Jesus Christ is hanging. The Holy Spirit in the form of a dove shines forth between the Father and the Son to remind us that He proceeds from both the Father and the Son. 19.In the upper left corner of the picture we see Jesus Christ giving to His apostles the command to go out and teach all nations and to baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 20.On the right side we see the baptism of Jesus, in which the three Divine Persons are manifested. (See picture No. 19) 21.In the lower left side we see Abraham receiving the visit of the three angels. He sees three yet addresses them a s one. “Lord,” he says, “if I have found favor in your eyes do not by-pass the dwelling of your servant.” In speaking thus, Abraham was honoring in the three angels, one God in three persons. 22.On the lower right we see St. Augustine and a child. One day St. Augustine was walking along the shore trying to grasp more fully the mystery of the Blessed Trinity. All at once he noticed a little child who was taking water from the sea and pouring it into a small hollow he had made on the beach in the sand. “My child, what are you trying to do with this water?” “I want to put into this hole all the water of the sea.” “But you see very well that this hole is too small to put in all of the sea.” “I would be better able to put all the water of the ocean in this little hole than you would be able to understand the mystery of the Blessed Trinity.” With this the child disappeared. It was an angel in human form, come to make St. Augustine realize that no created mind can fully comprehend this mystery.

The Apostles' Creed (Continued) (“Who Was Conceived by the Holy Spirit”) Mystery of the Incarnation 1.The mystery of the Incarnation contained in the second and third article of the Creed is the mystery of the Son of God made man. 2.The Son of God became man by taking a body and soul like ours in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, His mother, by the power or operation of the Holy Spirit. 3.The Son of God made man is called Jesus Christ. 4.