The Catholic Church encourages that special veneration be given to Mary. This honor is due to her as Mother of Christ, as Mother of the Church, and as our spiritual Mother. This veneration is to be shown to others by word and example. Pope Paul VI solemnly brought the third session of Vatican Council II to a close on November …

Purgatory is a place of spiritual cleansing. Anyone who dies in the grace of God but is not free from all temporal punishment due to sins cannot go to Heaven at once. Those who still have to do penance for their sins go first to Purgatory. “But nothing unclean shall enter it [Heaven], nor any one who practices abomination or …

The Beatific Vision is an immediate vision of God. We believe that the just who have been made perfect through death and Purgatory are now in Heaven, though they have neither risen in the body nor undergone the final judgment. We are called to glorify God in Heaven in a perfect manner by loving Him and surrendering ourselves to Him. …

When we say, “I believe in the resurrection of the body,” we mean that we believe that, at the end of the world, all the bodies of those who have lived on earth will be raised from the dead and will be united again with their souls. If the whole man—body and soul—has loved and served God, even at the …

We believe that those who die in the state of grace will live with God forever. “And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3). In God alone can we find eternal happiness. This life is a time of testing and trial. The eternal happiness of Heaven …

The Last Judgment is the universal judgment of the human race at the resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. “When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one …

On the day of the Last Judgment: (1) All of us will be revealed, “for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body” (2 Corinthians 5:10); then (2) “those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those …

When Christ returns with power as Judge of the living and the dead: (1) He will give His people to the Father, and (2) the Church will then reach perfection and enter into the fullness of God. 1. When Christ returns with power as Judge of the living and the dead, He will give His people to the Father. The …

On the day of the Last Judgment, we will fully reach our eternal destiny. The primary happiness of Heaven consists in this: we shall possess, in body and soul, the infinitely perfect God and be possessed by Him. We will be personally and consciously united to God Himself, Who is infinite Goodness, Truth and Beauty. God’s love will fulfill every …

Mary has the highest place in the Church after Christ because: (1) she is the Ever-virgin Mother of Jesus Christ our Lord and God; and (2) she is our spiritual mother. 1. Mary has the highest place in the Church after Christ because she is the Ever-virgin Mother of Jesus Christ our Lord and God. The source of Mary’s motherhood …