9th Religion Review Sheet
Terms/Prayers
Terms:
1. Faith--In general, is an assent of the mind to the truth of some proposition on the word of another, God or man. Divine faith is therefore the holding of some truth as absolutely certain because God, Who can neither deceive nor be deceived, has spoken it. It is not merely a feeling or a suspicion or an opinion, but a firm, unshakeable adherence of the mind to a truth revealed by God. The motive of Divine faith, or the reason why we believe, is God's authority, His unfailing knowledge and truthfulness.
2. Hope--One of the three theological virtues infused into the soul together with sanctifying grace and having God as its primary object. It makes us desire eternal life or the possession of God and gives us the confidence of receiving the grace necessary to arrive at this possession.
3. Love--The supernatural virtue of love (theological virtue of charity), is not acquired but infused. It is a love of God for His own sake, and of fellow man and of self for God's sake. "God is love," St. John tells us. Hence, charity is the greatest virtue.
4. Adoration--Latin: ad, to; orare, to pray; or os, oris, mouth: from the pagan custom of expressing preference for a god by wafting a kiss to the statue) An act of religion offered to God alone in recognition of His infinite perfection and supreme dominion, and of the creature's dependence on Him. It is an act of mind and will expressing itself exteriorly by postures of reverence and prayers of praise.
5. Prayer--(Greek euchesthai, Latin precari, French prier, to plead, to beg, to ask earnestly). An act of the virtue of religion which consists in asking proper gifts or graces from God. In a more general sense it is the application of the mind to Divine things, not merely to acquire a knowledge of them but to make use of such knowledge as a means of union with God. This may be done by acts of praise and thanksgiving, but petition is the principal act of prayer.
6. Sacrifice--In a less rigorous or a figurative sense, a sacrifice is any offering made to God with a view to honoring Him, such as acts of virtue, almsgiving, and prayer.
7. Religion--Latin: religere, to recover, or religare, to bind) In its widest sense the union of man with God. Objectively, it consists in doctrines and precepts by which man seeks to bring about this union. Religion is true when its doctrines and precepts are either dictated by right reason or revealed by God; if the former, it is called natural religion, if the latter, supernatural religion.
Sins against the FIRST COMMANDMENT:
8. Superstition--Defined by St. Thomas (II-II:92:1) as "a vice opposed to religion by way of excess; not because in the worship of God it does more than true religion, but because it offers Divine worship to beings other than God or offers worship to God in an improper manner".
9. Idolatry--etymologically denotes Divine worship given to an image, but its signification has been extended to all Divine worship given to anyone or anything but the true God. St. Thomas (Summa Theol., II-II, q. xciv) treats of it as a species of the genus superstition, which is a vice opposed to the virtue of religion and consists in giving Divine honour (cultus) to things that are not God, or to God Himself in a wrong way. The specific note of idolatry is its direct opposition to the primary object of Divine worship; it bestows on a creature the reverence due to God alone.
10. Divination--(Latin: divinare, to foretell) Seeking after the knowledge of future or hidden things through means inadequate by nature and unlawful. By natural means some effects can be foreseen with physical certainty; others surmised as probable; others are contingent upon future, free causes and knowable only to God. Divination implies the direct or indirect solicitation of a preternatural evil agency to supplement a natural deficiency. Its practise or patronage is sinful, varying with circumstances.
11. Magic--In a restricted sense magic is understood to be an interference with the usual course of physical nature by apparently inadequate means (recitation of formularies, gestures, mixing of incongruous elements, and other mysterious actions), the knowledge of which is obtained through secret communication with the force underlying the universe (God, the Devil, the soul of the world, etc.); it is the attempt to work miracles not by the power of God, gratuitously communicated to man, but by the use of hidden forces beyond man's control.
13. Atheism-- is that system of thought which is formally opposed to theism. Materialism, which professes to find in matter its own cause and explanation, may go farther, and positively exclude the existence of any spiritual cause. That such a dogmatic assertion is both unreasonable and illogical needs no demonstration, for it is an inference not warranted by the facts nor justified by the laws of thought.
14. Agnosticism--as a general term in philosophy, is frequently employed to express any conscious attitude of doubt, denial, or disbelief, towards some, or even all, of man's powers of knowing or objects of knowledge.
