| Term | Definition |
|---|
| absolution | the action of a priest as a mediator of grace, standing "in the person of Christ," concluding the sacrament of Reconciliation. It cleanses us from our sins through Christ's loving mercy and gives us strength to start anew. |
| abstinence | the action of self-control that avoids something; in this case, not engaging in sexual intercourse |
| actual grace | the help God gives us for a particular need to help us conform our lives to his will |
| agape | the Greek term for divine, unconditional love; the manner in which God loves us |
| alienation | an experience of isolation and separateness from God, self and others |
| anthropology | the overall study of man and what it means to be a human person |
| apathy | an attitude of not getting involved, not caring, not acting when action is called for |
| apostolic succession | a line of priestly power and authority originating from Christ and handed down from the apostles to the present through their successors, the bishops |
| Beatitudes | the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount on the meaning of and way to true happiness. |
| cardinal virtues | prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance; personal habits and character strengths that direct us toward Christ-like behavior and provide discipline for our passions and emotions. |
| Catechism of the Catholic Church | a synthesis of the essential and fundamental contents of Catholic doctrine, as regards both faith and morals, in the light of the Second Vatican Council and the whole of the Church's tradition (CCC #11) |
| celibacy for the kingdom | a choice to "skip" the marriage of earth to devote oneself entirely to the marriage of heaven |
| charity | the virtue "by which we love God above all things for his own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God;" the theological virtue representing the core of the Christian life. |
| chastity | the virtue that directs all our sexual desires, emotions, and attractions toward the dignity of the person and the real meaning of love |
| communion of saints | the unity in Christ of all the redeemed, those on earth and those who have died. |
| concupiscence | the "inclination to sin" that is present in all humans, inherited through the sin of Adam and Eve, and against which we must struggle to resist |
| conscience | The interior voice of a human being, within whose heart the inner law of God is inscribed. It is a judgment of practical reason about the moral quality of a human action. It moves a person at the appropriate moment to do good and to avoid evil. |
| contemplative | a person who chooses a life that focuses on an interior life of prayer and intercession for the benefit of the Church |
| contemplative prayer | "a gaze of faith, fixed on Jesus" and the mysteries of His life. It is placing oneself in God's presence and resting there in His love. |
| continence | maintaining control of one's desires, appetites, and passions rather than being controlled by them. Furthermore, it is lived as a virtue which involves directing one's passions toward the true, good, and beautiful. |
| contraception | every action before, during, or after sexual intercourse that deliberately attempts to impede its procreative potential. These acts are intrinsically evil and always morally unacceptable (CCC2370) |
| covenant | a solemn and binding obligation between human beings or between God and a human being involving mutual commitments or guarantees. |
| culpability | the degree to which people are responsible for their actions |
| deprived | refers to humanity's loss of the grace of original innocence. Though human nature is still good, we struggle to choose God's will over our own. |
| despair | the opposite of hope; the resolve to give up pursuing whatever was initially pursued |
| dignity | the respect owed to all human beings because they are made in God's image |
| discipline | education or formation which dispels ignorance and corrects vice |
| ecclesia | a Greek word for calling out a duly summoned assembly; also means Church |
| encyclical | a pastoral letter written by the Pope and sent to the whole Church and even to the whole world, to express Church teaching on some important matter. |
| erroneous conscience | when a person follows a process of conscientious decision making but unwittingly makes a wrong decision |
| eschatological man | the final stage of our perfection, achieved in the resurrection at the end of time. |
| ethos of seeing | the responsibility of all viewers of the human body portrayed in art, to see humans as persons with dignity, not objects to be lustfully desired. |
| faith | a gift from God by which we believe in him and all that he has revealed; the theological virtue of seeking to know and to do God's will |
| faithful love | love that is committed. That commitment guides all other actions. You keep your promises once you have made them, no matter how your feelings may change. |
| fear of the Lord | "reverential fear and respect for God on account of his sovereignty, goodness and justice toward men; also one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit which ensures our awe and reverence before God; Hebrew word for religion." |
| fornication | having sex outside of marriage. |
| fortitude | the virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. |
| free love | love that is not controlled or manipulated by another person or by a disordered desire. No one is forcing you to love. You love freely because you want to. |
| free will | the gift given to us by God that allows us to choose between good and evil. |
| freedom | the ability to desire and choose the good |
| freedom | the power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one's own responsibility. (CCC #1731) |
| fruitful love | love that is life-giving, because it is free, total, and faithful. It is open to procreation in the physical realm and is life-giving in the spiritual and emotional realm as well. |
| genuine | not hiding behind a role or image; seeking honest communication with others |
| grace | a free and underserved gift that God gives us to the help us to live out our vocation; participation in God's Trinitarian life |
| habit | a recurrent, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition |
| hell | The state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed, reserved for those who refuse by their own free choice to believe and be converted from sin, even to the end of their lives (CCC Glossary) |
| hero | someone who follows his or her conscience in the face of difficulties |
| historical man | the period that begins with original sin and ends when Christ returns. Both men and women are simultaneously fallen and redeemed in Christ |
| Holy Trinity | one God in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit |
| homosexuality | the sexual attraction that a man or woman has to a member of the same sex. The inclination is disordered but not sinful in and of itself, since it is not freely chosen. |
| hope | the virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. |
| Humanae Vitae | Pope Paul Vis 1968 encyclical on human life. It is most famous for its clear and definitive teaching on why contraception is immoral and sinful, explaining that it separates the sexual act from one of its intrinsic purposes: procreation. |
| In persona Christi | a Latin phrase meaning "in the person of Christ"; describes the identity and actions of a priest, particularly when he celebrates the sacraments and preaches the Word of God. |
| Incarnation | the coming of God in human form; Latin for "becoming flesh." |
| infatuation | strong feelings of curiosity or attraction often rooted in the physical appearance and apparent mystery of another person. When one truly gets to know someone, it can grow into love or disappear altogether. |
| informed conscience | a conscience that is educated and developed through prayer, participation in the sacraments, and living the Gospel as proclaimed by the Church. |
| integrity | honesty, genuineness, and consistency in behavior patterns |
| justice | the firm and constant will to give God and neighbor their due |
| Kingdom of God | God's reign or rule--proclaimed by and present in Jesus--in which people serve one another; share their goods with one another; and refuse to retaliate with violence against others |
| language of love | generally speaking, the words that speak truth and compassion. Specifically regarding the body, the truth and totality of self communicated through the body in sexual intercourse. |
| language of the body | the capability of the body to speak its own language and to communicate without words. |
| lax conscience | when a person does not employ a process of conscientious decision making, thereby not facing or thinking about the morality of actions that he performs |
| legalism | literal interpretation of the law, regardless of circumstances and possible harm to people involved |
| lived values | qualities and concerns that we demonstrate as being important through our actions |
| love | a decision to "will the good of another" person |
| Love and Responsibility | a book by Karol Wojtyla that explains the importance of living a life that accepts responsibility and, therefore, results in loving others in a responsible manner |
| lust | a disordered desire for or inordinate enjoyment of sexual pleasure |
| Magisterium | the teaching office of the Church |
| minimalism | an attitude of doing only the least that is required by law in our moral life |
| morality | the goodness or evil of human acts |
| mortal sin | an action so destructive that it mortally wounds our relationship with God |
| naked without shame | nakedness that exists within the context of innocence and pure freedom, apart from lust. This is what Adam and Eve experienced before the Fall. |
| Natural Family Planning | the term referring to various effective, natural, and moral methods for achieving or postponing pregnancy. |
| natural law | It governs the conduct of man, contains absolute truths that guide him to happiness, requires human reason to determine what the rules are and how to apply them, and is not easily accessible to man due to his clouded intellect (the result of original sin). |
| Nicene Creed | the most widely-accepted statement of Christian faith, the Nicene Creed was first adopted at the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325. |
| nuns | contemplative women celibates who live in monasteries, dedicated to a life of prayer for the Church. |
| nuptial | another word for "marriage-like," "marital" or "spousal" |
| nuptial meaning of the body | The marital meaning of the body. "...the body's capacity of expressing love, that love precisely in which the person becomes a gift and...fulfills the very meaning of his being and existence" |
| objective truth | reality as it is, apart from what we think or feel about it. |
| omniscient | literally, "all knowing." a quality of God, meaning that God knows everything there is to know |
| one-flesh union | The loving embrace of a married couple through sexual intercourse, in which they become "one flesh" (Gn 2:24). The Scriptures teach that this union prefigures the total communion we will have with God in heaven (Eph 5:31-32). |
| ontological | concerning the very essence or nature of a being. |
| Ordinatio Sacerdotalis | an apostolic letter written by John Paul II in 1994 regarding the reservation of the priesthood to men alone. |
| original innocence | the state of Adam and Eve prior to their knowledge of sin, when their minds, hearts, and bodies were perfectly innocent. |
| original man | the era of humanity in the "original experiences" before the Fall, up until the original sin of Adam and Eve. |
| original nakedness | the first experience of Adam and Even when they were naked without shame. Before original sin, lust did not even exist and all sexual desires were pure. |
| original sin | the first sin of mankind against God; affected all of humanity giving us all a tendency to sin |
| original sin | disobedience against God by the first human beings. This sin marks all human beings as needing the salvation brought about through Christ. |
| original unity | the initial experience of perfect unity between man and woman as they lived in perfect communion with each other and gave themselves to each other through the mutual gift of their bodies. |
| Oxytocin | a hormone released by the pituitary gland of the brain during childbirth, breastfeeding, and intercourse, causing emotional bonding between persons in whom it is released. |
| personalistic norm | the principle that recognizes that the only proper and adequate attitude toward human persons is love |
| pornography | pictures or stories created with the direct intention of arousing lust in the viewer or reader |
| prayer | the elevation of the mind and heart to God in praise of his glory; a petition made to God for some desired good, or in thanksgiving for a good received, or in intercession for others before God. In this, the Christian experiences a communion with God through Christ in the Church. (CCC glossary) |
| pride | the original sin that caused Adam and Eve to prefer themselves to God. This is the root of all moral evil in the world. |
| prudence | the virtue which disposes a person to discern the good and choose the correct means to accomplish it. |
| rabbi | Hebrew for teacher, a term frequently applied to Jesus |
| reconciliation | an experience of reuniting and reconnecting with God and others |
| redeem | to pay off a debt through the exchange of something of equal or greater value that the debt owed. |
| redemption | the ransom of humanity from the slavery of sin to a new life of freedom through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross. |
| religious sisters | women celibates who generally live in convents and dedicate themselves to active ministry wherever there is a need. |
| resurrection of the body | the joining, at the end of time, of the bodies of the saved with their souls in heaven, at which point they will participate bodily in a face-to-face encounter with God within the marriage of Christ and the Church |
| sacrament | makes a spiritual reality visible to us |
| sacramental grace | gifts of the Holy Spirit to help us live out our Christian vocation |
| sacramentality of the body | the inherent ability of the body to act as a visible sign of God's invisible love |
| sanctifying grace | a share in God's life; a gift from God that enables the soul to live with him and respond to his friendship |
| Sermon on the Mount | a part of the Gospel according to Matthew in which Jesus preaches important moral teachings including the Beatitudes |
| sexual addiction | a compulsive and frequent habit of seeking sexual pleasures, including fornication/intercourse, pornography, cybersex, masturbation, and other sexual behaviors |
| sexual liberation | the common term for escaping sexual "rules" so as to do whatever one wants with his or her sexuality; actually not sexual freedom but an excuse to use sexuality as a form of recreation |
| sexual repression | the unhealthy attempt to ignore (or bury) sexual desires rather than embracing them and allowing God to reorder what is disordered in them for the good of oneself and others |
| shameless | in today's society, this term refers to flaunting the body without inhibitions or conscience. Acting shamelessly reflects a false notion of sexual freedom. |
| sin | an offense against God and an action contrary to his law of love; purposely doing wrong; "a deliberate thought, word, deed, or omission contrary to the eternal law of God" (CCC, Glossary) |
| sin of commission | purposely doing an action that is harmful to oneself or another |
| sin of omission | not doing an action that one is obligated to do |
| submission | placing oneself "under the mission" of another, surrendering to someone. In the case of marriage, this means deferring to each other in love. |
| talents | God's gifts of love to us to which we should respond by the way we live with love |
| temperance | the virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasure and provides balance in the use of created goods. It ensures the mastery of the will over instinct, and keeps natural desires within limits of what is honorable. |
| The Splendor of Truth | an encyclical on morality by Pope John Paul II issued in 1993 |
| theological virtues | faith, hope, and charity; gifts from God and directed toward him as their object or major focus |
| theology | study of God or "faith seeking understanding" |
| theology of the body | a study of God and the purpose of our existence, as discovered and revealed through our bodies |
| total love | love without strings attached that holds nothing back. In it you make a gift of yourself to another--total self-donation. |
| total self-donation | the total giving of oneself for the good of another |
| utilitarianism | the philosophy of maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain, often at the expense of others. |
| venial sin | an action that weakens our relationship with God |
| vices | bad qualities, habits or patterns of behavior that incline us to actions that are harmful to ourselves and others |
| virtue | an habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It enables a person to do the good promptly, easily, and joyfully. It does not require one to stop and think about the consequences. |
| vocation | a call from God to live a life of holiness in a particular manner and state of life. |
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