H

Handmaid of the Lord  –  The title given by the Virgin Mary to herself to describe her attitude of openness to receiving the Word-made-Flesh and so becoming the Mother of God at the Incarnation.

Heaven  –  The state of eternal happiness in the presence of God and the Communion of Saints after earthly death.

Hell  –  The state of eternal separation from God inherited by those who die without repentance of mortal sin.

Heresy  –  The denial of Catholic teaching.

Hierarchy  –  The Pope, as successor of St Peter, and Bishops in communion with him, as successors of the apostles.

Holy Communion  –  The Eucharist. The term is used particularly when referring to the reception of the Body of Christ during Mass.

Homoousios  –  From the Greek term meaning “of the same substance”, affirming how God the Father and God the Son are both divine.

Hope  –  The theological virtue that gives us the confident expectation of eternal life.

Host  –  From the Latin hostia meaning “victim”, describing the bread that becomes the Body of Christ at Mass.

Human act  –  An action that can be morally evaluated by judging its object (the act itself), the intention and the circumstances surrounding the act.

Humeral Veil  –  A cloak-like garment covering the shoulders of a priest or a deacon when he handles the sacred host in a monstrance and gives Benediction.

I

Image and Likeness of God  –  The person’s basic identity, enabling him or her to know, to want, to choose and to love. Such faculties are possessed by God, in whose image and likeness we are thus created.

Immaculate conception  –  The state of complete absence of Original Sin in the Blessed Virgin Mary at the moment of her conception.

Incarnation  –  The moment when the Second Person of the Holy Trinity takes on human nature in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Annunciation.

Incense  –  A sweet-smelling substance, burned at moments of worship, that symbolises prayer.

Indulgence  –  The partial or total remission of temporal guilt due to sin, after that sin has been confessed.

Infallibility  –  The doctrine that in specified circumstances the pope is incapable of error in pronouncing dogma.

In persona Christi  –  From the Latin meaning “in the person of Christ”, used to describe how Christ himself is united to, and acts in, a priest when he administers the sacraments.

Intellect  –  The capacity of thought, that is, to abstract universal terms from the experience of reality and make judgments about that reality. It is created to seek the truth.

J

Jesus Christ  –  Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary and foster-child of St Joseph, Jesus Christ is the Eternal Word-made-Flesh, who came 2000 years ago to redeem the world and rescue mankind from the slavery of sin by dying on the Cross and rising again.

Jew  –  An adherent of Judaism.

Judaism  –  The religion of the people of the Old Covenant, who recognised God as the only God and followed his precepts as laid down in the Law of Moses.

Judgment  –  The decision, by God, about our ultimate destiny of Heaven or Hell.

Justice  –  1) Receiving what we are owed for good or bad actions; 2) The Cardinal Virtue of giving God and our neighbour what they are owed, namely charity.

K

Kenosis  –  From the Hebrew term meaning “outpouring of self”, used to describe Christ’s own “self-emptying” by becoming one of us.

Kingdom of God  –  1) God’s presence and sovereignty, mysteriously present in the Church; 2) The fulfilment of God’s rule at the end of time.

L

Laity  –  1) Strictly speaking, any Catholic who is not in Holy Orders; 2) More generally, any Catholic who is neither a priest nor a member of a religious order (“a religious”).

Last Rites  –  See “Anointing of the Sick”.

Lie  –  A deliberate enunciation of something that is not true. Lying is a sin, and is expressly forbidden in the Eighth Commandment.

Liturgy  –  The public prayer of the Church, such as Mass and the Divine Office.

Lord  –  Meaning “master”, an honorary title used when talking to God. See too “Our Lord”.

Love  –  1) The theological virtue of charity by which we want the good of God and our neighbour for their own sake, rather than for what we can get from such a relationship; 2) Friendship, where two or more people enjoy each other’s company; 3) Benevolence towards someone else; 4) The expression of our sexual faculties.

M

Magisterium  –  The teaching office of the Church, embodied by the Pope and Bishops in communion with him. The Magisterium guards the deposit of faith, ensuring right belief and right practice in matters of faith and morals.

Maniple  –  An embroidered band of silk or similar fabric that when worn hangs from the left arm. It is only used within the context of the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, and it is of the same liturgical colour as the other Mass vestments.

Marital act  –  A completed act of sexual intercourse between a married couple.

Marriage  –  A sacrament whereby a man and a woman give their consent to remain together as husband and wife until death brings it to an end.

Mass  –  See “Sacrament”.

Material  –  The physical created world.

Matter  –  1) The essential material substances used in administering a sacrament and, more broadly, also a constitutive action in a sacrament, such as the manifestation of contrition in the Sacrament of Reconciliation(Confession). 2) One of the primary elements of creation, which together with form, make material substances.

Mary  –  The mother of Jesus Christ. She was herself conceived without sin (the immaculate Conception), gave birth to Jesus without having had sexual relations (the Virgin Birth), was the Mother of God (since Jesus was fully God), was assumed into heaven, without dying, at the end of her earthly life (the Assumption).

Mercy  –  The treatment of a sinner with kindness and forgiveness.

Merit  –  The reward for our good works done for God, and granted through the merit of Christ's own suffering and death.

Mass  –  The celebration by Christ’s faithful whereby the Scriptures are read and the bread and wine, through the words of the priest, are miraculously transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ.

Missal  –  A book containing the prayers (and sometimes the readings) of the Mass.

Mortal sin  –  A sin that is gravely wrong in itself, and committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent. It destroys our communion with God, which can only be restored through a sincere Confession in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Mother of God  –  One of the titles of Mary, who gave birth to her son, Jesus. Since Jesus was also fully God, then, it was decreed by the Council of Ephesus in 430 AD, Mary was therefore Mother of God.

Mystagogy  –  From the Greek term meaning “deepening”, the period of time after the baptism of an adult given over to becoming more familiar with and rooted in the Catholic faith, through prayer and friendship with those who have been Catholics for longer.

Mystery  –  1) A truth of the faith that we could not know unless God had revealed it, e.g., the Holy Trinity; 2) Truths that surpass our ability to reason, yet which nevertheless make sense; 3) An archaic term for the sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist).