8 Famously Asked Catholic Q&A’s even Catholics ask
Why do Catholics Genuflect before the Tabernacle? When they pass the Blessed Sacrament, Catholics go down on one knee to honour the Real Presence. This posture of subservience makes perfect sense, since Christ is really present in the tabernacle.
Why do Catholics stand at Mass for the Gospel? At Mass we stand when the Gospel is read, out of respect for the very words of Jesus, and we sit to listen attentively to the other scriptural readings.
Why do Catholics kneel at the Consecration? At the consecration we kneel, kneeling being the posture of adoration. What we are doing is praying with our bodies, not just with our minds, and praying that way makes perfect sense for a creature composed of both body and soul. The postures we use during Mass show us—and those around us—what we believe and what we take seriously.
What are the Sacraments? CCC 1131 The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions. Sacraments are visible signs of God’s grace; they are actions that not only signify the transmittal of grace to us but also really do transmit grace.
What is are Sacramentals? The 1983 Code of Canon Law (CIC) defines sacramentals as “sacred signs by which effects, especially spiritual effects, are signified in some imitation of the sacraments and are obtained through the intercession of the Church” (1166). A few familiar examples of sacramentals are crucifixes, rosaries, candles, scapulars, holy water, anointing oils, and the sign of the cross. read more
Why do Catholics bless themselves with Holy water? We Catholics dip our fingers in holy water and make the Sign of the Cross when entering a church in order to recall our baptism and our baptismal promises. We must remember that holy water, through a priest, is blessed by God in virtue of Christ’s baptism. The Catholic Church possesses enormous power in being able to impart sacramental grace—and holy water as a sacramental receives its power through the prayer and authority of the Church.
Why do Catholics make the Sign of the Cross? Catholics’ sign of the cross signifies two things at once: our redemption through the death of Jesus on the cross and the Trinity as the central truth of Christianity. When we make the sign we trace the cross on ourselves, and we recite the holy invocation: “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” We affirm what Christ came down to do for us (to redeem us by his voluntary death), and we affirm his chief revelation to us: that God is simultaneously one and three.
Why do we use Incense? incense symbolizes the pleasant odour of Christian virtue and our prayers rising to God
