1. Prayer:
One does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.
Matthew 4
Heavenly Father, all we have is your gift to our family. Help us not to get lost in the material gifts and miss the much richer gift of your Son in the Holy Eucharist, the Living Bread for the journey. Amen.

2. Journal:
Read Luke 1:26-38 and respond.
Try to put yourself in Mary’s shoes. Does her response stand out to you at all?

3. God’s Actions in Our Lives
When we experience God’s saving activity in our lives and in the world, we can reflect upon the Salvific Trinity.

4. The Holy Spirit’s activity in the Salvific Trinity happens because the third Person of the Trinity lives in us.
As Christ promised, the Holy Spirit is here to guide and strengthen us as individuals and as the Church community that we are.

5. saving intervention in the world:
We typically attribute certain actions to the individual Persons of the Trinity, but remember that all three Persons act as one being.
In the divine missions of the Blessed Trinity, we have distinctive works of God’s
saving intervention in the world:
creation, Salvation, and sanctification.

6. We typically attribute certain actions to the individual Persons of the Trinity, but remember that all three Persons act as one being.
While the Father is associated with creation, the Son with Salvation, and the Holy Spirit with sanctification; all three Persons are fully present in all the divine missions.

7. As a sign of our gratitude, God asks us to love in imitation of him.
Our contemplation of the Blessed Trinity leads us to a fundamental truth about the nature or essence of God:
God is love.
As a sign of our gratitude, God asks us to love in imitation of him.
We were made to love, and can not be truly happy apart from loving God and other people.

8. The first place we learn to love is also a reflection of the love of God: our families
We allow the Trinity to live in us when we reach out in love to our brothers and sisters.

9. As Pope John Paul II said,
“God in his deepest mystery is not a solitude but a family, since he has in himself Fatherhood, Sonship, and the essence of a family, which is love.”

10. The Role of Mary, the Mother of God
The perfect model of the Christian faith
is Mary, the Mother of Jesus, our Savior.

11. Mary is the greatest saint.
She is the very definition of what it means to be a saint—a holy person who lives in union with God.
From the moment of her conception, Mary lived a life free of sin.

12. Mary is the greatest saint.
At the Annunciation, the angel Gabriel told the virgin Mary that God wanted her to become the mother of his Son. Despite the fear she must have experienced, she agreed to do as God asked.

13. Mary is the greatest saint.
Mary could not have fully understood all of what God was asking of her, but her unselfish “yes” should be an example to all of us about the importance of having faith in God.

14. Directly after learning of God’s plan for her, Mary left home to see to the needs of her cousin Elizabeth, who was also pregnant.
Not thinking of herself, but acting for the good of others, Mary offers us another example of what it means to show Christian love.

15. By dedicating her life to caring for the Son of God, Mary became the first disciple of Jesus, and continued to be so to the end of her life.
From the moment of her “yes” to God’s plan, through the ministry, suffering, and death of her Son, Mary was a devoted follower of our Savior, and her Savior.

16. While he was dying on the cross, Jesus gave his mother to us, the Church. Mary stayed with the disciples after Jesus’ Ascension to support them as she had her own Son.
She was present with the Apostles at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon them, bringing strength and courage.

17. At the end of her sinless earthly life, Mary was taken, body and soul, to be with her Son and reign as Queen of Heaven.
This belief is called the Assumption, and serves as a promise to all the faithful of the eternal life God has in store for us. The Church has held this belief for many centuries, and Pope Pius XII declared the Assumption as a dogmatic teaching of the Church in 1950.

18. Because of the special role Mary plays in Salvation History, the Church teaches several other important truths about her .
The Immaculate Conception is the belief that from the moment of Mary’s conception in the womb of her mother, she was preserved from Original Sin.
Pope Pius IX declared the Immaculate Conception an infallible teaching of the Church in 1854.
This means that, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception proclaimed by the Magisterium of the Church is totally free from error.

19. Because of the special role Mary plays in Salvation History, the Church teaches several other important truths about her .
Mary conceived and bore Jesus our Savior as a virgin. Jesus had no human father, but was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Mary remained a virgin, even after the birth of the Lord, for her entire life.

20. Because of the special role Mary plays in Salvation History, the Church teaches several other important truths about her .
At the Council of Ephesus in AD 431, the Church declared that Mary should be called Theotokos—which means “God-Bearer” or “Mother of God.”
This title for Mary makes it clear that Jesus is one Person with two inseparable natures—human and divine.

21. Catholics have always had a special devotion to Mary
Catholics have always had a special devotion to Mary. Because she is the Mother of God and the Mother of the Church, we ask her to intercede for us to God. Our prayers to Mary help us to imitate her total love and commitment to her Son.
Our devotion to Mary should not be confused with worship, which is proper only for God. Mary never seeks glory for herself, but always points us toward her Son. As she told the waiters at Cana, she says to us: “Do whatever he tells you.”

22. Of the many devotions to Mary, the most popular is the Rosary, which includes a repeating of the Hail Mary and a meditation on the mysteries of the life of Christ.

23. Some other popular Marian devotions include the feast of the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God on January 1st, the Miraculous Medal, the Scapular, various Marian prayers such as the Angelus, and the devotion to Mary’s Immaculate Heart.

24. The Holy Spirit Gives and Renews Life
Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, and it is that Spirit—the third Person of the Blessed Trinity—who gives life to
the Church.

25. Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Paraclete, indicating that the Holy Spirit would be our advocate, defender, and consoler.
The Holy Spirit is God’s gift—or grace—to us, that enables us to share his life and love.

26. We first receive the Holy Spirit at our baptism, when we become temples of the Holy Spirit and are justified before God.
Justification means that our sins are forgiven, and we are able to enter into a right relationship with God through our faith in Jesus Christ.
While Jesus had no sin, the Holy Spirit descended upon him at his baptism as well.

27. The Holy Spirit also gives life to and builds up the Church.
The Holy Spirit uses the Church to draw us to Christ, to reveal good things the Lord has done for us, and to make present today the Paschal Mystery of Christ’s love.
This is done especially in the Eucharist, in which we share God’s own life.

28. Wisdom Understanding Counsel Fortitude Knowledge Piety
The Holy Spirit showers gifts upon us that strengthen and build up the Church.
Wisdom
Understanding
The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are bestowed on us especially at Baptism and Confirmation, and they make it easier for us to live a Christian life.
Counsel
Fortitude
Knowledge
Piety
Fear of the Lord

29. St. Paul also tells us about other gifts of the Spirit called charisms.
Charisms are given to individuals to benefit the person and strengthen the whole community.
Among the charisms are wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracle working, prophecy, discernment, speaking in tongues, and interpreting tongues.

30. Further, St. Paul describes the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
The fruits of the Holy Spirit are spiritual perfections that result from the Holy Spirit living in us.
These fruits are charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity.

31. The Holy Spirit brought the Church into existence at Pentecost.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that we find the Holy Spirit still actively working in the Church.
The Holy Spirit works through the Scriptures which he inspired.

32. The Holy Spirit brought the Church into existence at Pentecost.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that we find the Holy Spirit still actively working in the Church.
Through Sacred Tradition, witnessed throughout the ages by the Church Fathers.

33. The Holy Spirit brought the Church into existence at Pentecost.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that we find the Holy Spirit still actively working in the Church.
Through the Magisterium or teaching authority of the Church, as a guide to the servants of God’s people: the pope and bishops of the Church.

34. The Holy Spirit brought the Church into existence at Pentecost.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that we find the Holy Spirit still actively working in the Church.
In the Sacraments which put us in touch with the Risen Lord.

35. The Holy Spirit brought the Church into existence at Pentecost.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that we find the Holy Spirit still actively working in the Church.
Through prayer, where he continually intercedes for us.

36. The Holy Spirit brought the Church into existence at Pentecost.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that we find the Holy Spirit still actively working in the Church.
Through the many gifts and ministries that build up the Church as the Body of Christ.

37. The Holy Spirit brought the Church into existence at Pentecost.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that we find the Holy Spirit still actively working in the Church.
Through the apostolic and missionary life and outreach.

38. The Holy Spirit brought the Church into existence at Pentecost.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us that we find the Holy Spirit still actively working in the Church.
Through the saints, whose lives witness to the presence of the Holy Spirit and his continuing work of Salvation.

39. Since the third Person of the Blessed Trinity is purely Spirit, we use many different symbols to communicate his presence, nature, and activity.
Becoming familiar with these symbols can help us to understand the Holy Spirit more deeply.

40. Pg. 123 Q’s 1, 3, & 5
Pg. 128 Q’s 2-7