Vocabulary

AGNUS DEI (Latin = Lamb of God): In Exodus 12 the Lamb of God is the sacrifice by which the people of Israel were freed from slavery in Egypt; John the Baptist applied this image to Jesus (Jn 1:29, “Behold, the Lamb of God. . .”). Through Jesus, who is led like a lamb to slaughter, we are freed from our sins and find peace with God. In the Eucharistic liturgy, the invocation of Christ, “Lamb of God”, begins a litany-like prayer that has been part of every Holy Mass in the Roman Rite since the seventh century.¹

ALLELUIA (“Let us praise the Lord!”; composed of the Hebrew halal = praise ye!, glorify!, and the divine name YHWH): This exclamation, which occurs twenty-four times in the Psalms, is used in the Mass as an acclamation greeting the Word of the Lord in the Gospel. ¹

ALTAR (Hebrew mizbēah; Greek thysiastērion) A cultic platform used for sacrifice. In the Old Testament the term used is invariably mizbēah (some four hundred times), derived from the root “to slaughter.” Before the Law of Moses and the establishment of a national priesthood, erecting altars and performing ritual acts of sacrifice was the responsibility of the head of the family or clan, as we see in the stories of Noah, Abraham, and other patriarchs (Gen 8:20; 12:8; 13:18; 22:9). The oldest prescribed form of altar is in Exod 20:24–25, where the altar is to be made of earth or unhewn stone and without steps. The altar of the Tabernacle, described in Exod 27:1–8, is a square frame of acacia wood overlaid with bronze, with horns on the four corners. The enormous bronze altar in the forecourt of the Temple of Solomon (1 Kgs 8:64; 2 Chr 4:1) was also square. In the eighth century B.C. King Ahaz added the “great altar,” based on what he had seen in Damascus. The great altar assumed the role of Solomon’s altar for some unspecified period of time, but Ahaz kept Solomon’s altar “to inquire by” (2 Kgs 16:10–16). The great altar was where regular sacrifices were conducted and was called the “altar of burnt offering.” Solomon’s altar was also sometimes called the Lord’s “table” (Ezek 41:22; Mal 1:7, 12)—a name that would have particular significance in Paul’s theology of the Eucharist(1 Cor 10:21). There was also an incense altar in the Tabernacle and the Temple; it was overlaid with gold (1 Kgs 6:20; 1 Chr 28:18; 2 Chr 26:16–20). Altars are mentioned several times in the New Testament (Matt 23:35; Luke 11:51; Rom 11:3; Jas 2:21), including reference to the altar in Herod’s temple (Matt 23:18–20; 1 Cor 9:13). The sole direct reference to a Christian altar is in Heb 13:10. Most likely this refers to the Eucharistic altar of the Church (CCC 1182).²

CANON OF THE BIBLE (Greek kanōn, “rule” or “standard,” from the Hebrew qāneh, “reed”) The authentic list of inspired writings that are recognized and received by the Church and that make up the Old and New Testaments.²

CHURCH (from the Greek kyriake = belonging to the Lord): consists of those called together from all nations (from Greek ex kaleo, ekklesia) who through Baptism belong to the Body of Christ.¹

COMMUNION (from Latin communio = fellowship): By Communion, we mean receiving the Body and Blood of Christ in the transformed (consecrated) gifts of bread and wine. This occurs as a rule during Holy Mass, but also on certain occasions outside of Mass (for instance, when Holy Communion is brought to the sick). Communion only under the species of bread is also a full communion with Christ. ¹

CONSECRATION (from Latin consecratio = hallowing, sanctification): A consecration is a solemn act of making something holy. Thus during Holy Mass at the consecration, bread and wine are “consecrated” and thereby transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ. Bishops, priests, and deacons are consecrated too, as are certain things for the service of God, such as church buildings and altars.¹

COVENANT A kinship bond between two parties, with conditions or obligations, established by an oath or its equivalent. Covenants were ubiquitous in the ancient Near East as well as Greco-Roman culture as a means to forge and maintain relationships between individuals, families, tribes, and even nations. Covenant is also the master-theme of the Bible, which records the various ways throughout history that God has drawn humanity into a familial relationship with himself through divine oaths. The imperfect rendering of the word “covenant” (Hebrew bĕrît; Greek diathēkē) as “Testament” in the Latin tradition has obscured the fact that the Bible is divided into the Scriptures based on two covenants, the Old and the New. Nonetheless, this division of the canon on the basis of covenant distinctions points to the undeniable centrality of the concept of covenant to biblical thought and Christian theology. Moreover, for Catholics, the fact that the source and summit of the Christian life, the Eucharist, is identified by Christ as “the New Covenant” (Luke 22:20) should suffice to demonstrate the importance of covenant to the plan of salvation. ²

DOXOLOGY (Greek doxa = glory): A doxology is the solemn, formulaic, laudatory conclusion of a prayer, for instance, the conclusion of the Eucharistic Prayer, which reads: Through him, and with him, and in him, to you, O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, is all honor and glory, for ever and ever. Often doxologies are addressed to the Holy Trinity, for instance, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, the formula that usually concludes a Christian prayer.¹

EUCHARIST (Greek eucharistia = thanksgiving): Eucharist was at first the name for the prayer of thanksgiving that preceded the transformation of the bread and wine into Christ’s Body and Blood in the liturgy of the early Church. Later the term was applied to the whole celebration of the Mass.¹

GLORIA (Latin = honor): The joyful song of the angels heard by the shepherds (Lk 2:14) on Christmas night serves as the introduction to an ancient Christian hymn that has existed in this form since the ninth century, in which the praise of God is sung with solemnity.¹

GOSPEL (from the Anglo-Saxon god-spell, “good tidings” or “good news”) The name generally given to the four divinely inspired accounts of the life, death, and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Bible. More broadly, “the gospel of the Kingdom” (Matt 4:23; Mark 1:15; Luke 4:43, 8:1, 16:16), the good tidings of salvation for all men through Jesus; or, most broadly, the whole revelation of salvation by Christ (cf. Matt 9:35, 24:14; Mark 1:14, 13:10, 16:15; Acts 5:42, 11:20, 14:7, 20:24; Rom 1:9, 10:16, 15:20; 1 Cor 15:1; 2 Cor 4:3). Paul provides a useful definition: Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. (Rom 1:1–6) Clear direction and teaching on the Catholic understanding of the Gospels are provided by two essential documents: the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum, of the Second Vatican Council; and the document of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, Sancta Mater Ecclesia, “On the Historicity of the Gospels.”²

HOMILY (from Greek homilein = to exhort someone, speak to him as a peer, converse with him): Homily is another word for sermon. Within the Eucharistic liturgy, the preacher has the task of proclaiming the Good News (Greek evangelion) and helping the faithful and encouraging them to recognize and accept the practical consequences of the Word of God that they have just heard. During Holy Mass the homily is reserved to the priest or deacon; in other settings, Christian laity may also preach.¹

KYRIE ELEISON (Greek = Lord, have mercy): The Kyrie eleison, an ancient cry of homage to gods and rulers, was applied very early to Christ; around the year 500 it was carried over from the Greek liturgy, without translating it, into the Roman and Western liturgy.¹

LITURGY (from Greek leiturgia = public work, service, achievement by and for the people): In the Christian Tradition, liturgy means that the People of god participate in the “work of God”. The centerpiece of liturgical celebrations is the Holy Eucharist; the other liturgies—for example, the celebration of other sacraments, devotions, blessings, processions, and the Liturgy of the Hours—are ordered to it.¹

MONSTRANCE (Latin monstrare = to show): a sacred object used to display Christ in the form of consecrated bread on special occasions for adoration by the faithful.¹

SACRAMENT (Latin sacramentum = military oath of allegiance; the usual translation for the Greek mysterion = mystery): Sacraments are holy, visible signs instituted by Christ of an invisible reality, in which Christians can experience the healing, forgiving, nourishing, strengthening presence of God that enables them to love in turn; this is possible because God’s grace works in the sacraments.¹

SACRIFICE A ritual action of worship that is near-universally attested in ancient religions. So ubiquitous is sacrifice to the history of human culture that Christian theology considers it a precept of the natural law (e.g., Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae II-II, q.85, a.1). Biblical religion is dominated by the practice of sacrifice in many and varied forms. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, sacrifice is one of the principal means of ratifying, renewing, and repairing the relational bond between God and his people.²

SANCTUS (Latin = holy): The Sanctus is one of the most ancient parts of the Mass. It originated in the eighth century B.C. (!) and can never be omitted. The song is composed of the cry of the angels in Isaiah 6:3 and a greeting in Psalm 118:26 that is applied to the presence of Christ.¹

TABERNACLE (Latin tabernaculum = hut, tent): In a way reminiscent of the Old Testament Ark of the Covenant, the tabernacle developed in the Catholic Church as a prominent, richly ornamented place for preserving the Most Blessed Sacrament (Christ in the form of bread).¹

TESTAMENT The name given to the two principal divisions of the Christian Bible. The Latin term testamentum, from which it is derived, is basically equivalent to “covenant.” The designations Old and New Testament are inspired in part by Paul’s distinction between the “new covenant” and the “old covenant” in 2 Cor 3:6, 14. The Latin Vulgate renders these expressions novum testamentum and vetus testamentum, respectively. The OT is a collection of forty-six books, written mainly in Hebrew, that covers a stretch of salvation history from creation to the threshold of Messianic times. The NT is a collection of twenty-seven books, written entirely in Greek, that records the culmination of salvation history in Christ and the growth of the Church in the first Christian century.²

TRANSUBSTANTIATION (from Latin trans = through, and substantia = essence, substance): the theological term used to explain theologically how Jesus can be present under the appearance of the gifts of bread and wine in the Eucharist. Whereas the “substances” (meaning the “essences”) of bread and wine are changed by the working of the Holy Spirit at the words of consecration into the Body and Blood of Christ, their outward “species” or forms remain the same. Jesus Christ is really but invisibly present in what looks like bread and wine as long as the appearances of bread and wine are preserved.¹

Sources:

1. Schoenborn, Christoph Cardinal (2011-06-15). YOUCAT, Ignatius Press. Kindle Edition.

2. Hahn, Scott; Scott Hahn (2009-06-06). Catholic Bible Dictionary, Image. Kindle Edition.