The Catholic faith can be confusing. Hey, with two thousand years of vocabulary it’s bound to get a little difficult, isn’t it? So there are many words that sound kinda’ awesome and terrifying that don’t actually mean what you might think they mean. So here’s a little primer:

Monstrance. It’s sounds kinda’ terrifying, right? It’s the vessel used to hold the Eucharist.

Missal. It’s not a weapon (Well, sometimes if a liturgist is involved). Unless it’s in the hands of a two year old in the pew who’s mad at her brother.

A Posteriori – It’s nothing to do with any Kardashian. It’s a philosophical/theological term meaning from effect back to cause.

Primate – Referring to an archbishop as a primate sometimes isn’t necessarily bad. It all depends on your tone, I guess.

The Abomination of Desolation -OK I’ll admit it. This is my favorite one. It also is not the title of a SyFy movie although if it was I’d probably watch it. It is, according to Catholic Culture, “The omen of future calamity, predicted by the prophet Daniel and referred to by Christ (Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15). Daniel seems to be foretelling the erection of a statue of Zeus in the Temple of Jerusalem by Antiochus Epiphanes (168 B.C.). Christ applied the prophecy to the siege of Jerusalem by the pagan enemies of Rome in A.D. 70. This was to be a sign for the Christians to flee Jerusalem.”

Please continue reading at The National Catholic Register>>>

*subhead*Fun.*subhead*