Hindu Catholic Dialogue Commemorative Brochure 20150523

Author(s): United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Publisher: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

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of 14 and 59 are obliged to refrain from eating meat or meat products on Ash Wednesday and every Friday in Lent. In addition, on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, they are to practice fasting which is minimally defined as refraining from eating between meals, and confining oneself to one light, meatless meal and, if needed, two smaller meatless meals during the day. It is encouraged to extend the fast to Holy Saturday, the day before Easter. Traditional days of fast and abstinence include the day before Christmas and the day before New Year's Day (the Solemnity of Mary as Mother of God). With regard to clothing, men and women are expected to dress modestly, particularly during services in church. The clergy wear special vestments during liturgical services.
C. GOD OR ULTIMATE TRUTH
C1. What is the higher power (God) or ultimate truth that is worshipped? How do you name God? Is God one or many? There is one God, creator of heaven and earth. There is no god other than or above this God. Within the life of God, there are three equal, eternal, inseparable divine Persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This life is a communion of perfect, unconditional, self-giving love. In Catholic worship, the believing community is considered to be admitted into the loving relationships of the three Divine Persons by having been baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit". Thus, the prayers of Catholic Christians are inspired by the Holy Spirit, offered in and with the Son- Jesus Christ - and directed to the Father who is the origin of everything.
C2. What are the relationships among God, the individual and the world? The Trinity models for us an intimate community of love. In Scripture, we are told that God so loved the world that He sent His only Son to live as a human being. God became one of us. He did not remain distant from the world. The Spirit continues to guide us as the on-going, abiding presence of God in the world.
C3. Does God have a form? God is beyond all words and forms; the words that we read in the Scriptures are to be understood as analogies of the true nature of God. Through revelation, God has made known, by way of a gift of love, the truths that are necessary for humans to be saved and to be made holy. The primary and unsurpassable revelation of God is Jesus Christ; thus the ultimate form of revelation is not a text, but a divine Person.
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HINDU - CATHOLIC DIALOGUE