Catechism of the Catholic Church

878

Glossary

“mother of the living” in the order of grace (511). See Adam. EVIL: The opposite or absence of good. One form of evil, physical evil, is a result of the “state of journeying” toward its ultimate perfection in which God created the world, involving the existence of the less perfect alongside the more perfect, the constructive and the destructive forces of nature, the appearance and disappearance of certain beings (310). Moral evil, however, results from the free choice to sin which angels and men have; it is permitted by God, who knows how to derive good from it, in order to respect the freedom of his creatures (311). The entire revelation of God’s goodness in Christ is a response to the existence of evil (309, 385, 1707). The devil is called the Evil One. See Devil/Demon. EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE: Prayerful self reflection on our words and deeds in the light of the Gospel to determine how we may have sinned against God. The reception of the Sacrament of Penance ought to be prepared for by such an examination of conscience (1454). EXCOMMUNICATION: A severe ecclesiastical penalty, resulting from grave crimes against the Catholic religion, imposed by ecclesiastical authority or incurred as a direct result of the commission of an offense. Excommunication excludes the offender from taking part in the Eucharist or other sacraments and from the exercise of any ecclesiastical office, ministry, or function (1463).

EXODUS: God’s saving intervention in history by which he liberated the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt, made a covenant with them, and brought them into the Promised Land. The Book of Exodus, the second of the Old Testament, narrates this saving history (62). The exodus is commemorated by the Jewish people at Passover, which for Christians is a foreshadowing of the “passover” of Jesus Christ from death to life and is celebrated in the memorial of the Eucharist (1363). EXORCISM: The public and authoritative act of the Church to protect or liberate a person or object from the power of the devil (e.g., demonic possession) in the name of Christ (1673). A simple exorcism prayer in preparation for Baptism invokes God’s help in overcoming the power of Satan and the spirit of evil (1237). EXPIATION: The act of redemption and atonement for sin which Christ won for us by the pouring out of his blood on the cross, by his obedient love “even to the end” ( Jn 13:1) (433, 616, 1475). The expiation of sins continues in the mystical Body of Christ and the communion of saints by joining our human acts of atonement to the redemptive action of Christ, both in this life and in Purgatory.

EXTREME UNCTION: See Anointing of the Sick.

-F FAITH: Both a gift of God and a human act by which the believer gives personal adherence to God who invites his response, and freely assents to the whole