CATHOLIC WORD BOOK - Knights of Columbus, Supreme Council

wrongs patiently, praying for the living
and the dead.
Merit: In religion, the right to a
supernatural reward for good works freely
done for a supernatural motive by a person
in the state of and with the assistance of
grace. The right to such reward is from
God, who binds himself to give it.
Accordingly, good works, as described
above, are meritorious for salvation.
Metanoia: A term from the Greek metanoein
(“to change one’s mind, repent, be
converted”) that is used in the NT for
conversion. It entails the repentance of sin
and the subsequent turning toward the
Lord. Metanoia is fundamental to the
Christian life and is necessary for spiritual
growth.
Metaphysics: The branch of philosophy
(from the Greek meta — after + physika —
physics) dealing with first things,
including the nature of being (ontology),
the origin and structure of the world
(cosmology), and the study of the reality
and attributes of God (natural theology).
Metaphysics has long been examined by
Catholic philosophers, most especially in
the writings of St. Augustine and St.
Thomas Aquinas.
Millennium: A thousand year reign of
Christ and the just upon earth before the
end of the world. This belief of the
Millenarians, Chiliasts, and some sects of
modern times is based on an erroneous
interpretation of Rv 20.
Miracles: Observable events or effects in
the physical or moral order of things, with
reference to salvation, which cannot be
explained by the ordinary operation of
laws of nature and which, therefore, are
attributed to the direct action of God.
They make known, in an unusual way, the
concern and intervention of God in human
affairs for the salvation of men.
Mission: (1) Strictly, it means being sent to
perform a certain work, such as the
mission of Christ to redeem mankind, the
mission of the Apostles and the Church
and its members to perpetuate the
prophetic, priestly and royal mission of
Christ. (2) A place where: the Gospel has
not been proclaimed; the Church has not
been firmly established; the Church,
although established, is weak. (3) An
ecclesiastical territory with the simplest
kind of canonical organization, under the
jurisdiction of the Congregation for the
Evangelization of Peoples. (4) A church or
chapel without a resident priest. (5) A
special course of sermons and spiritual
exercises conducted in parishes for the
purpose of renewing and deepening the
spiritual life of the faithful and for the
conversion of lapsed Catholics.
Modernism: The “synthesis of all heresies,”
which appeared near the beginning of the
20th century. It undermines the objective
validity of religious beliefs and practices
which, it contends, are products of the
subconscious developed by mankind under
the stimulus of a religious sense. It holds
that the existence of a personal God cannot
be demonstrated, the Bible is not inspired,
Christ is not divine, nor did he establish
the Church or institute the sacraments. A
special danger lies in modernism, which is
still influential, because it uses Catholic
terms with perverted meanings. St. Pius X
condemned 65 propositions of modernism
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