Roman Catholic Prayers and Hymns Quiz

Answer: Prayer is the raising up of the mind and heart to God.

I wonder how many of us would have still remembered that answer without any prompting? Prayer is never just confined to approved words, or to our own words. The Catholic Church teaches that prayer may take almost any form and this includes good works and behaviour.

Answer: the Last Supper of Jesus

The Mass is a commemoration of the Last Supper that Jesus had with His disciples. Matthew 26:26-29 recounts this event (as does Mark 14:22-25 and also Luke 22:14-20) and the Mass centres around the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

Answer: the prayer was taught to us by Jesus Himself

Jesus taught his disciples to say this prayer (please see Luke 11:2-4 and also Matthew 6:9-13). The Protestant form of the prayer (and that used in some other rites) extends it with the words "For Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever".

When you say this prayer you are actually repeating Jesus's own prayer and the astute may well detect the Father speaking through and to Jesus.

Answer: the Angel Gabriel

Please see Luke 1:26-29 for an account of the Annunciation of the conception of Jesus to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Angel said to her "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women." At Luke 1:39-56 there is also an account of the Blessed Virgin visiting Elizabeth prior to the birth of Jesus.

The account reads "And it came to pass, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe in her womb leapt. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb!...".

This is of course also part of the "Hail Mary" prayer. Notably the child in Elizabeth's womb was already the John the Baptist, we now know, whose ministry and execution are related in the Bible.

Answer: No

This is in fact part of the "Sabbath Prayer" that is sung in "Fiddler on the Roof" (also a film and record album). Religions can learn much from each other and Jewish prayers can be very beautiful, so I make no apologies for including it here for you to read.

Answer: the Holy Ghost

This is a quote from the second verse of the hymn "Come Holy Ghost, Creator come..."(by Tr. J. Dryden). Jesus promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to His disciples prior to His Ascension (Acts of the Apostles. 1:6-8) and the Holy Spirit came on the Apostles at Pentecost (Acts of the Apostles. 2:1-4).

This was the way God planned the future and the presence of the Holy Spirit is well documented in the Acts of the Apostles (also 2:5-13 and after). Jesus left us, but left us inspired by God's "best gift", the Holy Spirit (or Ghost).

Answer: sword

"Faith of our Fathers" is a very well known Catholic hymn that celebrates the survival and strengthening of the Christian religion.
The hymn was written by the Reverend F.W. Faber.

Answer: Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament

For those that remember the Latin hymns, this is of course the hymn "Tantum Ergo...". This hymn and the "O Salutaris..." ("O Saving Victim...") are the two hymns almost always sung at Benediction (blessing) of the Blessed Sacrament.

Answer: wand'rer

This is of course the "Salve Regina" by Dr. Lingard.

Answer: handmaid

This is the Lourdes hymn which starts: "Holy Virgin, by God's decree,
you were called eternally...". Lourdes is the Shrine to Our Lady in Southern France (near to the Pyrenees) where our Lady appeared to Saint Bernadette at the Grotto.