Saints LightStart Here: The Catholic Faith in Twelve Lessons
The whole map of the Catholic faith in twelve short lessons, from why you exist to how the story ends. Read one a day and you will know where every other course fits.
The lessons
- Why Were We Made?
God made you out of love so you could know Him, love Him and serve Him, and be happy with Him forever. That is why nothing less than God ever fully satisfies.
- How God Speaks: Scripture, Tradition and the Church
God speaks to us through Scripture and Tradition, which come from the apostles, and the Church's teaching office explains them faithfully. All three work together, like the legs of one stool.
- Who Is God? The Trinity
There is one God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit: three Persons, one divine nature. God is a communion of love, and He made us to share it.
- Creation, the Fall and Why the World Is Broken
God made a good world, but the first humans broke their friendship with Him, and we inherit that wound. God did not give up on us; He promised a Savior.
- Who Is Jesus? True God and True Man
Jesus is God the Son who became a real man, one Person who is fully divine and fully human. He did it to save us and bring us into God's own life.
- The Cross and Resurrection: How We Are Saved
Jesus freely gave His life on the cross out of love, as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, and rose from the dead. Through faith and Baptism we share in His death and new life.
- The Holy Spirit and Grace
The Holy Spirit is God living in us, and grace is His free gift of God's own life. We cannot earn it, but we can welcome it and cooperate with it.
- The Church: Why Did Jesus Found One?
Jesus founded one Church on the apostles, with Peter as its rock, to carry His life and teaching to the whole world. It is holy because of Christ, even though its members are sinners.
- The Sacraments: How Grace Reaches Us
The sacraments are seven signs Jesus gave us that truly pour His grace into our lives, from Baptism to the Eucharist. In them, Christ Himself is acting.
- Living as a Christian: Love, Commandments and Virtue
Living as a Christian means loving God and neighbor, guided by the commandments and a formed conscience. Good habits, called virtues, grow with practice and with God's grace.
- Mary and the Saints: The Family of God
The Church is one family in heaven and on earth, so we ask Mary and the saints to pray for us. We honor them, but we worship God alone.
- The End of the Story: Death, Judgment and Heaven
After death we meet Christ in judgment and go to heaven, to purification first, or to hell by our own choice. At the end, Christ returns and God makes everything new.
Take Start Here in the app
This course is free in the app too, with progress tracking, a guided class for each lesson and a certificate when you finish.
Every course is open free for your first 14 days. After that, one payment of $14.99 unlocks every course. There is no subscription.