[Maureen]

Originally Posted by abqfriend

Hi, I am a Catholic--what is the Endowment?
Thank you.
-Carol

From lds.org:

The Endowment

Before a person can be married (or sealed as husband and wife) in the temple, he or she receives the ordinances of the endowment.

What is the temple endowment?

“Let me give you a definition in brief. Your endowment is, to receive all those ordinances in the house of the Lord, which are necessary for you, after you have departed this life, to enable you to walk back to the presence of the Father, passing the angels who stand as sentinels, being enabled to give them the key words, the signs and tokens, pertaining to the holy Priesthood, and gain your eternal exaltation in spite of earth and hell.” (Discourses of Brigham Young [Deseret Book Co., 1941], p. 416.)

As you receive your endowment, you will be given instruction relative to the purposes and plans of the Lord in creating and peopling the earth and in exalting his children in the life to come.

Elder James E. Talmage, formerly of the Council of the Twelve, has given a clear description of the endowment:

“The Temple Endowment, as administered in modern temples, comprises instruction relating to the significance and sequence of past dispensations, and the importance of the present as the greatest and grandest era in human history. This course of instruction includes a recital of the most prominent events of the creative period, the condition of our first parents in the Garden of Eden, their disobedience and consequent expulsion from that blissful abode, their condition in the lone and dreary world when doomed to live by labor and sweat, the plan of redemption by which the great transgression may be atoned, the period of the great apostasy, the restoration of the Gospel with all its ancient powers and privileges, the absolute and indispensable condition of personal purity and devotion to the right in present life, and a strict compliance with Gospel requirements. …

“The ordinances of the endowment embody certain obligations on the part of the individual, such as covenant and promise to observe the law of strict virtue and chastity, to be charitable, benevolent, tolerant and pure; to devote both talent and material means to the spread of truth and the uplifting of the race; to maintain devotion to the cause of truth; and to seek in every way to contribute to the great preparation that the earth may be made ready to receive her King,—the Lord Jesus Christ. With the taking of each covenant and the assuming of each obligation a promised blessing is pronounced, contingent upon the faithful observance of the conditions.

“No jot, iota, or tittle of the temple rites is otherwise than uplifting and sanctifying. In every detail the endowment ceremony contributes to covenants of morality of life, consecration of person to high ideals, devotion to truth, patriotism to nation, and allegiance to God.” (The House of the Lord [Deseret Book Co., 1968], pp. 83–84.)

To endow is to enrich, to give to another something long-lasting and of much worth. The endowment ordinances enrich in three ways:

1. The one receiving the ordinance is given power from God. “Recipients are endowed with power from on High.” (President Bruce R. McConkie of the First Council of the Seventy.)

2. A recipient is also endowed with information and knowledge. “They receive knowledge relative to the Lord’s purposes and plans. …” (President McConkie.)

3. When sealed at the altar, a person is the recipient of glorious blessings, powers, and honors, as part of his endowment.

The endowment is a most important and significant blessing, and the Lord desires his worthy children to receive it. You should all look forward to the day when you will receive your own endowment.

ElRay L. Christiansen, “Some Things You Need to Know about the Temple,” New Era, Jun 1971, 25

M.