Catechism of the Catholic Church

by U.S. Catholic Church

• ISBN13: 9780385508193
• ISBN10: 0385508190
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780307953704
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-03-04
• Publisher: Image
• More Book Details

Summary

Four centuries in the making, a monumental undertaking and a magnificent achievement, the first definitive Catholic Catechism since the Council of Trent in 1566 details the doctrine, dogma, and the basic tenets of the Church. From the Trade Paperback edition.

Author Biography

U.S. Catholic Church is the largest religious body in the United States and is a section of the worldwide Catholic Church, led by the Pope based in Vatican City.

Table of Contents

Apostolic Constitution Fidei Depositum on the Publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church	1	(8)
Prologue	9	(1)
The Life of Man---To Know and Love God	9	(1)
Handing on the Faith: Catechesis	10	(1)
The Aim and Intended Readership of This Catechism	11	(1)
Structure of This Catechism	12	(1)
Practical Directions for Using This Catechism	13	(1)
Necessary Adaptations	14	(3)
PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH	17	(1)
Section One: ``I Believe''---``We Believe''	17	(284)
Man's Capacity for God	17	(6)
The Desire for God	17	(2)
Ways of Coming to Know God	19	(1)
The Knowledge of God according to the Church	20	(1)
How Can We Speak about God?	21	(1)
In Brief	22	(1)
God Comes to Meet Man	23	(21)
The Revelation of God	23	(6)
God Reveals His ``Plan of Loving Goodness''	23	(1)
The Stages of Revelation	24	(3)
Christ Jesus---``Mediator and Fullness of All Revelation''	27	(1)
In Brief	28	(1)
The Transmission on Divine Revelation	29	(6)
The Apostolic Tradition	29	(2)
The Relationship between Tradition and Sacred Scripture	31	(1)
The Interpretation of the Heritage of Faith	32	(3)
In Brief	35	(1)
Sacred Scripture	35	(9)
Christ---The Unique Word of Sacred Scripture	35	(1)
Inspiration and Truth of Sacred Scripture	36	(1)
The Holy Spirit, Interpreter of Scripture	37	(3)
The Canon of Scripture	40	(3)
Sacred Scripture in the Life of the Church	43	(1)
In Brief	43	(1)
Man's Response to God	44	(17)
I Believe	45	(6)
The Obedience of Faith	45	(1)
``I Know Whom I Have Believed''	46	(1)
The Characteristics of Faith	47	(4)
We Believe	51	(7)
``Lord, Look upon the Faith of Your Church''	52	(1)
The Language of Faith	53	(1)
Only One Faith	53	(1)
In Brief	54	(2)
The Credo	56	(2)
The Profession of the Christian Faith: The Creeds	58	(3)
I Believe in God the Father	61	(57)
``I Believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth''	61	(1)
I Believe in God	61	(8)
``I Believe in One God''	61	(1)
God Reveals His Name	62	(4)
God, ``He Who Is,'' Is Truth and Love	66	(1)
The Implications of Faith in One God	67	(1)
In Brief	68	(1)
The Father	69	(10)
``In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit''	69	(2)
The Revelation of God as Trinity	71	(3)
The Holy Trinity in the Teaching of the Faith	74	(2)
The Divine Works and the Trinitarian Missions	76	(2)
In Brief	78	(1)
The Almighty	79	(3)
In Brief	81	(1)
The Creator	82	(13)
Catechesis on Creation	82	(3)
Creation---Work of the Holy Trinity	85	(1)
``The World Was Created for the Glory of God''	86	(1)
The Mystery of Creation	87	(2)
God Carries Out His Plan: Divine Providence	89	(5)
In Brief	94	(1)
Heaven and Earth	95	(6)
The Angels	95	(3)
The Visible World	98	(3)
In Brief	101	(1)
Man	101	(7)
``In the Image of God''	101	(2)
``Body and Soul but Truly One''	103	(2)
``Male and Female He Created Them''	105	(1)
Man in Paradise	106	(1)
In Brief	107	(1)
The Fall	108	(10)
Where Sin Abounded, Grace Abounded All the More	109	(1)
The Fall of the Angels	110	(1)
Original Sin	111	(5)
``You Did Not Abandon Him to the Power of Death''	116	(1)
In Brief	117	(1)
I Believe in Jesus Christ, the Only Son of God	118	(78)
``And in Jesus Christ, His Only Son, Our Lord''	120	(7)
Jesus	120	(2)
Christ	122	(2)
The Only Son of God	124	(1)
Lord	125	(2)
In Brief	127	(1)
``He was Conceived by the Power of the Holy Spirit, and Was Born of the Virgin Mary''	127	(1)
The Son of God Became Man	127	(9)
Why Did the Word Become Flesh?	127	(2)
The Incarnation	129	(1)
True God and True Man	130	(2)
How Is the Son of God Man?	132	(3)
In Brief	135	(1)
``Conceived by the Power of the Holy Spirit and Born of the Virgin Mary''	136	(7)
Conceived by the Power of the Holy Spirit . . .	136	(1)
. . . Born of the Virgin Mary	136	(6)
In Brief	142	(1)
The Mysteries of Christ's Life	143	(18)
Christ's Whole Life Is Mystery	143	(3)
The Mysteries of Jesus' Infancy and Hidden Life	146	(4)
The Mysteries of Jesus' Public Life	150	(9)
In Brief	159	(2)
``Jesus Christ Suffered Under Pontius Pilate, was Crucified, Died, and was Buried''	161	(1)
Jesus and Israel	161	(7)
Jesus and the Law	162	(2)
Jesus and the Temple	164	(2)
Jesus and Israel's Faith in the One God and Savior	166	(1)
In Brief	167	(1)
Jesus Died Crucified	168	(9)
The Trial of Jesus	168	(2)
Christ's Redemptive Death in God's Plan of Salvation	170	(2)
Christ Offered Himself to His Father for Our Sins	172	(4)
In Brief	176	(1)
Jesus Christ Was Buried	177	(2)
In Brief	179	(1)
``He Descended into Hell. On the Third Day He Rose Again''	179	(1)
Christ Descended into Hell	180	(2)
In Brief	181	(1)
On the Third Day He Rose from the Dead	182	(7)
The Historical and Transcendent Event	182	(4)
The Resurrection---A Work of the Holy Trinity	186	(1)
The Meaning and Saving Significance of the Resurrection	186	(2)
In Brief	188	(1)
``He Ascended Into Heaven and is Seated at the Right Hand of the Father''	189	(2)
In Brief	191	(1)
``From Thence He Will Come Again to Judge the Living and the Dead''	191	(5)
He Will Come Again in Glory	191	(3)
To Judge the Living and the Dead	194	(1)
In Brief	195	(1)
I Believe in the Holy Spirit	196	(105)
``I Believe in the Holy Spirit''	197	(17)
The Joint Mission of the Son and the Spirit	198	(1)
The Name, Titles, and Symbols of the Holy Spirit	199	(4)
God's Spirit and Word in the Time of the Promises	203	(4)
The Spirit of Christ in the Fullness of Time	207	(3)
The Spirit and the Church in the Last Days	210	(3)
In Brief	213	(1)
``I Believe in the Holy Catholic Church''	214	(1)
The Church in God's Plan	215	(9)
Names and Images of the Church	215	(2)
The Church's Origin, Foundation, and Mission	217	(4)
The Mystery of the Church	221	(2)
In Brief	223	(1)
The Church---People of God, Body of Christ, Temple of the Holy Spirit	224	(8)
The Church---People of God	224	(2)
The Church---Body of Christ	226	(4)
The Church Is the Temple of the Holy Spirit	230	(1)
In Brief	231	(1)
The Church Is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic	232	(19)
The Church Is One	233	(4)
The Church Is Holy	237	(2)
The Church Is Catholic	239	(8)
The Church Is Apostolic	247	(3)
In Brief	250	(1)
Christ's Faithful---Hierarchy, Laity, Consecrated Life	251	(17)
The Hierarchical Constitution of the Church	252	(6)
The Lay Faithful	258	(4)
The Consecrated Life	262	(5)
In Brief	267	(1)
The Communion of Saints	268	(5)
Communion in Spiritual Goods	269	(1)
The Communion of the Church of Heaven and Earth	270	(2)
In Brief	272	(1)
Mary---Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church	273	(3)
Mary's Motherhood with Regard to the Church	273	(2)
Devotion to the Blessed Virgin	275	(1)
Mary---Eschatological Icon of the Church	275	(1)
In Brief	276	(1)
``I Believe in the Forgiveness of Sins''	276	(3)
One Baptism for the Forgiveness of Sins	277	(1)
The Power of the Keys	278	(1)
In Brief	279	(1)
``I Believe in the Resurrection of the Body''	279	(8)
Christ's Resurrection and Ours	280	(4)
Dying in Christ Jesus	284	(3)
In Brief	287	(1)
``I Believe in Life Everlasting''	287	(14)
The Particular Judgment	288	(1)
Heaven	289	(2)
The Final Purification, or Purgatory	291	(1)
Hell	292	(1)
The Last Judgment	293	(2)
The Hope of the New Heaven and the New Earth	295	(2)
In Brief	297	(1)
``Amen''	298	(3)
PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY	301	(3)
Section One: The Sacramental Economy	304	(37)
The Paschal Mystery in the Age of the Church	305	(16)
The Liturgy---Work of the Holy Trinity	305	(10)
The Father---Source and Goal of the Liturgy	305	(2)
Christ's Work in the Liturgy	307	(2)
The Holy Spirit and the Church in the Liturgy	309	(5)
In Brief	314	(1)
The Paschal Mystery in the Church's Sacraments	315	(6)
The Sacraments of Christ	315	(1)
The Sacraments of the Church	316	(1)
The Sacraments of Faith	317	(2)
The Sacraments of Salvation	319	(1)
The Sacraments of Eternal Life	320	(1)
In Brief	320	(1)
The Sacramental Celebration of the Paschal Mystery	321	(20)
Celebrating the Church's Liturgy	321	(17)
Who Celebrates?	321	(3)
How Is the Liturgy Celebrated?	324	(5)
When Is the Liturgy Celebrated?	329	(5)
Where Is the Liturgy Celebrated?	334	(2)
In Brief	336	(2)
Liturgical Diversity and the Unity of the Mystery	338	(3)
In Brief	340	(1)
Section Two: The Seven Sacraments of the Church	341	(130)
The Sacraments of Christian Initiation	341	(55)
The Sacrament of Baptism	342	(16)
What Is This Sacrament Called?	342	(1)
Baptism in the Economy of Salvation	343	(3)
How Is the Sacrament of Baptism Celebrated?	346	(3)
Who Can Receive Baptism?	349	(3)
Who Can Baptize?	352	(1)
The Necessity of Baptism	352	(1)
The Grace of Baptism	353	(3)
In Brief	356	(2)
The Sacrament of Confirmation	358	(10)
Confirmation in the Economy of Salvation	358	(2)
The Signs and the Rite of Confirmation	360	(3)
The Effects of Confirmation	363	(1)
Who Can Receive This Sacrament?	364	(2)
The Minister of Confirmation	366	(1)
In Brief	366	(2)
The Sacrament of the Eucharist	368	(28)
The Eucharist---Source and Summit of Ecclesial Life	368	(1)
What Is This Sacrament Called?	369	(2)
The Eucharist in the Economy of Salvation	371	(3)
The Liturgical Celebration of the Eucharist	374	(4)
The Sacramental Sacrifice: Thanksgiving, Memorial, Presence	378	(8)
The Paschal Banquet	386	(6)
The Eucharist---``Pledge of the Glory to Come''	392	(1)
In Brief	393	(3)
The Sacraments of Healing	396	(30)
The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation	396	(21)
What Is This Sacrament Called?	396	(1)
Why a Sacrament of Reconciliation after Baptism?	397	(1)
The Conversion of the Baptized	398	(1)
Interior Penance	399	(1)
The Many Forms of Penance in Christian Life	400	(1)
The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation	401	(3)
The Acts of the Penitent	404	(4)
The Minister of This Sacrament	408	(1)
The Effects of This Sacrament	409	(2)
Indulgences	411	(2)
The Celebration of the Sacrament of Penance	413	(2)
In Brief	415	(2)
The Anointing of the Sick	417	(9)
Its Foundations in the Economy of Salvation	417	(4)
Who Receives and Who Administers This Sacrament?	421	(1)
How Is This Sacrament Celebrated?	422	(1)
The Effects of the Celebration of This Sacrament	423	(1)
Viaticum, the Last Sacrament of the Christian	424	(1)
In Brief	424	(2)
The Sacraments at the Service of Communion	426	(38)
The Sacrament of Holy Orders	427	(19)
Why Is This Sacrament Called ``Orders''?	427	(1)
The Sacrament of Holy Orders in the Economy of Salvation	428	(5)
The Three Degrees of the Sacrament of Holy Orders	433	(5)
The Celebration of This Sacrament	438	(1)
Who Can Confer This Sacrament?	439	(1)
Who Can Receive This Sacrament?	439	(2)
The Effects of the Sacrament of Holy Orders	441	(3)
In Brief	444	(2)
The Sacrament of Matrimony	446	(18)
Marriage in God's Plan	446	(6)
The Celebration of Marriage	452	(1)
Matrimonial Consent	453	(3)
The Effects of the Sacrament of Matrimony	456	(2)
The Goods and Requirements of Conjugal Love	458	(3)
The Domestic Church	461	(1)
In Brief	462	(2)
Other Liturgical Celebrations	464	(7)
Sacramentals	464	(3)
In Brief	467	(1)
Christian Funerals	467	(4)
The Christian's Last Passover	468	(1)
The Celebration of Funerals	468	(3)
PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST	471	(3)
Section One: Man's Vocation: Life in the Spirit	474	(79)
The Dignity of the Human Person	474	(37)
Man: The Image of God	474	(3)
In Brief	476	(1)
Our Vocation to Beatitude	477	(4)
The Beatitudes	477	(1)
The Desire for Happiness	478	(1)
Christian Beatitude	478	(2)
In Brief	480	(1)
Man's Freedom	481	(4)
Freedom and Responsibility	481	(1)
Human Freedom in the Economy of Salvation	482	(2)
In Brief	484	(1)
The Morality of Human Acts	485	(2)
The Sources of Morality	485	(1)
Good Acts and Evil Acts	486	(1)
In Brief	487	(1)
The Morality of the Passions	487	(3)
Passions	487	(1)
Passions and Moral Life	488	(1)
In Brief	489	(1)
Moral Conscience	490	(5)
The Judgment of Conscience	490	(2)
The Formation of Conscience	492	(1)
To Choose in Accord with Conscience	492	(1)
Erroneous Judgment	493	(1)
In Brief	494	(1)
The Virtues	495	(9)
The Human Virtues	495	(3)
The Theological Virtues	498	(4)
The Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit	502	(1)
In Brief	503	(1)
Sin	504	(7)
Mercy and Sin	504	(1)
The Definition of Sin	505	(1)
The Different Kinds of Sins	506	(1)
The Gravity of Sin: Mortal and Venial Sin	506	(3)
The Proliferation of Sin	509	(1)
In Brief	510	(1)
The Human Community	511	(15)
The Person and Society	511	(4)
The Communal Character of the Human Vocation	511	(2)
Conversion and Society	513	(1)
In Brief	514	(1)
Participation in Social Life	515	(6)
Authority	515	(2)
The Common Good	517	(2)
Responsibility and Participation	519	(1)
In Brief	520	(1)
Social Justice	521	(5)
Respect for the Human Person	521	(1)
Equality and Differences among Men	522	(2)
Human Solidarity	524	(1)
In Brief	525	(1)
God's Salvation: Law and Grace	526	(27)
The Moral Law	526	(9)
The Natural Moral Law	527	(2)
The Old Law	529	(2)
The New Law or the Law of the Gospel	531	(3)
In Brief	534	(1)
Grace and Justification	535	(10)
Justification	535	(3)
Grace	538	(3)
Merit	541	(1)
Christian Holiness	542	(2)
In Brief	544	(1)
The Church, Mother and Teacher	545	(8)
Moral Life and the Magisterium of the Church	546	(2)
The Precepts of the Church	548	(1)
Moral Life and Missionary Witness	549	(1)
In Brief	550	(1)
The Ten Commandments	551	(2)
Section Two: The Ten Commandments	553	(120)
In Brief	559	(1)
``You Shall Love the Lord Your God with All Your Heart, and with All Your Soul, and with All Your Mind''	560	(27)
The First Commandment	561	(14)
``You Shall Worship the Lord Your God and Him Only Shall You Serve''	561	(3)
``Him Only Shall You Serve''	564	(4)
``You Shall Have No Other Gods before Me''	568	(5)
``You Shall Not Make for Yourself a Graven Image . . .''	573	(1)
In Brief	574	(1)
The Second Commandment	575	(5)
The Name of the Lord Is Holy	575	(2)
Taking the Name of the Lord in Vain	577	(1)
The Christian Name	578	(1)
In Brief	579	(1)
The Third Commandment	580	(7)
The Sabbath Day	580	(1)
The Lord's Day	581	(5)
In Brief	586	(1)
``You Shall Love Your Neighbor as Yourself''	587	(86)
The Fourth Commandment	587	(15)
The Family in God's Plan	589	(1)
The Family and Society	590	(2)
The Duties of Family Members	592	(4)
The Family and the Kingdom	596	(1)
The Authorities in Civil Society	597	(4)
In Brief	601	(1)
The Fifth Commandment	602	(17)
Respect for Human Life	602	(7)
Respect for the Dignity of Persons	609	(4)
Safeguarding Peace	613	(4)
In Brief	617	(2)
The Sixth Commandment	619	(17)
``Male and Female He Created Them . . .''	619	(1)
The Vocation to Chastity	620	(6)
The Love of Husband and Wife	626	(6)
Offenses against the Dignity of Marriage	632	(3)
In Brief	635	(1)
The Seventh Commandment	636	(15)
The Universal Destination and the Private Ownership of Goods	636	(1)
Respect for Persons and Their Goods	637	(3)
The Social Doctrine of the Church	640	(2)
Economic Activity and Social Justice	642	(3)
Justice and Solidarity among Nations	645	(1)
Love for the Poor	646	(3)
In Brief	649	(2)
The Eighth Commandment	651	(11)
Living in the Truth	651	(2)
To Bear Witness to the Truth	653	(1)
Offenses against Truth	654	(3)
Respect for the Truth	657	(1)
The Use of the Social Communications Media	658	(1)
Truth, Beauty, and Sacred Art	659	(2)
In Brief	661	(1)
The Ninth Commandment	662	(5)
Purification of the Heart	663	(1)
The Battle for Purity	664	(2)
In Brief	666	(1)
The Tenth Commandment	667	(6)
The Disorder of Covetous Desires	667	(2)
The Desires of the Spirit	669	(1)
Poverty of Heart	670	(1)
``I Want to See God''	671	(1)
In Brief	672	(1)
PART FOUR: CHRISTIAN PRAYER	673	(1)
Section One: Prayer in the Christian Life	673	(53)
What Is Prayer?	673	(2)
The Revelation of Prayer	675	(23)
The Universal Call to Prayer	675	(1)
In the Old Testament	676	(8)
In Brief	683	(1)
In the Fullness of Time	684	(8)
In Brief	691	(1)
In the Age of the Church	692	(6)
Blessing and Adoration	693	(1)
Prayer of Petition	693	(2)
Prayer of Intercession	695	(1)
Prayer of Thanksgiving	696	(1)
Prayer of Praise	696	(1)
In Brief	697	(1)
The Tradition of Prayer	698	(13)
At the Wellsprings of Prayer	699	(2)
In Brief	701	(1)
The Way of Prayer	701	(6)
In Brief	707	(1)
Guides for Prayer	707	(4)
In Brief	710	(1)
The Life of Prayer	711	(15)
Expressions of Prayer	712	(5)
Vocal Prayer	712	(1)
Meditation	713	(1)
Contemplative Prayer	714	(2)
In Brief	716	(1)
The Battle of Prayer	717	(6)
Objections to Prayer	717	(2)
Humble Vigilance of Heart	719	(1)
Filial Trust	720	(2)
Persevering in Love	722	(1)
The Prayer of the Hour of Jesus	723	(3)
In Brief	725	(1)
Section Two: The Lord's Prayer: ``Our Father!''	726	(31)
``The Summary of the Whole Gospel''	727	(4)
At the Center of the Scriptures	727	(1)
``The Lord's Prayer''	728	(1)
The Prayer of the Church	728	(2)
In Brief	730	(1)
``Our Father Who Art in Heaven''	731	(7)
``We Dare to Say''	731	(1)
``Father!''	731	(3)
``Our'' Father	734	(2)
``Who Art in Heaven''	736	(1)
In Brief	737	(1)
The Seven Petitions	738	(16)
``Hallowed Be Thy Name''	739	(3)
``Thy Kingdom Come''	742	(1)
``Thy Will Be Done on Earth as It Is in Heaven''	743	(2)
``Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread''	745	(3)
``And Forgive Us Our Trespasses, as We Forgive Those Who Trespass against Us''	748	(3)
``And Lead Us Not into Temptation''	751	(1)
``But Deliver Us from Evil''	752	(2)
The Final Doxology	754	(3)
In Brief	755	(2)
Subject Index	757	(66)
Abbreviations	823

Excerpts

Chapter One

Man's Capacity for God

I.The Desire for God

27 The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for:

The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists, it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator.1

28 In many ways, throughout history down to the present day, men have given expression to their quest for God in their religious beliefs and behavior: in their prayers, sacrifices, rituals, meditations, and so forth. These forms of religious expression, despite the ambiguities they often bring with them, are so universal that one may well call man a religious being:

From one ancestor [God] made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him--though indeed he is not far from each one of us.

For "in him we live and move and have our being."

29 But this "intimate and vital bond of man to God" (GS 19,1) can be forgotten, overlooked, or even explicitly rejected by man. Such attitudes can have different causes: revolt against evil in the world; religious ignorance or indifference; the cares and riches of this world; the scandal of bad example on the part of believers; currents of thought hostile to religion; finally, that attitude of sinful man which makes him hide from God out of fear and flee his call.

30 "Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice." Although man can forget God or reject him, He never ceases to call every man to seek him, so as to find life and happiness. But this search for God demands of man every effort of intellect, a sound will, "an upright heart," as well as the witness of others who teach him to seek God.

You are great, O Lord, and greatly to be praised: great is your power and your wisdom is without measure. And man, so small a part of your creation, wants to praise you: this man, though clothed with mortality and bearing the evidence of sin and the proof that you withstand the proud. Despite everything, man, though but a small a part of your creation, wants to praise you. You yourself encourage him to delight in your praise, for you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.

II.Ways of Coming to Know God

31 Created in God's image and called to know and love him, the person who seeks God discovers certain ways of coming to know him. These are also called proofs for the existence of God, not in the sense of proofs in the natural sciences, but rather in the sense of "converging and convincing arguments," which allow us to attain certainty about the truth.

These "ways" of approaching God from creation have a twofold point of departure: the physical world and the human person.

32 The world: starting from movement, becoming, contingency, and the world's order and beauty, one can come to a knowledge of God as the origin and the end of the universe.

As St. Paul says of the Gentiles: For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.

And St. Augustine issues this challenge: Question the beauty of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of the air distending and diffusing itself, question the beauty of the sky . . . question all these realities. All respond: "See, we are beautiful." Their beauty is a profession [confessio]. These beauties are subject to change. Who made them if not the Beautiful One [Pulcher] who is not subject to change?

33 The human person: With his openness to truth and beauty, his sense of moral goodness, his freedom and the voice of his conscience, with his longings for the infinite and for happiness, man questions himself about God's existence. In all this he discerns signs of his spiritual soul. The soul, the "seed of eternity we bear in ourselves, irreducible to the merely material," can have its origin only in God.

34 The world, and man, attest that they contain within themselves neither their first principle nor their final end, but rather that they participate in Being itself, which alone is without origin or end. Thus, in different ways, man can come to know that there exists a reality which is the first cause and final end of all things, a reality "that everyone calls 'God.' "

35Man's faculties make him capable of coming to a knowledge of the existence of a personal God. But for man to be able to enter into real intimacy with him, God willed both to reveal himself to man and to give him the grace of being able to welcome this revelation in faith. The proofs of God's existence, however, can predispose one to faith and help one to see that faith is not opposed to reason.

III.The Knowledge of God according to the Church

36 "Our holy mother, the Church, holds and teaches that God, the first principle and last end of all things, can be known with certainty from the created world by the natural light of human reason." Without this capacity, man would not be able to welcome God's revelation. Man has this capacity because he is created "in the image of God."

37 In the historical conditions in which he finds himself, however, man experiences many difficulties in coming to know God by the light of reason alone:

Though human reason is, strictly speaking, truly capable by its own natural power and light of attaining to a true and certain knowledge of the one personal God, who watches over and controls the world by his providence, and of the natural law written in our hearts by the Creator; yet there are many obstacles which prevent reason from the effective and fruitful use of this inborn faculty. For the truths that concern the relations between God and man wholly transcend the visible order of things, and, if they are translated into human action and influence it, they call for self-surrender and abnegation. The human mind, in its turn, is hampered in the attaining of such truths, not only by the impact of the senses and the imagination, but also by disordered appetites which are the consequences of original sin. So it happens that men in such matters easily persuade themselves that what they would not like to be true is false or at least doubtful.

38 This is why man stands in need of being enlightened by God's revelation, not only about those things that exceed his understanding, but also "about those religious and moral truths which of themselves are not beyond the grasp of human reason, so that even in the present condition of the human race, they can be known by all men with ease, with firm certainty and with no admixture of error."

IV.How Can We Speak about God?

39 In defending the ability of human reason to know God, the Church is expressing her confidence in the possibility of speaking about him to all men and with all men, and therefore of dialogue with other religions, with philosophy and science, as well as with unbelievers and atheists.

40 Since our knowledge of God is limited, our language about him is equally so. We can name God only by taking creatures as our starting point, and in accordance with our limited human ways of knowing and thinking.

41 All creatures bear a certain resemblance to God, most especially man, created in the image and likeness of God. The manifold perfections of creatures--their truth, their goodness, their beauty--all reflect the infinite perfection of God. Consequently we can name God by taking his creatures' perfections as our starting point, "for from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator."

42 God transcends all creatures. We must therefore continually purify our language of everything in it that is limited, imagebound or imperfect, if we are not to confuse our image of God--"the inexpressible, the incomprehensible, the invisible, the ungraspable"--with our human representations. Our human words always fall short of the mystery of God.

43 Admittedly, in speaking about God like this, our language is using human modes of expression; nevertheless it really does attain to God himself, though unable to express him in his infinite simplicity. Likewise, we must recall that "between Creator and creature no similitude can be expressed without implying an even greater dissimilitude"; and that "concerning God, we cannot grasp what he is, but only what he is not, and how other beings stand in relation to him."

IN BRIEF

44 Man is by nature and vocation a religious being. Coming from God, going toward God, man lives a fully human life only if he freely lives by his bond with God.

45 Man is made to live in communion with God in whom he finds happiness: "When I am completely united to you, there will be no more sorrow or trials; entirely full of you, my life will be complete" (St. Augustine, Conf. 10, 28, 39: PL 32, 795).

46 When he listens to the message of creation and to the voice of conscience, man can arrive at certainty about the existence of God, the cause and the end of everything.

47 The Church teaches that the one true God, our Creator and Lord, can be known with certainty from his works, by the natural light of human reason (cf. Vatican Council I, can. 2, ? 1: DS 3026).

48 We really can name God, starting from the manifold perfections of his creatures, which are likenesses of the infinitely perfect God, even if our limited language cannot exhaust the mystery.

49 "Without the Creator, the creature vanishes" (GS 36). This is the reason why believers know that the love of Christ urges them to bring the light of the living God to those who do not know him or who reject him.

Chapter Two

God Comes to Meet Man

50 By natural reason man can know God with certainty, on the basis of his works. But there is another order of knowledge, which man cannot possibly arrive at by his own powers: the order of divine Revelation.1 Through an utterly free decision, God has revealed himself and given himself to man. This he does by revealing the mystery, his plan of loving goodness, formed from all eternity in Christ, for the benefit of all men. God has fully revealed this plan by sending us his beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

Article 1

THE REVELATION OF GOD

I.God Reveals His "Plan of Loving Goodness"

51 "It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to make known the mystery of his will. His will was that men should have access to the Father, through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and thus become sharers in the divine nature."

52 God, who "dwells in unapproachable light," wants to communicate his own divine life to the men he freely created, in order to adopt them as his sons in his only-begotten Son. By revealing himself God wishes to make them capable of responding to him, and of knowing him, and of loving him far beyond their own natural capacity.

53 The divine plan of Revelation is realized simultaneously "by deeds and words which are intrinsically bound up with each other" and shed light on each other. It involves a specific divine pedagogy: God communicates himself to man gradually. He prepares him to welcome by stages the supernatural Revelation that is to culminate in the person and mission of the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.

St. Irenaeus of Lyons repeatedly speaks of this divine pedagogy using the image of God and man becoming accustomed to one another: The Word of God dwelt in man and became the Son of man in order to accustom man to perceive God and to accustom God to dwell in man, according to the Father's pleasure.

II.The Stages of Revelation

In the beginning God makes himself known

54 "God, who creates and conserves all things by his Word, provides men with constant evidence of himself in created realities. And furthermore, wishing to open up the way to heavenly salvation, he mani-fested himself to our first parents from the very beginning." He invited them to intimate communion with himself and clothed them with resplendent grace and justice.

55 This revelation was not broken off by our first parents' sin. "After the fall, [God] buoyed them up with the hope of salvation, by promising redemption; and he has never ceased to show his solicitude for the human race. For he wishes to give eternal life to all those who seek salvation by patience in well-doing."

Even when he disobeyed you and lost your friendship you did not abandon him to the power of death. . . .

Again and again you offered a covenant to man.

The Covenant with Noah

56 After the unity of the human race was shattered by sin God at once sought to save humanity part by part. The covenant with Noah after the flood gives expression to the principle of the divine economy toward the "nations," in other words, toward men grouped "in their lands, each with [its] own language, by their families, in their nations."

57 This state of division into many nations is at once cosmic, social, and religious. It is intended to limit the pride of fallen humanity, united only in its perverse ambition to forge its own unity as at Babel. But, because of sin, both polytheism and the idolatry of the nation and of its rulers constantly threaten this provisional economy with the perversion of paganism.

58 The covenant with Noah remains in force during the times of the Gentiles, until the universal proclamation of the Gospel. The Bible venerates several great figures among the Gentiles: Abel the just, the king-priest Melchizedek--a figure of Christ--and the upright "Noah, Daniel, and Job." Scripture thus expresses the heights of sanctity that can be reached by those who live according to the covenant of Noah, waiting for Christ to "gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad."

---

Excerpted from Catechism of the Catholic Church by U. S. Catholic Conference Staff
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.