Catechism paragraphs
325 – 384
“The Apostles’ Creed professes that God is ‘Creator of
heaven and earth.’ The Nicene Creed
makes it explicit that this profession includes ‘all that is seen and unseen.’ 325 The profession of faith of the Fourth Lateran
Council (1215) affirms that God ‘from the beginning of time made at once out of
nothing both orders of creatures, the spiritual and the corporeal, that is, the
angelic and the earthly, and then the human creature, who as it were shares in
both orders, being composed of spirit and body.’” 327
THE ANGELS
“The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that
Sacred Scripture usually calls ‘angels’ is a truth of faith. 328 St. Augustine says: ‘Angel’ is the name of
their office, not of their nature. If
you seek the name of their nature, it is ‘spirit;’ if you seek the name of
their office, it is ‘angel’: from what
they are, ‘spirit,’ from what they do, ‘angel.’
With their whole beings the angels are servants and messengers of God.
329 Christ is the center of the angelic
world. They are his angels. They belong to
him because they were created through
and for him: ‘for in him all things
were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or
dominions or principalities or authorities – all things were created through
him and for him.’ (Col 1:16) 331 In her liturgy, the Church joins with the
angels to adore the thrice-holy God. She
invokes their assistance. Moreover, in
the ‘Cherubic Hymn’ of the Byzantine Liturgy, she celebrates the memory of
certain angels more particularly (St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael, and
the guardian angels). 335
From infancy to death human life is surrounded by their watchful care
and intercession. Beside each believer
stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life.” 336
THE VISIBLE WORLD
“Nothing exists that
does not owe its existence to God the Creator. The world began when God’s word drew it out
of nothingness; existent beings, all of nature, and all human history are
rooted in this primordial event. 338
Each creature possesses its own
particular goodness and perfection. ‘And
God saw that it was good.’ 339 God wills the interdependence of creatures.
No creature is self-sufficient.
Creatures exist only in dependence on each other, to complete each
other, in the service of each other. 340
The beauty of the universe:
The order and harmony of the created world results from the diversity of beings
and from the relationships which exist among them. Man discovers them progressively as the laws
of nature. The beauty of creation
reflects the infinite beauty of the Creator and ought to inspire the respect
and submission of man’s intellect and will.
341 Man is
the summit of the Creator’s work, as the inspired account expresses by
clearly distinguishing the creation of man from that of the other creatures. 343
The eighth day. But for us a new day has dawned: the day of
Christ’s Resurrection. The seventh day
completes the first creation. The eighth
day begins the new creation. Thus, the
work of creation culminates in the greater work of redemption.” 349
(I like that last paragraph, linking creation to Redemption. It all fits together as part of God’s Plan.)
MAN
“Man occupies a unique place in creation: (I) he is ‘in the
image of God’; (II) in his own nature he unites the spiritual and material
worlds; (III) he is created ‘male and female’; (IV) God established him in his
friendship. 355 Of all visible
creatures only man is ‘able to know and love his creator.’ He is ‘the only creature on earth that God
has willed for its own sake,’ and he alone is called to share, by knowledge and
dignity. 356 Being in the image of God the human
individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but
someone. He is capable of
self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering
into communion with other persons. 357
Because of its common origin the
human race forms a unity.” 360
“In Sacred Scripture the term ‘soul’ often refers to human life or the entire human person.
But ‘soul’ also refers to the innermost aspect of man, that which is of
greatest value in him, that by which he is most especially in God’s image: ‘soul’
signifies the spiritual principle in
man. 363 The unity of soul and
body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the ‘form’ of the
body: i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter
becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures
united, but rather their union forms a single nature. 365 The Church teaches that every spiritual soul
is created immediately by God --- it is not ‘produced’ by the parents --- and
also that it is immortal: it does not
perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be united with the
body at the final Resurrection.” 366
MALE AND FEMALE HE CREATED THEM
“Man and woman have been created,
which is to say, willed by God:
on the one hand, in perfect equality as human persons; on the other, in their
respective beings as man and woman. 369
In no way is God in man’s image.
He is neither man nor woman. God
is pure spirit in which there is no place for the difference between the
sexes. 370 Man and woman were made
‘for each other’ --- not that God left them half-made and incomplete: he
created them to be a communion of persons, in which each can be ‘helpmate.’ By transmitting human life to their
descendents, man and woman as spouses and parents cooperate in a unique way in
the Creator’s work.” 372
“The first man was not only created good, but was also
established in friendship with his Creator and in harmony with himself and with
the creation around him. 374
The Church, interpreting the symbolism of biblical language in an
authentic way, in the light of the New Testament and Tradition, teaches that
our first parents, Adam and Eve, were constituted in an original ‘state of
holiness and justice.’ This grace of
original holiness was ‘to share in divine life.’ 375 As long as he remained in the divine
intimacy, man would not have to suffer or die.
(cf Gen 2:17, 3:16, 19) 376 The ‘mastery’ over the world that God
offered man from the beginning was realized above all within man himself: mastery of self. The first man was unimpaired and ordered in
his whole being because he was free from the triple concupiscence that
subjugates him to the pleasures of the senses, covetousness for earthly goods,
and self-assertion, contrary to the dictates of reason. 377 The entire harmony of original justice,
foreseen for man in God’s plan, will be lost by the sin of our first parents.” 379
Which I will read and write about next time …
We are not some casual
and meaningless product of evolution.
Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved,
each of us is necessary. Pope Benedict XVI, 4/24/05
Why does the Book of
Genesis depict creation as “the work of six days”? From the symbolism of ‘the work of six
days’ we can derive important principles: (1) Nothing exists that was not
called into being by the Creator. (2)
Everything that exists is good in its own way.
(3) Something that has become bad still has a good core. (4) Created beings and things are
interrelated and interdependent. (5)
Creation in its order and harmony reflects the surpassing goodness and beauty
of God. (6) In creation there is an
order of complexity: man is superior to an animal, an animal is superior to a
plant, a plant is superior to inanimate matter.
(7) Creation is heading for the great celebration when Christ will bring
the world home and God will be everything to everyone. YOUCAT
Q46
No comments:
Post a Comment