ARTICLE 3 - SOCIAL JUSTICE
1928 Society ensures social justice when it provides the conditions that allow
associations or individuals to obtain what is their due, according to their nature and their
vocation. Social justice is linked to the common good and the exercise of authority.
I. RESPECT FOR THE HUMAN PERSON
1929 Social justice can be obtained only in respecting the transcendent dignity of man.
The person represents the ultimate end of society, which is ordered to him: What is at
stake is the dignity of the human person, whose defense and promotion have been
entrusted to us by the Creator, and to whom the men and women at every moment of
history are strictly and responsibly in debt.[35]
1930 Respect for the human person entails respect for the rights that flow from his
dignity as a creature. These rights are prior to society and must be recognized by it. They
are the basis of the moral legitimacy of every authority: by flouting them, or refusing to
recognize them in its positive legislation, a society undermines its own moral
legitimacy.[36] If it does not respect them, authority can rely only on force or violence to
obtain obedience from its subjects. It is the Church's role to remind men of good will of
these rights and to distinguish them from unwarranted or false claims.
1931 Respect for the human person proceeds by way of respect for the principle that
"everyone should look upon his neighbor (without any exception) as 'another self,'
above all bearing in mind his life and the means necessary for living it with dignity."[37]
No legislation could by itself do away with the fears, prejudices, and attitudes of pride
and selfishness which obstruct the establishment of truly fraternal societies. Such
behavior will cease only through the charity that finds in every man a "neighbor," a
brother.
1932 The duty of making oneself a neighbor to others and actively serving them
becomes even more urgent when it involves the disadvantaged, in whatever area this
may be. "As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me."[38]
1933 This same duty extends to those who think or act differently from us. The teaching
of Christ goes so far as to require the forgiveness of offenses. He extends the
commandment of love, which is that of the New Law, to all enemies.[39] Liberation in
the spirit of the Gospel is incompatible with hatred of one's enemy as a person, but not
with hatred of the evil that he does as an enemy.
II. EQUALITY AND DIFFERENCES AMONG
MEN
1934 Created in the image of the one God and equally endowed with rational souls, all
men have the same nature and the same origin. Redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ, all
are called to participate in the same divine beatitude: all therefore enjoy an equal dignity.
1935 The equality of men rests essentially on their dignity as persons and the rights that
flow from it:
Every form of social or cultural discrimination in fundamental personal rights on the
grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language, or religion must be curbed and
eradicated as incompatible with God's design.[40]
1936 On coming into the world, man is not equipped with everything he needs for
developing his bodily and spiritual life. He needs others. Differences appear tied to age,
physical abilities, intellectual or moral aptitudes, the benefits derived from social
commerce, and the distribution of wealth.[41] The "talents" are not distributed
equally.[42]
1937 These differences belong to God's plan, who wills that each receive what he needs
from others, and that those endowed with particular "talents" share the benefits with
those who need them. These differences encourage and often oblige persons to practice
generosity, kindness, and sharing of goods; they foster the mutual enrichment of
cultures:
I distribute the virtues quite diversely; I do not give all of them to each person, but
some to one, some to others.... I shall give principally charity to one; justice to another;
humility to this one, a living faith to that one.... And so I have given many gifts and
graces, both spiritual and temporal, with such diversity that I have not given everything
to one single person, so that you may be constrained to practice charity towards one
another.... I have willed that one should need another and that all should be my
ministers in distributing the graces and gifts they have received from me.[43]
1938 There exist also sinful inequalities that affect millions of men and women. These
are in open contradiction of the Gospel:
Their equal dignity as persons demands that we strive for fairer and more humane
conditions. Excessive economic and social disparity between individuals and peoples of
the one human race is a source of scandal and militates against social justice, equity,
human dignity, as well as social and international peace.[44]
III. HUMAN SOLIDARITY
1939 The principle of solidarity, also articulated in terms of "friendship" or "social
charity," is a direct demand of human and Christian brotherhood.[45]
An error, "today abundantly widespread, is disregard for the law of human solidarity
and charity, dictated and imposed both by our common origin and by the equality in
rational nature of all men, whatever nation they belong to. This law is sealed by the
sacrifice of redemption offered by Jesus Christ on the altar of the Cross to his heavenly
Father, on behalf of sinful humanity."[46]
1940 Solidarity is manifested in the first place by the distribution of goods and
remuneration for work. It also presupposes the effort for a more just social order where
tensions are better able to be reduced and conflicts more readily settled by negotiation.
1941 Socio-economic problems can be resolved only with the help of all the forms of
solidarity: solidarity of the poor among themselves, between rich and poor, of workers
among themselves, between employers and employees in a business, solidarity among
nations and peoples. International solidarity is a requirement of the moral order; world
peace depends in part upon this.
1942 The virtue of solidarity goes beyond material goods. In spreading the spiritual
goods of the faith, the Church has promoted, and often opened new paths for, the
development of temporal goods as well. And so throughout the centuries has the Lord's
saying been verified: "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things
shall be yours as well":[47]
For two thousand years this sentiment has lived and endured in the soul of the Church,
impelling souls then and now to the heroic charity of monastic farmers, liberators of
slaves, healers of the sick, and messengers of faith, civilization, and science to all
generations and all peoples for the sake of creating the social conditions capable of
offering to everyone possible a life worthy of man and of a Christian.[48]
IN BRIEF
1943 Society ensures social justice by providing the conditions that allow associations
and individuals to obtain their due.
1944 Respect for the human person considers the other "another self." It presupposes
respect for the fundamental rights that flow from the dignity intrinsic of the person.
1945 The equality of men concerns their dignity as persons and the rights that flow from
it.
1946 The differences among persons belong to God's plan, who wills that we should
need one another. These differences should encourage charity.
1947 The equal dignity of human persons requires the effort to reduce excessive social
and economic inequalities. It gives urgency to the elimination of sinful inequalities.
1948 Solidarity is an eminently Christian virtue. It practices the sharing of spiritual goods
even more than material ones.
CHAPTER THREE - GOD'S SALVATION: LAW
AND GRACE
1949 Called to beatitude but wounded by sin, man stands in need of salvation from
God. Divine help comes to him in Christ through the law that guides him and the grace
that sustains him:
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both
to will and to work for his good pleasure.[1]
ARTICLE 1 - THE MORAL LAW
1950 The moral law is the work of divine Wisdom. Its biblical meaning can be defined as
fatherly instruction, God's pedagogy. It prescribes for man the ways, the rules of
conduct that lead to the promised beatitude; it proscribes the ways of evil which turn
him away from God and his love. It is at once firm in its precepts and, in its promises,
worthy of love.
1951 Law is a rule of conduct enacted by competent authority for the sake of the
common good. The moral law presupposes the rational order, established among
creatures for their good and to serve their final end, by the power, wisdom, and
goodness of the Creator. All law finds its first and ultimate truth in the eternal law. Law
is declared and established by reason as a participation in the providence of the living
God, Creator and Redeemer of all. "Such an ordinance of reason is what one calls
law."[2]
Alone among all animate beings, man can boast of having been counted worthy to
receive a law from God: as an animal endowed with reason, capable of understanding
and discernment, he is to govern his conduct by using his freedom and reason, in
obedience to the One who has entrusted everything to him.[3]
1952 There are different expressions of the moral law, all of them interrelated: eternal
law - the source, in God, of all law; natural law; revealed law, comprising the Old Law
and the New Law, or Law of the Gospel; finally, civil and ecclesiastical laws.
1953 The moral law finds its fullness and its unity in Christ. Jesus Christ is in person the
way of perfection. He is the end of the law, for only he teaches and bestows the justice
of God: "For Christ is the end of the law, that every one who has faith may be
justified."[4]
I. THE NATURAL MORAL LAW
1954 Man participates in the wisdom and goodness of the Creator who gives him
mastery over his acts and the ability to govern himself with a view to the true and the
good. The natural law expresses the original moral sense which enables man to discern
by reason the good and the evil, the truth and the lie:
The natural law is written and engraved in the soul of each and every man, because it is
human reason ordaining him to do good and forbidding him to sin . . . But this
command of human reason would not have the force of law if it were not the voice and
interpreter of a higher reason to which our spirit and our freedom must be
submitted.[5]
1955 The "divine and natural" law[6] shows man the way to follow so as to practice the
good and attain his end. The natural law states the first and essential precepts which
govern the moral life. It hinges upon the desire for God and submission to him, who is
the source and judge of all that is good, as well as upon the sense that the other is one's
equal. Its principal precepts are expressed in the Decalogue. This law is called "natural,"
not in reference to the nature of irrational beings, but because reason which decrees it
properly belongs to human nature:
Where then are these rules written, if not in the book of that light we call the truth? In it
is written every just law; from it the law passes into the heart of the man who does
justice, not that it migrates into it, but that it places its imprint on it, like a seal on a ring
that passes onto wax, without leaving the ring.[7]
The natural law is nothing other than the light of understanding placed in us by God;
through it we know what we must do and what we must avoid. God has given this light
or law at the creation.[8]
1956 The natural law, present in the heart of each man and established by reason, is
universal in its precepts and its authority extends to all men. It expresses the dignity of
the person and determines the basis for his fundamental rights and duties:
For there is a true law: right reason. It is in conformity with nature, is diffused among
all men, and is immutable and eternal; its orders summon to duty; its prohibitions turn
away from offense .... To replace it with a contrary law is a sacrilege; failure to apply
even one of its provisions is forbidden; no one can abrogate it entirely.[9]
1957 Application of the natural law varies greatly; it can demand reflection that takes
account of various conditions of life according to places, times, and circumstances.
Nevertheless, in the diversity of cultures, the natural law remains as a rule that binds
men among themselves and imposes on them, beyond the inevitable differences,
common principles.
1958 The natural law is immutable and permanent throughout the variations of
history;[10] it subsists under the flux of ideas and customs and supports their progress.
The rules that express it remain substantially valid. Even when it is rejected in its very
principles, it cannot be destroyed or removed from the heart of man. It always rises
again in the life of individuals and societies:
Theft is surely punished by your law, O Lord, and by the law that is written in the
human heart, the law that iniquity itself does not efface.[11]
1959 The natural law, the Creator's very good work, provides the solid foundation on
which man can build the structure of moral rules to guide his choices. It also provides
the indispensable moral foundation for building the human community. Finally, it
provides the necessary basis for the civil law with which it is connected, whether by a
reflection that draws conclusions from its principles, or by additions of a positive and
juridical nature.
1960 The precepts of natural law are not perceived by everyone clearly and immediately.
In the present situation sinful man needs grace and revelation so moral and religious
truths may be known "by everyone with facility, with firm certainty and with no
admixture of error."[12] The natural law provides revealed law and grace with a
foundation prepared by God and in accordance with the work of the Spirit.
II. THE OLD LAW
1961 God, our Creator and Redeemer, chose Israel for himself to be his people and
revealed his Law to them, thus preparing for the coming of Christ. The Law of Moses
expresses many truths naturally accessible to reason. These are stated and authenticated
within the covenant of salvation.
1962 The Old Law is the first stage of revealed Law. Its moral prescriptions are summed
up in the Ten Commandments. The precepts of the Decalogue lay the foundations for
the vocation of man fashioned in the image of God; they prohibit what is contrary to the
love of God and neighbor and prescribe what is essential to it. The Decalogue is a light
offered to the conscience of every man to make God's call and ways known to him and
to protect him against evil: God wrote on the tables of the Law what men did not read in
their hearts.[13]
1963 According to Christian tradition, the Law is holy, spiritual, and good,[14] yet still
imperfect. Like a tutor[15] it shows what must be done, but does not of itself give the
strength, the grace of the Spirit, to fulfill it. Because of sin, which it cannot remove, it
remains a law of bondage. According to St. Paul, its special function is to denounce and
disclose sin, which constitutes a "law of concupiscence" in the human heart.[16]
However, the Law remains the first stage on the way to the kingdom. It prepares and
disposes the chosen people and each Christian for conversion and faith in the Savior
God. It provides a teaching which endures for ever, like the Word of God.
1964 The Old Law is a preparation for the Gospel. "The Law is a pedagogy and a
prophecy of things to come."[17] It prophesies and presages the work of liberation from
sin which will be fulfilled in Christ: it provides the New Testament with images, "types,"
and symbols for expressing the life according to the Spirit. Finally, the Law is completed
by the teaching of the sapiential books and the prophets which set its course toward the
New Covenant and the Kingdom of heaven. There were . . . under the regimen of the
Old Covenant, people who possessed the charity and grace of the Holy Spirit and longed
above all for the spiritual and eternal promises by which they were associated with the
New Law. Conversely, there exist carnal men under the New Covenant still distanced
from the perfection of the New Law: the fear of punishment and certain temporal
promises have been necessary, even under the New Covenant, to incite them to virtuous
works. In any case, even though the Old Law prescribed charity, it did not give the Holy
Spirit, through whom "God's charity has been poured into our hearts."[18]
III. THE NEW LAW OR THE LAW OF THE
GOSPEL
<P. 1966 The New Law is the grace of the Holy Spirit given to the faithful through faith
in Christ. It works through charity; it uses the Sermon on the Mount to teach us what
must be done and makes use of the sacraments to give us the grace to do it:
If anyone should meditate with devotion and perspicacity on the sermon our Lord gave
on the mount, as we read in the Gospel of Saint Matthew, he will doubtless find there .
. . the perfect way of the Christian life.... This sermon contains ... all the precepts
needed to shape one's life.[20]
1967 The Law of the Gospel "fulfills," refines, surpasses, and leads the Old Law to its
perfection.[21] In the Beatitudes, the New Law fulfills the divine promises by elevating
and orienting them toward the "kingdom of heaven." It is addressed to those open to
accepting this new hope with faith - the poor, the humble, the afflicted, the pure of
heart, those persecuted on account of Christ and so marks out the surprising ways of the
Kingdom.
1968 The Law of the Gospel fulfills the commandments of the Law. The Lord's Sermon
on the Mount, far from abolishing or devaluing the moral prescriptions of the Old Law,
releases their hidden potential and has new demands arise from them: it reveals their
entire divine and human truth. It does not add new external precepts, but proceeds to
reform the heart, the root of human acts, where man chooses between the pure and the
impure,[22] where faith, hope, and charity are formed and with them the other virtues.
The Gospel thus brings the Law to its fullness through imitation of the perfection of the
heavenly Father, through forgiveness of enemies and prayer for persecutors, in
emulation of the divine generosity.[23]
1969 The New Law practices the acts of religion: almsgiving, prayer and fasting,
directing them to the "Father who sees in secret," in contrast with the desire to "be seen
by men."[24] Its prayer is the Our Father.[25]
1970 The Law of the Gospel requires us to make the decisive choice between "the two
ways" and to put into practice the words of the Lord.[26] It is summed up in the Golden
Rule, "Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; this is the law and
the prophets."[27]
The entire Law of the Gospel is contained in the "new commandment" of Jesus, to
love one another as he has loved us.[28]
1971 To the Lord's Sermon on the Mount it is fitting to add the moral catechesis of the
apostolic teachings, such as Romans 12-15, 1 Corinthians 12-13, Colossians 3-4,
Ephesians 4-5, etc. This doctrine hands on the Lord's teaching with the authority of the
apostles, particularly in the presentation of the virtues that flow from faith in Christ and
are animated by charity, the principal gift of the Holy Spirit. "Let charity be genuine....
Love one another with brotherly affection.... Rejoice in your hope, be patient in
tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice
hospitality."[29] This catechesis also teaches us to deal with cases of conscience in the
light of our relationship to Christ and to the Church.[30]
1972 The New Law is called a law of love because it makes us act out of the love infused
by the Holy Spirit, rather than from fear; a law of grace, because it confers the strength
of grace to act, by means of faith and the sacraments; a law of freedom, because it sets
us free from the ritual and juridical observances of the Old Law, inclines us to act
spontaneously by the prompting of charity and, finally, lets us pass from the condition
of a servant who "does not know what his master is doing" to that of a friend of Christ -
"For all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you" - or even to the
status of son and heir.[31]
1973 Besides its precepts, the New Law also includes the evangelical counsels. The
traditional distinction between God's commandments and the evangelical counsels is
drawn in relation to charity, the perfection of Christian life. The precepts are intended to
remove whatever is incompatible with charity. The aim of the counsels is to remove
whatever might hinder the development of charity, even if it is not contrary to it.[32]
1974 The evangelical counsels manifest the living fullness of charity, which is never
satisfied with not giving more. They attest its vitality and call forth our spiritual
readiness. The perfection of the New Law consists essentially in the precepts of love of
God and neighbor. The counsels point out the more direct ways, the readier means, and
are to be practiced in keeping with the vocation of each:
[God] does not want each person to keep all the counsels, but only those appropriate to
the diversity of persons, times, opportunities, and strengths, as charity requires; for it is
charity, as queen of all virtues, all commandments, all counsels, and, in short, of all laws
and all Christian actions that gives to all of them their rank, order, time, and value.[33]
IN BRIEF
1975 According to Scripture the Law is a fatherly instruction by God which prescribes
for man the ways that lead to the promised beatitude, and proscribes the ways of evil.
1976 "Law is an ordinance of reason for the common good, promulgated by the one
who is in charge of the community" (St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I-II, 90, 4).
1977 Christ is the end of the law (cf. Rom 10:4); only he teaches and bestows the justice
of God.
1978 The natural law is a participation in God's wisdom and goodness by man formed in
the image of his Creator. It expresses the dignity of the human person and forms the
basis of his fundamental rights and duties.
1979 The natural law is immutable, permanent throughout history. The rules that
express it remain substantially valid. It is a necessary foundation for the erection of
moral rules and civil law.
1980 The Old Law is the first stage of revealed law. Its moral prescriptions are summed
up in the Ten Commandments.
1981 The Law of Moses contains many truths naturally accessible to reason. God has
revealed them because men did not read them in their hearts.
1982 The Old Law is a preparation for the Gospel.
1983 The New Law is the grace of the Holy Spirit received by faith in Christ, operating
through charity. It finds expression above all in the Lord's Sermon on the Mount and
uses the sacraments to communicate grace to us.
1984 The Law of the Gospel fulfills and surpasses the Old Law and brings it to
perfection: its promises, through the Beatitudes of the Kingdom of heaven; its
commandments, by reforming the heart, the root of human acts.
1985 The New Law is a law of love, a law of grace, a law of freedom.
1986 Besides its precepts the New Law includes the evangelical counsels. "The Church's
holiness is fostered in a special way by the manifold counsels which the Lord proposes
to his disciples in the Gospel" (LG 42 # 2).
ARTICLE 2 - GRACE AND JUSTIFICATION
I. JUSTIFICATION
1987 The grace of the Holy Spirit has the power to justify us, that is, to cleanse us from
our sins and to communicate to us "the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus
Christ" and through Baptism:[34]
But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. For we
know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has
dominion over him. The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives
he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves as dead to sin and alive to God in
Christ Jesus.[35]
1988 Through the power of the Holy Spirit we take part in Christ's Passion by dying to
sin, and in his Resurrection by being born to a new life; we are members of his Body
which is the Church, branches grafted onto the vine which is himself:[36]
[God] gave himself to us through his Spirit. By the participation of the Spirit, we
become communicants in the divine nature.... For this reason, those in whom the Spirit
dwells are divinized.[37]
1989 The first work of the grace of the Holy Spirit is conversion, effecting justification
in accordance with Jesus' proclamation at the beginning of the Gospel: "Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand."[38] Moved by grace, man turns toward God and away
from sin, thus accepting forgiveness and righteousness from on high. "Justification is
not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior
man.[39]
1990 Justification detaches man from sin which contradicts the love of God, and
purifies his heart of sin. Justification follows upon God's merciful initiative of offering
forgiveness. It reconciles man with God. It frees from the enslavement to sin, and it
heals.
1991 Justification is at the same time the acceptance of God's righteousness through
faith in Jesus Christ. Righteousness (or "justice") here means the rectitude of divine love.
With justification, faith, hope, and charity are poured into our hearts, and obedience to
the divine will is granted us.
1992 Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ who offered himself
on the cross as a living victim, holy and pleasing to God, and whose blood has become
the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men. Justification is conferred in
Baptism, the sacrament of faith. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who makes
us inwardly just by the power of his mercy. Its purpose is the glory of God and of Christ,
and the gift of eternal life:[40] But now the righteousness of God has been manifested
apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness
of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: since
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift,
through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation
by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in
his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins; it was to prove at the present
time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus.[41]
1993 Justification establishes cooperation between God's grace and man's freedom. On
man's part it is expressed by the assent of faith to the Word of God, which invites him
to conversion, and in the cooperation of charity with the prompting of the Holy Spirit
who precedes and preserves his assent:
When God touches man's heart through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, man
himself is not inactive while receiving that inspiration, since he could reject it; and yet,
without God's grace, he cannot by his own free will move himself toward justice in
God's sight.[42]
1994 Justification is the most excellent work of God's love made manifest in Christ Jesus
and granted by the Holy Spirit. It is the opinion of St. Augustine that "the justification of
the wicked is a greater work than the creation of heaven and earth," because "heaven
and earth will pass away but the salvation and justification of the elect . . . will not pass
away."[43] He holds also that the justification of sinners surpasses the creation of the
angels in justice, in that it bears witness to a greater mercy.
1995 The Holy Spirit is the master of the interior life. By giving birth to the "inner
man,"[44] justification entails the sanctification of his whole being:
Just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity,
so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification.... But now that you have
been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is
sanctification and its end, eternal life.[45]
II. GRACE
1996 Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and
undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God,
adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life.[46]
1997 Grace is a participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of
Trinitarian life: by Baptism the Christian participates in the grace of Christ, the Head of
his Body. As an "adopted son" he can henceforth call God "Father," in union with the
only Son. He receives the life of the Spirit who breathes charity into him and who forms
the Church.
1998 This vocation to eternal life is supernatural. It depends entirely on God's gratuitous
initiative, for he alone can reveal and give himself. It surpasses the power of human
intellect and will, as that of every other creature.[47]
1999 The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life,
infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the
sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of
sanctification:[48]
Therefore if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold,
the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to
himself.[49]
2000 Sanctifying grace is an habitual gift, a stable and supernatural disposition that
perfects the soul itself to enable it to live with God, to act by his love. Habitual grace, the
permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God's call, is distinguished from
actual graces which refer to God's interventions, whether at the beginning of conversion
or in the course of the work of sanctification.
2001 The preparation of man for the reception of grace is already a work of grace. This
latter is needed to arouse and sustain our collaboration in justification through faith, and
in sanctification through charity. God brings to completion in us what he has begun,
"since he who completes his work by cooperating with our will began by working so that
we might will it:"[50]
Indeed we also work, but we are only collaborating with God who works, for his mercy
has gone before us. It has gone before us so that we may be healed, and follows us so
that once healed, we may be given life; it goes before us so that we may be called, and
follows us so that we may be glorified; it goes before us so that we may live devoutly,
and follows us so that we may always live with God: for without him we can do
nothing.[51]
2002 God's free initiative demands man's free response, for God has created man in his
image by conferring on him, along with freedom, the power to know him and love him.
The soul only enters freely into the communion of love. God immediately touches and
directly moves the heart of man. He has placed in man a longing for truth and goodness
that only he can satisfy. The promises of "eternal life" respond, beyond all hope, to this
desire:
If at the end of your very good works . . ., you rested on the seventh day, it was to
foretell by the voice of your book that at the end of our works, which are indeed "very
good" since you have given them to us, we shall also rest in you on the sabbath of
eternal life.[52]
2003 Grace is first and foremost the gift of the Spirit who justifies and sanctifies us. But
grace also includes the gifts that the Spirit grants us to associate us with his work, to
enable us to collaborate in the salvation of others and in the growth of the Body of
Christ, the Church. There are sacramental graces, gifts proper to the different
sacraments. There are furthermore special graces, also called charisms after the Greek
term used by St. Paul and meaning "favor," "gratuitous gift," "benefit."[53] Whatever
their character - sometimes it is extraordinary, such as the gift of miracles or of tongues -
charisms are oriented toward sanctifying grace and are intended for the common good
of the Church. They are at the service of charity which builds up the Church.[54]
2004 Among the special graces ought to be mentioned the graces of state that
accompany the exercise of the responsibilities of the Christian life and of the ministries
within the Church:
Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy,
in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; he who teaches, in his teaching; he
who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who contributes, in liberality; he who gives aid, with
zeal; he who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.[55]
2005 Since it belongs to the supernatural order, grace escapes our experience and cannot
be known except by faith. We cannot therefore rely on our feelings or our works to
conclude that we are justified and saved.[56] However, according to the Lord's words
"Thus you will know them by their fruits"[57] - reflection on God's blessings in our life
and in the lives of the saints offers us a guarantee that grace is at work in us and spurs us
on to an ever greater faith and an attitude of trustful poverty.
A pleasing illustration of this attitude is found in the reply of St. Joan of Arc to a
question posed as a trap by her ecclesiastical judges: "Asked if she knew that she was in
God's grace, she replied: 'If I am not, may it please God to put me in it; if I am, may it
please God to keep me there.'"[58]
III. MERIT
You are glorified in the assembly of your Holy Ones, for in crowning
their merits you are crowning your own gifts.[59]
2006 The term "merit" refers in general to the recompense owed by a community or a
society for the action of one of its members, experienced either as beneficial or harmful,
deserving reward or punishment. Merit is relative to the virtue of justice, in conformity
with the principle of equality which governs it.
2007 With regard to God, there is no strict right to any merit on the part of man.
Between God and us there is an immeasurable inequality, for we have received
everything from him, our Creator.
2008 The merit of man before God in the Christian life arises from the fact that God
has freely chosen to associate man with the work of his grace. The fatherly action of
God is first on his own initiative, and then follows man's free acting through his
collaboration, so that the merit of good works is to be attributed in the first place to the
grace of God, then to the faithful. Man's merit, moreover, itself is due to God, for his
good actions proceed in Christ, from the predispositions and assistance given by the
Holy Spirit.
2009 Filial adoption, in making us partakers by grace in the divine nature, can bestow
true merit on us as a result of God's gratuitous justice. This is our right by grace, the full
right of love, making us "co-heirs" with Christ and worthy of obtaining "the promised
inheritance of eternal life."[60] The merits of our good works are gifts of the divine
goodness.[61] "Grace has gone before us; now we are given what is due.... Our merits
are God's gifts."[62]
2010 Since the initiative belongs to God in the order of grace, no one can merit the
initial grace of forgiveness and justification, at the beginning of conversion. Moved by
the Holy Spirit and by charity, we can then merit for ourselves and for others the graces
needed for our sanctification, for the increase of grace and charity, and for the
attainment of eternal life. Even temporal goods like health and friendship can be merited
in accordance with God's wisdom. These graces and goods are the object of Christian
prayer. Prayer attends to the grace we need for meritorious actions.
2011 The charity of Christ is the source in us of all our merits before God. Grace, by
uniting us to Christ in active love, ensures the supernatural quality of our acts and
consequently their merit before God and before men. The saints have always had a lively
awareness that their merits were pure grace.
After earth's exile, I hope to go and enjoy you in the fatherland, but I do not want to lay
up merits for heaven. I want to work for your love alone.... In the evening of this life, I
shall appear before you with empty hands, for I do not ask you, Lord, to count my
works. All our justice is blemished in your eyes. I wish, then, to be clothed in your own
justice and to receive from your love the eternal possession of yourself.[63]
IV. CHRISTIAN HOLINESS
2012 "We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him . . . For
those whom he fore knew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son,
in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. And those whom he
predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom
he justified he also glorified."[64]
2013 "All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life
and to the perfection of charity."[65] All are called to holiness: "Be perfect, as your
heavenly Father is perfect."[66]
In order to reach this perfection the faithful should use the strength dealt out to them
by Christ's gift, so that . . . doing the will of the Father in everything, they may
wholeheartedly devote themselves to the glory of God and to the service of their
neighbor. Thus the holiness of the People of God will grow in fruitful abundance, as is
clearly shown in the history of the Church through the lives of so many saints.[67]
2014 Spiritual progress tends toward ever more intimate union with Christ. This union is
called "mystical" because it participates in the mystery of Christ through the sacraments
- "the holy mysteries" - and, in him, in the mystery of the Holy Trinity. God calls us all
to this intimate union with him, even if the special graces or extraordinary signs of this
mystical life are granted only to some for the sake of manifesting the gratuitous gift
given to all.
2015 The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross. There is no holiness without
renunciation and spiritual battle.[68] Spiritual progress entails the ascesis and
mortification that gradually lead to living in the peace and joy of the Beatitudes:
He who climbs never stops going from beginning to beginning, through beginnings
that have no end. He never stops desiring what he already knows.[69]
2016 The children of our holy mother the Church rightly hope for the grace of final
perseverance and the recompense of God their Father for the good works accomplished
with his grace in communion with Jesus.[70] Keeping the same rule of life, believers
share the "blessed hope" of those whom the divine mercy gathers into the "holy city, the
new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband."[71]
IN BRIEF
2017 The grace of the Holy Spirit confers upon us the righteousness of God. Uniting us
by faith and Baptism to the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, the Spirit makes us
sharers in his life.
2018 Like conversion, justification has two aspects. Moved by grace, man turns toward
God and away from sin, and so accepts forgiveness and righteousness from on high.
2019 Justification includes the remission of sins, sanctification, and the renewal of the
inner man.
2020 Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ. It is granted us
through Baptism. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who justifies us. It has for
its goal the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life. It is the most excellent
work of God's mercy.
2021 Grace is the help God gives us to respond to our vocation of becoming his
adopted sons. It introduces us into the intimacy of the Trinitarian life.
2022 The divine initiative in the work of grace precedes, prepares, and elicits the free
response of man. Grace responds to the deepest yearnings of human freedom, calls
freedom to cooperate with it, and perfects freedom.
2023 Sanctifying grace is the gratuitous gift of his life that God makes to us; it is infused
by the Holy Spirit into the soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it.
2024 Sanctifying grace makes us "pleasing to God." Charisms, special graces of the Holy
Spirit, are oriented to sanctifying grace and are intended for the common good of the
Church. God also acts through many actual graces, to be distinguished from habitual
grace which is permanent in us.
2025 We can have merit in God's sight only because of God's free plan to associate man
with the work of his grace. Merit is to be ascribed in the first place to the grace of God,
and secondly to man's collaboration. Man's merit is due to God.
2026 The grace of the Holy Spirit can confer true merit on us, by virtue of our adoptive
filiation, and in accordance with God's gratuitous justice. Charity is the principal source
of merit in us before God.
2027 No one can merit the initial grace which is at the origin of conversion. Moved by
the Holy Spirit, we can merit for ourselves and for others all the graces needed to attain
eternal life, as well as necessary temporal goods.
2028 "All Christians . . . are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection
of charity" (LG 40 # 2). "Christian perfection has but one limit, that of having none"
(St. Gregory of Nyssa, De vita Mos.: PG 44, 300D).
2029 "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and
follow me" (Mt 16:24).
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