It is time to get back to work!
Presented below is a representation of an earlier post which considered the very first paragraph of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This paragraph is particularly important because it provides a key to understanding the Holy Faith. In an act of love that was completely beyond the hope of any of man's efforts at religion, God reveals to Israel that He has reached down to man in love to rescue all of us from our fallen world and fallen natures. Through the Cross of Christ we can see the completion of the Plan of Salvation (Gen 3:15) that was launched at the very moment that Adam and Eve were cast out of Paradise.
In response, with the help of grace, we are to know, love and serve God. As any small child who first learned his or her faith from the Baltimore Catechism knows, this response, together with faith, hope and the love of God, is our means of salvation. This is how we get aboard and stay upon the rescue ship that is the Church! Most of the people who live or who have ever lived will not believe this good news. Instead of seeking the freedom to do what we ought, most seek the false freedom to do as they will with no reference to Jesus who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life! Too many of us look around when we ought to be looking up! It is time to get back to work.
The first words of the Catechism express the infinite perfection, blessedness and goodness of God. God created man to “make him share in his own blessed life.” God made us to be happy and live forever with a share of the His own life. This fact alone is astounding. It has been revealed to Israel and to all the nations of the world through the Church that God is good and that He loves the humanity that He has created.
A second key point is that God draws close to man! Notice that the Catechism does not teach that man first seeks God. Rather, the witness of history and the Holy Scriptures is that God initiates the relationship with His people. History is full of failed efforts, false religions, and hopeless philosophies that seek to either invent or posit a “god” to worship or to ignore God and create a man made utopia. Our Lord is revealed as “Father” who seeks after the love and good of His children.
The good and loving Holy Trinity calls man to a relationship with God: to “seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength.” In the same way, God calls men into the unity of the Church. The cause of our disunity is sin. Just as God initiates a loving relationship with men, He initiated and executed the Plan of Salvation that redeemed and justified man before God.
The supremely loving act of the Father was to send His Son as “Redeemer and Savior.” In and through the Son, God invites men, “in the Holy Spirit”, to be his adopted children and “thus heirs of His blessed life.” The teaching and life of the Church is about our response to this invitation and the life we live as restored, redeemed, and justified sons and daughters of the Lord!
CCC 1
1 God, perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life.
Q&A
Q. What are the very first words of the Catechism that describe God?
A. God is described as infinitely perfect and blessed in himself.
Q. Why did God create man?
A. God created man in a plan of sheer goodness so that man could share in His own blessed life.
Q. Does God draw close to and call man?
A. God both draws close to man and calls man. The Catechism says that God draws close to man at every time and in every place.
Q. What is God’s call to man?
A. God calls man to seek Him, to know Him, and to love Him with all his strength. He makes this call to man while constantly drawing closer to man.
Q. Does God call men to unity with one another?
A. Yes. Like all good Fathers, God wants His children to live in harmony and unity with one another.
Q. What is the source of division among men?
A. Sin.
Q. What type of unity does God desire for men?
A. God desires that all men should be united with one another in the family of the Church which is visible and identifiable to all men.
Q. How has God overcome sin and disunity?
A. God accomplished the defeat of sin and unity through His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. God sent His Son, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, to men and to become one with us. Through the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Our Lord, the work of redemption and salvation was accomplished. Jesus Christ established the unified family of God in His Church.
Q. What is the status of men who enter the Church?
A. Those who enter the Church in faith in Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit, are made His adopted sons and daughters and thus heirs of His blessed life.
BREVIARY
God is infinitely perfect and blessed in Himself.
God created man in a plan of sheer goodness in order to share His blessed life .
God calls all men to Himself and He draws men to unity in His Church.
All disunity among men is caused by sin.
God has defeated sin and disunity through His Son, who became one with us, and who suffered, died, and rose again.
The work of redemption and salvation was accomplished through Our Lord's suffering, death, and resurrection.
All who enter the Church in faith in Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit, are made His adopted sons and daughters and are thus heirs of His blessed life.
St. Thomas Aquinas, Pray for us!
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