Catechism index

2021 IN BRIEF 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 IN BRIEF 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, …
2023 IN BRIEF 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 …
2024 IN BRIEF 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 …
2025 IN BRIEF 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 …
2026 IN BRIEF 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 …
2027 IN BRIEF 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 …
2028 IN BRIEF "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 …
2029 IN BRIEF "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Mt 16:24). Previous - Next Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana
2030 THE CHURCH, MOTHER AND TEACHER It is in the Church, in communion with all the baptized, that the Christian fulfills his vocation. From the Church he receives the Word of God containing the teachings of "the law …
2031 THE CHURCH, MOTHER AND TEACHER The moral life is spiritual worship. We "present (our) bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God," 73 within the Body of Christ that we form and in communion with …
2032 I. Moral Life and the Magisterium of the Church The Church, the "pillar and bulwark of the truth," "has received this solemn command of Christ from the apostles to announce the saving truth." 74 "To the Church belongs the right always …
2033 I. Moral Life and the Magisterium of the Church The Magisterium of the Pastors of the Church in moral matters is ordinarily exercised in catechesis and preaching, with the help of the works of theologians and spiritual authors. Thus from generation …
2034 I. Moral Life and the Magisterium of the Church The Roman Pontiff and the bishops are "authentic teachers, that is, teachers endowed with the authority of Christ, who preach the faith to the people entrusted to them, the faith to be …
2035 I. Moral Life and the Magisterium of the Church The supreme degree of participation in the authority of Christ is ensured by the charism of infallibility. This infallibility extends as far as does the deposit of divine Revelation; it also extends …
2036 I. Moral Life and the Magisterium of the Church The authority of the Magisterium extends also to the specific precepts of the natural law, because their observance, demanded by the Creator, is necessary for salvation. In recalling the prescriptions of the …
2037 I. Moral Life and the Magisterium of the Church The law of God entrusted to the Church is taught to the faithful as the way of life and truth. the faithful therefore have the right to be instructed in the divine …
2038 I. Moral Life and the Magisterium of the Church In the work of teaching and applying Christian morality, the Church needs the dedication of pastors, the knowledge of theologians, and the contribution of all Christians and men of good will. Faith …
2039 I. Moral Life and the Magisterium of the Church Ministries should be exercised in a spirit of fraternal service and dedication to the Church, in the name of the Lord. 81 At the same time the conscience of each person should …
2040 I. Moral Life and the Magisterium of the Church Thus a true filial spirit toward the Church can develop among Christians. It is the normal flowering of the baptismal grace which has begotten us in the womb of the Church and …