I rarely go a day without reading or referring to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which has been one of my favorite books since I first read it in late 1995. And of the many wonderful passages and quotations contained therein, my favorite paragaph remains the opening paragraph, which I think expresses the essential core of the Christian Faith as well as anything I've ever read of similar length outside of Scripture:
God, infinitely 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 Saviour. 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.
Many years ago (in 1998, if I remember correctly), not long after I entered the Church, I wrote a short piece about this paragraph; here it is, from deep in the vaults:
"Sola Gratia, Sola Christo" by Carl E. Olson
If asked to provide one paragraph explaining what the Catholic Faith is about, it would be hard to do better than the opening paragraph of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. It offers a concise summary of what Catholics believe and lays the groundwork for the more involved details and nuances of the Faith. Here, broken into six phrases––each followed by brief commentary––is the first paragraph of the Catechism:
God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself,
There is but one God and he is complete and holy in and of himself. Jews, Muslims and Christians believe that God is One; all other major religions are pantheistic (everything is God), polytheistic (there are many gods), or atheistic (there is no God). Monotheists also believe that God is Other and He needs no other. Christians believe that God is Trinity: one nature and three persons, the greatest mystery of the Christian Faith. Modern man often tries to bring God to his level, seeking to stuff him into a box the size of our limited conceptions or disordered desires. Such attempts are futile, but the most amazing fact is that God, who we so often ignore and try to minimize, loves us and desires a relationship with us.
in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life.
This should be startling––shocking––to us. God created us out of the overflow of his Divine Love, that eternal and blinding exchange of self-giving between the three Persons of the Trinity. Creation is the expression of God’s nature (love) and the evidence of God’s goodness. All that is, is good. Evil is not a thing, but the absence of a good. That is why Catholics, more than some other Christians, revel in the beauty and wonder of creation. But while creation provides evidence of God’s existence, it does not emphatically prove it, for the Lover does not force himself on the beloved, but beckons us, always respecting our free will.
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.
God is a Lover; he is the one who initiates the relationship. He calls, he asks, he offers––but he never forces himself on us. The heart of love is freely deciding to give of oneself, as Jesus Christ states in all four Gospels: “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it.”
He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church.
There are many important truths implicit in this sentence. Mankind was originally a single family, with a common father named Adam. When Adam sinned, all of mankind fell with him from a life-giving relationship with God. At the Tower of Babel humanity attempted to reach God by their natural, futile efforts; God “confused their language” and scattered them throughout the earth. But God already had a plan for man’s salvation, involving a newly unified family bound together by supernatural life. This family is the Church, the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, which is the “household of God” and “the pillar and support of truth” (1 Timothy 3:15).
To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior.
This is the second great mystery of the Christian Faith: the Incarnation. The Second Person of the Trinity, the Divine Word, became man and entered into time and space. As T.S. Eliot wrote, the Incarnation was “[a] moment in time but time was made through that moment: for without the meaning there is not time, and that moment of time gave the meaning.” Jesus Christ is “the center of the universe and of history” stated Pope John Paul II in Redemptor Hominis (Redeemer of Man), and so Christ should be the center of our lives––he is the exclusive Redeemer and Savior of humanity.
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.
Christ is also the sole mediator between God and man. Through the sacrament of baptism, by water and the power of the Holy Spirit, we are “born again” (Jn. 3), made “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4) and become true children of God (1 Jn. 3:1). By grace we become sons in the One who is Son by nature, the same one who guides us through his Church and nourishes us with his Body and Blood in the Eucharist.
The Catholic Faith is sola gratia, sola Christo: grace alone, Christ alone. Amen.
Related IgnatiusInsight.com Articles and Book Excerpts:
• The Catechism: Proclamation and Pedagogy | The Preface to The Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Craft of Catechesis | Petroc Willey, Ph.D., S.T.L., Pierre de Cointet, and Barbara Morgan
• Theosis: The Reason for the Season | Carl E. Olson
• Understanding The Hierarchy of Truths | Douglas Bushman, STL
• The Dignity of the Human Person: Pope John Paul II's Teaching on Divinization in the Trinitarian Encyclicals | Carl E. Olson
• The Liturgy Lived: The Divinization of Man | Jean Corbon, O.P.
• Jean Daniélou and the "Master-Key to Christian Theology" | Carl E. Olson
I have the Catechism sitting on my bookshelf along with the Ignatius Press Companion but sadly, they're gathering dust. Your post is a good reminder that I could make time to read through them every so often.
Please pardon my ignorance, but I have a query about something: Would anyone mind explaining the reason(s) that pronouns when referring to God are sometimes capitalized and sometimes not? They are not capitalized in the Cathechism, nor are they for speeches, addresses, and encyclicals on the Vatican website. Similarly, I'll read in books by Catholic authors where words like "incarnation" and "the fall" and "original sin", etc. are not capitalized. Is this merely an editorial decision? I suppose I could understand the non-capitalization in publications where there is disdain for religion, particularly Christianity and Catholicism, but otherwise I cannot figure it out.
Thanks in advance! AMDG!
Posted by: Mikhail | Thursday, November 04, 2010 at 07:24 PM
Mikhail, be sure not to overlook this gem:
841 The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."
Incredible.
Posted by: Fernando Umberto Garcia de Nicaragua, Prefectus Minimus: The Jacksonian Institute | Thursday, November 04, 2010 at 09:22 PM
I have heard that a Catechism for Teens is in the works. Is this correct?
Posted by: Sharon | Friday, November 05, 2010 at 01:55 AM
Mikhail: From what I understand, in English people used to capitalize pronouns when they referred to kings or rulers of any flavor. This practice was extended to God as He is the King of kings. We don't tend to capitalize references to earthly rulers at all anymore. Some people kept the practice when referring to God, some haven't. I tend to capitalize pronouns referring to Him myself, but it's not necessary. Note also that the original Hebrew did not have capital letters, so it's not a matter of preserving an original practice either.
Posted by: Jacob S | Friday, November 05, 2010 at 08:42 AM
In spite of my degrees, I am a simple woman. Often, the catechism goes right over my head; so I keep in mind the two commandments of love especially and the Ten Commandments with the greatest fidelity I can. Every new situation makes for a different interpretation of these precepts of God, so I try to remain abreast of the developments in the Church as they come. Love in my heart is always evolving into something greater than ever before. I have written a lot in my short lifetime, but it is all suitable for an eighth grader in level of proficiency. In this way, my writing remains accessible to all. I hope soon to be published to the world. I ask all who visit this site to pray for my new order of nuns, the Howardine Sister of Joy, that it might be approved by the pope. I love Pope Benedict XVI more than any other pope I have known because of his humility which is so obvious in the way he carries himself. He is truly the man of the hour and one day he may make the century.
Posted by: Reverend Doctor Victoria A. Howard, Anchoress | Sunday, November 07, 2010 at 05:25 PM
"There is but one God and he is complete and holy in and of himself. Jews, Muslims and Christians believe that God is One; all other major religions are pantheistic (everything is God), polytheistic (there are many gods), or atheistic (there is no God). Monotheists also believe that God is Other and He needs no other. Christians believe that God is Trinity: one nature and three persons, the greatest mystery of the Christian Faith."
Question: Are you labeling all other religions into one of those categories? I can see how religions like Hinduism appear to be polytheistic, but I am currently taking a Comparative Religions course and the similarity between our Holy Trinity and Hinduism's countless deities have a strong resemblance. Most people (including me before I started to take this class) view the multiplicity of Hindu deities as polytheistic while in fact the many Aspects of a select few deities account for the many gods and goddesses. The term ishta refers to one's chosen ideal of God, and this can be Brahma, the equivalent to our God the Father, Krishna, a Christ-like figure, and Shiva and or Vishnu that can be seen as the Holy Spirit. I'd argue that the three Abrahamic religions are not the only religions that transcend the labels of pantheistic, polytheistic, and atheistic.
Posted by: Jack V. | Monday, November 08, 2010 at 08:33 AM
To put a finer point on CCC 841: the Muslims "profess to" (notice how the CCC would read if those two words were removed) be Abrahamic via a claim to be the descendants of Ishmael, but today this is often taken as fact and not simply as a claim. The Church in her wisdom knows better and leaves their claim open for discussion, shall we say.
To Jack V.: I, like you and many others, once had my faith severely mutated by some academic's comparative religion course. I wonder, do these professors have any faith themselves other than relativism? Or even that? Or less: atheism? I wonder what is in their hearts versus what they would admit to.
Alas that in my case, my protestant professor and a protestant university did nothing but try to convince a bunch of young Christians that they should become hindu. I mean that.
Any similarity between the Trinity and hindu idols is mere coincidence. The world is full of coincidences and pablum! The world itself is filled with tricks and cul-de-sacs that are designed to lead souls astray and into ruin.
Regarding ishta: this is simply the ancient ignorance of any form of paganism (yes, hinduism is paganism) that still haunts new age thought: design your own god according to your own comfort zone.
Judeo-Christianity is the only one where an objective God reveals himself to us as he is and as he wishes us to know him as, as opposed to proud men creating a god according to their tastes. If you want to be my friend, you must get to know me. You can't just ignore my invitations to meet me and instead dream up how you think I am. After all, a camel is a horse designed by a committee who never went out into the barn.
Posted by: Brad | Monday, November 08, 2010 at 09:55 AM