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§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).
THE CHURCH, MOTHER AND TEACHER
§2030
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 of Christ.» 72 From the Church he
receives the grace of the sacraments that sustains him on the «way."
From the Church he learns the example of holiness and recognizes its model and
source in the all-holy Virgin Mary; he discerns it in the authentic witness of
those who live it; he discovers it in the spiritual tradition and long history
of the saints who have gone before him and whom the liturgy celebrates in the
rhythms of the sanctoral cycle.
§2031
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 the offering of his Eucharist. In the
liturgy and the celebration of the sacraments, prayer and teaching are
conjoined with the grace of Christ to enlighten and nourish Christian activity.
As does the whole of the Christian life, the moral life finds its source and
summit in the Eucharistic sacrifice.
I. Moral Life and the Magisterium of the Church
§2032
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 and
everywhere to announce moral principles, including those pertaining to the
social order, and to make judgments on any human affairs to the extent that
they are required by the fundamental rights of the human person or the
salvation of souls.» 75
§2033
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 to generation, under the aegis and
vigilance of the pastors, the «deposit» of Christian moral teaching
has been handed on, a deposit composed of a characteristic body of rules,
commandments, and virtues proceeding from faith in Christ and animated by
charity. Alongside the Creed and the Our Father, the basis for this catechesis
has traditionally been the Decalogue which sets out the principles of moral
life valid for all men.
§2034
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 believed and put into
practice.» 76 The ordinary and universal Magisterium of the Pope
and the bishops in communion with him teach the faithful the truth to believe,
the charity to practice, the beatitude to hope for.
§2035
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 to all those elements of
doctrine, including morals, without which the saving truths of the faith cannot
be preserved, explained, or observed.77
§2036
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 natural law, the
Magisterium of the Church exercises an essential part of its prophetic office
of proclaiming to men what they truly are and reminding them of what they
should be before God.78
§2037
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 saving precepts that purify judgment and, with grace, heal wounded human
reason.79 They have the duty of observing the constitutions and decrees
conveyed by the legitimate authority of the Church. Even if they concern
disciplinary matters, these determinations call for docility in charity.
§2038
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 and the practice of the Gospel
provide each person with an experience of life «in Christ,» who
enlightens him and makes him able to evaluate the divine and human realities
according to the Spirit of God.80 Thus the Holy Spirit can use the
humblest to enlighten the learned and those in the highest positions.
§2039
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 avoid confining itself to individualistic
considerations in its moral judgments of the person's own acts. As far as possible
conscience should take account of the good of all, as expressed in the moral
law, natural and revealed, and consequently in the law of the Church and in the
authoritative teaching of the Magisterium on moral questions. Personal
conscience and reason should not be set in opposition to the moral law or the
Magisterium of the Church.
§2040
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 made us members of the Body of Christ. In her motherly care,
the Church grants us the mercy of God which prevails over all our sins and is
especially at work in the sacrament of reconciliation. With a mother's
foresight, she also lavishes on us day after day in her liturgy the nourishment
of the Word and Eucharist of the Lord.
II. The Precepts of the Church
§2041
The precepts of the Church are set in the context of a moral life bound to and
nourished by liturgical life. the obligatory character of these positive laws
decreed by the pastoral authorities is meant to guarantee to the faithful the
indispensable minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth
in love of God and neighbor:
§2042
The first precept (“You shall attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of
obligation.») requires the faithful to participate in the Eucharistic
celebration when the Christian community gathers together on the day
commemorating the Resurrection of the Lord.82
The second precept (“You shall confess your sins at least once a year.») ensures preparation for the Eucharist by the reception of the sacrament of reconciliation, which continues Baptism's work of conversion and forgiveness.83
The third precept (“You shall humbly receive your Creator in Holy Communion at least during the Easter season.») guarantees as a minimum the reception of the Lord's Body and Blood in connection with the Paschal feasts, the origin and center of the Christian liturgy.84
§2043
The
fourth precept (“You shall keep holy the holy days of obligation.»)
completes the Sunday observance by participation in the principal liturgical
feasts which honor the mysteries of the Lord, the Virgin Mary, and the
saints.85
The fifth precept (“You shall observe the prescribed days of fasting and abstinence.») ensures the times of ascesis and penance which prepare us for the liturgical feasts; they help us acquire mastery over our instincts and freedom of heart.86
The faithful also have the duty of providing for the material needs of the Church, each according to his abilities.87
III. Moral Life and Missionary Witness
§2044
The fidelity of the baptized is a primordial condition for the proclamation of
the Gospel and for the Church's mission in the world. In order that the message
of salvation can show the power of its truth and radiance before men, it must
be authenticated by the witness of the life of Christians. «The witness of
a Christian life and good works done in a supernatural spirit have great power
to draw men to the faith and to God.» 88
§2045
Because they are members of the Body whose Head is Christ,89 Christians
contribute to building up the Church by the constancy of their convictions and
their moral lives. the Church increases, grows, and develops through the
holiness of her faithful, until «we all attain to the unity of the faith
and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of
the stature of the fullness of Christ.» 90
§2046
By living with the mind of Christ, Christians hasten the coming of the Reign of
God, «a kingdom of justice, love, and peace.» 91 They do not,
for all that, abandon their earthly tasks; faithful to their master, they
fulfill them with uprightness, patience, and love.
IN BRIEF
§2047
The moral life is a
spiritual worship. Christian activity finds its nourishment in the liturgy and
the celebration of the sacraments.
§2048
The precepts of the
Church concern the moral and Christian life united with the liturgy and
nourished by it.
§2049
The Magisterium of the
Pastors of the Church in moral matters is ordinarily exercised in catechesis
and preaching, on the basis of the Decalogue which states the principles of
moral life valid for every man.
§2050
The Roman Pontiff and
the bishops, as authentic teachers, preach to the People of God the faith which
is to be believed and applied in moral life. It is also encumbent on them to
pronounce on moral questions that fall within the natural law and reason.
§2051
The infallibility of the
Magisterium of the Pastors extends to all the elements of doctrine, including
moral doctrine, without which the saving truths of the faith cannot be preserved, expounded, or observed.
The Ten Commandments
Exodus 20 2-17
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness
of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the
earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those
who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my
commandments.
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless
who takes his name in vain.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the
seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or
your daughter, your manservant or your maidservant or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your
gates; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the
seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.
Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God
gives you.
You shall not kill.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant
or his maidservant or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's.
Deuteronomy 5:6-21
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the house of bondage.
You shall have no other gods before me . . .
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain . . .
Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy. . .
Honor your father and your mother . . .
You shall not kill.
Neither shall you commit adultery.
Neither shall you steal.
Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor.
Neither shall you covet your neighbor's wife .
You shall not desire . . . anything that is your neighbor's.
A Traditional Catechetical Formula
1. I am the LORD your God: you shall not have strange Gods before me.
2. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
3. Remember to keep holy the LORD'S Day.
4. Honor your father and your mother.
5. You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
«Teacher, what must I do . . .?»
§2052
«Teacher, what good deed must I do, to have eternal life?» To the
young man who asked this question,
Jesus answers first by invoking the necessity to recognize God as the «One there is who is good,» as the
supreme Good and the source of all good. Then Jesus tells him: «If you would enter life, keep the
commandments." and he cites for his questioner the precepts that concern love of neighbor: «You shall not
kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father
and mother.» Finally Jesus sums up these commandments positively: «You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.» 1
§2053
To this first reply Jesus adds a second: «If you would be perfect, go,
sell what you possess and give to the
poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.» 2 This reply does not do away with the
first: following Jesus Christ involves keeping the Commandments. the Law has not been abolished,3 but
rather man is invited to rediscover it in the person of his Master who is its perfect fulfillment. In the three
synoptic Gospels, Jesus' call to the rich young man to follow him, in the obedience of a disciple and in the
observance of the Commandments, is joined to the call to poverty and chastity.4 The evangelical counsels
are inseparable from the Commandments.
§2054
Jesus acknowledged the Ten Commandments, but he also showed the power of the
Spirit at work in
their letter. He preached a «righteousness [which] exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees» 5 as well as that
of the Gentiles.6 He unfolded all the demands of the Commandments. «You have heard that it was said to
the men of old, 'You shall not kill.' . . . But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be
liable to judgment.» 7
§2055
When someone asks him, «Which commandment in the Law is the
greatest?» 8 Jesus replies: «You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the
greatest and first commandment. and a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these
two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets.» 9 The Decalogue must be interpreted in light of
this twofold yet single commandment of love, the fullness of the Law:
the commandments: «You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,» and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence: «You shall love your neighbor as yourself.» Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.10
The Decalogue in Sacred Scripture
§2056
The word «Decalogue» means literally «ten words.» 11
God revealed these «ten words» to his people
on the holy mountain. They were written «with the finger of God,» 12 unlike the other commandments
written by Moses.13 They are pre-eminently the words of God. They are handed on to us in the books of
Exodus 14 and Deuteronomy.15 Beginning with the Old Testament, the sacred books refer to the «ten
words,» 16 but it is in the New Covenant in Jesus Christ that their full meaning will be revealed.
§2057
The Decalogue must first be understood in the context of the Exodus, God's
great liberating event at
the center of the Old Covenant. Whether formulated as negative commandments, prohibitions, or as
positive precepts such as: «Honor your father and mother,» the «ten words» point out the conditions of a life
freed from the slavery of sin. the Decalogue is a path of life:
If you love the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, then you shall live andmultiply.17
This liberating power of the Decalogue appears, for example, in the commandment about the
sabbath rest, directed also to foreigners and slaves:
You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out thence with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.18
§2058
The «ten words» sum up and proclaim God's law: «These words the
Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire,
the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. and
he wrote them upon two tables of stone, and gave them to me.» 19
For this reason these two tables are called «the Testimony.» In fact,
they contain the terms of the covenant concluded between God and his people.
These «tables of the Testimony» were to be deposited in «the
ark.» 20
§2059
The «ten words» are pronounced by God in the midst of a theophany
(“The LORD spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the
fire.» 21). They belong to God's revelation of himself and his
glory. the gift of the Commandments is the gift of God himself and his holy
will. In making his will known, God reveals himself to his people.
§2060
The gift of the commandments and of the Law is part of the covenant God sealed
with his own. In Exodus, the revelation of the «ten words» is granted
between the proposal of the covenant 22 and its conclusion - after the
people had committed themselves to «do» all that the Lord had said,
and to «obey» it.23 The Decalogue is never handed on without
first recalling the covenant (“The LORD our God made
a covenant with us in Horeb.»).24
§2061
The Commandments take on their full meaning within the covenant. According to
Scripture, man's
moral life has all its meaning in and through the covenant. the first of the «ten words» recalls that God loved
his people first:
Since there was a passing from the paradise of freedom to the slavery of this world, in punishment for sin, the first phrase of the Decalogue, the first word of God's commandments, bears on freedom «I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.» 25
§2062
The Commandments properly so-called come in the second place: they express the
implications of
belonging to God through the establishment of the covenant. Moral existence is a response to the Lord's
loving initiative. It is the acknowledgement and homage given to God and a worship of thanksgiving. It is
cooperation with the plan God pursues in history.
§2063
The covenant and dialogue between God and man are also attested to by the fact
that all the obligations
are stated in the first person (“I am the Lord.») and addressed by God to another personal subject (“you»). In
all God's commandments, the singular personal pronoun designates the recipient. God makes his will known
to each person in particular, at the same time as he makes it known to the whole people:
The Lord prescribed love towards God and taught justice towards neighbor, so that man would be neither unjust, nor unworthy of God. Thus, through the Decalogue, God prepared man to become his friend and to live in harmony with his neighbor.... the words of the Decalogue remain likewise for us Christians. Far from being abolished, they have received amplification and development from the fact of the coming of the Lord in the flesh.26
The Decalogue in the Church's Tradition
§2064
In fidelity to Scripture and in conformity with the example of Jesus, the
tradition of the Church has
acknowledged the primordial importance and significance of the Decalogue.
§2065
Ever
since St. Augustine, the Ten Commandments have occupied a predominant place in
the catechesis of baptismal candidates and the faithful. In the fifteenth
century, the custom arose of expressing the commandments of the Decalogue in rhymed
formulae, easy to memorize and in positive form. They are still in use today.
the catechisms of the Church have often expounded Christian morality by
following the order of the Ten Commandments.
§2066
The
division and numbering of the Commandments have varied in the course of
history. the present catechism follows the division of the Commandments
established by St. Augustine, which has become traditional in the Catholic
Church. It is also that of the Lutheran confessions. the Greek Fathers worked
out a slightly different division, which is found in the Orthodox Churches and
Reformed communities.
§2067
The Ten Commandments state what is required in the love of God and love of
neighbor. the first three concern love of God, and the other seven love of
neighbor.
As charity comprises the two commandments to which the Lord related the whole Law and the prophets . . . so the Ten Commandments were themselves given on two tablets. Three were written on one tablet and seven on the other.27
§2068
The Council of Trent teaches that the Ten Commandments are obligatory for
Christians and that the
justified man is still bound to keep them;28 The Second Vatican Council confirms: «The bishops, successors
of the apostles, receive from the Lord . . . the mission of teaching all peoples, and of preaching the Gospel to
every creature, so that all men may attain salvation through faith, Baptism and the observance of the
Commandments.» 29
The unity of the Decalogue
§2069
The Decalogue forms a coherent whole. Each «word» refers to each of
the others and to all of them; they
reciprocally condition one another. the two tables shed light on one another; they form an organic unity.
To transgress one commandment is to infringe all the others.30 One cannot honor another person without
blessing God his Creator. One cannot adore God without loving all men, his creatures. the Decalogue brings
man's religious and social life into unity.
The Decalogue ant the natural law
§2070
The Ten Commandments belong to God's revelation. At the same time they teach us
the true humanity
of man. They bring to light the essential duties, and therefore, indirectly, the fundamental rights inherent
in the nature of the human person. the Decalogue contains a privileged expression of the natural law:
From the beginning, God had implanted in the heart of man the precepts of the natural law. Then he was content to remind him of them. This was the Decalogue.31
§2071
The commandments of the Decalogue, although accessible to reason alone, have
been revealed. To
attain a complete and certain understanding of the requirements of the natural law, sinful humanity needed
this revelation:
A full explanation of the commandments of the Decalogue became necessary in the state of sin because the light of reason was obscured and the will had gone astray.32
We know God's commandments through the
divine revelation proposed to us in the Church, and through the voice of moral conscience. the obligation
of the Decalogue
§2072
Since they express man's fundamental duties towards God and towards his
neighbor, the Ten
Commandments reveal, in their primordial content, grave obligations. They are fundamentally immutable,
and they oblige always and everywhere. No one can dispense from them. the Ten Commandments are
engraved by God in the human heart.
§2073
Obedience to the Commandments also implies obligations in matter which is, in
itself, light. Thus
abusive language is forbidden by the fifth commandment, but would be a grave offense only as a result of
circumstances or the offender's intention. «Apart from me you can do nothing»
§2074
Jesus says: «I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and
I in him, he it is that bears
much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.» 33 The fruit referred to in this saying is the holiness of
a life made fruitful by union with Christ. When we believe in Jesus Christ, partake of his mysteries, and keep
his commandments, the Savior himself comes to love, in us, his Father and his brethren, our Father and our
brethren. His person becomes, through the Spirit, the living and interior rule of our activity. «This is my
commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.» 34
IN BRIEF
§2075
«What good deed
must I do, to have eternal life?» - «If you would enter into life,
keep the
commandments" (⇒ Mt 19:16-17).
§2076
By his life and by his
preaching Jesus attested to the permanent validity of the Decalogue. 2077 The
gift of the Decalogue is bestowed from within the covenant concluded by God with his people. God's
commandments take on their true meaning in and through this covenant.
§2078
In fidelity to Scripture
and in conformity with Jesus' example, the tradition of the Church has always
acknowledged the primordial importance and significance of the Decalogue.
§2079
The Decalogue forms an
organic unity in which each «word» or «commandment» refers
to all the others
taken together. To transgress one commandment is to infringe the whole Law (cf ⇒ Jas 2:10-11).
§2080
The Decalogue contains a
privileged expression of the natural law. It is made known to us by divine
revelation and by human reason.
§2081
The Ten Commandments, in
their fundamental content, state grave obligations. However, obedience
to these precepts also implies obligations in matter which is, in itself, light.
§2082
What God commands he
makes possible by his grace.
YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND
§2083
Jesus summed up man's duties toward God in this saying: «You shall love
the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all
your mind.» 1 This immediately echoes the solemn call: «Hear,
O Israel: the LORD our God is one LORD.» 2
God has loved us first. the love of the One God is recalled in the first of the
«ten words.» the commandments then make explicit the response of love
that man is called to give to his God.
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of
the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not
make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the
earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them.3
It is written: «You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you
serve.» 4
I. «You Shall Worship the Lord Your God and Him Only Shall You Serve»
§2084
God makes himself known by recalling his all-powerful loving, and liberating
action in the history of the one he addresses: «I brought you out of the
land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.» the first word contains the
first commandment of the Law: «You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall
serve him.... You shall not go after other gods.» 5 God's first
call and just demand is that man accept him and worship him.
§2085
The one and true God first reveals his glory to Israel.6 The revelation
of the vocation and truth of man is linked to the revelation of God. Man's
vocation is to make God manifest by acting in conformity with his creation
«in the image and likeness of God":
There will never be another God, Trypho, and there has been no other since the world began . . . than he who made and ordered the universe. We do not think that our God is different from yours. He is the same who brought your fathers out of Egypt «by his powerful hand and his outstretched arm.» We do not place our hope in some other god, for there is none, but in the same God as you do: the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.7
§2086
«The first commandment embraces faith, hope, and charity. When we say
'God' we confess a constant, unchangeable being, always the same, faithful and
just, without any evil. It follows that we must necessarily accept his words
and have complete faith in him and acknowledge his authority. He is almighty,
merciful, and infinitely beneficent. Who could not place all hope in him? Who
could not love him when contemplating the treasures of goodness and love he has
poured out on us? Hence the formula God employs in the Scripture at the
beginning and end of his commandments: 'I am the LORD.'» 8
Faith
§2087
Our moral life has its source in faith in God who reveals his love to us. St.
Paul speaks of the «obedience of faith» 9 as our first
obligation. He shows that «ignorance of God» is the principle and
explanation of all moral deviations.10 Our duty toward God is to
believe in him and to bear witness to him.
§2088
The first commandment requires us to nourish and protect our faith with
prudence and vigilance, and to reject everything that is opposed to it. There
are various ways of sinning against faith:
Voluntary doubt about the faith disregards or refuses to hold as true what God
has revealed and the Church proposes for belief. Involuntary doubt refers to
hesitation in believing, difficulty in overcoming objections connected with the
faith, or also anxiety aroused by its obscurity. If deliberately cultivated
doubt can lead to spiritual blindness.
§2089
Incredulity is the neglect of revealed truth or the willful refusal to assent
to it. «Heresy is the obstinate post-baptismal denial of some truth which
must be believed with divine and catholic faith, or it is likewise an obstinate
doubt concerning the same; apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian
faith; schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion
with the members of the Church subject to him.» 11
Hope
§2090
When God reveals Himself and calls him, man cannot fully respond to the divine
love by his own powers. He must hope that God will give him the capacity to
love Him in return and to act in conformity with the commandments of charity.
Hope is the confident expectation of divine blessing and the beatific vision of
God; it is also the fear of offending God's love and of incurring punishment.
§2091
The first commandment is also concerned with sins against hope, namely, despair
and presumption:
By despair, man ceases to hope for his personal salvation from God, for help in
attaining it or for the forgiveness of his sins. Despair is contrary to God's
goodness, to his justice - for the Lord is faithful to his promises - and to
his mercy.
§2092
There are two kinds of presumption. Either man presumes upon his own
capacities, (hoping to be able to save himself without help from on high), or
he presumes upon God's almighty power or his mercy (hoping to obtain his
forgiveness without conversion and glory without merit).
Charity
§2093
Faith in God's love encompasses the call and the obligation to respond with sincere
love to divine charity. the first commandment enjoins us to love God above
everything and all creatures for him and because of him.12
§2094
One can sin against God's love in various ways:
- indifference neglects or refuses to reflect on divine charity; it fails to
consider its prevenient goodness and denies its power.
- ingratitude fails or refuses to acknowledge divine charity and to return him
love for love.
- lukewarmness is hesitation or negligence in responding to divine love; it can
imply refusal to give oneself over to the prompting of charity.
- acedia or spiritual sloth goes so far as to refuse the joy that comes from
God and to be repelled by divine goodness.
- hatred of God comes from pride. It is contrary to love of God, whose goodness
it denies, and whom it presumes to curse as the one who forbids sins and
inflicts punishments.
II. «Him Only Shall You Serve»
§2095
The theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity inform and give life to the
moral virtues. Thus charity leads us to render to God what we as creatures owe
him in all justice. the virtue of religion disposes us to have this attitude.
Adoration
§2096
Adoration is the first act of the virtue of religion. To adore God is to
acknowledge him as God, as the Creator and Savior, the Lord and Master of
everything that exists, as infinite and merciful Love. «You shall worship
the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve,» says Jesus, citing Deuteronomy.13
§2097
To adore God is to acknowledge, in respect and absolute submission, the
«nothingness of the creature» who would not exist but for God. To
adore God is to praise and exalt him and to humble oneself, as Mary did in the
Magnificat, confessing with gratitude that he has done great things and holy is
his name.14 The worship of the one God sets man free from turning in on
himself, from the slavery of sin and the idolatry of the world.
Prayer
§2098
The acts of faith, hope, and charity enjoined by the first commandment are
accomplished in prayer. Lifting up the mind toward God is an expression of our
adoration of God: prayer of praise and thanksgiving, intercession and petition.
Prayer is an indispensable condition for being able to obey God's commandments.
« (We) ought always to pray and not lose heart.» 15
Sacrifice
§2099
It is right to offer sacrifice to God as a sign of adoration and gratitude,
supplication and communion: «Every action done so as to cling to God in
communion of holiness, and thus achieve blessedness, is a true
sacrifice.» 16
§2100
Outward sacrifice, to be genuine, must be the expression of spiritual
sacrifice: «The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken
spirit....» 17 The prophets of the Old Covenant often denounced
sacrifices that were not from the heart or not coupled with love of
neighbor.18 Jesus recalls the words of the prophet Hosea: «I
desire mercy, and not sacrifice.» 19 The only perfect sacrifice is
the one that Christ offered on the cross as a total offering to the Father's
love and for our salvation.20 By uniting ourselves with his sacrifice
we can make our lives a sacrifice to God.
Promises and vows
§2101
In many circumstances, the Christian is called to make promises to God. Baptism
and Confirmation, Matrimony and Holy Orders always entail promises. Out of
personal devotion, the Christian may also promise to God this action, that
prayer, this alms-giving, that pilgrimage, and so forth. Fidelity to promises
made to God is a sign of the respect owed to the divine majesty and of love for
a faithful God.
§2102
«A vow is a deliberate and free promise made to God concerning a possible
and better good which must be fulfilled by reason of the virtue of
religion,» 21 A vow is an act of devotion in which the Christian
dedicates himself to God or promises him some good work. By fulfilling his vows
he renders to God what has been promised and consecrated to Him. the Acts of
the Apostles shows us St. Paul concerned to fulfill the vows he had
made.22
§2103
The Church recognizes an exemplary value in the vows to practice the
evangelical counsels:23
Mother Church rejoices that she has within herself many men and women
who pursue the Savior's self-emptying more closely and show it forth more
clearly, by undertaking poverty with the freedom of the children of God, and
renouncing their own will: they submit themselves to man for the sake of God,
thus going beyond what is of precept in the matter of perfection, so as to
conform themselves more fully to the obedient Christ.24
The Church can, in certain cases and for proportionate reasons, dispense from
vows and promises25
The social duty of religion and the right to religious freedom
§2104
«All men are bound to seek the truth, especially in what concerns God and
his Church, and to embrace it and hold on to it as they come to know
it.» 26 This duty derives from «the very dignity of the human
person.» 27 It does not contradict a «sincere respect"
for different religions which frequently «reflect a ray of that truth
which enlightens all men,» 28 nor the requirement of charity, which
urges Christians «to treat with love, prudence and patience those who are
in error or ignorance with regard to the faith.» 29
§2105
The duty of offering God genuine worship concerns man both individually and
socially. This is «the traditional Catholic teaching on the moral duty of
individuals and societies toward the true religion and the one Church of
Christ.» 30 By constantly evangelizing men, the Church works toward
enabling them «to infuse the Christian spirit into the mentality and
mores, laws and structures of the communities in which [they]
live.» 31 The social duty of Christians is to respect and awaken in
each man the love of the true and the good. It requires them to make known the
worship of the one true religion which subsists in the Catholic and apostolic
Church.32 Christians are called to be the light of the world. Thus, the
Church shows forth the kingship of Christ over all creation and in particular
over human societies.33
§2106
«Nobody may be forced to act against his convictions, nor is anyone to be
restrained from acting in accordance with his conscience in religious matters
in private or in public, alone or in association with others, within due
limits.» 34 This right is based on the very nature of the human
person, whose dignity enables him freely to assent to the divine truth which
transcends the temporal order. For this reason it «continues to exist even
in those who do not live up to their obligation of seeking the truth and
adhering to it.» 35
§2107
«If because of the circumstances of a particular people special civil
recognition is given to one religious community in the constitutional
organization of a state, the right of all citizens and religious communities to
religious freedom must be recognized and respected as well.» 36
§2108
The right to religious liberty is neither a moral license to adhere to error,
nor a supposed right to error,37 but rather a natural right of the
human person to civil liberty, i.e., immunity, within just limits, from
external constraint in religious matters by political authorities. This natural
right ought to be acknowledged in the juridical order of society in such a way
that it constitutes a civil right.38
§2109
The
right to religious liberty can of itself be neither unlimited nor limited only
by a «public order» conceived in a positivist or naturalist
manner.39 The «due limits» which are inherent in it must be
determined for each social situation by political prudence, according to the
requirements of the common good, and ratified by the civil authority in
accordance with «legal principles which are in conformity with the
objective moral order.» 40
Catéchisme de l'Église catholique © Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1992.
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