347 THE WITNESS OF CHRISTIAN LIFE

YOUCAT Lesson 347

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

 

347  Why is “not practicing what you preach” such a serious deficiency in a Christian?

Agreement between one’s life and one’s witness is the first requirement for proclaiming the Gospel.  Not practicing what you profess is therefore hypocrisy, a betrayal of the Christian duty to be “salt of the earth” and “light of the world”.  [2044-2046]

Stephanie May (center) is an early childhood teacher in Idaho.  She easily connects with kiddos at Goals Beyond The Net in Haiti. Stephanie is my great niece. …..347

Paul was the one who reminded the Church in Corinth: “You show that you are a letter from Christ…written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:3).  Christians themselves, not the things they say, are Christ’s “letters of recommendation” (2 Corinthians 3:2) to the world.

“The world is full of people who preach water and drink wine.”  Giovanni Guareschi (1908-1968, Italian author of “The Little World of Don Camillo”)

 [2044-2046]

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.”( Apostolicam Actuositatem 6 § 2.)⁸⁸ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

2045 Because they are members of the Body whose Head is Christ,( Compare Ephesians 1:22.)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."( Ephesians 4:13; compare Lumen Gentium 39.)⁹⁰ –CCC

2046 By living with the mind of Christ, Christians hasten the coming of the Reign of God, "a kingdom of justice, love, and peace."( Roman Missal, Preface of Christ the King.)⁹¹ They do not, for all that, abandon their earthly tasks; faithful to their master, they fulfill them with uprightness, patience, and love. --CCC