YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 1
AVE MARIA SERIES “So that all may be one…” Jn 17:21
For what purpose are we here on earth?
We are here on earth in order to know and to love God, to do good according to his will, and to go someday to heaven.
To be a human being means to come from God and to go to God. Our origin goes back farther than our parents. We come from God, in whom all happiness of heaven and earth is at home, and [to where] we are expected in his everlasting, infinite blessedness. Meanwhile we live on this earth. Sometimes we feel our creator is near; often we feel nothing at all. So that we might find the way home, God sent us his Son, who freed us from sin, delivers us from all evil, and leads us unerringly into true life. He is “the way, and the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)
“You cannot imagine at all how much you interest God: he is interested in you as if there were no one else on earth.” --Julien Green, 1900-1998, French writer
[CCC ¶1 – 3, 358]
Why We are Able To Believe
"FATHER, . . . this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."1 "God our Savior desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."2 "There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved - than the name of JESUS."3
THE LIFE OF MAN - TO KNOW AND LOVE GOD
1 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 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.
2 So that this call should resound throughout the world, Christ sent forth the apostles he had chosen, commissioning them to proclaim the gospel: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."4 Strengthened by this mission, the apostles "went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it."5
3 Those who with God's help have welcomed Christ's call and freely responded to it are urged on by love of Christ to proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world. This treasure, received from the apostles, has been faithfully guarded by their successors. All Christ's faithful are called to hand it on from generation to generation, by professing the faith, by living it in fraternal sharing, and by celebrating it in liturgy and prayer.6
IN THE IMAGE OF GOD
358 God created everything for man,222 but man in turn was created to serve and love God and to offer all creation back to him:
What is it that is about to be created, that enjoys such honor? It is man that great and wonderful living creature, more precious in the eyes of God than all other creatures! For him the heavens and the earth, the sea and all the rest of creation exist. God attached so much importance to his salvation that he did not spare his own Son for the sake of man. Nor does he ever cease to work, trying every possible means, until he has raised man up to himself and made him sit at his right hand.223
223. St. John Chrysostom, In Gen. Sermo 2,1: Patrologia Graeca 54,587D-588A.
Editor Note:A number within a paragraph is a footnote. The corresponding number at the end of the same paragraph is your guide to find and read for yourself the referenced Bible book verse or other document.
(Editor note: To look for John 14:6 sign photo permission: Contact Holy Comforter Catholic Church Parish, 208 East Jefferson Street, Charlottesville, VA 22902. (434) 295-7185office@holycomforterparish.org.)
Illustration: JT John 14/6 along US Route 66
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