THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

In this year of faith the CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH will serve as a tool providing real support for the faith especially that concerned with the formation of Christians (#12).

The CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH follows the development of the faith right up to the great themes of daily life. On page after page, we find that what is presented is not a theory but an encounter with a person who lives within the Church. We do not just say it, but we can see it in some people who are really witnessing their faith, living their faith in Christ. The profession of faith is followed by an account of the sacramental life, in which Christ is present, operative and continues to build his Church. If we truly believe, we express that belief by receiving the sacraments and live in them (#12).

In the celebration of the liturgy especially in the liturgy of the Eucharist, and the sacraments, our profession of faith supports our Christian witness. By this, the teaching of the catechism on the moral life acquires its full meaning if placed in relationship with faith, liturgy and prayer (# 12/Recom. IV #2).

In the CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH we see the wealth of teaching that the Church has received, safeguarded and proposed in her 2000 years of history. From the SACRED SCRIPTURES to the Fathers of the Church, from theologians to the saints across the centuries, the Catechism provides a permanent record of the many ways in which the Church has meditated on faith and made progress in doctrine so as to offer truth to believers in their lives of faith.

What is of decisive importance in this year is to retrace the history of our faith, marked by the unfathomable mystery of the interweaving of holiness and sin and this is found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#13). Let us therefore adhere to the exhortations of Pope Benedict XVI to read and study this book that contains the doctrine of faith.

PROLOGUE:  Life of man – to know and love God

God, in his goodness, freely created man in his own image to make him share in his own blessed life.  He has written upon man’s heart the desire to see him. He calls man to seek him, to know him and to love him with all his strength. In the course of life, man turns away from God, yet as a loving God and Father, He calls all men together; those scattered and divided because of sin, into his family – the Church. To fulfil this, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Saviour. Through him, he invites all people to become his adopted children and heirs of his kingdom.  

So that this call of God will reach the whole world, Christ formed a group called apostles and sent them to proclaim the Gospel: “Go therefore and make disciples of all, nations, baptising 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.” The apostles went and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the Word through accompanying signs.

Those who welcomed the call of Christ and freely responded are urged on by the 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. 

We have learnt that all Christ’s faithful have the duty to hand on the faith from generation to generation and this is called catechesis. What is catechesis? It is an education in the faith of children, young people and adults. It is the teaching of the Christian doctrine, in an organic and systematic way, to initiate them into the fullness of Christian life.

The faith we profess now is the faith that was handed down to us by the Church. It is our duty to share this faith with others. It is through catechesis that we shall learn and know the Christian doctrine and live it sharing with our brothers and sisters and build the one family of God.

PART ONE – THE PROFESSION FAITH

Chapter 1.   MAN’S CAPACITY FOR GOD

Man was created by God in his own image to know him, to love him, to serve him and share his blessed life. Man is not just an ordinary man, because he was made in God’s image, therefore, man has certain dignity and the privilege to live and talk to God. Throughout history down to the present, men express their quest for God through prayers, meditations, sacrifices and many other ways. There is that desire in our hearts to see God, to be with him, to talk to him.

Sometimes people ask themselves or we ask ourselves on how we can know God. God seems far and we cannot see him. If we truly and sincerely seek God, we shall be able to discover ways and means to find him and know him. If we look around us, we see creation whereby we shall know God by its existence. In creation, we have the world and the man. We see the beauty and the magnificence of the world around us, the sky, the heavenly bodies, the sun that gives us day light and the moon and the stars as night light; the waters and everything. Even the air that we breathe, the wind that refreshes us, we can ask, who made them, how did they come into being? One can come to the knowledge of God as the origin and the end of the universe.

The human person: with his openness the truth and beauty, his sense of moral goodness, his freedom and the voice of his conscience, with his longings for the infinite and for happiness, then asks himself about God’s existence, the cause and end of everything. The Church teaches us that God, the first principle and last end of all things, can be known by the natural light of human reason.

Without the Creator, the creature vanishes. This is the reason why believers know that the love of Christ urges them to bring the light of the living God to those who do not know him or who reject him.

Chapter 2.   GOD COMES TO MEET MAN

Art. 1.  DIVINE REVELATION

What is Divine Revelation? God, in his great goodness, revealed himself and gave himself to man. He made known to us the mystery of his will by sending us his Beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. In making known to us the mystery of his will, he also willed that we have a free access to the Father, through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and so we become sharers in the divine nature.

By revealing himself to men, God wishes to make them capable of knowing and loving him and responding to him far beyond their natural capacity. This Divine plan of revelation is realised by gradually communicating his own mystery in words and in action.  After the fall of our first parents, this revelation was not broken. God promised redemption, the hope of salvation and offered them his covenant.

God never left his people. After the flood he made the covenant with Noah waiting for Christ.  In order to gather together the scattered humanity, God chose Abraham to be the father of a multitude of nations. He made a covenant with him and his descendants. By the covenant God formed his chosen people and revealed his law to them through Moses. Through the prophets, he prepared them to accept the salvation destined for all humanity.

Finally, God revealed himself fully by sending his own Son, in whom he established his covenant forever. The Son is his Father’s definitive Word. This is the final revelation of God. Even if revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of centuries.

Christian faith cannot accept “revelations” that claim to surpass or correct the Revelation of which Christ is the fulfilment.

Resources:

Door of Faith, Paulines Publications Africa, 2011

Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paulines Publications Africa, 11^th reprint 2012