The soul is what makes every individual person a man: his spiritual life-principle and inmost being. The soul causes the material body to be a living human body. Through his soul, man is a creature who can say “I” and stand before GOd as an irreplaceable individual. [362-365, 382] MenContinue Reading
All men are equal inasmuch as they have the same origin in the one creative love of God. All men have their Savior in Jesus Christ. All men are destined to find their happiness and their eternal blessedness in God. [360-361] Hence all men are brothers and sisters. Christians shouldContinue Reading
Jesus Christ is unique because he shows us not only God’s true nature but also the true ideal of man. [358-359, 381] Jesus was more than an ideal man. Even seemingly ideal men are sinners. That is why no man can be the measure of humanity. Jesus, however, was withoutContinue Reading
God made everything for man. Man, however, who is “the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake,” (GS 24, 3) was created in order to be blessed. This happens when he knows, loves, and serves God and lives in gratitude toward his Creator. [358] GratitudeContinue Reading
Unlike inanimate objects, plants, and animals, man is a person endowed with a spirit. This characteristic unites him with God more than with his visible fellow creatures. [355-357, 380] Man is not a something but rather a someone. Just as we say about God that he is person, so tooContinue Reading
Man should honor the Creator in other creatures and treat them carefully and responsibly. Man, animals, and plants have the same Creator who called them into being out of love. Therefore a love of animals is profoundly human. [344,354] Although man is allowed to use and to eat plants andContinue Reading
Yes. Man is the summit of creation, because God created him in his image (Gen 1:27). [343-344,353] The creation of man is clearly distinguished from the creation of other living things. Man is a person, which means that through his understanding and will he can decide for or against love.Continue Reading
Yes. We can call on angels for help and ask them to intercede with God. [334-336, 352] Every person receives from God a guardian angel. It is good and sensible to pray to one’s guardian angel for oneself and for others. Angels can also make themselves noticeable in the lifeContinue Reading
Angles are pure spiritual creatures of God who have understanding and will. They have no bodies, cannot die, and are usually not visible. They live constantly in God’s presence and convey God’s will and God’s protection to men. [328-333, 350-351] An angel, wrote Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, is “so to speakContinue Reading
Our faith calls “hell” the condition of final separation from God. Anyone who sees love clearly in the face of God and, nevertheless, does not want it decides freely to have this condition instead. [1033-1036] Jesus, who knows what hell is like, speaks about it as the “outer darkness” (Mt.Continue Reading
