God created God created man free and man free and responsibleresponsible

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CRANACH, Lucas the ElderAdam and Eve

1531Lime wood, 170 x 69,5 cmGemäldegalerie, Dresden

Compendium of the Catechism 66. In what sense do we

understand man and woman as created “in the image of God”?

355-357  The human person is created in

the image of God in the sense that he or she is capable of knowing and of loving their Creator in freedom. Human beings are the only creatures on earth that God has willed for their own sake and has called to share, through knowledge and love, in his own divine life. All human beings, in as much as they are created in the image of God, have the dignity of a person. A person is not something but someone, capable of self-knowledge and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with God and with other persons.

Introduction

God forms the body with the cooperation of the parents, but creates the soul out of nothing, and infuses it into the body.

As the Bible says, he has created us in His image and likeness (Gen 1: 26).

What is man? For what has God created us? How are we to behave?

Main ideasMain ideas

1. God created man with body and soul

God formed man from the dust of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.

With these simple words God is telling us that He formed man out of a pre-existing substance and then, from nothing, He directly created an individual soul and infused it into the body.

Since the creation of Adam and Eve, the human body has been generated by the parents, but each individual human soul is infused into the body by the Creator, just as it was in the beginning.

Michelangelo Creation of Adam (Detail) Capilla Sixtina, Vaticano

2. In God’s image and likeness

How God’s image is reflected in man: The dignity of the human

person. Man is an intelligent being. Man is a free being. God is Lord and Sovereign of

the universe. God placed us on the earth so that we might govern and rule over it.

Man is made in the image of God above all because of the gift of sanctifying grace.

MICHELANGELO BuonarrotiMoses1515Marble, height 235 cmS. Pietro in Vincoli, Rome

3. Different but equal

Men and women were created equal as human persons, but with morphological differences and psychological peculiarities.

To be male or female is something willed by God.

Men and women are both created in the image and likeness of God and hold the same dignity.

4. Man is responsible for his acts

Matter or animals cannot be accounted responsible. Only man is responsible for his actions.

We are responsible for what we have done, because we could have done something else.

BROUWER, AdriaenPeasants Fighting1631-35Oil on wood, 33 x 49 cmAlte Pinakothek, Munich

5. To do always the will of God

We are called to pursue the will of God always and in everything we do. God’s commandments, the commandments of the

Church, the obligations deriving from

our age and condition. God helps us through those

persons who have God’s grace to guide us: our parents, educators, and the priest to whom we usually go for confession.

Examination of conscience.

ANDREA DEL SARTOThe Sacrifice of Abraham1527-28Oil on poplar panel, 213 x 159 cmGemäldegalerie, Dresden

Propósitos de Propósitos de vida cristianavida cristiana

Resolutions to move forward

Give thanks to God, who has created us and looks after us with His loving Providence. Above all, take advantage of Holy Mass, which is an infinite act of thanksgiving.

Be very sincere when going to confession and in the examination of conscience at night.