THEO
THEO
THEO
3. JESUS TEACHES ABOUT MORAL ACTION Man is the only creature on earth that God has willed
To go to the heart of the Gospel’s moral teaching and for its own sake, and he alone is called to share, by
grasp its profound and unchanging content, we must knowledge and love, in God's own life. It was for this
carefully inquire into: end that he was created, and this is the fundamental
• the meaning of the question asked by the rich young reason for his dignity.
man in the Gospel
• the meaning of Jesus’ reply, allowing ourselves to be The doctrine that man is created in the image and
guided by Him. likeness of God provides the theological grounding that
upholds the sacredness of the human person and
Jesus as the patient and sensitive teacher, answers the guarantees the respect to be given him.
young man by taking him, as it were by the hand, and
leading him step by step to the full truth a. Able to Know and Love his Creator
• He is an image of God by virtue of his/her possession
4. JESUS SHEDS LIGHT ON MAN’S LOFTY VOCATION of the distinctive faculties of intellect and freewill, that
The first and ultimate vocation of man is communion on account of which, he/she is capable of self-
with God and there is only one way to respond to this determination.
calling: JESUS CHRIST.
• Because of the spiritual character of his/her soul, man together to counter the chaos which was the
possesses freedom, an eminent sign of divine image. consequence of sin.
• Man’s reason enables him/her to know the voice of
“That all of them maybe one, as You, are in Me, and I
God compelling him/her to do good and avoid evil.
am in You. May they also be in Us, so that the world
may believe that you sent me. I have given them the
b. Willed by God for His own Sake
glory You gave Me, so that they may be one as we are
• Every human being is an irreplaceable and no
one.
substitutable person, a kind of good that cannot be
treated as an object of use or as a means to an end. Man's sins, following on original sin, are punishable by
• As a subject, he/she is the one in charge of his/her life death. By sending his own Son in the form of a slave, in
as he/she can act according to their conscience, in the form of a fallen humanity, on account of sin, God
freedom and with sufficient knowledge "made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we
might become the righteousness of God
c. Called to be Stewards of Creation
“For in Christ and through Christ, we have acquired full
▪ The companionship between man and woman is not
awareness of our dignity, of the heights to which we are
of dominance but solidarity, not inferiority but raised, of the surpassing worth of our humanity and of the
complementarity, equity and not equality. meaning of our existence.” CCC, 602.
▪ As stewards of creation both man and woman were
equally ordered to "subdue" the earth as His stewards. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
▪ This sovereignty is not destructive domination. God who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every
calls man and woman, to share in his providence toward spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the
creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In
other creatures; hence their responsibility for the world
love, He predestined us for adoption to Sonship through
God has entrusted to them. CCC, 373. Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will—to the
praise of his glorious grace, which He has freely given us in
d. Called to Communion the One He loves. In Him we have redemption through His
•As images of the self-giving love of God, human beings blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches
are capable of self-giving love as well. of God’s grace.” Ephesians 1:3-7.
• As products of a divine self-gift, human beings should
Healing the wounds of sin, the Holy Spirit renews us
respond to God by giving themselves to others.
interiorly through a spiritual transformation. He
• To give oneself to others as much as possible in
enlightens and strengthens us to live as "children of
imitation of the self-giving of God in the Trinity is the
light" through "all that is good and right and true." CCC,
concrete living out of our being an image of God.
1695.
Therefore, being created in the image and likeness of
3.Made Holy by the Presence of the Spirit
God is both a gift and a task. The challenge to be true to
When God touches man's heart through the illumination of
who and what we are is an endless task – it never the Holy Spirit, man himself is not inactive while receiving
expires. We always look at Jesus Christ and strive to that inspiration, since he could reject it; and yet, without
always model our lives to his, for we are not just any God's grace, he cannot by his own free will move himself
slave or servant who follows the will of his/her master toward justice in God's sight. CCC, 1993.
but we are raised to the status of being adopted sons
and daughters of God. The merit of good works is to be attributed in the first
place to the grace of God, then to the faithful. Man's
2. Redeemed by the Blood of Christ and are sanctified merit itself, moreover, is due to God, for his/her good
by the indwelling Holy Spirit actions proceed in Christ, from the predispositions and
God elevated man to participation in the divine life assistance given by the Holy Spirit. CCC, 2008.
and live-in communion and belongingness with the
Trinity. Being a witness of Christ, as in leading a life worthy of
the Gospel of Christ is made capable of doing so by the
But with the entry of sin, this communion and gift of his Spirit which we can obtain through prayer,
belongingness was shattered, as well as their though the impulse to pray is still permeated with the
communion among themselves. promptings of the Holy Spirit.