Catechism of the Catholic Church

 PROLOGUE

 I. The life of man - to know and love God

 II. Handing on the Faith: Catechesis

 III. The Aim and Intended Readership of the Catechism

 IV. Structure of this Catechism

 V. Practical Directions for Using this Catechism

 VI. Necessary Adaptations

 PART ONE: THE PROFESSION OF FAITH

 SECTION ONE I BELIEVE - WE BELIEVE

 CHAPTER ONE MAN'S CAPACITY FOR GOD

 I. The Desire for God

 II. Ways of Coming to Know God

 III. The Knowledge of God According to the Church

 IV. How Can We Speak about God?

 IN BRIEF

 CHAPTER TWO GOD COMES TO MEET MAN

 Article 1 THE REVELATION OF GOD

 Article 2 THE TRANSMISSION OF DIVINE REVELATION

 Article 3 SACRED SCRIPTURE

 CHAPTER THREE MAN'S RESPONSE TO GOD

 Article 1 I BELIEVE

 Article 2 WE BELIEVE

 Article 2 WE BELIEVE : The Credo

 SECTION TWO THE CREEDS

 CHAPTER ONE I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER

 Article 1 I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH

 CHAPTER TWO I BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST, THE ONLY SON OF GOD

 ARTICLE 2 AND IN JESUS CHRIST, HIS ONLY SON, OUR LORD

 Article 3 HE WAS CONCEIVED BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND WAS BORN OF THE VIRGIN MARY

 Article 4 JESUS CHRIST SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE, WAS CRUCIFIED, DIED AND WAS BURIED

 Article 5 HE DESCENDED INTO HELL. ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN

 Article 6 HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN AND IS SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER

 Article 7 FROM THENCE HE WILL COME AGAlN TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD

 ARTICLE 8 I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

 CHAPTER THREE I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

 Article 9 I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH

 Article 10 I BELIEVE IN THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS

 Article 11 I BELIEVE IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY

 Article 12 I BELIEVE IN LIFE EVERLASTING

 PART TWO: THE CELEBRATION OF THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY

 SECTION ONE THE SACRAMENTAL ECONOMY

 CHAPTER ONE THE PASCHAL MYSTERY IN THE AGE OF THE CHURCH

 Article 1 THE LITURGY - WORK OF THE HOLY TRINITY

 Article 2 THE PASCHAL MYSTERY IN THE CHURCH'S SACRAMENTS

 CHAPTER TWO THE SACRAMENTAL CELEBRATION OF THE PASCHAL MYSTERY

 Article 1 CELEBRATING THE CHURCH'S LITURGY

 Article 2 LITURGICAL DIVERSITY AND THE UNITY OF THE MYSTERY

 SECTION TWO THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

 CHAPTER ONE THE SACRAMENTS OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION

 Article 1 THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM

 Article 2 THE SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION

 Article 3 THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST

 CHAPTER TWO THE SACRAMENTS OF HEALING

 Article 4 THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE AND RECONCILIATION

 Article 5 THE ANOINTING OF THE SICK

 CHAPTER THREE THE SACRAMENTS AT THE SERVICE OF COMMUNION

 ARTICLE 6 THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY ORDERS

 Article 7 THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY

 CHAPTER FOUR OTHER LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS

 Article 1 SACRAMENTALS

 Article 2 CHRISTIAN FUNERALS

 PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST

 SECTION ONE MAN'S VOCATION LIFE IN THE SPIRIT

 CHAPTER ONE THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

 Article 1 MAN: THE IMAGE OF GOD

 Article 2 OUR VOCATION TO BEATITUDE

 Article 3 MAN'S FREEDOM

 Article 4 THE MORALITY OF HUMAN ACTS

 Article 5 THE MORALITY OF THE PASSIONS

 Article 6 MORAL CONSCIENCE

 Article 7 THE VIRTUES

 Article 8 SIN

 CHAPTER TWO THE HUMAN COMMUNION

 Article 1 THE PERSON AND SOCIETY

 Article 2 PARTICIPATION IN SOCIAL LIFE

 Article 3 SOCIAL JUSTICE

 CHAPTER THREE GOD'S SALVATION: LAW AND GRACE

 Article 1 THE MORAL LAW

 Article 2 GRACE AND JUSTIFICATION

 Article 3 THE CHURCH, MOTHER AND TEACHER

 SECTION TWO THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

 CHAPTER ONE YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND

 Article 1 THE FIRST COMMANDMENT

 Article 2 THE SECOND COMMANDMENT

 Article 3 THE THIRD COMMANDMENT

 CHAPTER TWO YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF

 ARTICLE 4 THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT

 Article 5 THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT

 Article 6 THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT

 Article 7 THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT

 Article 8 THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT

 Article 9 THE NINTH COMMANDMENT

 Article 10 THE TENTH COMMANDMENT

 PART FOUR: CHRISTIAN PRAYER

 SECTION ONE PRAYER IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

 CHAPTER ONE THE REVELATION OF PRAYER - THE UNIVERSAL CALL TO PRAYER

 Article 1 IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

 Article 2 IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME

 Article 3 IN THE AGE OF THE CHURCH

 CHAPTER TWO THE TRADITION OF PRAYER

 Article 1 AT THE WELLSPRINGS OF PRAYER

 Article 2 THE WAY OF PRAYER

 Article 3 GUIDES FOR PRAYER

 CHAPTER THREE THE LIFE OF PRAYER

 Article 1 EXPRESSIONS OF PRAYER

 Article 2 THE BATTLE OF PRAYER

 Article 3 THE PRAYER OF THE HOUR OF JESUS

 SECTION TWO THE LORD'S PRAYER

                           THE LORD'S PRAYER

 Article 1 THE SUMMARY OF THE WHOLE GOSPEL

 Article 2 OUR FATHER WHO ART IN HEAVEN

 Article 3 THE SEVEN PETITIONS

 Article 4 THE FINAL DOXOLOGY

Article 3 THE THIRD COMMANDMENT

THE THIRD COMMANDMENT

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work. 90

The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath. 91

90 Ò Ex 20:8-10; cf. Ò Deut 5:12-15. 91 Ò Mk 2:27-28.

I. The Sabbath Day

I. The Sabbath Day

2168 The third commandment of the Decalogue recalls the holiness of the sabbath: "The seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD." 92

2169 In speaking of the sabbath Scripture recalls creation: "For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it." 93

2170 Scripture also reveals in the Lord's day a memorial of Israel's liberation from bondage in Egypt: "You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out thence with mighty hand and outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day." 94

2171 God entrusted the sabbath to Israel to keep as a sign of the irrevocable covenant. 95 The sabbath is for the Lord, holy and set apart for the praise of God, his work of creation, and his saving actions on behalf of Israel.

2172 God's action is the model for human action. If God "rested and was refreshed" on the seventh day, man too ought to "rest" and should let others, especially the poor, "be refreshed." 96 The sabbath brings everyday work to a halt and provides a respite. It is a day of protest against the servitude of work and the worship of money. 97

2173 The Gospel reports many incidents when Jesus was accused of violating the sabbath law. But Jesus never fails to respect the holiness of this day. 98 He gives this law its authentic and authoritative interpretation: "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath." 99 With compassion, Christ declares the sabbath for doing good rather than harm, for saving life rather than killing. 100 The sabbath is the day of the Lord of mercies and a day to honor God. 101 "The Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath." 102

92 Ò Ex 31:15. 93 Ò Ex 20:11. 94 Ò Deut 5:15. 95 Cf. Ò Ex 31:16. 96 Ò Ex 31:17; cf. Ò 23:12. 97 Cf. Ò Neh 13:15-22; Ò 2 Chr 36:21. 98 Cf. Ò Mk 1:21; Ò Jn 9:16. 99 Ò Mk 2:27. 100 Cf. Ò Mk 3:4[ETML:C/]. 101 Cf. Ò Mt 12:5; Ò Jn 7:23. 102 Ò Mk 2:28.

II. The Lord's Day

II. The Lord's Day

This is the day which the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. 103

The day of the Resurrection: the new creation

2174 Jesus rose from the dead "on the first day of the week." 104 Because it is the "first day," the day of Christ's Resurrection recalls the first creation. Because it is the "eighth day" following the sabbath, 105 it symbolizes the new creation ushered in by Christ's Resurrection. For Christians it has become the first of all days, the first of all feasts, the Lord's Day (he kuriake hemera, dies dominica) Sunday:

We all gather on the day of the sun, for it is the first day [after the Jewish sabbath, but also the first day] when God, separating matter from darkness, made the world; and on this same day Jesus Christ our Savior rose from the dead. 106

Sunday - fulfillment of the sabbath

2175 Sunday is expressly distinguished from the sabbath which it follows chronologically every week; for Christians its ceremonial observance replaces that of the sabbath. In Christ's Passover, Sunday fulfills the spiritual truth of the Jewish sabbath and announces man's eternal rest in God. For worship under the Law prepared for the mystery of Christ, and what was done there prefigured some aspects of Christ: 107

Those who lived according to the old order of things have come to a new hope, no longer keeping the sabbath, but the Lord's Day, in which our life is blessed by him and by his death. 108

2176 The celebration of Sunday observes the moral commandment inscribed by nature in the human heart to render to God an outward, visible, public, and regular worship "as a sign of his universal beneficence to all." 109 Sunday worship fulfills the moral command of the Old Covenant, taking up its rhythm and spirit in the weekly celebration of the Creator and Redeemer of his people.

The Sunday Eucharist

2177 The Sunday celebration of the Lord's Day and his Eucharist is at the heart of the Church's life. "Sunday is the day on which the paschal mystery is celebrated in light of the apostolic tradition and is to be observed as the foremost holy day of obligation in the universal Church." 110

"Also to be observed are the day of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Epiphany, the Ascension of Christ, the feast of the Body and Blood of Christi, the feast of Mary the Mother of God, her Immaculate Conception, her Assumption, the feast of Saint Joseph, the feast of the Apostles Saints Peter and Paul, and the feast of All Saints." 111

2178 This practice of the Christian assembly dates from the beginnings of the apostolic age. 112 The Letter to the Hebrews reminds the faithful "not to neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but to encourage one another." 113

Tradition preserves the memory of an ever-timely exhortation: Come to Church early, approach the Lord, and confess your sins, repent in prayer.... Be present at the sacred and divine liturgy, conclude its prayer and do not leave before the dismissal.... We have often said: "This day is given to you for prayer and rest. This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." 114

2179 "A parish is a definite community of the Christian faithful established on a stable basis within a particular church; the pastoral care of the parish is entrusted to a pastor as its own shepherd under the authority of the diocesan bishop." 115 It is the place where all the faithful can be gathered together for the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist. the parish initiates the Christian people into the ordinary expression of the liturgical life: it gathers them together in this celebration; it teaches Christ's saving doctrine; it practices the charity of the Lord in good works and brotherly love:

You cannot pray at home as at church, where there is a great multitude, where exclamations are cried out to God as from one great heart, and where there is something more: the union of minds, the accord of souls, the bond of charity, the prayers of the priests. 116

The Sunday obligation

2180 The precept of the Church specifies the law of the Lord more precisely: "On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass." 117 "The precept of participating in the Mass is satisfied by assistance at a Mass which is celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the holy day or on the evening of the preceding day." 118

2181 The Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor. 119 Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.

2182 Participation in the communal celebration of the Sunday Eucharist is a testimony of belonging and of being faithful to Christ and to his Church. the faithful give witness by this to their communion in faith and charity. Together they testify to God's holiness and their hope of salvation. They strengthen one another under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

2183 "If because of lack of a sacred minister or for other grave cause participation in the celebration of the Eucharist is impossible, it is specially recommended that the faithful take part in the Liturgy of the Word if it is celebrated in the parish church or in another sacred place according to the prescriptions of the diocesan bishop, or engage in prayer for an appropriate amount of time personally or in a family or, as occasion offers, in groups of families." 120

A day of grace and rest from work

2184 Just as God "rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done," 121 human life has a rhythm of work and rest. the institution of the Lord's Day helps everyone enjoy adequate rest and leisure to cultivate their familial, cultural, social, and religious lives. 122

2185 On Sundays and other holy days of obligation, the faithful are to refrain from engaging in work or activities that hinder the worship owed to God, the joy proper to the Lord's Day, the performance of the works of mercy, and the appropriate relaxation of mind and body. 123 Family needs or important social service can legitimately excuse from the obligation of Sunday rest. the faithful should see to it that legitimate excuses do not lead to habits prejudicial to religion, family life, and health.

The charity of truth seeks holy leisure - the necessity of charity accepts just work. 124

2186 Those Christians who have leisure should be mindful of their brethren who have the same needs and the same rights, yet cannot rest from work because of poverty and misery. Sunday is traditionally consecrated by Christian piety to good works and humble service of the sick, the infirm, and the elderly. Christians will also sanctify Sunday by devoting time and care to their families and relatives, often difficult to do on other days of the week. Sunday is a time for reflection, silence, cultivation of the mind, and meditation which furthers the growth of the Christian interior life.

2187 Sanctifying Sundays and holy days requires a common effort. Every Christian should avoid making unnecessary demands on others that would hinder them from observing the Lord's Day. Traditional activities (sport, restaurants, etc.), and social necessities (public services, etc.), require some people to work on Sundays, but everyone should still take care to set aside sufficient time for leisure. With temperance and charity the faithful will see to it that they avoid the excesses and violence sometimes associated with popular leisure activities. In spite of economic constraints, public authorities should ensure citizens a time intended for rest and divine worship. Employers have a similar obligation toward their employees.

2188 In respecting religious liberty and the common good of all, Christians should seek recognition of Sundays and the Church's holy days as legal holidays. They have to give everyone a public example of prayer, respect, and joy and defend their traditions as a precious contribution to the spiritual life of society. If a country's legislation or other reasons require work on Sunday, the day should nevertheless be lived as the day of our deliverance which lets us share in this "festal gathering," this "assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven." 125

103 Ò Ps 118:24. 104 Cf. Ò Mt 28:1; Ò Mk 16:2; Ò Lk 24:1; Ò Jn 20:1. 105 Cf. Ò Mk 16:1; Ò Mt 28:1. 106 St. Justin, I Apol. 67: PG 6, 429 and 432. 107 Cf. Ò 1 Cor 10:11. 108 St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Magn. 9, 1: SCh 10, 88. 109 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II 122, 4. 110 Ò CIC, can. 1246 # 1. 111 Ò CIC, can. 1246 # 2: "The conference of bishops can abolish certain    holy days of obligation or transfer them to a Sunday with prior approval    of the Apostolic See." 112 Cf. Ò Acts 2:42-46; Ò 1 Cor 11:17. 113 Ò Heb 10:25. 114 Sermo de die dominica 2 et 6: PG 86/1, 416C and 421C. 115 Ò CIC, can. 515 # 1. 116 St. John Chrysostom, De incomprehensibili 3, 6: PG 48, 725. 117 Ò CIC, can. 1247. 118 Ò CIC, can. 1248 # 1. 119 Cf. Ò CIC, can. 1245. 120 Ò CIC, can. 1248 # 2. 121 Ò Gen 2:2. 122 Cf. GS 67 # 3. 123 Cf. Ò CIC, can. 120. 124 St. Augustine, De civ. Dei 19, 19: PL 41, 647. 125 Ò Heb 12:22-23.

IN BRIEF

IN BRIEF

2189 "Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy" ( Ò Deut 5:12). "The seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord" ( Ò Ex 31:15).

2190 The sabbath, which represented the completion of the first creation, has been replaced by Sunday which recalls the new creation inaugurated by the Resurrection of Christ.

2191 The Church celebrates the day of Christ's Resurrection on the "eighth day," Sunday, which is rightly called the Lord's Day (cf SC 106).

2192 "Sunday . . . is to be observed as the foremost holy day of obligation in the universal Church" ( Ò CIC, can. 1246 # 1). "On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass" ( Ò CIC, can. 1247).

2193 "On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound . . . to abstain from those labors and business concerns which impede the worship to be rendered to God, the joy which is proper to the Lord's Day, or the proper relaxation of mind and body" ( Ò CIC, can. 1247).

2194 The institution of Sunday helps all "to be allowed sufficient rest and leisure to cultivate their amilial, cultural, social, and religious lives" (GS 67 # 3).

2195 Every Christian should avoid making unnecessary demands on others that would hinder them from observing the Lord's Day.