THE CATECHISM OF
THE
CATHOLIC CHURCH
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THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
362 The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once
corporeal and spiritual. The biblical account expresses this reality in
symbolic language when it affirms that "then the LORD God formed man of
dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
and man became a living being."[229] Man, whole and entire, is therefore
willed by God.
363 In Sacred Scripture the term "soul" often refers to human life or the
entire human person.[230] But "soul" also refers to the innermost aspect of
man, that which is of greatest value in him,[231] that by which he is most
especially in God's image: "soul" signifies the spiritual principle in
man.
364 The human body shares in the dignity of "the image of God": it is a
human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is
the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ,
a temple of the Spirit:[232]
Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very bodily
condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world.
Through him they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can
raise their voice in praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason
man may not despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his
body as good and to hold it in honour since God has created it and will
raise it up on the last day 233
365 The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the
soul to be the "form" of the body:[234] i.e., it is because of its spiritual
soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and
matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a
single nature.
366 The Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created immediately by
God - it is not "produced" by the parents - and also that it is immortal:
it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will
be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection.[235]
367 Sometimes the soul is distinguished from the spirit: St. Paul for
instance prays that God may sanctify his people "wholly", with "spirit and
soul and body" kept sound and blameless at the Lord's coming.[236] The
Church teaches that this distinction does not introduce a duality into the
soul.[237] "Spirit" signifies that from creation man is ordered to a
supernatural end and that his soul can gratuitously be raised beyond all
it deserves to communion with God.[238]
368 The spiritual tradition of the Church also emphasizes the heart, in
the biblical sense of the depths of one's being, where the person decides
for or against God.[239]
Equality and difference willed by God
369 Man and woman have been created, which is to say, willed by God: on
the one hand, in perfect equality as human persons; on the other, in their
respective beings as man and woman. "Being man" or "being woman" is a
reality which is good and willed by God: man and woman possess an
inalienable dignity which comes to them immediately from God their
Creator.[240] Man and woman are both with one and the same dignity "in the
image of God". In their "being-man" and "being-woman", they reflect the
Creator's wisdom and goodness.
370 In no way is God in man's image. He is neither man nor woman. God is
pure spirit in which there is no place for the difference between the
sexes. But the respective "perfections" of man and woman reflect something
of the infinite perfection of God: those of a mother and those of a father
and husband.[241]
"Each for the other" - "A unity in two"
371 God created man and woman together and willed each for the other. The
Word of God gives us to understand this through various features of the
sacred text. "It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him
a helper fit for him."[242] None of the animals can be man's partner.[243] The
woman God "fashions" from the man's rib and brings to him elicits on the
man's part a cry of wonder, an exclamation of love and communion: "This at
last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh."[244] Man discovers woman as
another "I", sharing the same humanity.
372 Man and woman were made "for each other" - not that God left them
half-made and incomplete: he created them to be a communion of persons, in
which each can be "helpmate" to the other, for they are equal as persons
("bone of my bones. . .") and complementary as masculine and feminine. In
marriage God unites them in such a way that, by forming "one flesh",[245]
they can transmit human life: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the
earth."[246] By transmitting human life to their descendants, man and woman
as spouses and parents co-operate in a unique way in the Creator's
work.[247]
373 In God's plan man and woman have the vocation of "subduing" the
earth[248] as stewards of God. This sovereignty is not to be an arbitrary
and destructive domination. God calls man and woman, made in the image of
the Creator "who loves everything that exists",[249] to share in his
providence toward other creatures; hence their responsibility for the
world God has entrusted to them.
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