Catechism of the Catholic Church
Second Edition
In Brief Summaries
Companion Document
to
CIY Monthly Chats
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, January – In Brief Summaries:
Key Topics:
• Overview of the CCC
• What it is, Where did it come from, Who wrote it
• Called by God – The Search, The Revelation, and the Response
Prologue
What We Believe - Divine Revelation – Part 1
The Search (In Brief 44-49)
44 Man is by nature and vocation a religious being. Coming from God, going toward God,
man lives a fully human life only if he freely lives by his bond with God.
45 Man is made to live in communion with God in whom he finds happiness: “When I am
completely united to you, there will be no more sorrow or trials; entirely full of you, my life will
be complete” (St. Augustine, Conf. 10, 28, 39: PL 32, 795).
46 When he listens to the message of creation and to the voice of conscience, man can arrive
at certainty about the existence of God, the cause and the end of everything.
47 The Church teaches that the one true God, our Creator and Lord, can be known with
certainty from his works, by the natural light of human reason (cf. Vatican Council I, can. 2, § 1:
DS 3026).
48 We really can name God, starting from the manifold perfections of his creatures, which
are likenesses of the infinitely perfect God, even if our limited language cannot exhaust the
mystery.
49 “Without the Creator, the creature vanishes” (GS 36). This is the reason why believers
know that the love of Christ urges them to bring the light of the living God to those who do not
know him or who reject him.
Revelation of God (In Brief 68-73)
68 By love, God has revealed himself and given himself to man. He has thus provided the
definitive, superabundant answer to the questions that man asks himself about the meaning
and purpose of his life.
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,69 God has revealed himself to man by gradually communicating his own mystery in deeds
and in words.
70 Beyond the witness to himself that God gives in created things, he manifested himself to
our first parents, spoke to them and, after the fall, promised them salvation (cf. Gen 3:15) and
offered them his covenant.
71 God made an everlasting covenant with Noah and with all living beings (cf. Gen 9:16). It
will remain in force as long as the world lasts.
72 God chose Abraham and made a covenant with him and his descendants. By the covenant
God formed his people and revealed his law to them through Moses. Through the prophets, he
prepared them to accept the salvation destined for all humanity.
73 God has revealed himself fully by sending his own Son, in whom he has established his
covenant for ever. The Son is his Father’s definitive Word; so there will be no further Revelation
after him.
Transmission of Divine Revelation (In Brief 96-100)
96 What Christ entrusted to the apostles, they in turn handed on by their preaching and
writing, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to all generations, until Christ returns in glory.
97 “Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of
God” (DV 10), in which, as in a mirror, the pilgrim Church contemplates God, the source of all
her riches.
98 “The Church, in her doctrine, life, and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every
generation all that she herself is, all that she believes” (DV 8 §1).
99 Thanks to its supernatural sense of faith, the People of God as a whole never ceases to
welcome, to penetrate more deeply, and to live more fully from the gift of divine Revelation.
100 The task of interpreting the Word of God authentically has been entrusted solely to the
Magisterium of the Church, that is, to the Pope and to the bishops in communion with him.
Sacred Scripture (In Brief 134-141)
134 All Sacred Scripture is but one book, and this one book is Christ, “because all divine
Scripture speaks of Christ, and all divine Scripture is fulfilled in Christ” (Hugh of St. Victor, De
arca Noe 2, 8: PL 176, 642: cf. ibid. 2, 9: PL 176, 642-643).
135 “The Sacred Scriptures contain the Word of God and, because they are inspired they are
truly the Word of God” (DV 24).
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, 136 God is the author of Sacred Scripture because he inspired its human authors; he acts in
them and by means of them. He thus gives assurance that their writings teach without error his
saving truth (cf. DV 11).
137 Interpretation of the inspired Scripture must be attentive above all to what God wants
to reveal through the sacred authors for our salvation. What comes from the Spirit is not fully
“understood except by the Spirit’s action” (cf. Origen, Hom. in Ex. 4, 5: PG 12, 320).
138 The Church accepts and venerates as inspired the 46 books of the Old Testament and
the 27 books of the New.
139 The four Gospels occupy a central place because Christ Jesus is their center.
140 The unity of the two Testaments proceeds from the unity of God’s plan and his
Revelation. The Old Testament prepares for the New and the New Testament fulfills the Old;
the two shed light on each other; both are true Word of God.
141 “The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures as she venerated the Body of
the Lord” (DV 21): both nourish and govern the whole Christian life. “Your word is a lamp to my
feet and a light to my path” (Ps 119:105; cf. Isa 50:4).”
The Response (In Brief 176-184)
176 Faith is a personal adherence of the whole man to God who reveals himself. It involves
an assent of the intellect and will to the self-revelation God has made through his deeds and
words.
177 “To believe” has thus a two-fold reference: to the person and to the truth: to the truth,
by trust in the person who bears witness to it.
178 We must believe in no one but God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
179 Faith is a supernatural gift from God. In order to believe, man needs the interior helps of
the Holy Spirit.
180 “Believing” is a human act, conscious and free, corresponding to the dignity of the
human person.
181 “Believing” is an ecclesial act. The Church’s faith precedes, engenders, supports, and
nourishes our faith. The Church is the mother of all believers. “No one can have God as Father
who does not have the Church as Mother” (St. Cyprian, De unit. 6: PL 4, 519).
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