CCC 226 It means making good use of created things: faith in God, the only One, leads us to use everything that is not God only insofar as it brings us closer to him, and to detach ourselves from it insofar as it turns us away from him:
My Lord and my God, take from me everything that distances me from you.
My Lord and my God, give me everything that brings me closer to you.
My Lord and my God, detach me from myself to give my all to you.1
CCC 363 In Sacred Scripture the term “soul” often refers to human life or the entire human person.2 But “soul” also refers to the innermost aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him,3 that by which he is most especially in God’s image: “soul” signifies the spiritual principle in man.
CCC 540 Jesus’ temptation reveals the way in which the Son of God is Messiah, contrary to the way Satan proposes to him and the way men wish to attribute to him.4 This is why Christ vanquished the Tempter for us: “For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sinning.”5 By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert.
CCC 554 From the day Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Master “began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things. .. and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”6 Peter scorns this prediction, nor do the others understand it any better than he.7 In this context the mysterious episode of Jesus’ Transfiguration takes place on a high mountain,8 before three witnesses chosen by himself: Peter, James and John. Jesus’ face and clothes become dazzling with light, and Moses and Elijah appear, speaking “of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem”.9 A cloud covers him and a voice from heaven says: “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”10
CCC 607 The desire to embrace his Father’s plan of redeeming love inspired Jesus’ whole life,11 for his redemptive passion was the very reason for his Incarnation. And so he asked, “And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour.”12 And again, “Shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given me?”13 From the cross, just before “It is finished”, he said, “I thirst.”14
CCC 618 The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ, the “one mediator between God and men”.15 But because in his incarnate divine person he has in some way united himself to every man, “the possibility of being made partners, in a way known to God, in the paschal mystery” is offered to all men.16 He calls his disciples to “take up [their] cross and follow [him]”,17 for “Christ also suffered for [us], leaving [us] an example so that [we] should follow in his steps.”18 In fact Jesus desires to associate with his redeeming sacrifice those who were to be its first beneficiaries.19 This is achieved supremely in the case of his mother, who was associated more intimately than any other person in the mystery of his redemptive suffering.20
Apart from the cross there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven.21
CCC 736 By this power of the Spirit, God’s children can bear much fruit. He who has grafted us onto the true vine will make us bear “the fruit of the Spirit:. .. love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”22 “We live by the Spirit”; the more we renounce ourselves, the more we “walk by the Spirit.”23
Through the Holy Spirit we are restored to paradise, led back to the Kingdom of heaven, and adopted as children, given confidence to call God “Father” and to share in Christ’s grace, called children of light and given a share in eternal glory.24
CCC 1021 Death puts an end to human life as the time open to either accepting or rejecting the divine grace manifested in Christ.25 The New Testament speaks of judgment primarily in its aspect of the final encounter with Christ in his second coming, but also repeatedly affirms that each will be rewarded immediately after death in accordance with his works and faith. The parable of the poor man Lazarus and the words of Christ on the cross to the good thief, as well as other New Testament texts speak of a final destiny of the soul--a destiny which can be different for some and for others.26
CCC 2232 Family ties are important but not absolute. Just as the child grows to maturity and human and spiritual autonomy, so his unique vocation which comes from God asserts itself more clearly and forcefully. Parents should respect this call and encourage their children to follow it. They must be convinced that the first vocation of the Christian is to follow Jesus: “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”27
1 St. Nicholas of Flue; cf. Mt 5:29-30; 16:24-26.
2 Cf. Mt 16:25-26; Jn 15:13; Acts 2:41.
3 Cf. Mt 10:28; 26:38; Jn 12:27; 2 Macc 6 30.
4 Cf Mt 16:2 1-23.
5 Heb 4:15.
6 Mt 16:21.
7 Cf. Mt 16:22-23; 17:23; Lk 9:45.
8 Cf. Mt 17:1-8 and parallels; 2 Pt 1:16-18.
9 Lk 9:31.
10 Lk 9:35.
11 Cf Lk 12:50; 22:15; Mt 16:21-23.
12 Jn 12:27.
13 Jn 18:11.
14 Jn 19:30; 19:28.
15 1 Tim 2:5.
16 GS 22 # 5; cf. # 2.
17 Mt 16:24.
18 I Pt 2:21.
19 Cf Mk 10:39; Jn 21:18-19; Col 1:24.
20 Cf. Lk 2:35.
21 St. Rose of Lima: cf. P. Hansen, Vita mirabilis (Louvain, 1668).
22 Gal 5:22-23.
23 Gal 5:25; cf. Mt 16:24-26.
24 St. Basil, De Spiritu Sancto, 15,36: PG 32,132.
25 Cf. 2 Tim 1:9-10.
26 Cf. Lk 16:22; 23:43; Mt 16:26; 2 Cor 5:8; Phil 1:23; Heb 9:27; 12:23.
27 Mt 10:37; cf. 16:25.