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The Christian vocation

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Title: The Christian vocation


1
The Christian vocation
CARAVAGGIO The Calling of Saint
Matthew 1599-1600 Oil on canvas, 322 x 340
cm Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome
  • 37

2
Compendium of the Catechism
  • 362. What is eternal happiness?
  • 1720-17241727-1729
  • It is the vision of God in eternal life in which
    we are fully partakers of the divine nature (2
    Peter 14), of the glory of Christ and of the joy
    of the trinitarian life. This happiness surpasses
    human capabilities. It is a supernatural and
    gratuitous gift of God just as is the grace which
    leads to it. This promised happiness confronts us
    with decisive moral choices concerning earthly
    goods and urges us to love God above all things. 

3
Introduction
  • The Catechism of the Catholic Church, when
    teaching about the commandments, opens with the
    beautiful title Life in Christ.
  • When teaching about the Creed (first part), it
    describes the gifts given to man by God in
    creation and more abundantly still in his
    redemption.
  • When teaching about the sacraments (second part)
    it shows how in the celebration of the mystery of
    Christ we receive Gods grace, which through
    baptism makes us participants in the divine
    nature and sons of God. After baptism a new life
    begins within us, life in Christ.

CARAVAGGIO The Calling of Saint Matthew (detail)
4
Main ideas
5
1. Christ reveals who man is
  • The Second Vatican Council teaches that Christ
    fully reveals man to man himself and shows him
    the greatness of his vocation (Gaudium et Spes,
    22).
  • Christ, the Son of God made man perfect man,
    sent by God the Father to save us and give us
    example, is like a mirror in which man can know
    who he is and what his divine vocation is.

Caravaggio (1571-1610) The Raising of Lazarus Oil
on canvas, 1608-1609 149 1/2 x 108 1/4 inches
(380 x 275 cm) Museo Nazionale, Messina
6
2. The meaning of life and the vocation of man
  • Man has been created by God and is the only
    creature on earth that God has loved for his own
    sake.
  • The human person from the first instant of his
    conception, has been ordained to eternal
    beatitude. Man attains perfection, seeking and
    loving truth and goodness.
  • We have been created by God, and the meaning of
    life consists in walking towards God so as to
    live forever with Him this is mans vocation.

LAURENT DE LA HIRE Moses and the Tablets of the
Law Private collection
7
3. To live in accordance with ones vocation
  • Man has to live according to the vocation to
    which he has been called by God he has to follow
    the moral law inscribed by God himself in the
    innermost part of his being, urging him to do
    good and to avoid evil.
  • Everybody should follow this law, which speaks to
    his conscience, because this law is universal and
    immutable.
  • Christians know the way to obtain eternal
    beatitude keep the commandments.

TERBRUGGHEN, Hendrick The Calling of St
Matthew 1621 Oil on canvas, 102 x 137 cm Centraal
Museum, Utrecht
8
4. Mans freedom
  • But man is free and, since our freedom is weak,
    man may obey or disobey Gods calling.
  • Freedom is at the root of human acts, and that
    makes man responsible for his freely taken
    decisions.
  • Although man by nature desires the good, because
    of original sin, human nature, in the exercise of
    freedom, is subject to error and inclined towards
    evil.
  • So while we have to love and defend freedom, we
    also have to guide it so that it becomes the
    freedom that Christ won for us.

REGNAULT, Jean Baptiste 1784-95 Freedom or
death Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
9
5. Mans vocation
  • The death of Christ on the Cross has freed man
    from the devil and sin, and has won for all men
    new life in the Holy Spirit. By his grace,
    Christ has restored what sin had destroyed. He
    has traced the path that has to be followed by
    his disciples, so as to be united and identified
    with him. There is no other way.
  • Through union with Christ one reaches the
    perfection of charity, the sanctity to which all
    men have been called.

FETI, Domenico (1589-1623) Moses before the
Burning Bush Oil on canvas, 1613-1614 66 1/8 x 44
inches (168 x 112 cm) Kunsthistorisches Museum,
Vienna
10
6. The vocation of man to happiness
  • Besides wanting us to be holy, God wants us to be
    happy even if, while as pilgrims in this world,
    we have to carry the cross, which is the
    condition of Christian existence.
  • This paradox can be seen in the beatitudes, where
    Jesus teaches what the real goods are. We are
    heirs to the kingdom of God, and our true and
    complete happiness will be fulfilled in seeing
    God, and resting with Him.

MEYER, Conrad The Last JudgementPrivate
Collection
11
7. Christ, beginning and goal of all life
  • Christ, Lord of the cosmos and of history, is for
    men, the way, the truth and the life (John 14,
    6). Being God, he is the creator of the universe
    and sustains it with his powerful word. As man,
    he is the only redeemer of the world, because
    there is no other through whom we may be saved.
  • If you know Christ you know everything, if you
    ignore Christ you know nothing
  • In our times man has a special need to seek and
    find Christ
  • "Christ is the hope of all men, because Christ is
    the love that loves, the path to walk on, the
    light to be kindled, the love worth been loved "
    (Mother Teresa of Calcutta).

DA FORLI, Merlozzo (1438-1494) Triumphant
Christ Fresco transferred to canvas,
1481-1483 Private collection
12
Resolutions for Christian life
13
Resolutions to move forward
  • Meditate on the words of Saint Leo the Great
    Christian, acknowledge your dignity, and draw
    out its consequences for you personally.
  • Study eagerly this course on catechesis, not just
    to know what living in Christ means, but also to
    put it into practice.
  • Since most people ignore Christ, make a
    resolution to seek Christ, so as to know and love
    him.
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