This indivisible gift of the Lord's words and of the Holy Spirit who gives life to them in the hearts of Believers has been received and lived by the Church from the beginning. the first communities prayed the Lord's Prayer three times a day, 18 in place of the "Eighteen Benedictions" customary in Jewish piety.

For the Grace of Baptism to unfold, the parents' help is important. So too is the role of the GodFather and godmother, who must be firm Believers, able and ready to help the newly baptized - child or adult on the road of Christian life. 55 Their task is a truly ecclesial function (officium). 56 The whole ecclesial Community bears some responsibility for the development and safeguarding of the grace given at Baptism.

Baptism is the sacrament of Faith. 54 But faith needs the Community of Believers. It is only within the faith of the Church that each of the faithful can believe. the faith required for Baptism is not a perfect and mature faith, but a beginning that is called to develop. the catechumen or the Godparent is asked: "What do you ask of God's Church?" the response is: "Faith!"

The liturgy of the Word is an integral part of sacramental celebrations. To nourish the Faith of Believers, the signs which accompany the Word of God should be emphasized: the book of the Word (a lectionary or a book of the Gospels), its veneration (procession, incense, candles), the place of its proclamation (lectern or ambo), its audible and intelligible reading, the minister's homily which extends its proclamation, and the responses of the assembly (acclamations, meditation psalms, litanies, and profession of faith).

The Church affirms that for Believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation. 51 "Sacramental Grace" is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. the Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. the fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the Faithful partakers in the divine nature 52 by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior.

"By the saving word of God, Faith . . . is nourished in the hearts of Believers. By this faith then the congregation of the faithful begins and grows." 21 The proclamation does not stop with a teaching; it elicits the response of faith as consent and commitment, directed at the covenant between God and his people. Once again it is the Holy Spirit who gives the Grace of faith, strengthens it and makes it grow in the Community. the liturgical assembly is first of all a communion in faith.

From the very beginning God blessed all living beings, especially man and woman. the covenant with Noah and with all living things renewed this blessing of fruitfulness despite man's sin which had brought a curse on the ground. But with Abraham, the divine blessing entered into human history which was moving toward death, to redirect it toward life, toward its source. By the Faith of "the Father of all Believers," who embraced the blessing, the history of salvation is inaugurated.

United with Christ by Baptism, Believers already truly participate in the heavenly life of the risen Christ, but this life remains "hidden with Christ in God." 558 The Father has already "raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." 559 Nourished with his body in the Eucharist, we already belong to the Body of Christ. When we rise on the last day we "also will appear with him in glory." 560

Since the Virgin Mary's role in the mystery of Christ and the Spirit has been treated, it is fitting now to consider her place in the mystery of the Church. "The Virgin Mary . . . is acknowledged and honored as being truly the Mother of God and of the redeemer.... She is 'clearly the mother of the members of Christ' ... since she has by her charity joined in bringing about the birth of Believers in the Church, who are members of its head." 500 "Mary, Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church." 501

The baptized have become "living stones" to be "built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood." 73 By Baptism they share in the priesthood of Christ, in his prophetic and royal mission. They are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that [they] may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called [them] out of darkness into his marvelous light." 74 Baptism gives a share in the common priesthood of all Believers.

In the sense of Sacred Scripture the memorial is not merely the recollection of past events but the proclamation of the mighty works wrought by God for men. 182 In the liturgical celebration of these events, they become in a certain way present and real. This is how Israel understands its liberation from Egypt: every time Passover is celebrated, the Exodus events are made present to the memory of Believers so that they may conform their lives to them.

Christ, high priest and unique mediator, has made of the Church "a kingdom, priests for his God and Father." 20 The whole Community of Believers is, as such, priestly. the Faithful exercise their Baptismal priesthood through their participation, each according to his own vocation, in Christ's mission as priest, prophet, and king. Through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation the faithful are "consecrated to be . . . a holy priesthood." 21

This twofold movement of Prayer to Mary has found a privileged expression in the Ave Maria: Hail Mary [or Rejoice, Mary]: the greeting of the angel Gabriel opens this prayer. It is God himself who, through his angel as intermediary, greets Mary. Our prayer dares to take up this greeting to Mary with the regard God had for the lowliness of his humble servant and to exult in the joy he finds in her. 30 Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee: These two phrases of the angel's greeting shed light on one another. Mary is full of grace because the Lord is with her. the grace with which she is filled is the presence of him who is the source of all grace. "Rejoice . . . O Daughter of Jerusalem . . . the Lord your God is in your midst." 31 Mary, in whom the Lord himself has just made his dwelling, is the daughter of Zion in person, the ark of the covenant, the place where the glory of the Lord dwells. She is "the dwelling of God . . . with men." 32 Full of grace, Mary is wholly given over to him who has come to dwell in her and whom she is about to give to the world. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. After the angel's greeting, we make Elizabeth's greeting our own. "Filled with the Holy Spirit," Elizabeth is the first in the long succession of generations who have called Mary "blessed." 33 "Blessed is she who believed...." 34 Mary is "blessed among women" because she believed in the fulfillment of the Lord's word. Abraham. because of his Faith, became a blessing for all the nations of the earth. 35 Mary, because of her faith, became the mother of Believers, through whom all nations of the earth receive him who is God's own blessing: Jesus, the "fruit of thy womb."

The tradition of Christian Prayer is one of the ways in which the tradition of Faith takes shape and grows, especially through the contemplation and study of Believers who treasure in their hearts the events and words of the economy of salvation, and through their profound grasp of the spiritual realities they experience. 2

In the first Community of Jerusalem, Believers "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and the Prayers." 95 This sequence is characteristic of the Church's prayer: founded on the apostolic Faith; authenticated by charity; nourished in the Eucharist.

As a final stage in the purification of his Faith, Abraham, "who had received the promises," 13 is asked to sacrifice the son God had given him. Abraham's faith does not weaken (“God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering."), for he "considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead." 14 and so the Father of Believers is conformed to the likeness of the Father who will not spare his own Son but wiLl deliver him up for us all. 15 Prayer restores man to God's likeness and enables him to share in the power of God's love that saves the multitude. 16

Since it rejects or denies the existence of God, atheism is a sin against the virtue of religion. 61 The imputability of this offense can be significantly diminished in virtue of the intentions and the circumstances. "Believers can have more than a little to do with the rise of atheism. To the extent that they are careless about their instruction in the Faith, or present its teaching falsely, or even fail in their religious, moral, or social life, they must be said to conceal rather than to reveal the true nature of God and of religion." 62

The children of our holy mother the Church rightly hope for the Grace of final perseverance and the recompense of God their Father for the good works accomplished with his grace in communion with Jesus. 70 Keeping the same rule of life, Believers share the "blessed hope" of those whom the divine mercy gathers into the "holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." 71

Christ chose to be born and grow up in the bosom of the holy family of Joseph and Mary. the Church is nothing other than "the family of God." From the beginning, the core of the Church was often constituted by those who had become Believers "together with all [their] household." 164 When they were converted, they desired that "their whole household" should also be saved. 165 These families who became believers were islands of Christian life in an unbelieving world.

Through the ordained ministry, especially that of bishops and priests, the presence of Christ as head of the Church is made visible in the midst of the Community of Believers. 26 In the beautiful expression of St. Ignatius of Antioch, the bishop is typos tou Patros: he is like the living image of God the Father. 27

The missionary task implies a respectful dialogue with those who do not yet accept the Gospel. 359 Believers can profit from this dialogue by learning to appreciate better "those elements of truth and Grace which are found among peoples, and which are, as it were, a secret presence of God." 360 They proclaim the Good News to those who do not know it, in order to consolidate, complete, and raise up the truth and the goodness that God has distributed among men and nations, and to purify them from error and evil "for the glory of God, the confusion of the demon, and the happiness of man." 361

"I believe" (Apostles' Creed) is the Faith of the Church professed personally by each believer, principally during Baptism. "We believe" (Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed) is the faith of the Church confessed by the bishops assembled in council or more generally by the liturgical assembly of Believers. "I believe" is also the Church, our mother, responding to God by faith as she teaches us to say both "I believe" and "We believe".

Faith is a personal act - the free response of the human person to the initiative of God who reveals himself. But faith is not an isolated act. No one can believe alone, just as no one can live alone. You have not given yourself faith as you have not given yourself life. the believer has received faith from others and should hand it on to others. Our love for Jesus and for our neighbour impels us to speak to others about our faith. Each believer is thus a link in the great chain of Believers. I cannot believe without being carried by the faith of others, and by my faith I help support others in the faith.

Thanks to the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the understanding of both the realities and the words of the heritage of Faith is able to grow in the life of the Church: - "through the contemplation and study of Believers who ponder these things in their hearts"; 57 it is in particular "theological research [which] deepens knowledge of revealed truth". 58 - "from the intimate sense of spiritual realities which [believers] experience", 59 The sacred Scriptures "grow with the one who reads them." 60 - "from the preaching of those who have received, along with their right of succession in the episcopate, the sure charism of truth". 61

The Father's self-communication made through his Word in the Holy Spirit, remains present and active in the Church: "God, who spoke in the past, continues to converse with the Spouse of his beloved Son. and the Holy Spirit, through whom the living voice of the Gospel rings out in the Church - and through her in the world - leads Believers to the full truth, and makes the Word of Christ dwell in them in all its richness." 39

In defending the ability of human reason to know God, the Church is expressing her confidence in the possibility of speaking about him to all men and with all men, and therefore of dialogue with other religions, with philosophy and science, as well as with unBelievers and atheists.

But this "intimate and vital bond of man to God" (GS 19 # 1) can be forgotten, overlooked, or even explicitly rejected by man. 3 Such attitudes can have different causes: revolt against evil in the world; religious ignorance or indifference; the cares and riches of this world; the scandal of bad example on the part of Believers; currents of thought hostile to religion; finally, that attitude of sinful man which makes him hide from God out of fear and flee his call. 4

The Greek word symbolon meant half of a broken object, for example, a seal presented as a token of recognition. the broken parts were placed together to verify the bearer's identity. the symbol of Faith, then, is a sign of recognition and communion between Believers. Symbolon also means a gathering, collection or summary. A symbol of faith is a summary of the principal truths of the faith and therefore serves as the first and fundamental point of reference for catechesis.

People are sometimes troubled by the silence of St. Mark's Gospel and the New Testament Epistles about Jesus' virginal conception. Some might wonder if we were merely dealing with legends or theological constructs not claiming to be history. To this we must respond: Faith in the virginal conception of Jesus met with the lively opposition, mockery or incomprehension of non-Believers, Jews and pagans alike; 151 so it could hardly have been motivated by pagan mythology or by some adaptation to the ideas of the age. the meaning of this event is accessible only to faith, which understands in it the "connection of these mysteries with one another" 152 in the totality of Christ's mysteries, from his Incarnation to his Passover. St. Ignatius of Antioch already bears witness to this connection: "Mary's virginity and giving birth, and even the Lord's death escaped the notice of the prince of this world: these three mysteries worthy of proclamation were accomplished in God's silence." 153

Among the religious authorities of Jerusalem, not only were the Pharisee Nicodemus and the prominent Joseph of Arimathea both secret disciples of Jesus, but there was also long-standing dissension about him, so much so that St. John says of these authorities on the very eve of Christ's Passion, "many.. . believed in him", though very imperfectly. 378 This is not surprising, if one recalls that on the day after Pentecost "a great many of the priests were obedient to the Faith" and "some Believers. . . belonged to the party of the Pharisees", to the point that St. James could tell St. Paul, "How many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed; and they are all zealous for the Law." 379

By canonizing some of the Faithful, i.e., by solemnly pro claiming that they practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God's Grace, the Church recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and sustains the hope of Believers by proposing the saints to them as models and intercessors. 303 "The saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult moments in the Church's history." 304 Indeed, "holiness is the hidden source and infallible measure of her apostolic activity and missionary zeal." 305

Believers who respond to God's word and become members of Christ's Body, become intimately united with him: "In that body the life of Christ is communicated to those who believe, and who, through the sacraments, are united in a hidden and real way to Christ in his Passion and glorification." 220 This is especially true of Baptism, which unites us to Christ's death and Resurrection, and the Eucharist, by which "really sharing in the body of the Lord, . . . we are taken up into communion with him and with one another." 221

In Christian usage, the word "Church" designates the liturgical assembly, 141 but also the local Community 142 or the whole universal community of Believers. 143 These three meanings are inseparable. "The Church" is the People that God gathers in the whole world. She exists in local communities and is made real as a liturgical, above all a Eucharistic, assembly. She draws her life from the word and the Body of Christ and so herself becomes Christ's Body.

The word "Church" (Latin ecclesia, from the Greek ek-ka-lein, to "call out of") means a convocation or an assembly. It designates the assemblies of the people, usually for a religious purpose. 139 Ekklesia is used frequently in the Greek Old Testament for the assembly of the Chosen People before God, above all for their assembly on Mount Sinai where Israel received the Law and was established by God as his holy people. 140 By calling itself "Church," the first Community of Christian Believers recognized itself as heir to that assembly. In the Church, God is "calling together" his people from all the ends of the earth. the equivalent Greek term Kyriake, from which the English word Church and the German Kirche are derived, means "what belongs to the Lord."

These "mighty works of God," offered to Believers in the sacraments of the Church, bear their fruit in the new life in Christ, according to the Spirit. (This will be the topic of Part Three.)

Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the Faith of many Believers. 573 The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth 574 will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. the supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh. 575

Everything that happened during those Paschal days involves each of the apostles - and Peter in particular - in the building of the new era begun on Easter morning. As witnesses of the Risen One, they remain the foundation stones of his Church. the Faith of the first Community of Believers is based on the witness of concrete men known to the Christians and for the most part still living among them. Peter and the Twelve are the primary "witnesses to his Resurrection", but they are not the only ones - Paul speaks clearly of more than five hundred persons to whom Jesus appeared on a single occasion and also of James and of all the apostles. 501

The last part of the Catechism deals with the meaning and importance of Prayer in the life of Believers (Section One). It concludes with a brief commentary on the seven petitions of the Lord's Prayer (Section Two), for indeed we find in these the sum of all the good things which we must hope for, and which our heavenly Father wants to grant us.