The Liturgy of the Hours, which is like an extension of the Eucharistic celebration, does not exclude but rather in a complementary way calls forth the various devotions of the People of God, especially adoration and worship of the Blessed Sacrament.

The tabernacle was first intended for the reservation of the Eucharist in a worthy place so that it could be brought to the sick and those absent outside of Mass. As Faith in the real presence of Christ in his Eucharist deepened, the Church became conscious of the meaning of silent adoration of the Lord present under the Eucharistic species. It is for this reaSon that the tabernacle should be located in an especially worthy place in the church and should be constructed in such a way that it emphasizes and manifests the truth of the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

The Church knows that the Lord Comes even now in his Eucharist and that he is there in our midst. However, his presence is veiled. Therefore we celebrate the Eucharist "awaiting the Blessed Hope and the Coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ," 243 asking "to share in your Glory when every tear will be wiped away. On that day we shall see you, our God, as you are. We shall become like you and praise you for ever through Christ our Lord." 244

"This treasury includes as well the prayers and good works of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They are truly immense, unfathomable, and even pristine in their value before God. In the treasury, too, are the prayers and good works of all the saints, all those who have followed in the footsteps of Christ the Lord and by his grace have made their lives holy and carried out the mission the Father entrusted to them. In this way they attained their own salvation and at the same time cooperated in saving their brothers in the unity of the Mystical Body." 88

The Byzantine Liturgy recognizes several formulas of absolution, in the form of invocation, which admirably express the Mystery of forgiveness: "May the same God, who through the Prophet Nathan forgave David when he confessed his sins, who forgave Peter when he wept bitterly, the prostitute when she washed his feet with her tears, the Pharisee, and the prodigal Son, through me, a sinner, forgive you both in this life and in the next and enable you to appear before his awe-inspiring tribunal without condemnation, he who is Blessed for ever and ever. Amen."

From ancient times in the liturgical traditions of both East and West, we have testimonies to the practice of anointings of the sick with Blessed oil. Over the centuries the Anointing of the Sick was conferred more and more exclusively on those at the point of death. Because of this it received the name "Extreme Unction." Notwithstanding this evolution the Liturgy has never failed to beg the Lord that the sick perSon may recover his health if it would be conducive to his salvation. 125

The celebration of the Sacrament includes the following principal elements: the "priests of the Church" 132 - in silence - lay hands on the sick; they pray over them in the Faith of the Church 133 - this is the epiclesis proper to this sacrament; they then anoint them with oil Blessed, if possible, by the bishop. These liturgical actions indicate what grace this sacrament confers upon the sick.

The mode of Christ's presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the Sacraments as "the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend." 199 In the most Blessed sacrament of the Eucharist "the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained." 200 "This presence is called 'real' - by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be 'real' too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present." 201

To the offering of Christ are united not only the members still here on earth, but also those already in the Glory of heaven. In Communion with and commemorating the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints, the Church offers the Eucharistic sacrifice. In the Eucharist the Church is as it were at the foot of the cross with Mary, united with the offering and intercession of Christ.

The tabernacle is to be situated "in Churches in a most worthy place with the greatest honor." 61 The dignity, placing, and security of the Eucharistic tabernacle should foster adoration before the Lord really present in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar. 62 The sacred chrism (myron), used in anointings as the sacramental sign of the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit, is traditionally reserved and venerated in a secure place in the sanctuary. the oil of catechumens and the oil of the sick may also be placed there.

Finally, Baptism is prefigured in the crossing of the Jordan River by which the People of God received the gift of the land promised to Abraham's descendants, an image of eternal life. the promise of this Blessed inheritance is fulfilled in the New Covenant.

The Holy Spirit has marked us with the seal of the Lord ("Dominicus character") "for the day of redemption." 85 "Baptism indeed is the seal of eternal life." 86 The Faithful Christian who has "kept the seal" until the end, remaining Faithful to the demands of his Baptism, will be able to depart this life "marked with the sign of faith," 87 with his baptismal faith, in expectation of the Blessed vision of God - the consummation of faith - and in the Hope of Resurrection.

The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life." 134 "The other Sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the Blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch." 135

The Lord's Supper, because of its connection with the supper which the Lord took with his disciples on the eve of his Passion and because it anticipates the wedding feast of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem. 141 The Breaking of Bread, because Jesus used this rite, part of a Jewish meat when as master of the table he Blessed and distributed the bread, 142 above all at the Last Supper. 143 It is by this action that his disciples will recognize him after his Resurrection, 144 and it is this expression that the first Christians will use to designate their Eucharistic assemblies; 145 by doing so they signified that all who eat the one broken bread, Christ, enter into Communion with him and form but one body in him. 146 The Eucharistic assembly (synaxis), because the Eucharist is celebrated amid the assembly of the Faithful, the visible expression of the Church. 147

The memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection. The Holy Sacrifice, because it makes present the one sacrifice of Christ the Savior and includes the Church's offering. the terms holy sacrifice of the Mass, "sacrifice of praise," spiritual sacrifice, pure and holy sacrifice are also used, 148 since it completes and surpasses all the sacrifices of the Old Covenant. The Holy and Divine Liturgy, because the Church's whole liturgy finds its center and most intense expression in the celebration of this Sacrament; in the same sense we also call its celebration the Sacred Mysteries. We speak of the Most Blessed Sacrament because it is the Sacrament of sacraments. the Eucharistic species reserved in the tabernacle are designated by this same name.

Is this not the same movement as the Paschal meal of the risen Jesus with his disciples? Walking with them he explained the Scriptures to them; sitting with them at table "he took bread, Blessed and broke it, and gave it to them." 172

God who created man out of Love also calls him to love the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being. For man is created in the image and likeness of God who is himself love. 90 Since God created him man and woman, their mutual love beComes an image of the absolute and unfailing love with which God loves man. It is good, very good, in the Creator's eyes. and this love which God blesses is intended to be fruitful and to be realized in the common work of watching over Creation: "and God Blessed them, and God said to them: 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.'" 91

Among Sacramentals blessings (of perSons, meals, objects, and places) come first. Every blessing praises God and prays for his gifts. In Christ, Christians are Blessed by God the Father "with every spiritual blessing." 175 This is why the Church imparts blessings by invoking the name of Jesus, usually while making the holy sign of the cross of Christ.

"Blessed are the Poor in spirit." 337 The Beatitudes reveal an order of happiness and grace, of beauty and peace. Jesus celebrates the joy of the poor, to whom the Kingdom already belongs: 338

The Lord grieves over the rich, because they find their consolation in the abundance of goods. 340 "Let the proud seek and Love earthly Kingdoms, but Blessed are the Poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven." 341 Abandonment to the providence of the Father in heaven frees us from anxiety about tomorrow. 342 Trust in God is a preparation for the blessedness of the poor. They shall see God.

TWO fundamental forms express this movement: our prayer ascends in the Holy Spirit through Christ to the Father - we bless him for having Blessed us; 97 it implores the grace of the Holy Spirit that descends through Christ from the Father - he blesses us. 98

Praise is the form of prayer which recognizes most immediately that God is God. It lauds God for his own sake and gives him Glory, quite beyond what he does, but simply because HE IS. It shares in the Blessed happiness of the pure of Heart who Love God in Faith before seeing him in glory. By praise, the Spirit is joined to our spirits to bear witness that we are children of God, 121 testifying to the only Son in whom we are adopted and by whom we glorify the Father. Praise embraces the other forms of prayer and carries them toward him who is its source and goal: the "one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist." 122

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 Church, the house of God, is the proper place for the liturgical prayer of the parish community. It is also the privileged place for adoration of the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. the choice of a favorable place is not a matter of indifference for true prayer. - For perSonal prayer, this can be a "prayer corner" with the Sacred Scriptures and icons, in order to be there, in secret, before our Father. 48 In a Christian family, this kind of little oratory fosters prayer in common. - In regions where monasteries exist, the vocation of these communities is to further the participation of the Faithful in the Liturgy of the Hours and to provide necessary solitude for more intense personal prayer. 49 - Pilgrimages evoke our earthly journey toward heaven and are traditionally very special occasions for renewal in prayer. For pilgrims seeking living water, shrines are special places for living the forms of Christian prayer "in Church."

Very early on, liturgical usage concluded the Lord's Prayer with a doxology. In the Didache, we find, "For yours are the power and the Glory for ever." 4 The Apostolic Constitutions add to the beginning: "the Kingdom," and this is the formula retained to our day in ecumenical prayer. 5 The Byzantine tradition adds after "the glory" the words "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." the Roman Missal develops the last petition in the explicit perspective of "awaiting our Blessed Hope" and of the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 6 Then Comes the assembly's acclamation or the repetition of the doxology from the Apostolic Constitutions.

The sixth beatitude proclaims, "Blessed are the pure in Heart, for they shall see God." 306 "Pure in heart" refers to those who have attuned their intellects and wills to the demands of God's holiness, chiefly in three areas: charity; 307 chastity or sexual rectitude; 308 Love of truth and orthodoxy of Faith. 309 There is a connection between purity of heart, of body, and of faith:

The New Testament uses several expressions to characterize the beatitude to which God calls man: - the Coming of the Kingdom of God; 16 - the vision of God: "Blessed are the pure in Heart, for they shall see God" 17 - entering into the joy of the Lord; 18 - entering into God's rest: 19

God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a perSon who can initiate and control his own actions. "God willed that man should be 'left in the hand of his own counsel,' so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and Blessed perfection by cleaving to him." 26

Christian Hope takes up and fulfills the hope of the chosen people which has its origin and model in the hope of Abraham, who was Blessed abundantly by the promises of God fulfilled in Isaac, and who was purified by the test of the sacrifice. 86 "Hoping against hope, he believed, and thus became the Father of many nations." 87

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

It is right to offer sacrifice to God as a sign of adoration and gratitude, supplication and Communion: "Every action done so as to cling to God in communion of holiness, and thus achieve Blessedness, is a true sacrifice." 16

In speaking of the sabbath Scripture recalls Creation: "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord Blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it." 93

Earthly peace is the image and fruit of the peace of Christ, the messianic "Prince of Peace." 99 By the blood of his Cross, "in his own perSon he killed the hostility," 100 he reconciled men with God and made his Church the Sacrament of the unity of the human race and of its union with God. "He is our peace." 101 He has declared: "Blessed are the peacemakers." 102

Such a battle and such a victory become possible only through prayer. It is by his prayer that Jesus vanquishes the tempter, both at the outset of his public mission and in the ultimate struggle of his agony. 159 In this petition to our heavenly Father, Christ unites us to his battle and his agony. He urges us to vigilance of the Heart in Communion with his own. Vigilance is "custody of the heart," and Jesus prayed for us to the Father: "Keep them in your name." 160 The Holy Spirit constantly seeks to awaken us to keep watch. 161 Finally, this petition takes on all its dramatic meaning in relation to the last temptation of our earthly battle; it asks for final perseverance. "Lo, I am Coming like a thief! Blessed is he who is awake." 162

God, infinitely perfect and Blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For this reaSon, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to Love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Saviour. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life.

The sabbath - the end of the work of the six days. the sacred text says that "on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done", that the "heavens and the earth were finished", and that God "rested" on this day and sanctified and Blessed it. 213 These inspired words are rich in profitable instruction:

The name of Jesus is at the Heart of Christian prayer. All liturgical prayers conclude with the words "through our Lord Jesus Christ". the Hail Mary reaches its high point in the words "Blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." the Eastern prayer of the heart, the Jesus Prayer, says: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner." Many Christians, such as St. Joan of Arc, have died with the one word "Jesus" on their lips.

The "splendour of an entirely unique holiness" by which Mary is "enriched from the first instant of her conception" Comes wholly from Christ: she is "redeemed, in a more exalted fashion, by reaSon of the merits of her Son". 136 The Father Blessed Mary more than any other created person "in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" and chose her "in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in Love". 137

Mary is a Virgin because her virginity is the sign of her Faith "unadulterated by any doubt", and of her undivided gift of herself to God's will. 168 It is her faith that enables her to become the mother of the Saviour: "Mary is more Blessed because she embraces faith in Christ than because she conceives the flesh of Christ." 169

The Kingdom belongs to the Poor and lowly, which means those who have accepted it with humble Hearts. Jesus is sent to "preach good news to the poor"; 253 he declares them Blessed, for "theirs is the kingdom of heaven." 254 To them - the "little ones" the Father is pleased to reveal what remains hidden from the wise and the learned. 255 Jesus shares the life of the poor, from the cradle to the cross; he experiences hunger, thirst and privation. 256 Jesus identifies himself with the poor of every kind and makes active Love toward them the condition for entering his kingdom. 257

How will Jerusalem welcome her Messiah? Although Jesus had always refused popular attempts to make him king, he chooses the time and prepares the details for his messianic entry into the city of "his Father David". 308 Acclaimed as Son of David, as the one who brings salvation (Hosanna means "Save!" or "Give salvation!"), the "King of Glory" enters his City "riding on an ass". 309 Jesus conquers the Daughter of Zion, a figure of his Church, neither by ruse nor by violence, but by the humility that bears witness to the truth. 310 and so the subjects of his Kingdom on that day are children and God's Poor, who acclaim him as had the angels when they announced him to the shepherds. 311 Their acclamation, "Blessed be he who Comes in the name of the Lord", 312 is taken up by the Church in the Sanctus of the Eucharistic Liturgy that introduces the memorial of the Lord's Passover.

O truly Blessed Night, sings the Exsultet of the Easter Vigil, which alone deserved to know the time and the hour when Christ rose from the realm of the dead! 512 But no one was an eyewitness to Christ's Resurrection and no evangelist describes it. No one can say how it came about physically. Still less was its innermost essence, his passing over to another life, perceptible to the senses. Although the Resurrection was an historical event that could be verified by the sign of the empty tomb and by the reality of the apostles' encounters with the risen Christ, still it remains at the very Heart of the Mystery of Faith as something that transcends and surpasses history. This is why the risen Christ does not reveal himself to the world, but to his disciples, "to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people." 513

Against all human Hope, God promises descendants to Abraham, as the fruit of Faith and of the power of the Holy Spirit. 68 In Abraham's progeny all the nations of the earth will be Blessed. This progeny will be Christ himself, 69 in whom the outpouring of the Holy Spirit will "gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad." 70 God commits himself by his own solemn oath to giving his beLoved Son and "the promised Holy Spirit . . . [who is] the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it." 71

From infancy to death human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession. 202 "Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life." 203 Already here on earth the Christian life shares by Faith in the Blessed company of angels and men united in God.

If God the Father almighty, the Creator of the ordered and good world, cares for all his creatures, why does evil exist? To this question, as pressing as it is unavoidable and as painful as it is mysterious, no quick answer will suffice. Only Christian Faith as a whole constitutes the answer to this question: the goodness of Creation, the drama of sin and the patient Love of God who Comes to meet man by his covenants, the redemptive Incarnation of his Son, his gift of the Spirit, his gathering of the Church, the power of the Sacraments and his call to a Blessed life to which free creatures are invited to consent in advance, but from which, by a terrible Mystery, they can also turn away in advance. There is not a single aspect of the Christian message that is not in part an answer to the question of evil.

In order to gather together scattered humanity God calls Abram from his country, his kindred and his Father's house, 16 and makes him Abraham, that is, "the father of a multitude of nations". "In you all the nations of the earth shall be Blessed." 17

The Virgin Mary most perfectly embodies the obedience of Faith. By faith Mary welComes the tidings and promise brought by the angel Gabriel, believing that "with God nothing will be impossible" and so giving her assent: "Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word." 12 Elizabeth greeted her: "Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord." 13 It is for this faith that all generations have called Mary blessed. 14

This paragraph expounds briefly (I) how the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity was revealed, (II) how the Church has articulated the doctrine of the Faith regarding this mystery, and (III) how, by the divine missions of the Son and the Holy Spirit, God the Father fulfils the "plan of his loving goodness" of Creation, redemption and sanctification.

The Fathers of the Church distinguish between theology (theologia) and economy (oikonomia). "Theology" refers to the Mystery of God's inmost life within the Blessed Trinity and "economy" to all the works by which God reveals himself and communicates his life. Through the oikonomia the theologia is revealed to us; but conversely, the theologia illuminates the whole oikonomia. God's works reveal who he is in himself; the mystery of his inmost being enlightens our understanding of all his works. So it is, analogously, among human perSons. A person discloses himself in his actions, and the better we know a person, the better we understand his actions.

"O Blessed light, O Trinity and first Unity!" 93 God is eternal blessedness, undying life, unfading light. God is Love: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God freely wills to communicate the Glory of his blessed life. Such is the "plan of his loving kindness", conceived by the Father before the foundation of the world, in his beloved Son: "He destined us in love to be his sons" and "to be conformed to the image of his Son", through "the spirit of sonship". 94 This plan is a "grace [which] was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began", stemming immediately from Trinitarian love. 95 It unfolds in the work of Creation, the whole history of salvation after the fall, and the missions of the Son and the Spirit, which are continued in the mission of the Church. 96

The ultimate end of the whole divine economy is the entry of God's creatures into the perfect unity of the Blessed Trinity. 100 But even now we are called to be a dwelling for the Most Holy Trinity: "If a man Loves me", says the Lord, "he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him": 101

"But while in the most Blessed Virgin the Church has already reached that perfection whereby she exists without spot or wrinkle, the Faithful still strive to conquer sin and increase in holiness. and so they turn their eyes to Mary": 306 in her, the Church is already the "all-holy."

"Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly Glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death." 506 The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son's Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians:

The message of the Last Judgment calls men to conversion while God is still giving them "the acceptable time, . . . the day of salvation." 627 It inspires a holy fear of God and commits them to the justice of the Kingdom of God. It proclaims the "Blessed Hope" of the Lord's return, when he will come "to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at in all who have believed." 628

"The wonderful works of God among the people of the Old Testament were but a prelude to the work of Christ the Lord in redeeming mankind and giving perfect Glory to God. He accomplished this work principally by the Paschal Mystery of his Blessed Passion, Resurrection from the dead, and glorious Ascension, whereby 'dying he destroyed our death, rising he restored our life.' For it was from the side of Christ as he slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth 'the wondrous Sacrament of the whole Church."' 3

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. He destined us before him in Love to be his Sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." 3

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.

The Church celebrates the Mystery of her Lord "until he Comes," when God will be "everything to everyone." 53 Since the apostolic age the Liturgy has been drawn toward its goal by the Spirit's groaning in the Church: Marana tha! 54 The liturgy thus shares in Jesus' desire: "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you . . . until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God." 55 In the Sacraments of Christ the Church already receives the guarantee of her inheritance and even now shares in everlasting life, while "awaiting our Blessed Hope, the appearing of the Glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus." 56 The "Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come . . . Come, Lord Jesus!"' 57

"Holy Mother Church believes that she should celebrate the saving work of her divine Spouse in a sacred commemoration on certain days throughout the course of the year. Once each week, on the day which she has called the Lord's Day, she keeps the memory of the Lord's Resurrection. She also celebrates it once every year, together with his Blessed Passion, at Easter, that most solemn of all feasts. In the course of the year, moreover, she unfolds the whole Mystery of Christ .... Thus recalling the mysteries of the redemption, she opens up to the Faithful the riches of her Lord's powers and merits, so that these are in some way made present in every age; the Faithful lay hold of them and are filled with saving grace." 33

We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to Love him. But we cannot love God if we sin gravely against him, against our neighbor or against ourselves: "He who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." 610 Our Lord warns us that we shall be separated from him if we fail to meet the serious needs of the Poor and the little ones who are his brethren. 611 To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God's merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from Communion with God and the Blessed is called "hell."

In the Glory of heaven the Blessed continue joyfully to fulfill God's will in relation to other men and to all Creation. Already they reign with Christ; with him "they shall reign for ever and ever." 603

"This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfilment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation .... Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix." 510

"Mary's function as mother of men in no way obscures or diminishes this unique mediation of Christ, but rather shows its power. But the Blessed Virgin's salutary influence on men . . . flows forth from the superabundance of the merits of Christ, rests on his mediation, depends entirely on it, and draws all its power from it." 511 "No creature could ever be counted along with the Incarnate Word and Redeemer; but just as the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by his ministers and the Faithful, and as the one goodness of God is radiated in different ways among his creatures, so also the unique mediation of the Redeemer does not exclude but rather gives rise to a manifold cooperation which is but a sharing in this one source." 512

"All generations will call me Blessed": "The Church's devotion to the Blessed Virgin is intrinsic to Christian worship." 513 The Church rightly honors "the Blessed Virgin with special devotion. From the most ancient times the Blessed Virgin has been honored with the title of 'Mother of God,' to whose protection the Faithful fly in all their dangers and needs.... This very special devotion ... differs essentially from the adoration which is given to the incarnate Word and equally to the Father and the Holy Spirit, and greatly fosters this adoration." 514 The liturgical feasts dedicated to the Mother of God and Marian prayer, such as the rosary, an "epitome of the whole Gospel," express this devotion to the Virgin Mary. 515

Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the Blessedness of heaven-through a purification 592 or immediately, 593 -or immediate and everlasting damnation. 594

This perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity - this Communion of life and Love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the Blessed - is called "heaven." Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness.

By his death and Resurrection, Jesus Christ has "opened" heaven to us. the life of the Blessed consists in the full and perfect possession of the fruits of the redemption accomplished by Christ. He makes partners in his heavenly glorification those who have believed in him and remained Faithful to his will. Heaven is the blessed community of all who are perfectly incorporated into Christ.

This Mystery of Blessed Communion with God and all who are in Christ is beyond all understanding and description. Scripture speaks of it in images: life, light, peace, wedding feast, wine of the Kingdom, the Father's house, the heavenly Jerusalem, paradise: "no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the Heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who Love him." 601

"In celebrating this annual cycle of the mysteries of Christ, Holy Church honors the Blessed Mary, Mother of God, with a special Love. She is inseparably linked with the saving work of her Son. In her the Church admires and exalts the most excellent fruit of redemption and joyfully contemplates, as in a faultless image, that which she herself desires and Hopes wholly to be." 44