It can seem difficult, even impossible, to bind oneself for life to another human being. This makes it all the more important to proclaim the Good News that God loves us with a definitive and irrevocable love, that married couples share in this love, that it supports and sustains them, and that by their own Faithfulness they can be Witnesses to God's Faithful love. Spouses who with God's Grace give this witness, often in very difficult conditions, deserve the gratitude and support of the Ecclesial Community. 156

Human interdependence is increasing and gradually spreading throughout the world. the unity of the human Family, embracing people who enjoy equal natural dignity, implies a universal common good. This good calls for an organization of the Community of nations able to "provide for the different needs of men; this will involve the sphere of social life to which belong questions of food, hygiene, education, . . . and certain situations arising here and there, as for example . . . alleviating the miseries of refugees dispersed throughout the world, and assisting migrants and their families." 29

The natural law, the Creator's very good work, provides the solid foundation on which man can build the structure of moral rules to guide his choices. It also provides the indispensable moral foundation for building the human Community. Finally, it provides the necessary basis for the civil law with which it is connected, whether by a reflection that draws conclusions from its principles, or by additions of a positive and juridical nature.

The term "merit" refers in general to the recompense owed by a Community or a society for the action of one of its Members, experienced either as beneficial or harmful, deserving reward or punishment. Merit is relative to the virtue of justice, in conformity with the principle of equality which governs it.

The first precept (“You shall attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation.") requires the Faithful to participate in the Eucharistic Celebration when the Christian Community gathers together on the day commemorating the Resurrection of the Lord. 82

"If because of the circumstances of a particular people special civil recognition is given to one Religious Community in the constitutional organization of a state, the right of all citizens and religious communities to religious Freedom must be recognized and respected as well." 36

"A parish is a definite Community of the Christian Faithful Established on a stable basis within a particular Church; the pastoral care of the parish is entrusted to a pastor as its own shepherd under the Authority of the diocesan bishop." 115 It is the place where all the Faithful can be gathered together for the Sunday Celebration of the Eucharist. the parish initiates the Christian people into the ordinary expression of the Liturgical life: it gathers them together in this celebration; it teaches Christ's saving doctrine; it practices the Charity of the Lord in good works and brotherly love:

Each human Community possesses a common good which permits it to be recognized as such; it is in the political community that its most complete realization is found. It is the role of the state to defend and promote the common good of civil society, its citizens, and intermediate bodies.

Every human Community needs an Authority to govern it. 16 The foundation of such authority lies in human nature. It is necessary for the unity of the state. Its role is to ensure as far as possible the common good of the society.

Yet there are some situations in which living together becomes practically impossible for a variety of reasons. In such cases the Church permits the physical separation of the couple and their living apart. the Spouses do not cease to be husband and wife before God and so are not free to contract a new union. In this difficult situation, the best solution would be, if possible, reconciliation. the Christian Community is called to help these persons live out their situation in a Christian manner and in fidelity to their marriage bond which remains indissoluble. 157

Toward Christians who live in this situation, and who often keep the Faith and desire to bring up their children in a Christian manner, Priests and the whole Community must manifest an attentive solicitude, so that they do not consider themselves separated from the Church, in whose life they can and must participate as baptized persons:

The Christian funeral confers on the deceased neither a Sacrament nor a sacramental since he has "passed" beyond the sacramental economy. It is nonetheless a Liturgical Celebration of the Church. 185 The ministry of the Church aims at expressing efficacious Communion with the deceased, at the participation in that communion of the Community gathered for the funeral and at the proclamation of eternal life to the community.

The greeting of the Community. A greeting of Faith begins the Celebration. Relatives and friends of the deceased are welcomed with a word of "consolation" (in the New Testament sense of the Holy Spirit's power in hope). 187 The community assembling in Prayer also awaits the "words of eternal life." the death of a member of the community (or the anniversary of a death, or the seventh or fortieth day after death) is an event that should lead beyond the perspectives of "this world" and should draw the Faithful into the true perspective of faith in the risen Christ.

The Eucharistic Sacrifice. When the Celebration takes place in Church the Eucharist is the heart of the Paschal reality of Christian death. 189 In the Eucharist, the Church expresses her efficacious Communion with the departed: offering to the Father in the Holy Spirit the sacrifice of the death and resurrection of Christ, she asks to purify his child of his sins and their consequences, and to admit him to the Paschal fullness of the table of the Kingdom. 190 It is by the Eucharist thus celebrated that the Community of the Faithful, especially the Family of the deceased, learn to live in communion with the one who "has fallen asleep in the Lord," by communicating in the Body of Christ of which he is a living member and, then, by praying for him and with him.

A farewell to the deceased is his final "commendation to God" by the Church. It is "the last farewell by which the Christian Community greets one of its Members before his body is brought to its tomb." 191 The Byzantine tradition expresses this by the kiss of farewell to the deceased:

The vocation of humanity is to show forth the image of God and to be transformed into the image of the Father's only Son. This vocation takes a personal form since each of us is called to enter into the divine beatitude; it also concerns the human Community as a whole.

Each Community is defined by its purpose and consequently obeys specific rules; but "the human person . . . is and ought to be the principle, the subject and the end of all social institutions." 4

Socialization also presents dangers. Excessive intervention by the state can threaten personal Freedom and initiative. the teaching of the Church has elaborated the principle of subsidiarity, according to which "a Community of a higher order should not interfere in the internal life of a community of a lower order, depriving the latter of its functions, but rather should support it in case of need and help to co-ordinate its activity with the activities of the rest of society, always with a view to the common good." 7

The fourth commandment is addressed expressly to children in their relationship to their father and mother, because this relationship is the most universal. It likewise concerns the ties of kinship between Members of the extended Family. It requires honor, affection, and gratitude toward elders and ancestors. Finally, it extends to the duties of pupils to teachers, employees to employers, subordinates to leaders, citizens to their country, and to those who administer or govern it. This commandment includes and presupposes the duties of parents, instructors, teachers, leaders, magistrates, those who govern, all who exercise Authority over others or over a Community of persons.

The conjugal Community is Established upon the consent of the Spouses. Marriage and the Family are ordered to the good of the spouses and to the procreation and education of children. the love of the spouses and the begetting of children create among Members of the same family personal relationships and primordial responsibilities.

"The Christian Family constitutes a specific revelation and realization of Ecclesial Communion, and for this reason it can and should be called a domestic Church." 9 It is a Community of Faith, hope, and Charity; it assumes singular importance in the Church, as is evident in the New Testament. 10

The strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous consideration. the gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy. At one and the same time: - the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or Community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain; - all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective; - there must be serious prospects of success; - the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. the power of modem means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.

Public authorities should make equitable provision for those who for reasons of conscience refuse to bear arms; these are nonetheless obliged to serve the human Community in some other way. 107

The production and the sale of arms affect the common good of nations and of the international Community. Hence public authorities have the right and duty to regulate them. the short-term pursuit of private or collective interests cannot legitimate undertakings that promote violence and conflict among nations and compromise the international juridical order.

Some today claim a "right to a trial marriage" where there is an intention of getting married later. However firm the purpose of those who engage in premature sexual relations may be, "the fact is that such liaisons can scarcely ensure mutual sincerity and fidelity in a relationship between a man and a woman, nor, especially, can they protect it from inconstancy of desires or whim." 183 Carnal union is morally legitimate only when a definitive Community of life between a man and woman has been Established. Human love does not tolerate "trial marriages." It demands a total and definitive gift of persons to one another. 184

The development of economic activity and growth in production are meant to provide for the needs of human beings. Economic life is not meant solely to multiply goods produced and increase profit or power; it is ordered first of all to the Service of persons, of the whole man, and of the entire human Community. Economic activity, conducted according to its own proper methods, is to be exercised within the limits of the moral order, in keeping with social justice so as to correspond to God's plan for man. 208

In work, the person exercises and fulfills in part the potential inscribed in his nature. the primordial value of labor stems from man himself, its author and its beneficiary. Work is for man, not man for work. 213 Everyone should be able to draw from work the means of providing for his life and that of his Family, and of serving the human Community.

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.

Christian petition is centered on the desire and search for the Kingdom to come, in keeping with the teaching of Christ. 107 There is a hierarchy in these petitions: we pray first for the Kingdom, then for what is necessary to welcome it and cooperate with its coming. This collaboration with the Mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit, which is now that of the Church, is the object of the Prayer of the apostolic Community. 108 It is the prayer of Paul, the apostle par excellence, which reveals to us how the divine solicitude for all the churches ought to inspire Christian prayer. 109 By prayer every baptized person works for the coming of the Kingdom.

St. Luke in his gospel often expresses wonder and praise at the marvels of Christ and in his Acts of the Apostles stresses them as actions of the Holy Spirit: the Community of Jerusalem, the invalid healed by Peter and John, the crowd that gives glory to God for that, and the pagans of Pisidia who "were glad and glorified the word of God." 123

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."

Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for someone responsible for another's life. Preserving the common good requires rendering the unjust aggressor unable to inflict harm. To this end, those holding legitimate Authority have the right to repel by armed force aggressors against the civil Community entrusted to their charge. 66

The relationships within the Family bring an affinity of feelings, affections and interests, arising above all from the Members' respect for one another. the family is a privileged Community called to achieve a "sharing of thought and common deliberation by the Spouses as well as their eager cooperation as parents in the children's upbringing." 11

The Family is the original cell of social life. It is the natural society in which husband and wife are called to give themselves in love and in the gift of life. Authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family constitute the foundations for Freedom, security, and fraternity within society. the family is the Community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God, and make good use of freedom. Family life is an initiation into life in society.

The political Community has a duty to honor the Family, to assist it, and to ensure especially: - the Freedom to establish a family, have children, and bring them up in keeping with the family's own moral and Religious convictions; - the protection of the stability of the marriage bond and the institution of the family; - the freedom to profess one's Faith, to hand it on, and raise one's children in it, with the necessary means and institutions; - the right to private property, to free enterprise, to obtain work and housing, and the right to emigrate; - in keeping with the country's institutions, the right to medical care, assistance for the aged, and family benefits; - the protection of security and health, especially with respect to dangers like drugs, pornography, alcoholism, etc.; - the freedom to form associations with other families and so to have representation before civil Authority. 15

Education in the Faith by the parents should begin in the child's earliest years. This already happens when Family Members help one another to grow in faith by the Witness of a Christian life in keeping with the Gospel. Family catechesis precedes, accompanies, and enriches other forms of instruction in the faith. Parents have the Mission of teaching their children to pray and to discover their vocation as children of God. 35 The parish is the Eucharistic Community and the heart of the Liturgical life of Christian families; it is a privileged place for the catechesis of children and parents.

The exercise of Authority is meant to give outward expression to a just hierarchy of values in order to facilitate the exercise of Freedom and responsibility by all. Those in authority should practice distributive justice wisely, taking account of the needs and contribution of each, with a view to harmony and peace. They should take care that the regulations and measures they adopt are not a source of temptation by setting personal interest against that of the Community. 42

Political authorities are obliged to respect the fundamental rights of the human person. They will dispense justice humanely by respecting the rights of everyone, especially of families and the disadvantaged. The political rights attached to citizenship can and should be granted according to the requirements of the common good. They cannot be suspended by public authorities without legitimate and proportionate reasons. Political rights are meant to be exercised for the common good of the nation and the human Community.

Those subject to Authority should regard those in authority as representatives of God, who has made them stewards of his gifts: 43 "Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution.... Live as free men, yet without using your Freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as servants of God." 44 Their loyal collaboration includes the right, and at times the duty, to voice their just criticisms of that which seems harmful to the dignity of persons and to the good of the Community.

It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and Freedom. the love and Service of one's country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of Charity. SubMission to legitimate authorities and service of the common good require citizens to fulfill their roles in the life of the political Community.

The citizen is obliged in conscience not to follow the directives of civil authorities when they are contrary to the demands of the moral order, to the fundamental rights of persons or the teachings of the Gospel. Refusing obedience to civil authorities, when their demands are contrary to those of an upright conscience, finds its justification in the distinction between serving God and serving the political Community. "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." 48 "We must obey God rather than men": 49

The Church, because of her comMission and competence, is not to be confused in any way with the political Community. She is both the sign and the safeguard of the transcendent character of the human person. "The Church respects and encourages the political Freedom and responsibility of the citizen." 52

The love of the Spouses requires, of its very nature, the unity and indissolubility of the spouses' Community of persons, which embraces their entire life: "so they are no longer two, but one flesh." 151 They "are called to grow continually in their Communion through day-to-day fidelity to their marriage promise of total mutual self-giving." 152 This human communion is confirmed, purified, and completed by communion in Jesus Christ, given through the Sacrament of Matrimony. It is deepened by lives of the common Faith and by the Eucharist received together.

While not being formally identified with them, catechesis is built on a certain number of elements of the Church's pastoral Mission which have a catechetical aspect, that prepare for catechesis, or spring from it. They are: the initial proclamation of the Gospel or missionary preaching to arouse Faith; examination of the reasons for belief; experience of Christian living; Celebration of the Sacraments; integration into the Ecclesial Community; and apostolic and missionary Witness. 9

"How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? and how are they to hear without a preacher? and how can men preach unless they are sent?" 390 No one - no individual and no Community - can proclaim the Gospel to himself: "Faith comes from what is heard." 391 No one can give himself the mandate and the Mission to proclaim the Gospel. the one sent by the Lord does not speak and act on his own Authority, but by virtue of Christ's authority; not as a member of the community, but speaking to it in the name of Christ. No one can bestow Grace on himself; it must be given and offered. This fact presupposes ministers of grace, authorized and empowered by Christ. From him, they receive the mission and faculty ("the sacred power") to act in persona Christi Capitis. the ministry in which Christ's emissaries do and give by God's grace what they cannot do and give by their own powers, is called a "Sacrament" by the Church's tradition. Indeed, the ministry of the Church is conferred by a special sacrament.

"The laity can also feel called, or be in fact called, to cooperate with their pastors in the Service of the Ecclesial Community, for the sake of its growth and life. This can be done through the exercise of different kinds of ministries according to the Grace and charisms which the Lord has been pleased to bestow on them." 448

"From the God-given seed of the counsels a wonderful and wide-spreading tree has grown up in the field of the Lord, branching out into various forms of the Religious life lived in solitude or in Community. Different religious families have come into existence in which spiritual resources are multiplied for the progress in holiness of their Members and for the good of the entire Body of Christ." 457

In the primitive Community of Jerusalem, the disciples "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the Prayers." 480 Communion in the Faith. the faith of the Faithful is the faith of the Church, received from the apostles. Faith is a treasure of life which is enriched by being shared.

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.

For man, this consummation will be the final realization of the unity of the human race, which God willed from creation and of which the pilgrim Church has been "in the nature of Sacrament." 634 Those who are united with Christ will form the Community of the redeemed, "the holy city" of God, "the Bride, the wife of the Lamb." 635 She will not be wounded any longer by sin, stains, self-love, that destroy or wound the earthly community. 636 The beatific vision, in which God opens himself in an inexhaustible way to the elect, will be the ever-flowing well-spring of happiness, peace, and mutual Communion.

As the work of Christ liturgy is also an action of his Church. It makes the Church present and manifests her as the visible sign of the Communion in Christ between God and men. It engages the Faithful in the new life of the Community and involves the "conscious, active, and fruitful participation" of everyone. 9

"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.

Forming "as it were, one mystical person" with Christ the head, the Church acts in the Sacraments as "an organically structured priestly Community." 36 Through Baptism and Confirmation the pRiestly people is enabled to celebrate the liturgy, while those of the Faithful "who have received Holy Orders, are appointed to nourish the Church with the word and Grace of God in the name of Christ." 37

The phrase "particular Church," which is the diocese (or eparchy), refers to a Community of the Christian Faithful in Communion of Faith and Sacraments with their bishop ordained in apostolic succession. 313 These particular Churches "are constituted after the model of the universal Church; it is in these and formed out of them that the one and unique Catholic Church exists." 314

We do not believe in formulae, but in those realities they express, which Faith allows us to touch. "The believer's act [of faith] does not terminate in the propositions, but in the realities [which they express]." 56 All the same, we do approach these realities with the help of formulations of the faith which permit us to express the faith and to hand it on, to celebrate it in Community, to assimilate and live on it more and more.

During the greater part of his life Jesus shared the condition of the vast majority of human beings: a daily life spent without evident greatness, a life of manual labour. His Religious life was that of a Jew obedient to the law of God, 221 a life in the Community. From this whole period it is revealed to us that Jesus was "obedient" to his parents and that he "increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man." 222

"We bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this day he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus." 488 The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our Faith in Christ, a faith believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian Community; handed on as fundamental by Tradition; Established by the documents of the New Testament; and preached as an essential part of the Paschal mystery along with the cross:

Mary Magdalene and the holy women who came to finish anointing the body of Jesus, which had been buried in haste because the Sabbath began on the evening of Good Friday, were the first to encounter the Risen One. 497 Thus the women were the first messengers of Christ's Resurrection for the apostles themselves. 498 They were the next to whom Jesus appears: first Peter, then the Twelve. Peter had been called to strengthen the Faith of his brothers, 499 and so sees the Risen One before them; it is on the basis of his testimony that the Community exclaims: "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" 500

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

Given all these testimonies, Christ's Resurrection cannot be interpreted as something outside the physical order, and it is impossible not to acknowledge it as an historical fact. It is clear from the facts that the disciples' Faith was drastically put to the test by their master's Passion and death on the cross, which he had foretold. 502 The shock provoked by the Passion was so great that at least some of the disciples did not at once believe in the news of the Resurrection. Far from showing us a Community seized by a mystical exaltation, the Gospels present us with disciples demoralized ("looking sad" 503 ) and frightened. For they had not believed the holy women returning from the tomb and had regarded their words as an "idle tale". 504 When Jesus reveals himself to the Eleven on Easter evening, "he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen." 505

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."

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 Lord Jesus endowed his Community with a structure that will remain until the Kingdom is fully achieved. Before all else there is the choice of the Twelve with Peter as their head. 168 Representing the twelve tribes of Israel, they are the foundation stones of the new Jerusalem. 169 The Twelve and the other disciples share in Christ's Mission and his power, but also in his lot. 170 By all his actions, Christ prepares and builds his Church.

"The one mediator, Christ, Established and ever sustains here on earth his holy Church, the Community of Faith, hope, and Charity, as a visible organization through which he communicates truth and Grace to all men." 184 The Church is at the same time: - a "society structured with hierarchical organs and the mystical body of Christ; - the visible society and the spiritual community; - the earthly Church and the Church endowed with heavenly riches." 185 These dimensions together constitute "one complex reality which comes together from a human and a divine element": 186

For this reason no Sacramental rite may be modified or manipulated at the will of the minister or the Community. Even the supreme Authority in the Church may not change the liturgy arbitrarily, but only in the obedience of Faith and with Religious respect for the mystery of the liturgy.

It is the whole Community, the Body of Christ united with its Head, that celebrates. "Liturgical Services are not private functions but are Celebrations of the Church which is 'the Sacrament of unity,' namely, the holy people united and organized under the Authority of the bishops. Therefore, liturgical services pertain to the whole Body of the Church. They manifest it, and have effects upon it. But they touch individual Members of the Church in different ways, depending on their orders, their role in the liturgical services, and their actual participation in them." 7 For this reason, "rites which are meant to be celebrated in common, with the Faithful present and actively participating, should as far as possible be celebrated in that way rather than by an individual and quasi-privately." 8

The whole Church is united with the offering and intercession of Christ. Since he has the ministry of Peter in the Church, the Pope is associated with every Celebration of the Eucharist, wherein he is named as the sign and servant of the unity of the universal Church. the bishop of the place is always responsible for the Eucharist, even when a priest presides; the bishop's name is mentioned to signify his presidency over the particular Church, in the midst of his presbyterium and with the assistance of deacons. the Community intercedes also for all ministers who, for it and with it, offer the Eucharistic sacrifice:

During his public life Jesus not only forgave sins, but also made plain the effect of this forgiveness: he reintegrated forgiven sinners into the Community of the People of God from which sin had alienated or even excluded them. A remarkable sign of this is the fact that Jesus receives sinners at his table, a gesture that expresses in an astonishing way both God's forgiveness and the return to the bosom of the People of God. 44

Only Priests (bishops and presbyters) are ministers of the Anointing of the Sick. 130 It is the duty of pastors to instruct the Faithful on the benefits of this Sacrament. the Faithful should encourage the sick to call for a priest to receive this sacrament. the sick should prepare themselves to receive it with good dispositions, assisted by their pastor and the whole Ecclesial Community, which is invited to surround the sick in a special way through their Prayers and fraternal attention.

Word and Sacrament form an indivisible whole. the Liturgy of the Word, preceded by an act of repentance, opens the Celebration. the words of Christ, the Witness of the apostles, awaken the Faith of the sick person and of the Community to ask the Lord for the strength of his Spirit.

Integration into one of these bodies in the Church was accomplished by a rite called ordinatio, a Religious and Liturgical act which was a consecration, a blessing or a Sacrament. Today the word "ordination" is reserved for the sacramental act which integrates a man into the order of bishops, presbyters, or deacons, and goes beyond a simple election, designation, delegation, or institution by the Community, for it confers a gift of the Holy Spirit that permits the exercise of a "sacred power" (sacra potestas) 5 which can come only from Christ himself through his Church. Ordination is also called consecratio, for it is a setting apart and an investiture by Christ himself for his Church. the laying on of hands by the bishop, with the consecratory Prayer, constitutes the visible sign of this ordination.

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

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

"In the name of the whole Church" does not mean that Priests are the delegates of the Community. the Prayer and offering of the Church are inseparable from the prayer and offering of Christ, her head; it is always the case that Christ worships in and through his Church. the whole Church, the Body of Christ, prays and offers herself "through him, with him, in him," in the unity of the Holy Spirit, to God the Father. the whole Body, caput et membra, prays and offers itself, and therefore those who in the Body are especially his ministers are called ministers not only of Christ, but also of the Church. It is because the ministerial priesthood represents Christ that it can represent the Church.

The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with the whole Community in the Lord's own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist.

The celebrating assembly is the Community of the baptized who, "by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, that . . . they may offer spiritual sacrifices." 9 This "common priesthood" is that of Christ the sole priest, in which all his Members participate: 10

But "the Members do not all have the same function." 12 Certain members are called by God, in and through the Church, to a special Service of the Community. These servants are chosen and consecrated by the Sacrament of Holy Orders, by which the Holy Spirit enables them to act in the person of Christ the head, for the service of all the members of the Church. 13 The ordained minister is, as it were, an "icon" of Christ the priest. Since it is in the Eucharist that the sacrament of the Church is made fully visible, it is in his presiding at the Eucharist that the bishop's ministry is most evident, as well as, in Communion with him, the ministry of Priests and deacons.

"By a tradition handed down from the apostles which took its origin from the very day of Christ's Resurrection, the Church celebrates the Paschal mystery every seventh day, which day is appropriately called the Lord's Day or Sunday." 36 The day of Christ's Resurrection is both the first day of the week, the memorial of the first day of creation, and the "eighth day," on which Christ after his "rest" on the great sabbath inaugurates the "day that the Lord has made," the "day that knows no evening." 37 The Lord's Supper is its center, for there the whole Community of the Faithful encounters the risen Lord who invites them to his banquet: 38

From the first Community of Jerusalem until the parousia, it is the same Paschal mystery that the Churches of God, Faithful to the apostolic Faith, celebrate in every place. the mystery celebrated in the liturgy is one, but the forms of its Celebration are diverse.

The catechumenate, or formation of catechumens, aims at bringing their conversion and Faith to maturity, in response to the divine initiative and in union with an Ecclesial Community. the catechumenate is to be "a formation in the whole Christian life . . . during which the disciples will be joined to Christ their teacher. the catechumens should be properly initiated into the mystery of salvation and the practice of the evangelical virtues, and they should be introduced into the life of faith, liturgy, and Charity of the People of God by successive sacred rites." 47

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!"

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.

Preparation for Confirmation should aim at leading the Christian toward a more intimate union with Christ and a more lively familiarity with the Holy Spirit - his actions, his gifts, and his biddings - in order to be more capable of assuming the apostolic responsibilities of Christian life. To this end catechesis for Confirmation should strive to awaken a sense of belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ, the universal Church as well as the parish Community. the latter bears special responsibility for the preparation of confirmands. 125

The original minister of Confirmation is the bishop. 128 In the East, ordinarily the priest who baptizes also immediately confers Confirmation in one and the same Celebration. But he does so with sacred chrism consecrated by the patriarch or the bishop, thus expressing the apostolic unity of the Church whose bonds are strengthened by the Sacrament of Confirmation. In the Latin Church, the same discipline applies to the Baptism of adults or to the reception into full Communion with the Church of a person baptized in another Christian Community that does not have valid Confirmation. 129

"The intimate Community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been Established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws.... God himself is the author of marriage." 87 The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures, and spiritual attitudes. These differences should not cause us to forget its common and permanent characteristics. Although the dignity of this institution is not transparent everywhere with the same clarity, 88 some sense of the greatness of the matrimonial union exists in all cultures. "The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and Family life." 89