"Pray and work." 121 "Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you." 122 Even when we have Done our work, the food we receive is still a gift from our Father; it is good to ask him for it with thanksgiving, as Christian families do when saying Grace at meals.

Recourse to a strike is morally legitimate when it cannot be avoided, or at least when it is necessary to obtain a proportionate benefit. It becomes morally unacceptable when accompanied by violence, or when objectives are included that are not directly linked to working conditions or are contrary to the common good. 2436 Unemployment almost always wounds its victim's dignity and threatens the equilibrium of his life. Besides the harm Done to him perSonally, it entails many risks for his family. 222

Connected to incest is any sexual abuse perpetrated by adults on children or adolescents entrusted to their care. the offense is compounded by the scandalous harm Done to the physical and moral integrity of the young, who will remain scarred by it all their lives; and the violation of responsibility for their upbringing.

It can happen that one of the spouses is the innocent victim of a divorce decreed by civil law; this spouse therefore has not contravened the moral law. There is a considerable difference between a spouse who has sincerely tried to be Faithful to the sacrament of marriage and is unjustly abanDoned, and one who through his own grave fault destroys a canonically valid marriage. 178

The Gospel shows that physical sterility is not an absolute evil. Spouses who still suffer from infertility after exhausting legitimate medical procedures should unite themselves with the Lord's Cross, the source of all spiritual fecundity. They can give expression to their generosity by adopting abanDoned children or performing demanding services for others.

The state has a responsibility for its citizens' well-being. In this capacity it is legitimate for it to intervene to orient the demography of the population. This can be Done by means of objective and respectful information, but certainly not by authoritarian, coercive measures. the state may not legitimately usurp the initiative of spouses, who have the priMary responsibility for the procreation and education of their children. 161 It is not authorized to intervene in this area with means contrary to the moral law.

Injustice, excessive economic or social inequalities, envy, distrust, and pride raging among men and nations constantly threaten peace and cause wars. Everything Done to overcome these disorders contributes to building up peace and avoiding war:

Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. "A perSon who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae," 76 "by the very commission of the offense," 77 and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law. 78 The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm Done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society.

In the account of Abel's murder by his brother Cain, 57 Scripture reveals the presence of anger and envy in man, consequences of original sin, from the beginning of human history. Man has become the enemy of his fellow man. God declares the wickedness of this fratricide: "What have you Done? the voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. and now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand." 58

Just as God "rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had Done," 121 human life has a rhythm of work and rest. the institution of the Lord's Day helps everyone enjoy adequate rest and leisure to cultivate their familial, cultural, social, and religious lives. 122

God blesses those who come to the aid of the poor and rebukes those who turn away from them: "Give to him who begs from you, do not refuse him who would borrow from you"; "you received without pay, give without pay." 231 It is by what they have Done for the poor that Jesus Christ will recognize his chosen ones. 232 When "the poor have the good news preached to them," it is the sign of Christ's presence. 233

It is not a violation of this commandment to desire to obtain things that belong to one's neighbor, provided this is Done by just means. Traditional catechesis realistically mentions "those who have a harder struggle against their criminal desires" and so who "must be urged the more to keep this commandment":

God calls man first. Man may forget his Creator or hide far from his face; he may run after idols or accuse the deity of having abanDoned him; yet the living and true God tirelessly calls each perSon to that mysterious encounter known as Prayer. In prayer, the Faithful God's initiative of love always comes first; our own first step is always a response. As God gradually reveals himself and reveals man to himself, prayer appears as a reciprocal call, a covenant drama. Through words and actions, this drama engages the heart. It unfolds throughout the whole history of salvation.

In Christ, and through his human will, the will of the Father has been perfectly fulfilled once for all. Jesus said on entering into this world: "Lo, I have come to do your will, O God." 99 Only Jesus can say: "I always do what is pleasing to him." 100 In the Prayer of his agony, he consents totally to this will: "not my will, but yours be Done." 101 For this reaSon Jesus "gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father." 102 "and by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." 103

The first series of petitions carries us toward him, for his own sake: thy name, thy kingdom, thy will! It is characteristic of love to think first of the one whom we love. In none of the three petitions do we mention ourselves; the burning desire, even anguish, of the beloved Son for his Father's glory seizes us: 64 "hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be Done...." These three supplications were already answered in the saving sacrifice of Christ, but they are henceforth directed in hope toward their final fulfillment, for God is not yet all in all. 65

Holy Mary, Mother of God: With Elizabeth we marvel, "and why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" 36 Because she gives us Jesus, her Son, Mary is Mother of God and our mother; we can entrust all our cares and petitions to her: she prays for us as she prayed for herself: "Let it be to me according to your word." 37 By entrusting ourselves to her Prayer, we abandon ourselves to the will of God together with her: "Thy will be Done." Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death: By asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the "Mother of Mercy," the All-Holy One. We give ourselves over to her now, in the Today of our lives. and our trust broadens further, already at the present moment, to surrender "the hour of our death" wholly to her care. May she be there as she was at her son's death on the cross. May she welcome us as our mother at the hour of our passing 38 to lead us to her son, Jesus, in paradise.

Mary's Prayer is revealed to us at the dawning of the fullness of time. Before the incarnation of the Son of God, and before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, her prayer cooperates in a unique way with the Father's plan of loving kindness: at the Annunciation, for Christ's conception; at Pentecost, for the formation of the Church, his Body. 88 In the Faith of his humble handmaid, the Gift of God found the acceptance he had awaited from the beginning of time. She whom the Almighty made "full of Grace" responds by offering her whole being: "Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [Done] to me according to your word." "Fiat": this is Christian prayer: to be wholly God's, because he is wholly ours.

The Son of God who became Son of the Virgin learned to pray in his human heart. He learns to pray from his mother, who kept all the great things the Almighty had Done and treasured them in her heart. 41 He learns to pray in the words and rhythms of the Prayer of his people, in the synagogue at Nazareth and the Temple at Jerusalem. But his prayer springs from an otherwise secret source, as he intimates at the age of twelve: "I must be in my Father's house." 42 Here the newness of prayer in the fullness of time begins to be revealed: his filial prayer, which the Father awaits from his children, is finally going to be lived out by the only Son in his humanity, with and for men.

In the Old Testament, the revelation of Prayer comes between the fall and the restoration of man, that is, between God's sorrowful call to his first children: "Where are you? . . . What is this that you have Done?" 3 and the response of God's only Son on coming into the world: "Lo, I have come to do your will, O God." 4 Prayer is bound up with human history, for it is the relationship with God in historical events.

Sunday is expressly distinguished from the sabbath which it follows chronologically every week; for Christians its ceremonial observance replaces that of the sabbath. In Christ's Passover, Sunday fulfills the spiritual truth of the Jewish sabbath and announces man's eternal rest in God. For worship under the Law prepared for the mystery of Christ, and what was Done there prefigured some aspects of Christ: 107

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

Communion in charity. In the sanctorum communio, "None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself." 487 "If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it." 488 "Charity does not insist on its own way." 489 In this solidarity with all men, living or dead, which is founded on the communion of saints, the least of our acts Done in charity redounds to the profit of all. Every sin harms this communion.

"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

The cup of the New Covenant, which Jesus anticipated when he offered himself at the Last Supper, is afterwards accepted by him from his Father's hands in his agony in the garden at Gethsemani, 434 making himself "obedient unto death". Jesus prays: "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. . ." 435 Thus he expresses the horror that death represented for his human nature. Like ours, his human nature is destined for eternal life; but unlike ours, it is perfectly exempt from sin, the cause of death. 436 Above all, his human nature has been assumed by the divine perSon of the "Author of life", the "Living One". 437 By accepting in his human will that the Father's will be Done, he accepts his death as redemptive, for "he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree." 438

At the announcement that she would give birth to "the Son of the Most High" without knowing man, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary responded with the obedience of Faith, certain that "with God nothing will be impossible": "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [Done] to me according to your word." 139 Thus, giving her consent to God's word, Mary becomes the mother of Jesus. Espousing the divine will for salvation wholeheartedly, without a single sin to restrain her, she gave herself entirely to the person and to the work of her Son; she did so in order to serve the mystery of redemption with him and dependent on him, by God's Grace: 140

The Fathers of the Eastern tradition call the Mother of God "the All-Holy" (Panagia), and celebrate her as "free from any stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature". 138 By the Grace of God Mary remained free of every perSonal sin her whole life long. "Let it be Done to me according to your word. . ."

After his fall, man was not abanDoned by God. On the contrary, God calls him and in a mysterious way heralds the coming victory over evil and his restoration from his fall. 304 This passage in Genesis is called the Protoevangelium ("first gospel"): the first announcement of the Messiah and Redeemer, of a battle between the serpent and the Woman, and of the final victory of a descendant of hers.

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:

Only Faith can embrace the mysterious ways of God's almighty power. This faith glories in its weaknesses in order to draw to itself Christ's power. 113 The Virgin Mary is the supreme model of this faith, for she believed that "nothing will be impossible with God", and was able to magnify the Lord: "For he who is mighty has Done great things for me, and holy is his name." 114

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

Who will rise? All the dead will rise, "those who have Done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment." 550

The resurrection of all the dead, "of both the just and the unjust," 621 will precede the Last Judgment. This will be "the hour when all who are in the tombs will hear [the Son of man's] voice and come forth, those who have Done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment." 622 Then Christ will come "in his glory, and all the angels with him .... Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left.... and they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." 623

In the presence of Christ, who is Truth itself, the truth of each man's relationship with God will be laid bare. 624 The Last Judgment will reveal even to its furthest consequences the good each perSon has Done or failed to do during his earthly life:

To adore God is to acknowledge, in respect and absolute submission, the "nothingness of the creature" who would not exist but for God. To adore God is to praise and exalt him and to humble oneself, as Mary did in the Magnificat, confessing with gratitude that he has Done great things and holy is his name. 14 The worship of the one God sets man free from turning in on himself, from the slavery of sin and the idolatry of the world.

The fidelity of the baptized is a primordial condition for the proclamation of the Gospel and for the Church's mission in the world. In order that the message of salvation can show the power of its truth and radiance before men, it must be authenticated by the witness of the life of Christians. "The witness of a Christian life and good works Done in a supernatural spirit have great power to draw men to the Faith and to God." 88

The New Law is the Grace of the Holy Spirit given to the Faithful through faith in Christ. It works through charity; it uses the Sermon on the Mount to teach us what must be Done and makes use of the sacraments to give us the grace to do it:

According to Christian tradition, the Law is holy, spiritual, and good, 14 yet still imperfect. Like a tutor 15 it shows what must be Done, but does not of itself give the strength, the Grace of the Spirit, to fulfill it. Because of sin, which it cannot remove, it remains a law of bondage. According to St. Paul, its special function is to denounce and disclose sin, which constitutes a "law of concupiscence" in the human heart. 16 However, the Law remains the first stage on the way to the kingdom. It prepares and disposes the chosen people and each Christian for conversion and Faith in the Savior God. It provides a teaching which endures for ever, like the Word of God.

Sin is an offense against God: "Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and Done that which is evil in your sight." 122 Sin sets itself against God's love for us and turns our hearts away from it. Like the first sin, it is disobedience, a revolt against God through the will to become "like gods," 123 knowing and determining good and evil. Sin is thus "love of oneself even to contempt of God." 124 In this proud self-exaltation, sin is diametrically opposed to the obedience of Jesus, which achieves our salvation. 125

In contrast to the object, the intention resides in the acting subject. Because it lies at the voluntary source of an action and determines it by its end, intention is an element essential to the moral evaluation of an action. the end is the first goal of the intention and indicates the purpose pursued in the action. the intention is a movement of the will toward the end: it is concerned with the goal of the activity. It aims at the good anticipated from the action undertaken. Intention is not limited to directing individual actions, but can guide several actions toward one and the same purpose; it can orient one's whole life toward its ultimate end. For example, a service Done with the end of helping one's neighbor can at the same time be inspired by the love of God as the ultimate end of all our actions. One and the same action can also be inspired by several intentions, such as performing a service in order to obtain a favor or to boast about it.

The essential rite of the sacrament follows. In the Latin rite, "the sacrament of Confirmation is conferred through the anointing with chrism on the forehead, which is Done by the laying on of the hand, and through the words: 'Accipe signaculum doni Spiritus Sancti' [Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit.]." 113 In the Eastern Churches, after a Prayer of epiclesis the more significant parts of the body are anointed with myron: forehead, eyes, nose, ears, lips, breast, back, hands, and feet. Each anointing is accompanied by the formula: "The seal of the gift that is the Holy Spirit."

As she has Done for the canon of Sacred Scripture and for the doctrine of the Faith, the Church, by the power of the Spirit who guides her "into all truth," has gradually recognized this treasure received from Christ and, as the faithful steward of God's mysteries, has determined its "dispensation." 34 Thus the Church has discerned over the centuries that among liturgical celebrations there are seven that are, in the strict sense of the term, sacraments instituted by the Lord.

Anamnesis. the liturgical celebration always refers to God's saving interventions in history. "The economy of Revelation is realized by deeds and words which are intrinsically bound up with each other.... (The) words for their part proclaim the works and bring to light the mystery they contain." 22 In the Liturgy of the Word the Holy Spirit "recalls" to the assembly all that Christ has Done for us. In keeping with the nature of liturgical actions and the ritual traditions of the churches, the celebration "makes a remembrance" of the marvelous works of God in an anamnesis which may be more or less developed. the Holy Spirit who thus awakens the memory of the Church then inspires thanksgiving and praise (doxology).

We can distinguish three stages in the formation of the Gospels: 1. the life and teaching of Jesus. the Church holds firmly that the four Gospels, "whose historicity she unhesitatingly affirms, Faithfully hand on what Jesus, the Son of God, while he lived among men, really did and taught for their eternal salvation, until the day when he was taken up." 99 2. the oral tradition. "For, after the ascension of the Lord, the apostles handed on to their hearers what he had said and Done, but with that fuller understanding which they, instructed by the glorious events of Christ and enlightened by the Spirit of truth, now enjoyed." 100 3. the written Gospels. "The sacred authors, in writing the four Gospels, selected certain of the many elements which had been handed on, either orally or already in written form; others they synthesized or explained with an eye to the situation of the churches, the while sustaining the form of preaching, but always in such a fashion that they have told us the honest truth about Jesus." 101