Ecclesial communities derived from the Reformation and separated from the Catholic Church, "have not preserved the proper reality of the Eucharistic Mystery in its fullness, especially because of the absence of the sacrament of Holy Orders." 236 It is for this reaSon that Eucharistic intercommunion with these communities is not possible for the Catholic Church. However these ecclesial communities, "when they commemorate the Lord's death and Resurrection in the Holy Supper . . . profess that it signifies life in communion with Christ and await his Coming in Glory." 237

In an ancient Prayer the Church acclaims the Mystery of the Eucharist: "O sacred banquet in which Christ is received as food, the memory of his Passion is renewed, the soul is filled with Grace and a pledge of the life to come is given to us." If the Eucharist is the memorial of the Passover of the Lord Jesus, if by our communion at the altar we are filled "with every heavenly blesSing and grace," 239 then the Eucharist is also an anticipation of the heavenly Glory.

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

"By its very nature the institution of marriage and married Love is ordered to the proCreation and education of the offspring and it is in them that it finds its crowning Glory." 160

The Church who, as Mother, has borne the Christian sacramentally in her womb during his earthly pilgrimage, accompanies him at his journey's end, in order to surrender him "into the Father's hands." She offers to the Father, in Christ, the child of his Grace, and she commits to the earth, in Hope, the seed of the body that will rise in Glory. 184 This offering is fully celebrated in the Eucharistic sacrifice; the blesSings before and after Mass are sacramentals.

He who believes in Christ becomes a Son of God. This filial adoption transforms him by giving him the ability to follow the example of Christ. It makes him capable of acting rightly and doing good. In union with his Savior, the disciple attains the perfection of charity which is holiness. Having matured in Grace, the moral life blossoms into eternal life in the Glory of heaven.

The Beatitudes depict the countenance of Jesus Christ and portray his charity. They express the vocation of the Faithful associated with the Glory of his Passion and Resurrection; they shed light on the actions and attitudes characteristic of the Christian life; they are the paradoxical promises that sustain Hope in the midst of tribulations; they proclaim the blesSings and rewards already secured, however dimly, for Christ's disciples; they have begun in the lives of the Virgin Mary and all the saints.

God put us in the world to know, to Love, and to serve him, and so to come to paradise. Beatitude makes us "partakers of the divine nature" and of eternal life. 21 With beatitude, man enters into the Glory of Christ 22 and into the joy of the Trinitarian life.

The Decalogue, the Sermon on the Mount, and the apostolic catechesis describe for us the paths that lead to the Kingdom of heaven. Sustained by the Grace of the Holy Spirit, we tread them, step by step, by everyday acts. By the working of the Word of Christ, we slowly bear fruit in the Church to the Glory of God. 25

Liberation and Salvation. By his glorious Cross Christ has won salvation for all men. He redeemed them from the Sin that held them in bondage. "For freedom Christ has set us free." 34 In him we have communion with the "Truth that makes us free." 35 The Holy Spirit has been given to us and, as the Apostle teaches, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." 36 Already we Glory in the "liberty of the children of God." 37

A good intention (for example, that of helping one's neighbor) does not make behavior that is intrinsically disordered, such as lying and calumny, good or just. the end does not justify the means. Thus the condemnation of an innocent perSon cannot be justified as a legitimate means of saving the nation. On the other hand, an added bad intention (such as vainGlory) makes an act evil that, in and of itself, can be good (such as almsgiving). 39

We can therefore Hope in the Glory of heaven promised by God to those who Love him and do his will. 92 In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the Grace of God, to persevere "to the end" 93 and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God's eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ. In hope, the Church prays for "all men to be saved." 94 She longs to be united with Christ, her Bridegroom, in the glory of heaven:

The fruits of the Spirit are perfections that the Holy Spirit forms in us as the first fruits of eternal Glory. the tradition of the Church lists twelve of them: "charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, Faithfulness, modesty, self-control, chastity." 112

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 Eucharist is also the sacrifice of Praise by which the Church Sings the Glory of God in the name of all Creation. This sacrifice of praise is possible only through Christ: he unites the Faithful to his perSon, to his praise, and to his intercession, so that the sacrifice of praise to the Father is offered through Christ and with him, to be accepted in him.

Jesus Christ himself is the "Amen." 648 He is the definitive "Amen" of the Father's Love for us. He takes up and completes our "Amen" to the Father: "For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the Glory of God": 649

In the Symbol of the faith the Church confesses the Mystery of the Holy Trinity and of the plan of God's "good pleasure" for all Creation: the Father accomplishes the "mystery of his will" by giving his beLoved Son and his Holy Spirit for the Salvation of the world and for the Glory of his name. 1

"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

"In the earthly liturgy we share in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the Holy City of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle. With all the warriors of the heavenly army we Sing a hymn of Glory to the Lord; venerating the memory of the saints, we Hope for some part and fellowship with them; we eagerly await the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, until he, our life, shall appear and we too will appear with him in glory." 13

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

Sacramental signs. Since Pentecost, it is through the sacramental signs of his Church that the Holy Spirit carries on the work of sanctification. the sacraments of the Church do not abolish but purify and integrate all the richness of the signs and symbols of the cosmos and of social life. Further, they fulfill the types and figures of the Old Covenant, signify and make actively present the Salvation wrought by Christ, and prefigure and anticipate the Glory of heaven. Words and actions

Song and music fulfill their function as signs in a manner all the more significant when they are "more closely connected . . . with the liturgical action," 22 according to three principal criteria: beauty expressive of Prayer, the unanimous participation of the assembly at the designated moments, and the solemn character of the celebration. In this way they participate in the purpose of the liturgical words and actions: the Glory of God and the sanctification of the Faithful: 23

"The beauty of the images moves me to contemplation, as a meadow delights the eyes and subtly infuses the soul with the Glory of God." 32 Similarly, the contemplation of sacred icons, united with meditation on the Word of God and the Singing of liturgical hymns, enters into the harmony of the signs of celebration so that the Mystery celebrated is imprinted in the heart's memory and is then expressed in the new life of the Faithful.

Sunday is the pre-eminent day for the liturgical assembly, when the Faithful gather "to listen to the word of God and take part in the Eucharist, thus calling to mind the Passion, Resurrection, and Glory of the Lord Jesus, and giving thanks to God who 'has begotten them again, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead' unto a living Hope": 40

"At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beLoved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and Resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet 'in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with Grace, and a pledge of future Glory is given to us.'" 133

By celebrating the Last Supper with his Apostles in the course of the Passover meal, Jesus gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning. Jesus' pasSing over to his Father by his death and Resurrection, the new Passover, is anticipated in the Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist, which fulfills the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the Church in the Glory of the Kingdom.

Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ who offered himself on the cross as a living victim, holy and pleaSing to God, and whose blood has become the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men. Justification is conferred in Baptism, the sacrament of faith. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who makes us inwardly just by the power of his mercy. Its purpose is the Glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life: 40

The Eucharist contains and expresses all forms of Prayer: it is "the pure offering" of the whole Body of Christ to the Glory of God's name 131 and, according to the traditions of East and West, it is the "sacrifice of Praise."

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."

We must also face the fact that certain attitudes deriving from the mentality of "this present world" can penetrate our lives if we are not vigilant. For example, some would have it that only that is true which can be verified by reaSon and science; yet Prayer is a Mystery that overflows both our conscious and unconscious lives. Others overly prize production and profit; thus prayer, being unproductive, is useless. Still others exalt sensuality and comfort as the criteria of the true, the good, and the beautiful; whereas prayer, the "Love of beauty" (philokalia), is caught up in the Glory of the living and true God. Finally, some see prayer as a flight from the world in reaction against activism; but in fact, Christian prayer is neither an escape from reality nor a divorce from life.

In this Paschal and sacrificial Prayer, everything is recapitulated in Christ: 45 God and the world; the Word and the flesh; eternal life and time; the Love that hands itself over and the Sin that betrays it; the disciples present and those who will believe in him by their word; humiliation and Glory. It is the prayer of unity.

By entering into the holy name of the Lord Jesus we can accept, from within, the Prayer he teaches us: "Our Father!" His priestly prayer fulfills, from within, the great petitions of the Lord's Prayer: concern for the Father's name; 47 passionate zeal for his Kingdom (Glory); 48 The accomplishment of the will of the Father, of his plan of Salvation; 49 and deliverance from evil. 50

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.

When we pray to the Father, we are in communion with him and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 33 Then we know and recognize him with an ever new sense of wonder. the first phrase of the Our Father is a blesSing of adoration before it is a supplication. For it is the Glory of God that we should recognize him as "Father," the true God. We give him thanks for having revealed his name to us, for the gift of believing in it, and for the indwelling of his Presence in us.

After we have placed ourselves in the Presence of God our Father to adore and to Love and to bless him, the Spirit of adoption stirs up in our hearts seven petitions, seven blesSings. the first three, more theological, draw us toward the Glory of the Father; the Last four, as ways toward him, commend our wretchedness to his Grace. "Deep calls to deep." 63

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

The holiness of God is the inaccessible center of his eternal Mystery. What is revealed of it in Creation and history, Scripture calls "Glory," the radiance of his majesty. 68 In making man in his image and likeness, God "crowned him with glory and honor," but by Sinning, man fell "short of the glory of God." 69 From that time on, God was to manifest his holiness by revealing and giving his name, in order to restore man to the image of his Creator. 70

Finally, in Jesus the name of the Holy God is revealed and given to us, in the flesh, as Savior, revealed by what he is, by his word, and by his sacrifice. 75 This is the heart of his priestly Prayer: "Holy Father . . . for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in Truth." 76 Because he "sanctifies" his own name, Jesus reveals to us the name of the Father. 77 At the end of Christ's Passover, the Father gives him the name that is above all names: "Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father." 78

In the waters of Baptism, we have been "washed . . . sanctified . . . justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." 79 Our Father calls us to holiness in the whole of our life, and Since "he is the source of (our) life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and . . .sanctification," 80 both his Glory and our life depend on the hallowing of his name in us and by us. Such is the urgency of our first petition.

In the New Testament, the word basileia can be translated by "kingship" (abstract noun), "Kingdom" (concrete noun) or "reign" (action noun). the Kingdom of God lies ahead of us. It is brought near in the Word incarnate, it is proclaimed throughout the whole Gospel, and it has come in Christ's death and Resurrection. the Kingdom of God has been Coming Since the Last Supper and, in the Eucharist, it is in our midst. the kingdom will come in Glory when Christ hands it over to his Father:

The final doxology, "For the Kingdom, the power and the Glory are yours, now and forever," takes up again, by inclusion, the first three petitions to our Father: the glorification of his name, the Coming of his reign, and the power of his saving will. But these Prayers are now proclaimed as adoration and thanksgiving, as in the liturgy of heaven. 176 The ruler of this world has mendaciously attributed to himself the three titles of kingship, power, and glory. 177 Christ, the Lord, restores them to his Father and our Father, until he hands over the kingdom to him when the Mystery of Salvation will be brought to its completion and God will be all in all. 178

The Revelation of "what must soon take place," the Apocalypse, is borne along by the Songs of the heavenly liturgy 127 but also by the intercession of the "witnesses" (martyrs). 128 The prophets and the saints, all those who were slain on earth for their witness to Jesus, the vast throng of those who, having come through the great tribulation, have gone before us into the Kingdom, all Sing the Praise and Glory of him who sits on the throne, and of the Lamb. 129 In communion with them, the Church on earth also sings these songs with faith in the midst of trial. By means of petition and intercession, faith Hopes against all hope and gives thanks to the "Father of lights," from whom "every perfect gift" comes down. 130 Thus faith is pure praise.

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 "ten words" are pronounced by God in the midst of a theophany (“The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire." 21 ). They belong to God's revelation of himself and his Glory. the gift of the Commandments is the gift of God himself and his holy will. In making his will known, God reveals himself to his people.

The one and true God first reveals his Glory to Israel. 6 The revelation of the vocation and Truth of man is linked to the revelation of God. Man's vocation is to make God manifest by acting in conformity with his Creation "in the image and likeness of God":

There are two kinds of presumption. Either man presumes upon his own capacities, (hoping to be able to save himself without help from on high), or he presumes upon God's almighty power or his mercy (hoping to obtain his forgiveness without conversion and Glory without merit).

The Christian begins his day, his Prayers, and his activities with the Sign of the Cross: "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen." the baptized person dedicates the day to the Glory of God and calls on the Savior's Grace which lets him act in the Spirit as a child of the Father. the sign of the cross strengthens us in temptations and difficulties.

Animals are God's creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By their mere existence they bless him and give him Glory. 196 Thus men owe them kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. Philip Neri treated animals.

Sacred art is true and beautiful when its form corresponds to its particular vocation: evoking and glorifying, in faith and adoration, the transcendent Mystery of God - the surpasSing invisible beauty of Truth and Love visible in Christ, who "reflects the Glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature," in whom "the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily." 296 This spiritual beauty of God is reflected in the most holy Virgin Mother of God, the Angels, and saints. Genuine sacred art draws man to adoration, to Prayer, and to the love of God, Creator and Savior, the Holy One and Sanctifier.

Man is in search of God. In the act of Creation, God calls every being from nothingness into existence. "Crowned with Glory and honor," man is, after the Angels, capable of acknowledging "how majestic is the name of the Lord in all the earth." 1 Even after loSing through his sin his likeness to God, man remains an image of his Creator, and retains the desire for the one who calls him into existence. All religions bear witness to men's essential search for God. 2

From this intimacy with the Faithful God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast Love, 23 Moses drew strength and determination for his intercession. He does not pray for himself but for the people whom God made his own. Moses already intercedes for them during the battle with the Amalekites and prays to obtain healing for Miriam. 24 But it is chiefly after their apostasy that Moses "stands in the breach" before God in order to save the people. 25 The arguments of his Prayer - for intercession is also a mysterious battle - will inspire the boldness of the great intercessors among the Jewish people and in the Church: God is love; he is therefore righteous and faithful; he cannot contradict himself; he must remember his marvellous deeds, Since his Glory is at stake, and he cannot forsake this people that bears his name.

For the People of God, the Temple was to be the place of their education in Prayer: pilgrimages, feasts and sacrifices, the evening offering, the incense, and the bread of the Presence (“shewbread") - all these signs of the holiness and Glory of God Most High and Most Near were appeals to and ways of prayer. But ritualism often encouraged an excessively external worship. the people needed education in faith and conversion of heart; this was the mission of the prophets, both before and after the Exile.

After Elijah had learned mercy during his retreat at the Wadi Cherith, he teaches the widow of Zarephath to believe in the Word of God and confirms her faith by his urgent Prayer: God brings the widow's child back to life. 33 The sacrifice on Mount Carmel is a decisive test for the faith of the People of God. In response to Elijah's plea, "Answer me, O Lord, answer me," the Lord's fire consumes the holocaust, at the time of the evening oblation. the Eastern liturgies repeat Elijah's plea in the Eucharistic epiclesis. Finally, taking the desert road that leads to the place where the living and true God reveals himself to his people, Elijah, like Moses before him, hides "in a cleft of he rock" until the mysterious Presence of God has passed by. 34 But only on the mountain of the Transfiguration will Moses and Elijah behold the unveiled face of him whom they sought; "the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God [shines] in the face of Christ," crucified and risen. 35

In Jesus "the Kingdom of God is at hand." 72 He calls his hearers to conversion and faith, but also to watchfulness. In Prayer the disciple keeps watch, attentive to Him Who Is and Him Who Comes, in memory of his first Coming in the lowliness of the flesh, and in the Hope of his second coming in Glory. 73 In communion with their Master, the disciples' prayer is a battle; only by keeping watch in prayer can one avoid falling into temptation. 74

Adoration is the first attitude of man acknowledging that he is a creature before his Creator. It exalts the greatness of the Lord who made us 99 and the almighty power of the Savior who sets us free from evil. Adoration is homage of the spirit to the "King of Glory," 100 respectful silence in the Presence of the "ever greater" God. 101 Adoration of the thrice-holy and sovereign God of Love blends with humility and gives assurance to our supplications.

Thanksgiving characterizes the Prayer of the Church which, in celebrating the Eucharist, reveals and becomes more fully what she is. Indeed, in the work of Salvation, Christ sets Creation free from Sin and death to consecrate it anew and make it return to the Father, for his Glory. the thanksgiving of the members of the Body participates in that of their Head.

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

In that Sin man preferred himself to God and by that very act scorned him. He chose himself over and against God, against the requirements of his creaturely status and therefore against his own good. Created in a state of holiness, man was destined to be fully "divinized" by God in Glory. Seduced by the devil, he wanted to "be like God", but "without God, before God, and not in accordance with God". 279

We believe and confess that Jesus of Nazareth, born a Jew of a daughter of Israel at Bethlehem at the time of King Herod the Great and the emperor Caesar Augustus, a carpenter by trade, who died crucified in Jerusalem under the procurator Pontius Pilate during the reign of the emperor Tiberius, is the eternal Son of God made man. He 'came from God', 4 'descended from heaven', 5 and 'came in the flesh'. 6 For 'the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of Grace and Truth; we have beheld his Glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. . . and from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace.' 7

After his Resurrection, Jesus' divine Sonship becomes manifest in the power of his glorified humanity. He was "designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his Resurrection from the dead". 57 The Apostles can confess: "We have beheld his Glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of Grace and Truth." 58

By attributing to Jesus the divine title "Lord", the first confessions of the Church's faith affirm from the beginning that the power, honour and Glory due to God the Father are due also to Jesus, because "he was in the form of God", 65 and the Father manifested the sovereignty of Jesus by raiSing him from the dead and exalting him into his glory. 66

After the Council of Chalcedon, some made of Christ's human nature a kind of perSonal subject. Against them, the fifth ecumenical council, at Constantinople in 553, confessed that "there is but one hypostasis [or person], which is our Lord Jesus Christ, one of the Trinity." 93 Thus everything in Christ's human nature is to be attributed to his divine person as its proper subject, not only his miracles but also his sufferings and even his death: "He who was crucified in the flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ, is true God, Lord of Glory, and one of the Holy Trinity." 94

Jesus was born in a humble stable, into a poor family. 202 Simple shepherds were the first witnesses to this event. In this poverty heaven's Glory was made manifest. 203 The Church never tires of Singing the glory of this night:

The presentation of Jesus in the temple shows him to be the firstborn Son who belongs to the Lord. 216 With Simeon and Anna, all Israel awaits its encounter with the Saviour - the name given to this event in the Byzantine tradition. Jesus is recognized as the long-expected Messiah, the "light to the nations" and the "Glory of Israel", but also "a sign that is spoken against". the sword of sorrow predicted for Mary announces Christ's perfect and unique oblation on the cross that will impart the Salvation God had "prepared in the Presence of all peoples".

For a moment Jesus discloses his divine Glory, confirming Peter's confession. He also reveals that he will have to go by the way of the cross at Jerusalem in order to "enter into his glory". 295 Moses and Elijah had seen God's glory on the Mountain; the Law and the Prophets had announced the Messiah's sufferings. 296 Christ's Passion is the will of the Father: the Son acts as God's servant; 297 The cloud indicates the Presence of the Holy Spirit. "The whole Trinity appeared: the Father in the voice; the Son in the man; the Spirit in the shining cloud." 298

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.

The Church remains Faithful to the interpretation of "all the Scriptures" that Jesus gave both before and after his Passover: "Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his Glory?" 314 Jesus' sufferings took their historical, concrete form from the fact that he was "rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes", who handed "him to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified". 315

In the eyes of many in Israel, Jesus seems to be acting against essential institutions of the Chosen People: - submission to the whole of the Law in its written commandments and, for the Pharisees, in the interpretation of oral tradition; - the centrality of the Temple at Jerusalem as the holy place where God's Presence dwells in a special way; - faith in the one God whose Glory no man can share.

Baptism, the original and full sign of which is immersion, efficaciously signifies the descent into the tomb by the Christian who dies to Sin with Christ in order to live a new life. "We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." 474

The Paschal Mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us from Sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life. This new life is above all justification that reinstates us in God's Grace, "so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." Justification consists in both victory over the death caused by sin and a new participation in grace. 526 It brings about filial adoption so that men become Christ's brethren, as Jesus himself called his disciples after his Resurrection: "Go and tell my brethren." 527 We are brethren not by nature, but by the gift of grace, because that adoptive filiation gains us a real share in the life of the only Son, which was fully revealed in his Resurrection.

The first man was not only Created good, but was also established in friendship with his Creator and in harmony with himself and with the Creation around him, in a state that would be surpassed only by the Glory of the new creation in Christ.

Faced with God's fascinating and mysterious Presence, man discovers his own insignificance. Before the burning bush, Moses takes off his sandals and veils his face in the presence of God's holiness. 13 Before the Glory of the thrice-holy God, Isaiah cries out: "Woe is me! I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips." 14 Before the divine signs wrought by Jesus, Peter exclaims: "Depart from me, for I am a Sinful man, O Lord." 15 But because God is holy, he can forgive the man who realizes that he is a sinner before him: "I will not execute my fierce anger. . . for I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst." 16 The apostle John says likewise: "We shall. . . reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything." 17

After Israel's Sin, when the people had turned away from God to worship the golden calf, God hears Moses' Prayer of intercession and agrees to walk in the midst of an unFaithful people, thus demonstrating his Love. 18 When Moses asks to see his Glory, God responds "I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you my name "the Lord" [YHWH]." 19 Then the LORD passes before Moses and proclaims, "YHWH, YHWH, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness"; Moses then confesses that the LORD is a forgiving God. 20

For this reaSon the Apostles confess Jesus to be the Word: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God"; as "the image of the invisible God"; as the "radiance of the Glory of God and the very stamp of his nature". 65

"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

Creation is the foundation of "all God's saving plans," the "beginning of the history of Salvation" 117 that culminates in Christ. Conversely, the Mystery of Christ casts conclusive light on the mystery of creation and reveals the end for which "in the beginning God Created the heavens and the earth": from the beginning, God envisaged the Glory of the new creation in Christ. 118

Scripture and Tradition never cease to teach and celebrate this fundamental Truth: "The world was made for the Glory of God." 134 St. Bonaventure explains that God Created all things "not to increase his glory, but to show it forth and to communicate it", 135 for God has no other reaSon for creating than his Love and goodness: "Creatures came into existence when the key of love opened his hand." 136 The First Vatican Council explains:

The Glory of God consists in the realization of this manifestation and communication of his goodness, for which the world was Created. God made us "to be his Sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the Praise of his glorious Grace", 138 for "the glory of God is man fully alive; moreover man's life is the vision of God: if God's revelation through Creation has already obtained life for all the beings that dwell on earth, how much more will the Word's manifestation of the Father obtain life for those who see God." 139 The ultimate purpose of creation is that God "who is the creator of all things may at Last become "all in all", thus simultaneously assuring his own glory and our beatitude." 140

God is infinitely greater than all his works: "You have set your Glory above the heavens." 156 Indeed, God's "greatness is unsearchable". 157 But because he is the free and sovereign Creator, the first cause of all that exists, God is present to his creatures' inmost being: "In him we live and move and have our being." 158 In the words of St. Augustine, God is "higher than my highest and more inward than my innermost self". 159

The Scriptural expression "heaven and earth" means all that exists, Creation in its entirety. It also indicates the bond, deep within creation, that both unites heaven and earth and distinguishes the one from the other: "the earth" is the world of men, while "heaven" or "the heavens" can designate both the firmament and God's own "place" - "our Father in heaven" and consequently the "heaven" too which is eschatological Glory. Finally, "heaven" refers to the saints and the "place" of the spiritual creatures, the Angels, who surround God. 186

As purely spiritual creatures Angels have intelligence and will: they are perSonal and immortal creatures, surpasSing in perfection all visible creatures, as the splendour of their Glory bears witness. 190

Christ is the centre of the angelic world. They are his Angels: "When the Son of man comes in his Glory, and all the angels with him. . " 191 They belong to him because they were Created through and for him: "for in him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities - all things were created through him and for him." 192 They belong to him still more because he has made them messengers of his saving plan: "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain Salvation?" 193

From the Incarnation to the Ascension, the life of the Word incarnate is surrounded by the adoration and service of Angels. When God "brings the firstborn into the world, he says: 'Let all God's angels worship him.'" 196 Their Song of Praise at the birth of Christ has not ceased resounding in the Church's praise: "Glory to God in the highest!" 197 They protect Jesus in his infancy, serve him in the desert, strengthen him in his agony in the garden, when he could have been saved by them from the hands of his enemies as Israel had been. 198 Again, it is the angels who "evangelize" by proclaiming the Good News of Christ's Incarnation and Resurrection. 199 They will be present at Christ's return, which they will announce, to serve at his judgement. 200

There is a solidarity among all creatures ariSing from the fact that all have the same Creator and are all ordered to his Glory: May you be Praised, O Lord, in all your creatures, especially brother sun, by whom you give us light for the day; he is beautiful, radiating great splendour, and offering us a symbol of you, the Most High. . .

"So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God." 531 Christ's body was glorified at the moment of his Resurrection, as proved by the new and supernatural properties it subsequently and permanently enjoys. 532 But during the forty days when he eats and drinks familiarly with his disciples and teaches them about the Kingdom, his Glory remains veiled under the appearance of ordinary humanity. 533 Jesus' final apparition ends with the irreversible entry of his humanity into divine glory, symbolized by the cloud and by heaven, where he is seated from that time forward at God's right hand. 534 Only in a wholly exceptional and unique way would Jesus show himself to Paul "as to one untimely born", in a Last apparition that established him as an apostle. 535

The veiled character of the Glory of the Risen One during this time is intimated in his mysterious words to Mary Magdalene: "I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." 536 This indicates a difference in manifestation between the glory of the risen Christ and that of the Christ exalted to the Father's right hand, a transition marked by the historical and transcendent event of the Ascension.

"The Church . . . is held, as a matter of faith, to be unfailingly holy. This is because Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father and the Spirit is hailed as 'alone holy,' Loved the Church as his Bride, giving himself up for her so as to sanctify her; he joined her to himself as his body and endowed her with the gift of the Holy Spirit for the Glory of God." 289 The Church, then, is "the holy People of God," 290 and her members are called "saints." 291

"Those who have not yet received the Gospel are related to the People of God in various ways." 325 The relationship of the Church with the Jewish People. When she delves into her own Mystery, the Church, the People of God in the New Covenant, discovers her link with the Jewish People, 326 "the first to hear the Word of God." 327 The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God's revelation in the Old Covenant. To the Jews "belong the Sonship, the Glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ", 328 "for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable." 329

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

The Church is ultimately one, holy, catholic, and apostolic in her deepest and ultimate identity, because it is in her that "the Kingdom of heaven," the "Reign of God," 380 already exists and will be fulfilled at the end of time. the kingdom has come in the perSon of Christ and grows mysteriously in the hearts of those incorporated into him, until its full eschatological manifestation. Then all those he has redeemed and made "holy and blameless before him in Love," 381 will be gathered together as the one People of God, the "Bride of the Lamb," 382 "the holy city Jerusalem Coming down out of heaven from God, having the Glory of God." 383 For "the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb." 384

"By reaSon of their special vocation it belongs to the laity to seek the Kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God's will.... It pertains to them in a special way so to illuminate and order all temporal things with which they are closely associated that these may always be effected and grow according to Christ and maybe to the Glory of the Creator and Redeemer." 431

The religious state is thus one way of experiencing a "more intimate" consecration, rooted in Baptism and dedicated totally to God. 455 In the consecrated life, Christ's Faithful, moved by the Holy Spirit, propose to follow Christ more nearly, to give themselves to God who is Loved above all and, pursuing the perfection of charity in the service of the Kingdom, to signify and proclaim in the Church the Glory of the world to come. 456

They manifest to everyone the interior aspect of the Mystery of the Church, that is, perSonal intimacy with Christ. Hidden from the eyes of men, the life of the hermit is a silent preaching of the Lord, to whom he has surrendered his life simply because he is everything to him. Here is a particular call to find in the desert, in the thick of spiritual battle, the Glory of the Crucified One.

The three states of the Church. "When the Lord comes in Glory, and all his Angels with him, death will be no more and all things will be subject to him. But at the present time some of his disciples are pilgrims on earth. Others have died and are being purified, while still others are in glory, contemplating 'in full light, God himself triune and one, exactly as he is"': 490

"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:

After speaking of the Church, her origin, mission, and destiny, we can find no better way to conclude than by looking to Mary. In her we contemplate what the Church already is in her Mystery on her own "pilgrimage of faith," and what she will be in the homeland at the end of her journey. There, "in the Glory of the Most Holy and Undivided Trinity," "in the communion of all the saints," 516 The Church is awaited by the one she venerates as Mother of her Lord and as her own mother.

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

Because of his transcendence, God cannot be seen as he is, unless he himself opens up his Mystery to man's immediate contemplation and gives him the capacity for it. the Church calls this contemplation of God in his heavenly Glory "the beatific vision":

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

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

Christ "is the head of the body, the Church." 225 He is the principle of Creation and redemption. Raised to the Father's Glory, "in everything he (is) preeminent," 226 especially in the Church, through whom he extends his reign over all things.

Henceforth Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father: "By 'the Father's right hand' we understand the Glory and honour of divinity, where he who exists as Son of God before all ages, indeed as God, of one being with the Father, is seated bodily after he became incarnate and his flesh was glorified." 545

Being seated at the Father's right hand signifies the inauguration of the Messiah's Kingdom, the fulfilment of the prophet Daniel's vision concerning the Son of man: "To him was given dominion and Glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everLasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed." 546 After this event the Apostles became witnesses of the "kingdom [that] will have no end". 547

Though already present in his Church, Christ's reign is nevertheless yet to be fulfilled "with power and great Glory" by the King's return to earth. 556 This reign is still under attack by the evil powers, even though they have been defeated definitively by Christ's Passover. 557 Until everything is subject to him, "until there be realized new heavens and a new earth in which justice dwells, the pilgrim Church, in her sacraments and institutions, which belong to this present age, carries the mark of this world which will pass, and she herself takes her place among the creatures which groan and travail yet and await the revelation of the Sons of God." 558 That is why Christians pray, above all in the Eucharist, to hasten Christ's return by saying to him: 559 Maranatha! "Our Lord, come!" 560

Since the Ascension Christ's Coming in Glory has been imminent, 565 even though "it is not for you to know times or seaSons which the Father has fixed by his own authority." 566 . This eschatological coming could be accomplished at any moment, even if both it and the final trial that will precede it are "delayed". 567

The Church will enter the Glory of the Kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection. 578 The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God's victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven. 579 God's triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgement after the final cosmic upheaval of this pasSing world. 580

Jesus is Christ, "anointed," because the Spirit is his anointing, and everything that occurs from the Incarnation on derives from this fullness. 11 When Christ is finally glorified, 12 he can in turn send the Spirit from his place with the Father to those who believe in him: he communicates to them his Glory, 13 that is, the Holy Spirit who glorifies him. 14 From that time on, this joint mission will be manifested in the children adopted by the Father in the Body of his Son: the mission of the Spirit of adoption is to unite them to Christ and make them live in him:

Besides the proper name of "Holy Spirit," which is most frequently used in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles, we also find in St. Paul the titles: the Spirit of the promise, 21 The Spirit of adoption, 22 The Spirit of Christ, 23 The Spirit of the Lord, 24 and the Spirit of God 25 - and, in St. Peter, the Spirit of Glory. 26

Cloud and light. These two images occur together in the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. In the theophanies of the Old Testament, the cloud, now obscure, now luminous, reveals the living and saving God, while veiling the transcendence of his Glory - with Moses on Mount Sinai, 43 at the tent of meeting, 44 and during the wandering in the desert, 45 and with Solomon at the dedication of the Temple. 46 In the Holy Spirit, Christ fulfills these figures. the Spirit comes upon the Virgin Mary and "overshadows" her, so that she might conceive and give birth to Jesus. 47 On the mountain of Transfiguration, the Spirit in the "cloud came and overshadowed" Jesus, Moses and Elijah, Peter, James and John, and "a voice came out of the cloud, saying, 'This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!'" 48 Finally, the cloud took Jesus out of the sight of the disciples on the day of his ascension and will reveal him as Son of man in glory on the day of his final Coming. 49

Disfigured by Sin and death, man remains "in the image of God," in the image of the Son, but is deprived "of the Glory of God," 66 of his "likeness." the promise made to Abraham inaugurates the economy of Salvation, at the culmination of which the Son himself will assume that "image" 67 and restore it in the Father's "likeness" by giving it again its Glory, the Spirit who is "the giver of life."

The characteristics of the awaited Messiah begin to appear in the "Book of Emmanuel" ("Isaiah said this when he saw his Glory," 80 speaking of Christ), especially in the first two verses of Isaiah 11: 81

At Last Jesus' hour arrives: 117 he commends his spirit into the Father's hands 118 at the very moment when by his death he conquers death, so that, "raised from the dead by the Glory of the Father," 119 he might immediately give the Holy Spirit by "breathing" on his disciples. 120 From this hour onward, the mission of Christ and the Spirit becomes the mission of the Church: "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." 121

"The Church . . . will receive its perfection only in the Glory of heaven," 179 at the time of Christ's glorious return. Until that day, "the Church progresses on her pilgrimage amidst this world's persecutions and God's consolations." 180 Here below she knows that she is in exile far from the Lord, and longs for the full Coming of the Kingdom, when she will "be united in glory with her king." 181 The Church, and through her the world, will not be perfected in glory without great trials. Only then will "all the just from the time of Adam, 'from Abel, the just one, to the Last of the elect,' . . . be gathered together in the universal Church in the Father's Presence." 182

It is in the Church that Christ fulfills and reveals his own Mystery as the purpose of God's plan: "to unite all things in him." 189 St. Paul calls the nuptial union of Christ and the Church "a great mystery." Because she is united to Christ as to her bridegroom, she becomes a mystery in her turn. 190 Contemplating this mystery in her, Paul exclaims: "Christ in you, the Hope of Glory." 191

The Last Judgment will come when Christ returns in Glory. Only the Father knows the day and the hour; only he determines the moment of its Coming. Then through his Son Jesus Christ he will pronounce the final word on all history. We shall know the ultimate meaning of the whole work of Creation and of the entire economy of Salvation and understand the marvellous ways by which his Providence led everything towards its final end. the Last Judgment will reveal that God's justice triumphs over all the injustices committed by his creatures and that God's Love is stronger than death. 626