The Revelation of prayer in the economy of salvation teaches us that Faith rests on God's action in history. Our filial trust is enkindled by his supreme act: the Passion and Resurrection of his Son. Christian prayer is cooperation with his providence, his Plan of Love for men.

"The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the Faithful - who confirms his brethren in the faith he proclaims by a Definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals.... the infallibility promised to the Church is also present in the body of bishops when, together with Peter's successor, they exercise the supreme Magisterium," above all in an Ecumenical Council. 418 When the Church through its supreme Magisterium proposes a doctrine "for belief as being divinely Revealed," 419 and as the teaching of Christ, the definitions "must be adhered to with the obedience of faith." 420 This infallibility extends as far as the deposit of divine Revelation itself. 421

"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

In Scripture, we find a host of interrelated images and figures through which Revelation speaks of the inexhaustible Mystery of the Church. the images taken from the Old Testament are variations on a profound theme: the People of God. In the New Testament, all these images find a new center because Christ has become the head of this people, which henceforth is his Body. 144 Around this center are grouped images taken "from the life of the shepherd or from cultivation of the land, from the art of building or from family life and marriage." 145

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

Simon Peter holds the first place in the college of the Twelve; 283 Jesus entrusted a unique mission to him. Through a Revelation from the Father, Peter had confessed: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Our Lord then declared to him: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." 284 Christ, the "living Stone", 285 thus assures his Church, built on Peter, of victory over the powers of death. Because of the Faith he confessed Peter will remain the unshakeable rock of the Church. His mission will be to keep this faith from every lapse and to strengthen his brothers in it. 286

Christ's whole earthly life - his words and deeds, his silences and sufferings, indeed his manner of being and speaking - is Revelation of the Father. Jesus can say: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father", and the Father can say: "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" 177 Because our Lord became man in order to do his Father's will, even the least characteristics of his mysteries manifest "God's Love. . . among us". 178

The eyes of Faith can discover in the context of the whole of Revelation the mysterious Reasons why God in his saving Plan wanted his Son to be born of a virgin. These reasons touch both on the person of Christ and his redemptive mission, and on the welcome Mary gave that mission on behalf of all men.

The Church's teaching on the transmission of original Sin was articulated more precisely in the fifth century, especially under the impulse of St. Augustine's reflections against Pelagianism, and in the sixteenth century, in opposition to the Protestant Reformation. Pelagius held that man could, by the natural power of free will and without the necessary help of God's Grace, lead a morally good life; he thus reduced the influence of Adam's fault to bad example. the first Protestant reformers, on the contrary, taught that original sin has radically perverted man and destroyed his freedom; they identified the sin inherited by each man with the tendency to evil (concupiscentia), which would be insurmountable. the Church pronounced on the meaning of the data of Revelation on original sin especially at the second Council of Orange (529) 296 and at the Council of Trent (1546). 297

How did the Sin of Adam become the sin of all his descendants? the whole human race is in Adam "as one body of one man". 293 By this "unity of the human race" all men are implicated in Adam's sin, as all are implicated in Christ's justice. Still, the transmission of original sin is a Mystery that we cannot Fully understand. But we do know by Revelation that Adam had received original holiness and justice not for himself alone, but for all human nature. By yielding to the tempter, Adam and Eve committed a personal sin, but this sin affected the human nature that they would then transmit in a fallen state. 294 It is a sin which will be transmitted by propagation to all mankind, that is, by the transmission of a human nature deprived of original holiness and justice. and that is why original sin is called "sin" only in an analogical sense: it is a sin "contracted" and not "committed" - a state and not an act.

The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms a primeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of man. 264 Revelation gives us the certainty of Faith that the whole of human history is marked by the original fault freely committed by our first parents. 265

The doctrine of original Sin is, so to speak, the "reverse side" of the Good News that Jesus is the Saviour of all men, that all need salvation and that salvation is offered to all through Christ. the Church, which has the mind of Christ, 263 knows very well that we cannot tamper with the Revelation of original sin without undermining the Mystery of Christ.

With the progress of Revelation, the reality of Sin is also illuminated. Although to some extent the People of God in the Old Testament had tried to understand the pathos of the human condition in the light of the history of the fall narrated in Genesis, they could not grasp this story's ultimate meaning, which is Revealed only in the light of the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 261 We must know Christ as the source of Grace in order to know Adam as the source of sin. the Spirit-Paraclete, sent by the risen Christ, came to "convict the world concerning sin", 262 by revealing him who is its Redeemer.

Only the light of divine Revelation clarifies the reality of Sin and particularly of the sin committed at mankind's origins. Without the knowledge Revelation gives of God we cannot recognize sin clearly and are tempted to explain it as merely a developmental flaw, a psychological weakness, a mistake, or the necessary consequence of an inadequate social structure, etc. Only in the knowledge of God's Plan for man can we grasp that sin is an abuse of the freedom that God gives to created persons so that they are capable of loving him and loving one another.

God is infinitely good and all his works are good. Yet no one can escape the experience of suffering or the evils in nature which seem to be linked to the limitations proper to creatures: and above all to the question of moral evil. Where does evil come from? "I sought whence evil comes and there was no solution", said St. Augustine, 257 and his own painful quest would only be resolved by his conversion to the living God. For "the Mystery of lawlessness" is clarified only in the light of the "mystery of our religion". 258 The Revelation of divine Love in Christ manifested at the same time the extent of evil and the superabundance of Grace. 259 We must therefore approach the question of the origin of evil by fixing the eyes of our Faith on him who alone is its conqueror. 260

Divine assistance is also given to the successors of the apostles, teaching in communion with the successor of Peter, and, in a particular way, to the bishop of Rome, pastor of the whole Church, when, without arriving at an infallible definition and without pronouncing in a "Definitive manner," they propose in the exercise of the ordinary Magisterium a teaching that leads to better understanding of Revelation in matters of Faith and morals. To this ordinary teaching the faithful "are to adhere to it with religious assent" 422 which, though distinct from the assent of faith, is nonetheless an extension of it.

For the cosmos, Revelation affirms the profound common destiny of the material world and man:

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.

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.

"Christian Revelation . . . promotes deeper understanding of the laws of social living." 198 The Church receives from the Gospel the full revelation of the Truth about man. When she fulfills her mission of proclaiming the Gospel, she bears witness to man, in the name of Christ, to his dignity and his vocation to the communion of persons. She teaches him the demands of justice and peace in conformity with divine wisdom.

"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

Among all the words of Revelation, there is one which is unique: the Revealed name of God. God confides his name to those who believe in him; he reveals himself to them in his personal Mystery. the gift of a name belongs to the order of trust and intimacy. "The Lord's name is holy." For this Reason man must not abuse it. He must keep it in mind in silent, loving adoration. He will not introduce it into his own speech except to bless, praise, and glorify it. 74

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":

The Ten Commandments belong to God's Revelation. At the same time they teach us the true humanity

The gift of the commandments and of the Law is part of the Covenant God sealed with his own. In Exodus, the Revelation of the "ten words" is granted between the proposal of the covenant 22 and its conclusion - after the people had committed themselves to "do" all that the Lord had said, and to "obey" it. 23 The Decalogue is never handed on without first recalling the covenant (“The LORD our God made

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 supreme degree of participation in the authority of Christ is ensured by the charism of infallibility. This infallibility extends as far as does the deposit of divine Revelation; it also extends to all those elements of doctrine, including morals, without which the saving Truths of the Faith cannot be preserved, explained, or observed. 77

The precepts of natural law are not perceived by everyone clearly and immediately. In the present situation Sinful man needs Grace and Revelation so moral and religious Truths may be known "by everyone with facility, with firm certainty and with no admixture of error." 12 The natural law provides Revealed law and grace with a foundation prepared by God and in accordance with the work of the Spirit.

The Gospel is the Revelation in Jesus Christ of God's mercy to Sinners. 113 The angel announced to Joseph: "You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." 114 The same is true of the Eucharist, the sacrament of redemption: "This is my blood of the Covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." 115

"Christ, . . . in the very Revelation of the Mystery of the Father and of his Love, makes man Fully manifest to himself and brings to light his exalted vocation." 2 It is in Christ, "the image of the invisible God," 3 that man has been created "in the image and likeness" of the Creator. It is in Christ, Redeemer and Savior, that the divine image, disfigured in man by the first Sin, has been restored to its original beauty and ennobled by the Grace of God. 4

The book of Revelation of St. John, read in the Church's liturgy, first reveals to us, "A throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne": "the Lord God." 1 It then shows the Lamb, "standing, as though it had been slain": Christ crucified and risen, the one high priest of the true sanctuary, the same one "who offers and is offered, who gives and is given." 2 Finally it presents "the river of the water of life . . . flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb," one of most beautiful symbols of the Holy Spirit. 3

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).

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

The mutual connections between dogmas, and their coherence, can be found in the whole of the Revelation of the Mystery of Christ. 51 "In Catholic doctrine there exists an order or hierarchy 234 of Truths, Since they vary in their relation to the foundation of the Christian Faith." 52

The Church's Magisterium exercises the authority it holds from Christ to the fullest extent when it defines dogmas, that is, when it proposes Truths contained in divine Revelation or also when it proposes in a Definitive way truths having a necessary connection with them.

As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, "does not derive her certainty about all Revealed Truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence." 44

"Christ the Lord, in whom the entire Revelation of the most high God is summed up, commanded the apostles to preach the Gospel, which had been promised beforehand by the prophets, and which he fulfilled in his own person and promulgated with his own lips. In preaching the Gospel, they were to communicate the gifts of God to all men. This Gospel was to be the source of all saving Truth and moral discipline." 32

God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth": 29 that is, of Christ Jesus. 30 Christ must be proclaimed to all nations and individuals, so that this Revelation may reach to the ends of the earth:

Throughout the ages, there have been so-called "private" Revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of Faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ's Definitive Revelation, but to help live more Fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the Magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church.

"The Christian economy, therefore, Since it is the new and Definitive Covenant, will never pass away; and no new public Revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ." 28 Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian Faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries.

This Revelation was not broken off by our first parents' Sin. "After the fall, (God) buoyed them up with the hope of salvation, by promising redemption; and he has never ceased to show his solicitude for the human race. For he wishes to give eternal life to all those who seek salvation by patience in well-doing." 7

The divine Plan of Revelation is realized simultaneously "by deeds and words which are intrinsically bound up with each other" 4 and shed light on each another. It involves a specific divine pedagogy: God communicates himself to man gradually. He prepares him to welcome by stages the supernatural Revelation that is to culminate in the person and mission of the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.

By natural Reason man can know God with certainty, on the basis of his works. But there is another order of knowledge, which man cannot possibly arrive at by his own powers: the order of divine Revelation. 1 Through an utterly free decision, God has Revealed himself and given himself to man. This he does by revealing the Mystery, his Plan of loving goodness, formed from all eternity in Christ, for the benefit of all men. God has Fully revealed this plan by sending us his beLoved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

This is why man stands in need of being enlightened by God's Revelation, not only about those things that exceed his understanding, but also "about those religious and moral Truths which of themselves are not beyond the grasp of human Reason, so that even in the present condition of the human race, they can be known by all men with ease, with firm certainty and with no admixture of error". 14

"Our holy mother, the Church, holds and teaches that God, the first principle and last end of all things, can be known with certainty from the created world by the natural light of human Reason." 11 Without this capacity, man would not be able to welcome God's Revelation. Man has this capacity because he is created "in the image of God". 12

Man's faculties make him capable of coming to a knowledge of the existence of a personal God. But for man to be able to enter into real intimacy with him, God willed both to reveal himself to man, and to give him the Grace of being able to welcome this Revelation in Faith.(so) the proofs of God's existence, however, can predispose one to faith and help one to see that faith is not opposed to Reason.

We begin our profession of Faith by saying: "I believe" or "We believe". Before expounding the Church's faith, as confessed in the Creed, celebrated in the liturgy and lived in observance of God's commandments and in prayer, we must first ask what "to believe" means. Faith is man's response to God, who reveals himself and gives himself to man, at the same time bringing man a superabundant light as he searches for the ultimate meaning of his life. Thus we shall consider first that search (Chapter One), then the divine Revelation by which God comes to meet man (Chapter Two), and finally the response of faith (Chapter Three).

3. Be attentive to the analogy of Faith. 82 By "analogy of faith" we mean the coherence of the Truths of faith among themselves and within the whole Plan of Revelation.

Thus the Revelation of creation is inseparable from the revelation and forging of the Covenant of the one God with his People. Creation is Revealed as the first step towards this covenant, the first and universal witness to God's all-powerful Love. 126 and so, the Truth of creation is also expressed with growing vigour in the message of the prophets, the prayer of the psalms and the liturgy, and in the wisdom sayings of the Chosen People. 127

The Trinity is a Mystery of Faith in the strict sense, one of the "mysteries that are hidden in God, which can never be known unless they are Revealed by God". 58 To be sure, God has left traces of his Trinitarian being in his work of creation and in his Revelation throughout the Old Testament. But his inmost Being as Holy Trinity is a mystery that is inaccessible to Reason alone or even to Israel's faith before the Incarnation of God's Son and the sending of the Holy Spirit.

The Revelation of the ineffable name "I AM WHO AM" contains then the Truth that God alone IS. the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, and following it the Church's Tradition, understood the divine name in this sense: God is the fullness of Being and of every perfection, without origin and without end. All creatures receive all that they are and have from him; but he alone is his very being, and he is of himself everything that he is.

Over the centuries, Israel's Faith was able to manifest and deepen realization of the riches contained in the Revelation of the divine name. God is unique; there are no other gods besides him. 24

God Revealed himself progressively and under different names to his people, but the Revelation that proved to be the fundamental one for both the Old and the New Covenants was the revelation of the divine name to Moses in the theophany of the burning bush, on the threshold of the Exodus and of the covenant on Sinai.

These are the words with which the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed begins. the confession of God's oneness, which has its roots in the divine Revelation of the Old Covenant, is inseparable from the profession of God's existence and is equally fundamental. God is unique; there is only one God: "The Christian Faith confesses that God is one in nature, substance and essence." 3

"Faith seeks understanding": 33 it is intrinsic to faith that a believer desires to know better the One in whom he has put his faith, and to understand better what He has Revealed; a more penetrating knowledge will in turn call forth a greater faith, increaSingly set afire by Love. the Grace of faith opens "the eyes of your hearts" 34 to a lively understanding of the contents of Revelation: that is, of the totality of God's Plan and the mysteries of faith, of their connection with each other and with Christ, the centre of the revealed Mystery. "The same Holy Spirit constantly perfects faith by his gifts, so that Revelation may be more and more profoundly understood." 35 In the words of St. Augustine, "I believe, in order to understand; and I understand, the better to believe." 36

What moves us to believe is not the fact that Revealed Truths appear as true and intelligible in the light of our natural Reason: we believe "because of the authority of God himself who reveals them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived". 28 So "that the submission of our Faith might nevertheless be in accordance with reason, God willed that external proofs of his Revelation should be joined to the internal helps of the Holy Spirit." 29 Thus the miracles of Christ and the saints, prophecies, the Church's growth and holiness, and her fruitfulness and stability "are the most certain signs of divine Revelation, adapted to the intelligence of all"; they are "motives of credibility" (motiva credibilitatis), which show that the assent of faith is "by no means a blind impulse of the mind". 30

When St. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus declared to him that this Revelation did not come "from flesh and blood", but from "my Father who is in heaven". 24 Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him. "Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the Grace of God to move and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and 'makes it easy for all to accept and believe the Truth.'" 25

By Faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God. 2 With his whole being man gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of Revelation, "the obedience of faith". 3

By his Revelation, "the invisible God, from the fullness of his Love, addresses men as his friends, and moves among them, in order to invite and receive them into his own company." 1 The adequate response to this invitation is Faith.

Christians therefore read the Old Testament in the light of Christ crucified and risen. Such typological reading discloses the inexhaustible content of the Old Testament; but it must not make us forget that the Old Testament retains its own intrinsic value as Revelation reaffirmed by our Lord himself. 105 Besides, the New Testament has to be read in the light of the Old. Early Christian catechesis made constant use of the Old Testament. 106 As an old saying put it, the New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New. 107

"The Word of God, which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has Faith, is set forth and displays its power in a most wonderful way in the writings of the New Testament" 96 which hand on the ultimate Truth of God's Revelation. Their central object is Jesus Christ, God's incarnate Son: his acts, teachings, Passion and glorification, and his Church's beginnings under the Spirit's guidance. 97

Those who belong to Christ through Faith and Baptism must confess their baptismal faith before men. 16 First therefore the Catechism expounds Revelation, by which God addresses and gives himself to man, and the faith by which man responds to God (Section One). the profession of faith summarizes the gifts that God gives man: as the Author of all that is good; as Redeemer; and as Sanctifier. It develops these in the three chapters on our baptismal faith in the one God: the almighty Father, the Creator; his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour; and the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, in the Holy Church (Section Two).