By a "life perfectly and entirely consecrated to [such] sanctification," the members of these institutes Share in the Church's task of evangelization, "in the world and from within the world," where their presence acts as "leaven in the world." 471 "Their witness of a Christian life" aims "to order temporal things according to God and inform the world with the power of the Gospel." They commit themselves to the evangelical counsels by sacred bonds and observe among themselves the Communion and fellowship appropriate to their "particular secular way of life." 472

Anointing with oil has all these meanings in the Sacramental life. the pre-Baptismal anointing with the oil of catechumens signifies cleansing and strengthening; the anointing of the sick expresses healing and comfort. the post-baptismal anointing with sacred chrism in Confirmation and ordination is the sign of consecration. By Confirmation Christians, that is, those who are anointed, Share more completely in the Mission of Jesus Christ and the fullness of the Holy Spirit with which he is filled, so that their lives may give off "the aroma of Christ." 104

Holy Communion, because by this Sacrament we unite ourselves to Christ, who makes us Sharers in his Body and Blood to form a single body. 149 We also call it: the holy things (ta hagia; sancta) 150 - the first meaning of the phrase "communion of saints" in the Apostles' Creed - the bread of angels, bread from heaven, medicine of immortality, 151 viaticum....

The Lord, having Loved those who were his own, loved them to the end. Knowing that the hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father, in the course of a meal he washed their feet and gave them the commandment of love. 161 In order to leave them a pledge of this love, in order never to depart from his own and to make them Sharers in his Passover, he instituted the Eucharist as the memorial of his death and Resurrection, and commanded his apostles to celebrate it until his return; "thereby he constituted them priests of the New Testament." 162

From the very beginning Christians have brought, along with the bread and wine for the Eucharist, gifts to Share with those in need. This custom of the collection, ever appropriate, is inspired by the example of Christ who became poor to make us rich: 176

By the same charity that it enkindles in us, the Eucharist preserves us from future mortal sins. the more we Share the life of Christ and progress in his friendship, the more difficult it is to break away from him by mortal sin. the Eucharist is not ordered to the forgiveness of mortal sins - that is proper to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. the Eucharist is properly the sacrament of those who are in full Communion with the Church.

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

Christ invites his disciples to follow him by taking up their cross in their turn. 113 By following him they acquire a new outlook on illness and the sick. Jesus associates them with his own life of poverty and service. He makes them Share in his ministry of compassion and healing: "So they went out and preached that men should repent. and they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them." 114

"Christ, whom the Father hallowed and sent into the world, has, through his apostles, made their successors, the bishops namely, Sharers in his consecration and Mission; and these, in their turn, duly entrusted in varying degrees various members of the Church with the office of their ministry." 43 "The function of the bishops' ministry was handed over in a subordinate degree to priests so that they might be appointed in the order of the Priesthood and be co-workers of the episcapal order for the proper fulfillment of the apostolic mission that had been entrusted to it by Christ." 44

"Because it is joined with the episcopal order the office of priests Shares in the authority by which Christ himself builds up and sanctifies and rules his Body. Hence the Priesthood of priests, while presupposing the Sacraments of initiation, is nevertheless conferred by its own particular sacrament. Through that sacrament priests by the anointing of the Holy Spirit are signed with a special character and so are configured to Christ the priest in such a way that they are able to act in the perSon of Christ the head." 45

Through the Sacrament of Holy Orders priests Share in the universal dimensions of the Mission that Christ entrusted to the apostles. the spiritual gift they have received in ordination prepares them, not for a limited and restricted mission, "but for the fullest, in fact the universal mission of salvation 'to the end of the earth,"' 47 "prepared in spirit to preach the Gospel everywhere." 48

The baptized have become "living stones" to be "built into a spiritual house, to be a holy Priesthood." 73 By Baptism they Share in the priesthood of Christ, in his prophetic and royal Mission. They are "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, that [they] may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called [them] out of darkness into his marvelous light." 74 Baptism gives a share in the common priesthood of all believers.

Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua), 4 and the door which gives access to the other Sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as Sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made Sharers in her Mission: "Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word." 5

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

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

"It is in regard to death that man's condition is most shrouded in doubt." 565 In a sense bodily death is natural, but for Faith it is in fact "the wages of sin." 566 For those who die in Christ's Grace it is a participation in the death of the Lord, so that they can also Share his Resurrection. 567

In the New Testament the word "liturgy" refers not only to the celebration of divine worship but also to the proclamation of the Gospel and to active charity. 6 In all of these situations it is a question of the service of God and neighbor. In a liturgical celebration the Church is servant in the image of her Lord, the one "leitourgos"; 7 she Shares in Christ's Priesthood (worship), which is both prophetic (proclamation) and kingly (service of charity):

"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 three Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders confer, in addition to Grace, a sacramental character or "seal" by which the Christian Shares in Christ's Priesthood and is made a member of the Church according to different states and functions. This configuration to Christ and to the Church, brought about by the Spirit, is indelible, 40 it remains for ever in the Christian as a positive disposition for grace, a promise and guarantee of divine protection, and as a vocation to divine worship and to the service of the Church. Therefore these sacraments can never be repeated.

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

Deacons Share in Christ's Mission and Grace in a special way. 55 The Sacrament of Holy Orders marks them with an imprint (“character") which cannot be removed and which configures them to Christ, who made himself the "deacon" or servant of all. 56 Among other tasks, it is the task of deacons to assist the bishop and priests in the celebration of the divine mysteries, above all the Eucharist, in the distribution of Holy Communion, in assisting at and blessing marriages, in the proclamation of the Gospel and preaching, in presiding over funerals, and in dedicating themselves to the various ministries of charity. 57

Christ himself chose the apostles and gave them a Share in his Mission and authority. Raised to the Father's right hand, he has not forsaken his flock but he keeps it under his constant protection through the apostles, and guides it still through these same pastors who continue his work today. 61 Thus, it is Christ whose gift it is that some be apostles, others pastors. He continues to act through the bishops. 62

Jesus often draws apart to pray in solitude, on a mountain, preferably at night. 46 He includes all men in his Prayer, for he has taken on humanity in his incarnation, and he offers them to the Father when he offers himself. Jesus, the Word who has become flesh, Shares by his human prayer in all that "his brethren" experience; he sympathizes with their weaknesses in order to free them. 47 It was for this that the Father sent him. His words and works are the visible manifestation of his prayer in secret.

When we Share in God's saving Love, we understand that every need can become the object of petition. Christ, who assumed all things in order to redeem all things, is glorified by what we ask the Father in his name. 110 It is with this confidence that St. James and St. Paul exhort us to pray at all times. 111

The first Christian communities lived this form of fellowship intensely. 116 Thus the Apostle Paul gives them a Share in his ministry of preaching the Gospel 117 but also intercedes for them. 118 The intercession of Christians recognizes no boundaries: "for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions," for persecutors, for the salvation of those who reject the Gospel. 119

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

The witnesses who have preceded us into the Kingdom, 41 especially those whom the Church recognizes as saints, Share in the living Tradition of Prayer by the example of their lives, the transMission of their writings, and their prayer today. They contemplate God, praise him and constantly care for those whom they have left on earth. When they entered into the joy of their Master, they were "put in charge of many things." 42 Their intercession is their most exalted service to God's plan. We can and should ask them to intercede for us and for the whole world.

In the Communion of saints, many and varied spiritualities have been developed throughout the history of the Churches. the perSonal charism of some witnesses to God's Love for men has been handed on, like "the spirit" of Elijah to Elisha and John the Baptist, so that their followers may have a Share in this spirit. 43 A distinct spirituality can also arise at the point of convergence of liturgical and theological currents, bearing witness to the integration of the Faith into a particular human environment and its history. the different schools of Christian spirituality share in the living Tradition of Prayer and are essential guides for the Faithful. In their rich diversity they are refractions of the one pure light of the Holy Spirit.

Contemplative Prayer is silence, the "symbol of the world to come" 12 or "silent Love." 13 Words in this kind of prayer are not speeches; they are like kindling that feeds the fire of love. In this silence, unbearable to the "outer" man, the Father speaks to us his incarnate Word, who suffered, died, and rose; in this silence the Spirit of adoption enables us to Share in the prayer of Jesus.

The most common yet most hidden temptation is our lack of Faith. It expresses itself less by declared incredulity than by our actual preferences. When we begin to pray, a thousand labors or cares thought to be urgent vie for priority; once again, it is the moment of truth for the heart: what is its real Love? Sometimes we turn to the Lord as a last resort, but do we really believe he is? Sometimes we enlist the Lord as an ally, but our heart remains presumptuous. In each case, our lack of faith reveals that we do not yet Share in the disposition of a humble heart: "Apart from me, you can do nothing." 20

As a final stage in the purification of his Faith, Abraham, "who had received the promises," 13 is asked to sacrifice the Son God had given him. Abraham's faith does not weaken (“God himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering."), for he "considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead." 14 and so the Father of believers is conformed to the likeness of the Father who will not spare his own Son but wiLl deliver him up for us all. 15 Prayer restores man to God's likeness and enables him to Share in the power of God's Love that saves the multitude. 16

St. John Chrysostom vigorously recalls this: "Not to enable the poor to Share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. the goods we possess are not ours, but theirs." 238 "The demands of justice must be satisfied first of all; that which is already due in justice is not to be offered as a gift of charity": 239

The predicament of a man who, desiring to convert to the Gospel, is obliged to repudiate one or more wives with whom he has Shared years of conjugal life, is understandable. However polygamy is not in accord with the moral law." [Conjugal] Communion is radically contradicted by polygamy; this, in fact, directly negates the plan of God which was revealed from the beginning, because it is contrary to the equal perSonal dignity of men and women who in matrimony give themselves with a Love that is total and therefore unique and exclusive." 179 The Christian who has previously lived in polygamy has a grave duty in justice to honor the obligations contracted in regard to his former wives and his children.

As in the case of Baptism and Confirmation this Share in Christ's office is granted once for all. the Sacrament of Holy Orders, like the other two, confers an indelible spiritual character and cannot be repeated or conferred temporarily. 74

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

"Christian, recognize your dignity and, now that you Share in God's own nature, do not return to your former base condition by sinning. Remember who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Never forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of the Kingdom of God." 1

These differences belong to God's plan, who wills that each receive what he needs from others, and that those endowed with particular "talents" Share the benefits with those who need them. These differences encourage and often oblige perSons to practice generosity, kindness, and sharing of goods; they foster the mutual enrichment of cultures:

The children of our holy mother the Church rightly hope for the Grace of final perseverance and the recompense of God their Father for the good works accomplished with his grace in Communion with Jesus. 70 Keeping the same rule of life, believers Share the "blessed hope" of those whom the divine mercy gathers into the "holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." 71

In respecting religious liberty and the common good of all, Christians should seek recognition of Sundays and the Church's holy days as legal holidays. They have to give everyone a public example of Prayer, respect, and joy and defend their Traditions as a precious contribution to the spiritual life of society. If a country's legislation or other reaSons require work on Sunday, the day should nevertheless be lived as the day of our deliverance which lets us Share in this "festal gathering," this "assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven." 125

Called to give life, spouses Share in the creative power and Fatherhood of God. 153 "Married couples should regard it as their proper Mission to transmit human life and to educate their children; they should realize that they are thereby cooperating with the Love of God the Creator and are, in a certain sense, its interpreters. They will fulfill this duty with a sense of human and Christian responsibility." 154

"Our" bread is the "one" loaf for the "many." In the Beatitudes "poverty" is the virtue of sharing: it calls us to communicate and Share both material and spiritual goods, not by coercion but out of Love, so that the abundance of some may remedy the needs of others. 120

In a very special way, parents Share in the office of sanctifying "by leading a conjugal life in the Christian spirit and by seeing to the Christian education of their children." 435

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

In God's plan man and woman have the vocation of "subduing" the earth 248 as stewards of God. This sovereignty is not to be an arbitrary and destructive domination. God calls man and woman, made in the image of the Creator "who Loves everything that exists", 249 to Share in his providence toward other creatures; hence their responsibility for the world God has entrusted to them.

The Church, interpreting the symbolism of biblical language in an authentic way, in the light of the New Testament and Tradition, teaches that our first parents, Adam and Eve, were constituted in an original "state of holiness and justice". 250 This Grace of original holiness was "to Share in. . .divine life". 251

"At the heart of catechesis we find, in essence, a PerSon, the Person of Jesus of Nazareth, the only Son from the Father. . .who suffered and died for us and who now, after rising, is living with us forever." 13 To catechize is "to reveal in the Person of Christ the whole of God's eternal design reaching fulfilment in that Person. It is to seek to understand the meaning of Christ's actions and words and of the signs worked by him." 14 Catechesis aims at putting "people . . . in Communion . . . with Jesus Christ: only he can lead us to the Love of the Father in the Spirit and make us Share in the life of the Holy Trinity." 15

Whoever is called "to teach Christ" must first seek "the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus"; he must suffer "the loss of all things. . ." in order to "gain Christ and be found in him", and "to know him and the power of his Resurrection, and (to) Share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible (he) may attain the resurrection from the dead". 17

Many Jews and even certain Gentiles who Shared their hope recognized in Jesus the fundamental attributes of the messianic "Son of David", promised by God to Israel. 38 Jesus accepted his rightful title of Messiah, though with some reserve because it was understood by some of his contemporaries in too human a sense, as essentially political. 39

The Word became flesh to make us "partakers of the divine nature": 78 "For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into Communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God." 79 "For the Son of God became man so that we might become God." 80 "The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us Sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods." 81

The Gospels were written by men who were among the first to have the Faith 174 and wanted to Share it with others. Having known in faith who Jesus is, they could see and make others see the traces of his mystery in all his earthly life. From the swaddling clothes of his birth to the vinegar of his Passion and the shroud of his Resurrection, everything in Jesus' life was a sign of his mystery. 175 His deeds, miracles and words all revealed that "in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily." 176 His humanity appeared as "Sacrament", that is, the sign and instrument, of his divinity and of the salvation he brings: what was visible in his earthly life leads to the invisible mystery of his divine Sonship and redemptive Mission

Christ enables us to live in him all that he himself lived, and he lives it in us. "By his Incarnation, he, the Son of God, has in a certain way united himself with each man." 193 We are called only to become one with him, for he enables us as the members of his Body to Share in what he lived for us in his flesh as our model:

The flight into Egypt and the massacre of the innocents 217 make manifest the opposition of darkness to the light: "He came to his own home, and his own people received him not." 218 Christ's whole life was lived under the sign of persecution. His own Share it with him. 219 Jesus' departure from Egypt recalls the exodus and presents him as the definitive liberator of God's people. 220

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

The human body Shares in the dignity of "the image of God": it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human perSon that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit: 232

Of all visible creatures only man is "able to know and Love his creator". 219 He is "the only creature on earth that God has willed for himself", 220 and he alone is called to Share, by knowledge and love, in God's own life. It was for this end that he was created, and this is the fundamental reaSon for his dignity: What made you establish man in so great a dignity? Certainly the incalculable love by which you have looked on your creature in yourself! You are taken with love for her; for by love indeed you created her, by love you have given her a being capable of tasting your eternal Good. 221

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

"It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to make known the mystery of his will. His will was that men should have access to the Father, through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and thus become Sharers in the divine nature." 2

All the Faithful Share in understanding and handing on revealed truth. They have received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, who instructs them 53 and guides them into all truth. 54

Believing is possible only by Grace and the interior helps of the Holy Spirit. But it is no less true that believing is an authentically human act. Trusting in God and cleaving to the truths he has revealed is contrary neither to human freedom nor to human reaSon. Even in human relations it is not contrary to our dignity to believe what other persons tell us about themselves and their intentions, or to trust their promises (for example, when a man and a woman marry) to Share a Communion of life with one another. If this is so, still less is it contrary to our dignity to "yield by Faith the full subMission of... intellect and will to God who reveals", 26 and to share in an interior communion with him.

But St. John goes even further when he affirms that "God is Love": 44 God's very being is love. By sending his only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret: 45 God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to Share in that exchange.

The Trinity is One. We do not confess three Gods, but one God in three perSons, the "consubstantial Trinity". 83 The divine persons do not Share the one divinity among themselves but each of them is God whole and entire: "The Father is that which the Son is, the Son that which the Father is, the Father and the Son that which the Holy Spirit is, i.e. by nature one God." 84 In the words of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215), "Each of the persons is that supreme reality, viz., the divine substance, essence or nature." 85

We believe that God created the world according to his wisdom. 141 It is not the product of any necessity whatever, nor of blind fate or chance. We believe that it proceeds from God's free will; he wanted to make his creatures Share in his being, wisdom and goodness: "For you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created." 142 Therefore the Psalmist exclaims: "O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all"; and "The LORD is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made." 143 God creates "out of nothing"

Because God creates through wisdom, his creation is ordered: "You have arranged all things by measure and number and weight." 151 The universe, created in and by the eternal Word, the "image of the invisible God", is destined for and addressed to man, himself created in the "image of God" and called to a perSonal relationship with God. 152 Our human understanding, which Shares in the light of the divine intellect, can understand what God tells us by means of his creation, though not without great effort and only in a spirit of humility and respect before the Creator and his work. 153 Because creation comes forth from God's goodness, it shares in that goodness - "and God saw that it was good. . . very good" 154 - for God willed creation as a gift addressed to man, an inheritance destined for and entrusted to him. On many occasions the Church has had to defend the goodness of creation, including that of the physical world. 155

The profession of Faith of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) affirms that God "from the beginning of time made at once (simul) out of nothing both orders of creatures, the spiritual and the corporeal, that is, the angelic and the earthly, and then (deinde) the human creature, who as it were Shares in both orders, being composed of spirit and body." 187

"Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Gospel of God, and saying: 'The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe in the gospel.'" 246 "To carry out the will of the Father Christ inaugurated the kingdom of heaven on earth." 247 Now the Father's will is "to raise up men to Share in his own divine life". 248 He does this by gathering men around his Son Jesus Christ. This gathering is the Church, "on earth the seed and beginning of that kingdoms". 249

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

Finally, the People of God Shares in the royal office of Christ. He exercises his kingship by drawing all men to himself through his death and Resurrection. 211 Christ, King and Lord of the universe, made himself the servant of all, for he came "not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." 212 For the Christian, "to reign is to serve him," particularly when serving "the poor and the suffering, in whom the Church recognizes the image of her poor and suffering founder." 213 The People of God fulfills its royal dignity by a life in keeping with its vocation to serve with Christ.

From the beginning, Jesus associated his disciples with his own life, revealed the mystery of the Kingdom to them, and gave them a Share in his Mission, joy, and sufferings. 215 Jesus spoke of a still more intimate Communion between him and those who would follow him: "Abide in me, and I in you.... I am the vine, you are the branches." 216 and he proclaimed a mysterious and real communion between his own body and ours: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him." 217

The origin and purpose of Mission. the Lord's missionary mandate is ultimately grounded in the eternal Love of the Most Holy Trinity: "The Church on earth is by her nature missionary since, according to the plan of the Father, she has as her origin the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit." 341 The ultimate purpose of mission is none other than to make men Share in the Communion between the Father and the Son in their Spirit of love. 342

By her very Mission, "the Church . . . travels the same journey as all humanity and Shares the same earthly lot with the world: she is to be a leaven and, as it were, the soul of human society in its renewal by Christ and transformation into the family of God." 351 Missionary endeavor requires patience. It begins with the proclamation of the Gospel to peoples and groups who do not yet believe in Christ, 352 continues with the establishment of Christian communities that are "a sign of God's presence in the world," 353 and leads to the foundation of local churches. 354 It must involve a process of inculturation if the Gospel is to take flesh in each people's culture. 355 There will be times of defeat. "With regard to individuals, groups, and peoples it is only by degrees that [the Church] touches and penetrates them and so receives them into a fullness which is Catholic." 356

The whole Church is apostolic, in that she remains, through the successors of St. Peter and the other apostles, in Communion of Faith and life with her origin: and in that she is "sent out" into the whole world. All members of the Church Share in this Mission, though in various ways. "The Christian vocation is, of its nature, a vocation to the apostolate as well." Indeed, we call an apostolate "every activity of the Mystical Body" that aims "to spread the Kingdom of Christ over all the earth." 377

"The Christian Faithful are those who, inasmuch as they have been incorporated in Christ through Baptism, have been constituted as the people of God; for this reaSon, since they have become Sharers in Christ's priestly, prophetic, and royal office in their own manner, they are called to exercise the Mission which God has entrusted to the Church to fulfill in the world, in accord with the condition proper to each one." 385

The very differences which the Lord has willed to put between the members of his body serve its unity and Mission. For "in the Church there is diversity of ministry but unity of mission. To the apostles and their successors Christ has entrusted the office of teaching, sanctifying and governing in his name and by his power. But the laity are made to Share in the priestly, prophetical, and kingly office of Christ; they have therefore, in the Church and in the world, their own assignment in the mission of the whole People of God." 387 Finally, "from both groups [hierarchy and laity] there exist Christian Faithful who are consecrated to God in their own special manner and serve the salvific mission of the Church through the profession of the evangelical counsels." 388

"The individual bishops are the visible source and foundation of unity in their own particular Churches." 408 As such, they "exercise their pastoral office over the portion of the People of God assigned to them," 409 assisted by priests and deacons. But, as a member of the episcopal college, each bishop Shares in the concern for all the Churches. 410 The bishops exercise this care first "by ruling well their own Churches as portions of the universal Church," and so contributing "to the welfare of the whole Mystical Body, which, from another point of view, is a corporate body of Churches." 411 They extend it especially to the poor, 412 to those persecuted for the Faith, as well as to Missionaries who are working throughout the world.

Neighboring particular Churches who Share the same culture form ecclesiastical provinces or larger groupings called patriarchates or regions. 413 The bishops of these groupings can meet in synods or provincial councils. "In a like fashion, the episcopal conferences at the present time are in a position to contribute in many and fruitful ways to the concrete realization of the collegiate spirit." 414

In order to preserve the Church in the purity of the Faith handed on by the apostles, Christ who is the Truth willed to confer on her a Share in his own infallibility. By a "supernatural sense of faith" the People of God, under the guidance of the Church's living Magisterium, "unfailingly adheres to this faith." 417

"The holy People of God Shares also in Christ's prophetic office," above all in the supernatural sense of Faith that belongs to the whole People, lay and clergy, when it "unfailingly adheres to this faith . . . once for all delivered to the saints," 210 and when it deepens its understanding and becomes Christ's witness in the midst of this world.

On entering the People of God through Faith and Baptism, one receives a Share in this people's unique, priestly vocation: "Christ the Lord, high priest taken from among men, has made this new people 'a Kingdom of priests to God, his Father.' the baptized, by regeneration and the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are consecrated to be a spiritual house and a holy Priesthood." 209

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

From the beginning of his public life Jesus chose certain men, twelve in number, to be with him and to participate in his Mission. 280 He gives the Twelve a Share in his authority and 'sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal." 281 They remain associated for ever with Christ's kingdom, for through them he directs the Church:

On the threshold of the public life: the Baptism; on the threshold of the Passover: the Transfiguration. Jesus' baptism proclaimed "the mystery of the first regeneration", namely, our Baptism; the Transfiguration "is the Sacrament of the second regeneration": our own Resurrection. 300 From now on we Share in the Lord's Resurrection through the Spirit who acts in the sacraments of the Body of Christ. the Transfiguration gives us a foretaste of Christ's glorious coming, when he "will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body." 301 But it also recalls that "it is through many persecutions that we must enter the Kingdom of God": 302

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.

Jesus gave the supreme expression of his free offering of himself at the meal Shared with the twelve Apostles "on the night he was betrayed". 429 On the eve of his Passion, while still free, Jesus transformed this Last Supper with the apostles into the memorial of his voluntary offering to the Father for the salvation of men: "This is my body which is given for you." "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." 430

"The Gospel was preached even to the dead." 483 The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfilment. This is the last phase of Jesus' messianic Mission, a phase which is condensed in time but vast in its real significance: the spread of Christ's redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made Sharers in the redemption.

Christ's Resurrection was not a return to earthly life, as was the case with the raisings from the dead that he had performed before Easter: Jairus' daughter, the young man of Naim, Lazarus. These actions were miraculous events, but the perSons miraculously raised returned by Jesus' power to ordinary earthly life. At some particular moment they would die again. Christ's Resurrection is essentially different. In his risen body he passes from the state of death to another life beyond time and space. At Jesus' Resurrection his body is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit: he Shares the divine life in his glorious state, so that St. Paul can say that Christ is "the man of heaven". 511

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.

On that day, the Holy Trinity is fully revealed. Since that day, the Kingdom announced by Christ has been open to those who believe in him: in the humility of the flesh and in Faith, they already Share in the Communion of the Holy Trinity. By his coming, which never ceases, the Holy Spirit causes the world to enter into the "last days," the time of the Church, the Kingdom already inherited though not yet consummated.

The Mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit is brought to completion in the Church, which is the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit. This joint mission henceforth brings Christ's Faithful to Share in his Communion with the Father in the Holy Spirit. the Spirit prepares men and goes out to them with his Grace, in order to draw them to Christ. the Spirit manifests the risen Lord to them, recalls his word to them and opens their minds to the understanding of his Death and Resurrection. He makes present the mystery of Christ, supremely in the Eucharist, in order to reconcile them, to bring them into communion with God, that they may "bear much fruit." 132

"The eternal Father, in accordance with the utterly gratuitous and mysterious design of his wisdom and goodness, created the whole universe and chose to raise up men to Share in his own divine life," 150 to which he calls all men in his Son. "The Father . . . determined to call together in a holy Church those who should believe in Christ." 151 This "family of God" is gradually formed and takes shape during the stages of human history, in keeping with the Father's plan. In fact, "already present in figure at the beginning of the world, this Church was prepared in marvellous fashion in the history of the people of Israel and the old Advance. Established in this last age of the world and made manifest in the outpouring of the Spirit, it will be brought to glorious completion at the end of time." 152

"The term 'laity' is here understood to mean all the Faithful except those in Holy Orders and those who belong to a religious state approved by the Church. That is, the Faithful, who by Baptism are incorporated into Christ and integrated into the People of God, are made Sharers in their particular way in the priestly, prophetic, and kingly office of Christ, and have their own part to play in the Mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the World." 430