Folia Theologica 19. (2008)

Hámori Antal: Human dignity in church Teaching

HUMAN DIGNITY IN CHURCH TEACHING

43

2. The desire for God and life in Christ

The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for: „The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator."14.15

Coming to see in the faith their new dignity, Christians are called to lead henceforth a life „worthy of the gospel of Christ."16 They are made capable of doing so by the grace of Christ and the gifts of his Spirit, which they receive through the sacraments and through prayer.17

It is by looking to Jesus Christ in faith that Christ's faithful can hope that he himself fulfills his promises in them, and that, by loving him with the same love with which he has loved them, they may perform works in keeping with their dignity.18

3. Providence

God is the sovereign master of his plan. But to carry it out he also makes use of his creatures' co-operation. This use is not a sign of weakness, but rather a token of almighty God's greatness and goodness. For God grants his creatures not only their existence, but also the dignity of acting on their own, of being causes and principles for each other, and thus of co-operating in the accomplishment of his plan.19

To human beings God even gives the power of freely sharing in his providence by entrusting them with the responsibility of „subduing"

14 GS 19.

15 CCC 27. See CCC 28-30; cf. Acts 17:26-28; Ps 105:3.

16 Cf. Phil 1:27.

17 CCC 1692; cf. Jn 1:12.

18 CCC 1698.

19 CCC 306.