The Christian vocation

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The Christian vocation
CARAVAGGIO The Calling of Saint
Matthew 1599-1600 Oil on canvas, 322 x 340
cm Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome

• 37

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Compendium of the Catechism

• 362. What is eternal happiness?
• 1720-17241727-1729
• It is the vision of God in eternal life in which
  we are fully partakers of the divine nature (2
  Peter 14), of the glory of Christ and of the joy
  of the trinitarian life. This happiness surpasses
  human capabilities. It is a supernatural and
  gratuitous gift of God just as is the grace which
  leads to it. This promised happiness confronts us
  with decisive moral choices concerning earthly
  goods and urges us to love God above all things. 

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Introduction

• The Catechism of the Catholic Church, when
  teaching about the commandments, opens with the
  beautiful title Life in Christ.
• When teaching about the Creed (first part), it
  describes the gifts given to man by God in
  creation and more abundantly still in his
  redemption.
• When teaching about the sacraments (second part)
  it shows how in the celebration of the mystery of
  Christ we receive Gods grace, which through
  baptism makes us participants in the divine
  nature and sons of God. After baptism a new life
  begins within us, life in Christ.

CARAVAGGIO The Calling of Saint Matthew (detail)
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Main ideas
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1. Christ reveals who man is

• The Second Vatican Council teaches that Christ
  fully reveals man to man himself and shows him
  the greatness of his vocation (Gaudium et Spes,
  22).
• Christ, the Son of God made man perfect man,
  sent by God the Father to save us and give us
  example, is like a mirror in which man can know
  who he is and what his divine vocation is.

Caravaggio (1571-1610) The Raising of Lazarus Oil
on canvas, 1608-1609 149 1/2 x 108 1/4 inches
(380 x 275 cm) Museo Nazionale, Messina
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2. The meaning of life and the vocation of man

• Man has been created by God and is the only
  creature on earth that God has loved for his own
  sake.
• The human person from the first instant of his
  conception, has been ordained to eternal
  beatitude. Man attains perfection, seeking and
  loving truth and goodness.
• We have been created by God, and the meaning of
  life consists in walking towards God so as to
  live forever with Him this is mans vocation.

LAURENT DE LA HIRE Moses and the Tablets of the
Law Private collection
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3. To live in accordance with ones vocation

• Man has to live according to the vocation to
  which he has been called by God he has to follow
  the moral law inscribed by God himself in the
  innermost part of his being, urging him to do
  good and to avoid evil.
• Everybody should follow this law, which speaks to
  his conscience, because this law is universal and
  immutable.
• Christians know the way to obtain eternal
  beatitude keep the commandments.

TERBRUGGHEN, Hendrick The Calling of St
Matthew 1621 Oil on canvas, 102 x 137 cm Centraal
Museum, Utrecht
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4. Mans freedom

• But man is free and, since our freedom is weak,
  man may obey or disobey Gods calling.
• Freedom is at the root of human acts, and that
  makes man responsible for his freely taken
  decisions.
• Although man by nature desires the good, because
  of original sin, human nature, in the exercise of
  freedom, is subject to error and inclined towards
  evil.
• So while we have to love and defend freedom, we
  also have to guide it so that it becomes the
  freedom that Christ won for us.

REGNAULT, Jean Baptiste 1784-95 Freedom or
death Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
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5. Mans vocation

• The death of Christ on the Cross has freed man
  from the devil and sin, and has won for all men
  new life in the Holy Spirit. By his grace,
  Christ has restored what sin had destroyed. He
  has traced the path that has to be followed by
  his disciples, so as to be united and identified
  with him. There is no other way.
• Through union with Christ one reaches the
  perfection of charity, the sanctity to which all
  men have been called.

FETI, Domenico (1589-1623) Moses before the
Burning Bush Oil on canvas, 1613-1614 66 1/8 x 44
inches (168 x 112 cm) Kunsthistorisches Museum,
Vienna
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6. The vocation of man to happiness

• Besides wanting us to be holy, God wants us to be
  happy even if, while as pilgrims in this world,
  we have to carry the cross, which is the
  condition of Christian existence.
• This paradox can be seen in the beatitudes, where
  Jesus teaches what the real goods are. We are
  heirs to the kingdom of God, and our true and
  complete happiness will be fulfilled in seeing
  God, and resting with Him.

MEYER, Conrad The Last JudgementPrivate
Collection
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7. Christ, beginning and goal of all life

• Christ, Lord of the cosmos and of history, is for
  men, the way, the truth and the life (John 14,
  6). Being God, he is the creator of the universe
  and sustains it with his powerful word. As man,
  he is the only redeemer of the world, because
  there is no other through whom we may be saved.
• If you know Christ you know everything, if you
  ignore Christ you know nothing
• In our times man has a special need to seek and
  find Christ
• "Christ is the hope of all men, because Christ is
  the love that loves, the path to walk on, the
  light to be kindled, the love worth been loved "
  (Mother Teresa of Calcutta).

DA FORLI, Merlozzo (1438-1494) Triumphant
Christ Fresco transferred to canvas,
1481-1483 Private collection
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Resolutions for Christian life
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Resolutions to move forward

• Meditate on the words of Saint Leo the Great
  Christian, acknowledge your dignity, and draw
  out its consequences for you personally.
• Study eagerly this course on catechesis, not just
  to know what living in Christ means, but also to
  put it into practice.
• Since most people ignore Christ, make a
  resolution to seek Christ, so as to know and love
  him.