THE ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS CHRIST
IS A CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP
Following Christ is the essential and
primordial foundation of Christian morality.
Jesus’ ways and words, his deeds
and his precepts constitute the moralrule of
Christian life (VS 20)
Beatitudes is a set of precepts that utterly
demonstrate the moral standards of our
Lord and at the same time resonate His call
to follow Him as His disciples.
The Church: Willed by God to Make
Possible the Encounter with Christ
The Church was instituted by Christ to
perpetuate His presence on earth. She
signifies in a visible, historical and tangible
form the presence and redeeming activity of
Christ offered to all persons of every age,
race and condition.
The Church wishes to serve this single end:
that each person may be able to find Christ,
in order that Christ may walk with each
person the path of life. (RH 13)
The Church has to remain deeply conscious
of her "duty in every age of examining the
signs of the times and interpreting them in
the light of the Gospel. (GS 4)
As the sacrament of salvation of all, not only
of the explicit members but also
those who share in the “theandric
communion without explicit
awareness of Christic foundation,”
The Church is mindful of her task to make
present every time, in every situation
the encounter between the spirit and
the flesh, God and mankind. Within
the unity of the Church, promoting and
preserving the faith and the moral life is the
task entrusted by Jesus to the Apostles, a
task which continues in the ministry of their
successors.
This is apparent from the living Tradition
whereby "the Church, in her teaching, life
and worship, perpetuates and hands
on to every generation all that she is and all
that she believes.” (VS 27)
The Church has faithfully preserved what
the word of God teaches, not only about
truths which must be believed but also
about moral action, an action pleasing to
God. (1 Thess. 4 :1)
Assisted by the Holy Spirit who leads her
into all the truth, the Church has not ceased,
nor can she ever cease, to contemplate the
"mystery of the Word Incarnate", in whom"
light is shed on the mystery of man.” (GS
22)