TRINITARIAN LOVE, THE ORIGIN AND GOAL OF THE HUMAN PERSON
34.
“The revelation in Christ of the mystery of God as Trinitarian love is at the same time the revelation of the vocation of the human person to love. This revelation sheds light on every aspect of the personal dignity and freedom of men and women, and on the depths of their social nature.”
“In the communion of love that is God, and in which the Three Divine Persons mutually love one another and are the One God, the human person is called to discover the origin and goal of his existence and of history.”
“Christian revelation shines a new light on the identity, the vocation and the ultimate destiny of the human person and the human race.”
36.
“The pages of the first book of Sacred Scripture, which describes the creation of man and woman in the image and likeness of God, contain a fundamental teaching with regard to the identity and the vocation of the human person.”
CHRISTIAN SALVATION: FOR ALL PEOPLE AND THE WHOLE PERSON
38.
“The salvation offered in its fullness to men in Jesus Christ by God the FAther’s initiative, and brought about and transmitted by the work of the Holy Spirit, is salvation for all people and of the whole person: it is universal and integral salvation. It concerns the human person in all his dimensions: personal and social, spiritual and corporeal, historical and transcendent.”
“The universality and integrality of the salvation wrought by Christ makes indissoluble the link between the relationship that the person is called to have with God and the responsibility he has towards his neighbor in the concrete circumstances of history.”
“This link finds a clear and precise expression in the teaching of Jesus Christ and is definitively confirmed by the supreme witness of the giving of his life, in obedience to the Father’s will and out of love for his brothers and sisters.”
“Inextricably linked in the human heart are the relationship with God –– recognized as Creator and Father, the source and fulfilment of life and of salvation –– and openness in concrete love towards man, who must be treated as another self, even if his is an enemy.”
“The inner transformation of the human person, in his being progressively conformed to Christ, is the necessary prerequisite for a real transformation of his relationships with others.”
“It is not possible to love one’s neighbor as oneself and to persevere in this conduct without the firm and constant determination to work for the good of all people and of each person, because we are all really responsible for everyone.”
“Even the relationship with the created universe and human activity aimed at tending it and transforming it, activity which is daily endangered by man’s pride and his inordinate self-love, must be purified and perfected by the cross and resurrection of Christ.”
“There is no state of conflict between God and man, but a relationship of love in which the world and the fruits of human activity in the world are objects of mutual gift between the Father and his children, and among the children themselves, in Christ Jesus; in Christ and thanks to him the world and man attain their authentic and inherent meaning.”
“The human person, in himself and in his vocation, transcends the limits of the created universe, of society and of history: his ultimate end is God himself, who has revealed himself to men in order to invite them and receive them into communion with himself.”
“The human person cannot and must not be manipulated by social, economic or political structures, because every person has the freedom to direct himself towards his ultimate end. On the other hand, every cultural, social, economic and political accomplishment, in which the social nature of the person and his activity of transforming the universe are brought about in history, must always be considered also in the context of its relative and provisional reality.”
