Welcome to Gaia! ::

In our religious instruction to-day we come
to the doctrine of the end and aim of man. By aim is understood a
point which we strive to reach directly or indirectly. The marks
man aims at a target, the centre of which he strives to hit. Athletes
erect for themselves a pole and aim to climb to its highest point.

Man, too, in this world has an aim set for him which he should endeavor
to reach with all the powers of his mind and body. In
stead of the end and aim of man, we can also say the vocation of
man. For instance, everything created by God has a vocation, a
purpose. You will understand this better in regard to sensible
things. For instance, the sun is there to light the day, the moon
is there to illumine the night, flowers are there to gladden man
by the splendor of their colors or by their delicious perfume, the
birds are there to rejoice us with their sweet songs or to be useful
to us in other ways. Water quenches our thirst, it serves to wash,
to cook, to bleach, etc., and you may take any created thing you
like each one has its purpose, its vocation.

Now we spoke in the last religious instruction of the subordination
of created things, how man was above the animal, plants and
stones, and was, therefore, a more noble creature and must have a
nobler vocation. Regarding man s vocation the catechism says in
answer to the question: "For what purpose are we upon earth?"
"We are upon earth to know God, to love Him, to serve Him, and
thereby to attain heaven."

These four vocations of man stand together in the most intimate
union, because one proceeds from the other. Our first vocation,
then, is this : "to know God." We can learn to know some one :

1. By his exterior, that is to say, his person.

2. Interiorly, that is to say, by his character and disposition.

We learn to know some one personally if we see him several times,
and we learn to know his disposition and his character if we associate
with him for any length of time. Now, God being a pure
spirit and having no body, we can only learn to know Him by His
Being, his perfections. God has given to man powers of the soul,
reason and understanding wherewith he may learn to know Him.

Now what are the means by which we arrive at the knowledge of
God?

1. By observing created things, the visible world.

2. By minding the voice of conscience.

3. By revelation.

It is, therefore, the affair of every Christian to draw out, as it
were, the knowledge of God from three sources.
We are exhorted thereto by the holy Apostle Paul with these
words : "Be fruitful in every good work, and increase in the knowledge
of God." Now, when we know God in His infinite perfections
and in His boundless goodness, this knowledge of God leads us
first of all to the esteem and love of God. He who knows God and
His perfections well will esteem Him as the Supreme Good ; he will
have an ardent desire to please Him, and to be united with Him
forever; that is, to possess Him eternally.

Out of this ardent love and sacrifice to God there arises of itself
obedience towards God, for when we really love any one we gladly
and willingly fulfill his wishes. This cheerful fulfilling of the
divine will and laws, this unconditional subordination and subjection
of man s will to the will of God is called serving God.

Therefore the Apostle St. John says : "We thereby see that we
know God if we keep His commandments." And in another place
Holy Scripture says: "He who has my commandments and keeps
them, he it is that loveth me." To serve God, therefore, is to do
His holy will. But how should we serve God? Answer: Not
from servile fear, but from childlike love. We ought not to be
driven to serve God through fear of punishment, but from childlike
love. So as to encourage men to fulfil the divine will, God promises
them heaven, that is, to share with them that bliss which He Him
self enjoys. Therefore the catechism asks further: "But what
will happen to those who do not know God, who do not love Him
and serve Him?" The answer is : "God will cast them off forever."

The punishment of the wicked consists, therefore, in this, that they
are to be banished and rejected by God, and not only for a certain
length of time, but forever, so that from this condition of banishment
there is no deliverance. Therefore, you see, dear children, how
necessary it is to know God, to love Him and serve Him.

For this reason Jesus said to Martha, who was more anxious about
the household: "Thou art troubled about many things; only one
thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the better part."

One would think that all men would be reasonable enough to
perceive the necessity of knowing God, of loving Him and serving
Him, only this is not the case. If we look around us in the world
we shall find that many persons strive more eagerly after other things
than after the knowledge and love of God, namely, after the possession
of temporal goods and the satisfying of their sensual de
sires and inclinations. Such people are called children of the world,
and of their striving Holy Scripture says : "Everything that is in
the world is pride of the eye, pride of the flesh and the pomp of
life." I exhort you, children, not to be deluded by the example of
these worldly persons ! All the pleasures of this world cannot procure
for you a true and lasting satisfaction. True happiness is
found only in the knowledge, love and service of God, as well as in
union with God. Just observe closely the life of these worldly persons.
How they run and hunt after the possession of temporal
goods! How they worry night and day so as to become rich and
thereby obtain the means of enjoying themselves. And when they
have enjoyed all the pleasures which this world offers, what have
they left? Nothing. And if they had become possessed of all the
wealth and treasures of this earth, can they take the least thing
with them into eternity? Certainly not. But what care do these
worldly people take of their immortal souls? Absolutely none.
They never think about God; they do not pray to Him; they seldom
or never go to church ; they never listen to the Word of God ;
they are lukewarm about receiving the sacraments ; they go to
Confession and Holy Communion seldom or not at all. Briefly, all
spiritual life is dead within them. Their whole existence is nothing
but work; eating, drinking and sleeping. They resemble the five
foolish virgins, who wanted to light the bridegroom into the marriage,
and took lamps with them, but no oil. By the oil of the wise
virgins we understand the good works which we should practice,
the good example which we should let shine before our fellowmen.
But as the foolish virgins could not enter into the marriage, so also
will those persons be shut out from the vision of God and the
bliss of heaven, who their whole life long care only for their body
and temporal affairs, but do nothing for their soul and their eternal
welfare. The catechism asks further: "What must we do if we
wish to know God, to love and serve Him ?"
We should:

1. Believe everything that God has revealed.

2. Keep all the commandments God has commanded us to keep.

3. Make use of the means of grace God has ordained for our sal
vation.

The first requisite, then, is this: that we believe everything that
God has revealed, for faith alone teaches us what our aim and vocation i
s upon earth, and what awaits us in the next life. However,
faith without works (like a body without a soul) is dead. Consequently
our faith must bear fruit, and show itself in works. The
fruit of a lively faith is the fulfilling of the will of God obedience.
For that reason we must, secondly, keep the commandments which
God has commanded us to keep. Therefore, Jesus once spoke these
memorable words: "Not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but they who do the will of
my Father." Now as weak men we are incapable of keeping the
commandments of God by our own strength ; we need supernatural
assistance. Therefore, God comes to meet us with His graces.
Those who wish to receive them must make use of those means of
grace by which man is made a partaker in God s graces, namely,
the holy sacraments.

The catechism asks further : "How do we get a right knowledge
of the truths of divine faith, of the commandments, and of the means
of grace?" The answer says: "By Christian instruction." To instruct
means : To teach some one that which is useful and to make
known something which was not known before.

Christian instruction is the teaching and informing of a Christian
in all that which Jesus Himself taught and which He commanded
His Church to teach until the end of the world.

Now, the book which contains Christian instruction is called the
catechism. Catechism in a wider sense is a book in which any instruction
is given by question and answers. There can, therefore,
be a catechism on botany, entomology and so forth. Generally,
however, by a catechism we mean a book which contains the Chris
tian doctrine in questions and answers.

Of what, then, does the catechism treat?

It treats :

1. Of faith.

2. Of the commandments, and

3. Of the means of grace, namely, of the holy sacraments and
prayer.

Accordingly the catechism is divided into three parts, of which
the first contains the doctrines of faith, the second the doctrines of
morals, and the third the doctrines of the means of grace.