Chapter OneThe Gift of Being Human

Helps to help us be true to ourselves:Helps to help us be true to ourselves:1. Everyone doesn’t have to like us.

2. It’s okay to make mistakes.

3. Other people are okay; so are you.

4. You don’t have to control everything.

5. We are responsible for how we feel and what we do.

6. It is important to try.

7. We are capable and can change. The same is true of others.

8. We can be flexible.

Act Human

Humans are Made in the Divine Image

Christian beliefs about

creation

God freely created

humans out of love.

God is the Creator; we are not. We are God’s creatures.

We are magnificent

creatures, the summit of God’s

creative activity. God has put

humans in charge of the rest of

creation, commanding us to lovingly care

for and use it for human

betterment.

Act HumanGod makes us in the divine image

Humans are unique because God made us in the divine image, enabling us to share in God’s own life. We are spiritual beings who possess incomparable dignity, value, and worth. We are made out of love, for love, and to love.

Act Human?God created us as complementary beings,

male and female:

Complementary – “making up what is lacking in the other.”

The nature and purpose of marriage comes from God – not from civil law or the Church.

God made us equal in dignity

Humans are sexual beings and God declares what he made, including his sexual nature, is very good. We have bodies and souls.

Act HumanCreation is Good Nihilism

A philosophy that denies there’s any meaning in existence or in religious beliefs. The only thing that matters after life is

nothingness, annihilation

Human Dignity Dignity is the quality of being worthy of

esteem or respect. Every human

person has worth and value

because each person

is made in God’s

image.

Inherent

means inborn

or inherited, something

that does not need to be earned

or acquired

Our Spiritual Nature

What separates humans from other earthly creatures?

Ability to think

Free will

Ability to love

Responsible beings

Capacity to grow

Free Will

“The power rooted in reason and will [that enables a person], to

perform deliberate actions on one’s own

responsibility.

Our Spiritual Nature

Our Spiritual NaturePrinciple of Subsidiarity

subsidiarity

The principle of Catholic social

teaching that holds that a higher unit of society should not

do what a lower unit can do as well (or

better) common good

“Sum total of social conditions that allows

people, either as groups or as

individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easil

y.” (Pastoral Constitution of the

Church in the Modern World, 26)

solidarity

The Christian virtue of social

charity and friendship

The Social Nature of Humans

God made us social beings.

It is part of our human nature to live in various societies.

Societies are groups that are bound by a principle of unity that goes beyond each individual in these communities (e.g. families, neighborhoods, schools)

Humans are Wounded by SinOriginal Sin

The consequences of the sin of our first parents; the hereditary stain with which human beings are born because of our origins or descent from Adam and Eve

Humans are Wounded by Sin

Paschal Mystery

God’s love and salvation revealed through the life, passion, death,

resurrection, and glorification

(ascension) of Jesus Christ. The

sacraments, especially the Eucharist,

celebrate this great mystery of God’s love

Humans are Wounded by Sin

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VocabularyNihilismDignityInherentFree willSubsidiarityCommon goodSolidarityOriginal sinPaschal mystery