Chapter One The Gift of Being Human

Act Human Helps to help us be true to ourselves: Everyone doesn’t have to like us. It’s okay to make mistakes. Other people are okay; so are you. You don’t have to control everything. We are responsible for how we feel and what we do. It is important to try. We are capable and can change. The same is true of others. We can be flexible.

Christian beliefs about creation Humans are Made in the Divine Image 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. God freely created humans out of love. God is the Creator; we are not. We are God’s creatures. Christian beliefs about creation

Act Human God 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 Human Creation 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

Our Spiritual Nature Free Will “The power rooted in reason and will [that enables a person], to perform deliberate actions on one’s own responsibility.

The Christian virtue of social charity and friendship Our Spiritual Nature Principle of Subsidiarity solidarity “Sum total of social conditions that allows people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily.” (Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World, 26) subsidiarity The Christian virtue of social charity and friendship 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

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 Sin Original 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 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 Paschal Mystery

Humans are Wounded by Sin Page 40

Vocabulary Nihilism Dignity Inherent Free will Subsidiarity Common good Solidarity Original sin Paschal mystery