1. Chapter One The Gift of Being Human

2. 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

3. Humans are Made in the Divine Image Genesis Account God created them Male and Female in his likeness and image. What does that mean? What does God look like?

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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

7. 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

8. Our Spiritual Nature What separates humans from other earthly creatures? Yet, we are not better/superior to the rest of creation Ability to think Free will Ability to love Responsible beings Capacity to grow Self-Awareness

9. 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

10. Principle 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 easily.” (Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World, 26) solidarity The Christian virtue of social charity and friendship

11. 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)

12. 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

13. Original Sin It is washed away by Baptism It is not a stain, but a condition. Babies are NOT stained dirty by original sin. It is a quality we have. No one is exclusively evil. We make wrong choices. We choose the absence of Good=evil. There is a way back to God.

14. 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

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