358. What is the root of human dignity? (part 1)

358. What is the root of human dignity? (part 1)

(Comp 358) The dignity of the human person is rooted in his or her creation in the image and likeness of God. Endowed with a spiritual and immortal soul, intelligence and free will, the human person is ordered to God and called in soul and in body to eternal beatitude.

“In brief”

(CCC 1711) Endowed with a spiritual soul, with intellect and with free will, the human person is from his very conception ordered to God and destined for eternal beatitude. He pursues his perfection in "seeking and loving what is true and good" (GS 15 § 2). 

To deepen and explain

(CCC 1700) The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God (article 1); it is fulfilled in his vocation to divine beatitude (article 2). It is essential to a human being freely to direct himself to this fulfillment (article 3). By his deliberate actions (article 4), the human person does, or does not, conform to the good promised by God and attested by moral conscience (article 5). Human beings make their own contribution to their interior growth; they make their whole sentient and spiritual lives into means of this growth (article 6). With the help of grace they grow in virtue (article 7), avoid sin, and if they sin they entrust themselves as did the prodigal son (Lk 15:11-32) to the mercy of our Father in heaven (article 8). In this way they attain to the perfection of charity. (CCC 1701) "Christ,… in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, makes man fully manifest to himself and brings to light his exalted vocation" (GS 22). It is in Christ, "the image of the invisible God" (Col 1:15; cf. 2 Cor 4:4), that man has been created "in the image and likeness" of the Creator. It is in Christ, Redeemer and Savior, that the divine image, disfigured in man by the first sin, has been restored to its original beauty and ennobled by the grace of God (Cf. GS 22).  

Reflection

(CCC 1702) The divine image is present in every man. It shines forth in the communion of persons, in the likeness of the union of the divine persons among themselves (cf. Chapter two). (CCC 1703) Endowed with "a spiritual and immortal" soul (GS 14 § 2), the human person is "the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake" (GS 24 § 3). From his conception, he is destined for eternal beatitude. (CCC 1704) The human person participates in the light and power of the divine Spirit. By his reason, he is capable of understanding the order of things established by the Creator. By free will, he is capable of directing himself toward his true good. He finds his perfection "in seeking and loving what is true and good" (GS 15 § 2). (CCC 1705) By virtue of his soul and his spiritual powers of intellect and will, man is endowed with freedom, an "outstanding manifestation of the divine image" (GS 17). [IT CONTINUES]    

(The question: What is the root of human dignity?” continues)