Catechism of the Catholic Church

	Help

Catechism of the Catholic Church

IntraText - Text

PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST
- SECTION ONE MAN'S VOCATION LIFE IN THE SPIRIT
  - CHAPTER ONE THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
    - Article 2 OUR VOCATION TO BEATITUDE
      - II. The Desire for Happiness

Previous - Next

II. The Desire for Happiness

1718 The Beatitudes respond to the natural desire for happiness. This desire is of divine origin: God has placed it in the human heart in order to draw man to the One who alone can fulfill it:

We all want to live happily; in the whole human race there is no one who does not assent to this proposition, even before it is fully articulated.¹³

How is it, then, that I seek you, Lord? Since in seeking you, my God, I seek a happy life, let me seek you so that my soul may live, for my body draws life from my soul and my soul draws life from you.¹⁴

God alone satisfies.¹⁵

1719 The Beatitudes reveal the goal of human existence, the ultimate end of human acts: God calls us to his own beatitude. This vocation is addressed to each individual personally, but also to the Church as a whole, the new people made up of those who have accepted the promise and live from it in faith.

13 St. Augustine, De moribus eccl. 1, 3, 4: PL 32,1312.

14 St. Augustine, Conf. 10, 20: PL 32, 791.

15 St. Thomas Aquinas, Expos. in symb. apost. I.

Previous - Next