Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Profession of Faith 121 express the divine person of God’s Son. He has made the features of his human body his own, to the point that they can be venerat- ed when portrayed in a holy image, for the believer “who vener- ates the icon is venerating in it the person of the one depicted.” 115 The heart of the Incarnate Word 478 Jesus knew and loved us each and all during his life, his agony, and his Passion and gave himself up for each one of us: “The Son of God . . . loved me and gave himself for me.” 116 He has loved us all with a human heart. For this reason, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced by our sins and for our salvation, 117 “is quite rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that . . . love with which the divine Redeemer continually loves the eternal Father and all human beings” without exception. 118 IN BRIEF 479 At the time appointed byGod, the only Son of the Father, the eternal Word, that is, theWord and substantial Image of the Father, became incarnate; without losing his divine nature he has assumed human nature. 480 Jesus Christ is true God and true man, in the unity of his divine person; for this reason he is the one and only mediator between God and men. 481 Jesus Christ possesses two natures, one divine and the other human, not confused, but united in the one person of God’s Son. 482 Christ, being true God and true man, has a human intellect and will, perfectly attuned and subject to his divine intellect and divine will, which he has in com- mon with the Father and the Holy Spirit. 483 The Incarnation is therefore the mystery of the won- derful union of the divine and human natures in the one person of the Word. 115 Council of Nicaea II: DS 601. 116 Gal 2:20. 117 Cf. Jn 19:34. 118 Pius XII, encyclical, Haurietis aquas (1956): DS 3924; cf. DS 3812. 487 368 2669 766