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PROLOGUE
“FATHER, . . . this is eternal life, that they may know you,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
1
“God our Savior desires all men to be saved and to come to
the knowledge of the truth.”
2
“There is no other name under
heaven given amongmen bywhichwemust be saved”
3
than
the name of
Jesus
.
I.
T
he
L
ife of
M
an
—T
o
K
now and
L
ove
G
od
1
God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of
sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own
blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God
draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to
love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered
and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To
accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his
Son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he in-
vites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and
thus heirs of his blessed life.
2
So that this call should resound throughout the world,
Christ sent forth the apostles he had chosen, commissioning them
to proclaim the gospel: “Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have
commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the
age.”
4
Strengthened by this mission, the apostles “went forth and
preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and
confirmed the message by the signs that attended it.”
5
3
Those who with God’s help have welcomed Christ’s call
and freely responded to it are urged on by love of Christ to
proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world. This treasure,
received from the apostles, has been faithfully guarded by their
successors. All Christ’s faithful are called to hand it on from gen
1
Jn
17:3.
2
1 Tim
2:3-4.
3
Acts
4:12.
4
Mt
28:18-20.
5
Mk
16:20.