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II A.3 Rallying with Christ in the Midst of the Sufferings in Life and in Death
(3.1) Man’s “Pilgrimage” on Earth – A Time of Grace, in Christ 102
The Church teaches that God created man or “willed” him to be a “human person” in the
grandeur of His image (Diary, # 1743). 103 He has a “single (human) nature” composed of a union
of an incorruptible “spiritual” soul, 104 as well as a corruptible physical body. 105 Man’s time on
earth is a time of inescapable suffering, grief, as well as death at the conclusion of it; 106 penalties
imposed by God’s justice for the Original Sin of man (CCC, 1018; Diary, # 1744). 107
But God desires humanity to Himself and He “wills everyone to be saved and to come to
the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4). xliii As Jesus also told Sr. Faustina, “I want to save them
all. On the Cross, the fountain of My mercy was opened wide by the lance for all souls – no one
have I excluded!” (Diary, # 1182). 108 Thus, by His obedience to the Father’s will; Christ, “the
Word made flesh to redeem flesh,” changed human history, as well as the scourge of Adam’s Sin
forever (CCC, 1015; Diary, # 1743).
“Unworthy…a beggar” he may be, the course of life of a Christian is a time of grace and
mercy, in Christ (Rom 5:12-21). 109xliv For by Baptism, man shares in the merits of Christ’s
suffering, death, and Resurrection; he dies with Him, but then rises up to a “newness of life” in
Him (Rom 6:4; Diary, # 391). 110xlv His “whole human person” is also graced as “a temple of the
102
Ibid., CCC,1013.
Ibid., CCC, 357, 362, 364, 369.
104
Ibid., CCC, 363, 366, 382.
105
Ibid., CCC, 362-363, 365, 997.
106
Ibid., CCC, 1013, 1018.
107
Ibid.,. Ott, Ludwig. Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma: Man’s Lapse from the Supernatural Order, 107.
108
Ibid., CCC, 355-356, 381, 1011.
109
Ibid., CCC, 1013; Faustina, Diary, # 294, 1743.
110
Ibid., CCC, 1010; Faustina, Diary, # 391.
103
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