Chapter One
The Gift of Being Human
Act Human
Helps to help us be true to ourselves:
1. Everyone doesn’t have to like us.
2. It’s okay to make mistakes.
3. Other people are okay; so are you.
4. You don’t have to control everything.
5. We are responsible for how we feel and what we do.
6. It is important to try.
7. We are capable and can change. The same is true of
others.
8. We can be flexible.
Humans are Made in the
Divine Image
God freely
created
humans out
of love.
God is the
Creator; we
are not. We
are God’s
creatures.
Christian
beliefs
about
creation
We are
magnificent
creatures, the
summit of God’s
creative activity.
God has put
humans in charge
of the rest of
creation,
commanding us
to lovingly care
for and use it for
human
betterment.
Act Human
God makes us in the divine image
Humans are unique because God made us in
the divine image, enabling us to share in
God’s own life.

We are spiritual beings who possess
incomparable dignity, value, and worth.

We are made out of love, for love,
and to love.
Act Human?
God created us as complementary beings,
male and female:
Complementary – “making up what is
lacking in the other.”
The nature and purpose of
marriage comes from God – not
from civil law or the Church.
God made us equal in dignity
Humans are sexual beings and God
declares what he made, including his
sexual nature, is very good. We have
bodies and souls.
Act Human
Creation is Good
A philosophy that denies
there’s any meaning in
existence or in religious
beliefs. The only thing
that matters after life is
nothingness, annihilation
Nihilism
Human Dignity
Dignity is the quality of being worthy of
esteem or respect. Every human
person has worth and value
because each person
is made in God’s
image.
Inherent
means inborn
or inherited, something
that does not need to be earned
or acquired
Our Spiritual Nature
What separates humans from other
earthly creatures?
Ability to think
Free will
Ability to love
Responsible beings
Capacity to grow
Our Spiritual Nature
Free Will
“The power rooted in
reason and will [that
enables a person], to
perform deliberate actions
on one’s own
responsibility.
Our Spiritual Nature
Principle of Subsidiarity
subsidiarity
The principle of
Catholic social
teaching that holds
that a higher unit of
society should not
do what a lower unit
can do as well (or
better)
“Sum total of social
conditions that allows
people, either as
groups or as
individuals, to reach
their fulfillment more
fully and more
easily.” (Pastoral
Constitution of the
Church in the
Modern World, 26)
common good
solidarity
The Christian
virtue of social
charity and
friendship
The Social Nature of Humans
God made us social beings.
It is part of our human nature to live
in various societies.
Societies are groups that are bound by
a principle of unity that goes beyond
each individual in these communities
(e.g. families, neighborhoods, schools)
Humans are Wounded by Sin
Original Sin
The consequences of the sin of
our first parents; the hereditary
stain with which human beings
are born because of our origins
or descent from Adam and Eve
Humans are Wounded by Sin
Paschal
Mystery
God’s love and
salvation revealed
through the life,
passion, death,
resurrection, and
glorification
(ascension) of Jesus
Christ. The
sacraments, especially
the Eucharist,
celebrate this great
mystery of God’s love
Humans are Wounded by Sin
Page 40
Vocabulary
Nihilism
Dignity
Inherent
Free will
Subsidiarity
Common good
Solidarity
Original sin
Paschal mystery