III. Moral Life and Missionary Witness
2044
The fidelity of the baptized is a primordial condition for the proclamation of
the Gospel and for the Church's mission in the world. In order that the message
of salvation can show the power of its truth and radiance before men, it must
be authenticated by the witness of the life of Christians. "The witness of
a Christian life and good works done in a supernatural spirit have great power
to draw men to the faith and to God."88
2045
Because they are members of the Body whose Head is Christ,89 Christians
contribute to building up the Church by the constancy of their convictions and
their moral lives. the Church increases, grows, and develops through the
holiness of her faithful, until "we all attain to the unity of the faith
and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of
the stature of the fullness of Christ."90
2046
By living with the mind of Christ, Christians hasten the coming of the Reign of
God, "a kingdom of justice, love, and peace."91 They do not,
for all that, abandon their earthly tasks; faithful to their master, they
fulfill them with uprightness, patience, and love.
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