The object of catechesis: communion with Jesus Christ

80. "The definitive aim of catechesis is to put people not only in touch, but also in communion and intimacy, with Jesus Christ". (²³⁶) All evangelizing activity is understood as promoting communion with Jesus Christ. Starting with the "initial" (²³⁷) conversion of a person to the Lord, moved by the Holy Spirit through the primary proclamation of the Gospel, catechesis seeks to solidify and mature this first adherence. It proposes to help those who have just converted "to know better this Jesus to whom he has entrusted himself: to know his 'mystery', the kingdom of God proclaimed by him, the requirements and comments contained in his Gospel message, and the paths that he has laid down for anyone who wishes to follow him". (²³⁸) Baptism, the sacrament by which "we are configured to Christ", (²³⁹) sustains this work of catechesis with the help of its grace.

81. Communion with Jesus Christ, by its own dynamic, leads the disciple to unite himself with everything with which Jesus Christ himself was profoundly united: with God his Father, who sent him into the world, and with the Holy Spirit, who impelled his mission; with the Church, his body, for which he gave himself up, with mankind and with his brothers whose lot he wished to share.