MORAL LIFE 0F CHRISTIANS

63 Christ commissioned his apostles 10 teach the observance of everything that he had commanded (cf. MatI. 28, 20). Catechesis, therefore, must include not only those things which are to be believed, but also those things which are to be done.

The moral life of Christians, which is a way of adding that is worthy of a man and an adopted son of God, is a response to the duty of living and growing, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in the new life communicated through Jesus Christ.

The moral life of Christians is guided by the grace and gifts of the Holy Spirit. "The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Rom. 5, 5).

The docility with which the Holy Spirit must be obeyed entails a faithful observance of the commandments of God, the laws of the Church, and just civil laws.

Christian freedom still needs to be ruled and directed in the concrete circumstances of human life. Accordingly, the conscience of the faithful, even when informed by the virtue of prudence, must be subject to the Magislerium of the Church, whose duty ibis to explain the whole moral law authoritatively, in order that it may rightly and correctly express the objective moral order.

Further, the conscience itself of Christians must be taught that there are norms which are absolute, that is, which bind in every case and on ail people. That is why the saints confessed Christ through the practice of heroic virtues; indeed, the martyrs suffered even torture and death rather than deny Christ.