Dignity
We are all jars of clay, fragile and poor, yet we carry within us an immense treasure.
§ 1700 The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God; it is fulfilled in his vocation to divine beatitude. It is essential to a human being freely to direct himself to this fulfillment. By his deliberate actions, the human person does, or does not, conform to the good promised by God and attested by moral conscience. Human beings make their own contribution to their interior growth; they make their whole sentient and spiritual lives into means of this growth. With the help of grace they grow in virtue, avoid sin, and if they sin they entrust themselves as did the prodigal son1 to the mercy of our Father in heaven. In this way they attain to the perfection of charity.
“God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them”: Gen 1:27. Man has inherent dignity because he is God’s image and likeness. Love for God goes at least back as far as God’s own Torah command to us: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might” Deut 6:5. With it is, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” Lev 19:18. Rabbi Yeshua raised this command much higher: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another” Jn 13:34.