Catechism of the Catholic Church

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God creates an ordered and good world

299 Because God creates through wisdom, his creation is ordered: "You have arranged all things by measure and number and weight." 151 The universe, created in and by the eternal Word, the "image of the invisible God", is destined for and addressed to man, himself created in the "image of God" and called to a personal relationship with God. 152 Our human understanding, which shares in the light of the divine intellect, can understand what God tells us by means of his creation, though not without great effort and only in a spirit of humility and respect before the Creator and his work. 153 Because creation comes forth from God's goodness, it shares in that goodness - "And God saw that it was good. . . very good" 154- for God willed creation as a gift addressed to man, an inheritance destined for and entrusted to him. On many occasions the Church has had to defend the goodness of creation, including that of the physical world. 155

Notes:

151 Wis 11:20.

152 Col 1:15, Gen 1:26.

153 Cf. Ps 19:2-5; Job 42:3.

154 Gen 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 31.

155 Cf. DS 286; 455-463; 800; 1333; 3002.

English Translation of the Cathechism of the Catholic Church for the United States of America © 1997, United States Catholic Conference, Inc.

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