The love of God is the principle which heals sin and all its consequences, which were considered in chapter eighteen; it is the principle of the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus, which was considered in chapter twenty-two; it is the principle of all the virtues and precepts of the way of Jesus, which will be considered in chapter twenty-six; it is the principle which is nourished in us into eternal life by prayer and the sacraments, which will be considered in chapters twenty-nine through thirty-three; and it is the principle of the Church and her gospel, which will be considered in chapter thirty-five. The love of God which begins in the present life remains forever (see 1 Cor 13.13). More than anything else, this love unites our present Christian life with everlasting life. This unity will be the main subject of chapter thirty-four. Thus the present chapter is a key one.

Confusions about the make up of the Christian have often led to the supposition that something of humanity must be sacrificed for the sake of Christian life. However, the human and divine aspects of the Christian, being on diverse planes, remain distinct and uncommingled. There can be no conflict between them, and no need to limit or compromise either for the sake of the other. Hence, these grave confusions, which have contributed so much to the flourishing and power of secular humanism during the past hundred years, can be set aside definitively, and the complex but harmonious unity of the Christian and Christian life clarified, as Vatican II already begins to do (see LG 36; GS 22, 32, 38–39, 40, and 45; AA 7).

God wills that human persons share in the love which he himself is. By living faith Christians do this and are adopted children of God. This share in divine life does not replace human fulfillment in properly human goods. The relation in the Christian between the divine and human is analogous to their relation in Jesus. As in him, so in us, divine and human life are united but not commingled, distinct but not opposed.