Preparation for Adult Confirmation 2011: Class Four

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses.” (Acts 1:8)
Preparation for Adult Confirmation

Class Outline for May 14, 2011

IV. The Holy Spirit and the Universal Call to Holiness
– our Heavenly Father and Jesus both call us to holiness, to be perfect, but God does not tell us to do something and then not give us the power to do it

A. The Holy Spirit – the Lord, the Giver of Life

1. Who and What is the Holy Spirit?

(a) The Third Person of the Trinity

• Spirit of Love and Truth in Person who proceeds from and between the Father and the Son
• called “Holy” because He consecrates and sanctifies
• the Holy Spirit first gives us life, then through His grace, even though He is the last of the persons of the Trinity to be revealed, He is the first to awaken faith in us and to communicate to us the new life with and in God
• He is the Spirit of the New Covenant who, as promised by the Father, is poured out on mankind – the New Covenant is (i) a law of love because it makes us act out of the love infused by the Holy Spirit, rather than from fear; (ii) a law of grace, because it confers the strength of grace to act, by means of faith and the sacraments; and (iii) a law of freedom, because it sets us free from the ritual and juridical observances of the Old Law, inclines us to act spontaneously by the prompting of charity
• He is the Spirit of Truth, the Paraclete promised by Jesus to guide and protect His Church
• the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father in the name of the Son, and by the Son from the Father
• although the Holy Spirit was not poured out on mankind until Pentecost, He has been at work from the beginning, including speaking through the Prophets

(b) Titles of the Holy Spirit

• Lord, the Giver of Life
• Sanctifier
• Spirit of Truth, Spirit of Love
• Paraclete, a Greek word which means advocate, counselor, comforter

2. Symbols and Manifestations of the Holy Spirit or His presence

• water, which cleanses and both destroys and maintains life – water is sprinkled in Ezekiel and Psalms to purify God’s people; the water of Baptism, recalling the Flood and Red Sea, making us dead to sin and reborn to new life; and the living water that springs from the side of the Crucified Jesus
• fire, which transforms, purges, and purifies – the burning bush; fire on Mt. Sinai; column of fire at the exodus from Egypt; tongues as of fire descending at Pentecost
• dove – at the end of the Flood, a dove is released by Noah; at His Baptism, the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus like a dove, thereby anointing Him and consecrating Him in His humanity
• breath and wind – the word "Spirit" is from the Hebrew word ruah and the Latin word pneuma, which means breath, air, wind – at Creation, a mighty wind swept over the waters; God gave man life by breathing into him; Jesus breathed on the Apostles; at Pentecost, there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind
• cloud – reveals the presence of God in the Old Testament; a cloud overshadows the mountain of the Transfiguration; Jesus ascends to heaven on a cloud
• hands and fingers – the law is written on tablets of stone and human hearts by the finger of God; Jesus heals by laying on of hands; the Apostles and their successors confer the Sacraments by imposition of hands; the priest at Mass holds his hands over the bread and wine
• chrism (anointing oil) – a symbol of consecration, dedication to God, and sanctification

3. The Actions and Mission of the Holy Spirit

• the Spirit gives life and grace, including the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are permanent supernatural qualities that are given so that the faithful might bear the fruit of the Spirit
• as the Spirit of Love, He restores to the baptized the divine likeness that was lost through sin and gives them a rebirth into the Church – “Through the Holy Spirit we are restored to paradise, led back to the Kingdom of heaven, and adopted as children, given confidence to call God ‘Father’ and to share in Christ's grace, called children of light and given a share in eternal glory.” – St. Basil, De Spiritu Sanctu
• the Spirit acts to convince the world concerning sin
• the Spirit builds, animates, and sanctifies the Church – He inspired the human writers of the scriptures; He inspired the oral teachings (Tradition) of the Church; He guides and protects the Church from doctrinal error throughout history; He is the principal agent of the Church’s mission of evangelization
• the Spirit is communicated by Christ through the Sacraments
• the Holy Spirit is the agent of the Confirmation duty of the faithful to be a witness for Christ and to serve the Church in her mission

4. The Holy Spirit and Grace

• Jesus says to be holy and perfect, to be true to our being man and woman made in the image and likeness of God, as He originally intended, and so that we imperfect humans might be able to be perfect, He gives us the grace of the Holy Spirit
• justification by the grace of the Holy Spirit is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior person
• grace is the Spirit poured into our hearts – it is a form of divine favor, assistance, help, or power so that we are able to be or do or attain something
• all grace is completely gratuitous, a gift that is not earned by us or demanded as of right, but given to us by God as a matter of love and truth
• the types of graces include (i) sanctifying (or habitual) grace, which purifies and perfects the state of the soul and provides a stable and supernatural disposition to live in holiness and attain salvation; (ii) sacramental graces, the various gifts that are proper to the different sacraments; (iii) special graces, also called charisms; and (iv) actual grace, the transient everyday forms of help to act in a given situation
• the quintessential models of grace and righteousness are the Blessed Virgin Mary, full of grace, and Joseph

5. The Holy Spirit at the Annunciation and Pentecost

• fifty days after the Resurrection, at Pentecost, the glorified Jesus Christ poured out the Spirit in abundance and, on that day, the Holy Trinity is fully revealed
• the Church was born at Pentecost by virtue of her anointing by the Holy Spirit, and the mission of Jesus and of the Spirit became the mission of the Church
• what took place in Mary’s womb when the Holy Spirit came upon her at the Annunciation happens again at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descends upon the people and the Body of Christ comes into the world
• by His coming, which never ceases, the Holy Spirit causes the world to enter into the “last days,” the time of the Church, the Kingdom already inherited though not yet consummated

6. The Unforgiveable Sin – Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

• “I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” – Mt. 12:31-32
• God loves us and seeks our love in return, but love, by its very nature, is something that must be freely given and freely received
• God does not force His love or forgiveness on us, He does not save us against our will or without our consent – “He who made you without your participation does not justify you without your participation. He has made you without your knowledge; He justifies you if you will it.” – St. Augustine
• the gifts of God’s forgiveness and salvation, like any gift, must be actually accepted, if we refused to accept a gift, it is necessarily not received
• the refusal or failure to ask for or accept forgiveness for sin – whether out of obstinance, an erroneous belief that God lacks the power to forgive, or from a claim that one has a “right” to persist in sin – is to “blaspheme” the Holy Spirit, and such rejection of God and His forgiveness is, by its very nature, an unforgiveable sin
• if one refuses to be forgiven, he cannot be forgiven; if one fails to accept the salvation offered to him, he cannot be saved – “The inner rejection of the Holy Spirit is the rejection of the very source of life and holiness.” – Pope John Paul II
• God does not send anyone to Hell, which is eternal separation from God; rather, we choose it by our own will by not seeking or accepting His merciful love and forgiveness
• by dying in a state of mortal sin, which separates us from God, one necessarily chooses to be separate from God – to be with Him eternally in Heaven, we must affirmatively choose to return to Him and be restored to a state of grace

B. The Sacrament of Confirmation – the Outpouring of the Spirit as at Pentecost

1. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses.” - Acts 1:8

• The Sacrament of Confirmation is probably the least understood sacrament other than Anointing of the Sick, in part because of its breadth, such that its description is not easily reduced to a single phrase, as are the others, but this statement of Jesus from Acts comes as close to summing up Confirmation as we might find in scripture
• In the Sacrament of Confirmation, we receive the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit, as was promised by God the Father in the Old Testament (Jer. 31:31-34; Joel 3:1-5; Ez 36:25-28) and by Jesus in the Gospels (John 14:15-26, 15:26-27, 16:13-14), and as happened to the faithful at Pentecost (Acts 1:8-9, 2:1-33)
• In the Sacrament, by the visible outward sign of the laying on of hands, anointing, and the words, “be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit,” the recipient (confirmand) receives the invisible reality of the grace of the Holy Spirit in order to be sanctified and made perfect in love and truth, as our Father in heaven is perfect, including being a better servant and witness for the Son, and joining in the redemptive mission of Christ and His Church
• Confirmation completes what began at Baptism – making us complete Christians – uniting us more firmly to Christ and binding us more perfectly to the Church
• By Confirmation, instead of being merely passive members of the Church, we are called to actively participate in the redemptive mission of the Church to be a witness for Jesus. Instead of being merely concerned with our own personal welfare and salvation, we are concerned with the welfare and salvation of others, helping Jesus in the work of salvation

2. The Who of Confirmation

• the Holy Spirit – the Sanctifier and Paraclete promised to us by Jesus
• the bishop or priest acting in persona Christi
• the confirmand and sponsor
• the communion of the entire faithful of the Church

3. The Where of Confirmation

• in and by the Holy Catholic Church
• preferably in the Mass, although those in danger of death may be confirmed outside of the Mass

4. The When of Confirmation

• after Baptism, while the confirmand is still in a state of grace
• in the Western Latin Church, Confirmation is conferred after the age of discretion and after a period of catechetical preparation (children in danger of death should be confirmed even if not yet at the age of discretion)
• although Confirmation is received only once, it is not a one-time Sacrament, but is instead an everyday Sacrament – the graces received in Confirmation can and should be used in our everyday lives

5. The How of Confirmation – “the Holy Spirit has come upon you”

• the minister first extends his hands over the whole group of confirmands (imposition of hands) while invoking the outpouring of the Spirit with prayer
• the minister anoints the forehead of the confirmand with sacred chrism oil saying, “be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit,” while the sponsor lays his or her right hand on the right shoulder of the confirmand
• the rite is concluded with a sign of peace signifying ecclesial communion with the bishop and all the faithful
• a gift – any gift – is not completed and is totally useless unless it is accepted by the recipient and then actually used, so that for us to fully benefit from Confirmation, we must allow the Holy Spirit and gift of grace to come into our hearts and grow within us, and then utilize those graces in our everyday lives

6. The What of Confirmation – “you will receive power”

• In Confirmation, we receive power, that is, certain graces from the Holy Spirit, to help us participate in the mission of the Church to be a witness for Jesus. The recipient of Confirmation is given whatever power (grace) is needed in order to be an effective witness to others on behalf of Christ – the right tool for the job at hand.

(a) Sacramental Graces

• alters our very being in a fundamental way by imprinting on the soul an indelible spiritual seal and character, which marks us as belonging to Christ and perfecting us in the common priesthood of the faithful to profess faith in Christ publicly

(b) Sanctifying Graces

• an increase and deepening of sanctifying graces completing what began in Baptism and uniting the recipient more firmly to Christ
• provides the strength, fortitude, and perseverance that are necessary to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ – we are made “soldiers of Christ” in order to fulfill our duty of witnessing to and defending the Faith and fighting against evil
• the Spirit of Love and Truth dwells within us, even if we do not immediately perceive Him, planting graces in our heart which, if we nourish them, will grow and bear such fruit as to permit us to be perfect and do that which otherwise might be impossible to do on our own

(c) Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit (Is. 11:1-2)

• wisdom, counsel, knowledge, and understanding
• wisdom helps us to evaluate things properly; counsel helps us to solve moral problems and choose rightly; knowledge helps us to know truth and perfect our faith; and understanding gives us insight to grasp the truths of religion as far as is necessary
• fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord
• fortitude gives us strength and courage to persevere in the faith and do what is right even in the face of hardship; piety inspires us with a tender and filial confidence in God; and fear of the Lord, far from meaning making us afraid of God, helps us understand His greatness, so as fill us with a reverential awe and concern to avoid being unfaithful to Him
• the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit are specifically intended for the sanctification of the recipient – they are used by Isaiah to describe the Messiah, the Christ, and we too are anointed with them in a special way in Confirmation so as to be made a complete Christian
• these gifts bring the virtues to perfection and help us share in the life and nature of God

(d) The Gifts of the Holy Spirit in turn lead to the Twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23)

• charity, generosity, kindness, gentleness, and patience
• goodness, faithfulness, chastity, modesty, and self-control
• joy and peace
• the fruits of the Holy Spirit have the character of both qualities and acts, they are the effect of grace, but also give us a greater ability to do virtuous acts

(e) Actual Graces and Virtues

• grace presupposes nature, it does not replace it – grace builds on and works within our nature to heal, perfect, elevate, and transform it
• we should strive to do what we can, but whatever may be lacking in our own will or power, God will give by grace to those who ask – “God does not command what is impossible; but when He commands, He exhorts you to do what you can and to ask for what you cannot do” – St. Augustine
• actual grace is granted by God for the performance of specific salutary acts and is present and disappears with the action itself
• the Spirit of Truth and Love in Confirmation helps us to recognize and know the moral truths that God has written on our hearts and thereby properly form our consciences and overcome temptation to sin
• a virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good, and the graces of Confirmation strengthen us in living a virtuous life and thereby be a more perfect witness for Christ, including –
• the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love (charity) (1 Cor. 13:13)
• the cardinal virtues of prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice

(f) Examples of the Effects of Receiving the Holy Spirit in Confirmation

• after the arrest and Crucifixion of Jesus, the Apostles were afraid to go out in public, but after the Spirit descended upon them at Pentecost, they had the fortitude and perseverance to come out of hiding and immediately go out and loudly proclaim the Good News and even endure persecution and martyrdom
• prior to receiving the Holy Spirit, the Apostles and other disciples often struggled with understanding the teachings of Jesus, but afterward, they began for fully comprehend what He taught them so that they could faithfully preach the Gospel to the world
• by the power of the Spirit, the martyrs of the Church, like Saints Lawrence, Polycarp, Perpetua, and Felicity have been able to joyfully accept and endure the suffering of martyrdom for the sake of Christ
• with God, all things are possible and, with His grace, we can do that which otherwise would be very difficult or impossible for us to do on our own, including the power to –
• endure and withstand hardship, carry those crosses which are far too heavy for humans to carry, and accept suffering so as to transform it by the love and redemptive power of the Cross
• love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us
• forgive those who have committed “unforgiveable” and unspeakable crimes against us
• love our families, neighbors, and strangers as God loves, truly, perfectly, and fully, without conditions or the selfishness that stems from our fallen nature
• choose Christ, rather than the world, when we are pressured to do something which is contrary to the Faith or else suffer some sanction, such as the loss of a job

7. The Why of Confirmation – “you will be my witnesses”

• we receive the anointing and graces of Confirmation in order to fully become a “Christian” and be able to join in the mission of the Church to serve and witness for Christ
• to be a witness for Jesus means to (i) testify to the truth of the faith and (ii) to share the love of Christ with others

(a) Testifying to the Truth


• Testifying to the truth of the faith means, first, learning the deposit of faith and, secondly, spreading that Good News of Jesus Christ to the world – being a light of truth and love in a dark world and making disciples of all nations. (Mt. 28:19)

(b) The Commandments of Love – Summation of the Whole Law and Prophets (Mt. 22:36-40)

• You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind
• Jesus asks us for complete and total love, but He will accept a lesser love if that is all we think we can give, and He will offer us the grace to perfect that lesser love to a complete and total love
• You shall love your neighbor as yourself – as Jesus loves us, so too should we love one another
• love can be “commanded” by God because it has first been given to us by God – the commandment to love is no more than a command to be true to ourselves inasmuch as we are made to love and be loved in truth

(c) What is Love?
(i) Types of Love
• “Fundamentally, ‘love’ is a single reality, but with different dimensions; at different times, one or other dimension may emerge more clearly” – Pope Benedict, Deus Caritas Est, 8
• eros – a joyous, passionate, ascending, intimate kind of love, longing to be with the other
• philia – love between family, close friends
• agape (caritas) – unconditional, outward-looking, subordinate love that seeks the good of the other and is prepared and willing to sacrifice oneself for the other
• genuine (true) love is necessarily consistent with truth, including the truth of the other as a human person, and not that counterfeit “love” which seeks to possess, use and/or objectify the other

(ii) Perfect and Complete Love
• authentic, pure love involves the whole person, body and soul, and it embraces and transcends the whole of existence in each of its dimensions, including time and space
• God is Love and God is Truth, so the highest, truest, and most perfect and complete kind of love is God’s love – to love perfectly and truly, we must love as God loves
• God’s relationship with His chosen people, and Christ’s relationship with His Bride the Church, is repeatedly described in scripture in terms of betrothal and marriage, an elective, personal, monogamous eros-type of love
• God’s love for mankind, especially as shown by Christ on the Cross, is also described as the unconditional, gratuitous, and sacrificial love of agape (caritas) – “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends”
• mankind has given God little more than rejection and infidelity throughout history, and yet, He continues to love us fully, completely, and unconditionally – He refuses to stop loving us, even when we torture Him and murder Him
• “God loves, and His love may certainly be called eros, yet it is also totally agape” – Pope Benedict, Deus Caritas Est, 9
• God’s love is both (a) a purified and supremely ennobled eros, a joyous, wanting, ascending, passionate kind of love, even a spousal/conjugal kind of love, a communion of two become one that is both unitive and fruitful, and (b) agape (caritas), a conscious, everlasting, merciful, radically oblative gift of self
• genuine love is not merely a human sentiment, which comes and goes, or may not happen at all; rather, love is an action, it is a choice
• love in its truest and fullest sense is a conscious act of the will to subordinate yourself, and to unconditionally and selflessly seek the good and welfare of the other, including the gift of yourself for the other’s benefit, including the ultimate sacrifice of your life, whether or not the other “deserves” it, and without concern for what you may or may not receive in return, although there is great joy when it is reciprocated
• if we find that such complete love is difficult, if we cannot find the strength within ourselves to do this, then we must choose to ask God for help, we must ask for grace
• we most become like God, not by eating from the Tree of Knowledge, but by eating from the Tree of Love, and true happiness in love is paradoxical because it is obtained, not by seeking happiness for yourself, but by giving of yourself

(d) Love of God and Neighbor Necessarily Means Sharing with Them the Truth and Love of Christ

• it is part of God’s plan to depend on His people to help Him in the salvation of mankind – whether He is dwelling in the womb of Mary, growing up as a child, or now, Jesus has chosen to need our assistance in His redemptive mission, including building up the Church as the universal sacrament of salvation
• Jesus calls those in the Church to be His witnesses –
• to go out and testify to the Truth and proclaim the Good News
• to make disciples of all nations
• to be a light of truth and love to the world – the light does not come from us, but comes from Jesus and is reflected by us, and from the Holy Spirit which dwells within us
• Jesus promised us that, in being His witness, the world would hate us and persecute us, but that He would send the Spirit to give us strength, consolation, and perseverance
• Jesus calls us to be perfect in love and truth as our heavenly Father is perfect
• the most fundamental way to be a witness for Him is to love Him and love one another in truth as He has loved us

(e) Our Vocation to Beatitude – Life in the Spirit (Mt. 5:3-10)

• the Beatitudes are paradoxes, a transformation of worldly values, they bring hope and joy amidst affliction and hardship
• the Beatitudes are words of both promise and spiritual direction, indicating the way of conversion and reform of life – teaching how to love God and one another and thereby be a light of truth to the world
  
  (i) Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
  • the “poor in spirit” are not those who are spiritually deficient, but those who humbly are in need of God, who are detached from worldly things and rely on Him, unlike those who have no want or need for God
(ii) Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted

• those who “mourn” are sorrowful, they have compassion for, and therefore suffer with, others and, in comforting others, they receive comfort as well
(iii) Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth (the land)

• one who is “meek” is humble and, as with the descendents of Abraham, their inheritance is the promised land of a secure home in which to live and worship God in peace
(iv) Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied

• those who look for good, who seek true justice, will find it in Christ
(v) Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy

• to be forgiving and merciful to others is to show our love for the Lord who is Divine Mercy
(vi) Blessed are the pure of heart, for they will see God

• we see God with the eyes of the heart, not the eyes of the head – if we humbly seek Him, with love and truth in our heart, only then can we see and hear God
(vii) Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God

• those who help overcome enmity, especially with God, are reconciled to Him, such that, just as the Prince of Peace is the Son of God, so too are we allowed to be called children of God
(viii) Blessed are those persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

• in steadfastly keeping the faith and being one with the Crucified Christ, we will be one with Him in heaven
(ix) Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on account of Jesus, rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven

• Jesus invites us to follow Him, even to the Cross

(f) “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” – the only acceptable sacrifice is sacrifice of the human heart

• charity (love) for others includes being merciful – as the Crucified Jesus in His mercy loves us, so too should we love one another
• mercy is also an act of justice, giving others what they are due as children of God and doing unto others as we would have them do to us
• God, who is “rich in mercy,” wants us to receive His mercy and let it flow through us to others, He wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others just as He does to us
• the Church’s mission is a mission of mercy – “the Church cannot neglect the service of charity any more than she can neglect the Sacraments and the Word” – Pope Benedict XVI
• mercy is a virtue influencing one's will to have compassion for, and, if possible, to alleviate another's misfortune or misery (the Latin word miserere means “have mercy”)
  • the three ways of exercising mercy toward others is by deed, by word, and by prayer
• we should do works of mercy because even the strongest faith is of no use without works of love

The Corporal Works of Mercy (Mt. 25:31-46)

• feed the hungry
• give drink to the thirsty
• clothe the naked
• shelter the homeless
• visit the sick
• visit the imprisoned
• bury the dead

The Spiritual Works of Mercy

• counsel the doubtful
• instruct the ignorant
• admonish sinners
• comfort the afflicted
• forgive offenses
• bear wrongs patiently
• pray for the living and the dead

“Charity begins today. Today somebody is suffering, today somebody is in the street, today somebody is hungry. Our work is for today, yesterday has gone, tomorrow has not yet come—today, we have only today to make Jesus known, loved, served, fed, clothed, sheltered, etc. Today — do not to wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow might not come. Tomorrow we will not have them if we do not feed them today.”
– Blessed Mother Teresa

Jesus Christ - God Become Man

Adult Confirmation Class Three

Jesus Christ – God become man (CCC 422-682)

Just as the question of whether or not God exists is unavoidable, so too are the questions of who is Jesus? What is Jesus?

At His trial, Jesus was asked if He is the Messiah, the son of the Blessed One? In response, Jesus echoed the words of God in telling Moses His name, “I AM.” (Mk 14:53-64) On other occasions, Jesus similarly declared “I AM.” (e.g. Jn. 8:58)

With these words, there are only three possibilities -- either (1) Jesus was rightfully condemned as a criminal for committing blasphemy by wrongfully taking the Lord’s name in vain and equating Himself with God; (2) Jesus was delusional and insane, thereby mitigating His alleged blasphemy; or (3) He is, in fact, the “I am,” that is, God.

Faith informs us that Jesus is the Christ, which is Greek for “the anointed one,” the one anointed by God. Jesus is the Son of God – God Himself – the Word (Logos) made flesh through whom the world was made. He is not only God in a spiritual sense, He is God incarnate, God become man. Fully God, yet fully human, united in one. He is one divine person with two complete natures, both human and divine, and two wills, with fully human freedom. Like us in all ways except for sin. He is Emmanuel, meaning “God with us.” (Mt. 2:23) He is not merely a pleasant story, he is not merely a nice philosophical idea, but an actual historical event. He is God entering into time and taking tangible physical and bodily form. And, as fully man, Jesus knows fully our human pain, suffering, fear, anguish, and sadness.

Why did He do this? Because God is Love and God is Truth.

(a) Because He loves us, as the name Emmanuel suggests, He wanted to be “with us,” like us, and among us – not only at a single point in time, but always and forever.

(b) He wanted to teach us, to give us a deposit of faith, and be a Light for us -- the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

(c) He wanted to “save” us -- to redeem us and repair the rift. Indeed, the Greek name “Jesus” (Yeshua or Joshua in Hebrew) means “God saves.” As the Son, consubstantial with the Father, Jesus wanted to reconcile Fallen Man to God, to bridge the gap that man had created and reunite us. Jesus is the culmination of salvation history.

(d) He wanted to sanctify us, to make us sharers in His divinity. Jesus assumed our nature so that He, made man, might make men gods.

The Transfiguration, which gave the Apostles a glimpse of His glorification, shows that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.

And after fully revealing God’s love and truth, Jesus, the Son of God, gave us the grace of salvation and eternal life by becoming the spotless lamb who was sacrificed for sins, and whose blood would be sprinkled so that death would pass over, and we would be led from the bondage of sin and death to freedom and life. He is the innocent righteous man, the suffering servant, upon whom the Spirit of the Lord has descended, who is pierced for our iniquities, and who pays the ransom with His own life. By the transformative power of His love on the Cross and His resurrection, Jesus, the Son of Man, has defeated suffering and death and established His kingdom of salvation.

Because God transcends time and space, for Him specific points in time continue to exist forever. The Passion and Crucifixion were not isolated events in some distant past. Rather, His sacrifice is an on-going event. He is not crucified again and again, but is one sacrifice. He is perpetually being scourged, eternally on the Cross. Every sin of ours is another lash on His flesh, it is another pound of the hammer, driving nails deeper into His hands.

At the same time, to be one with Jesus means to be one with Him on the Cross. Although Jesus is fully man, and thus suffered greatly, He is also united with the Father of Love -- as He calls us all to be, and as we all can be -- and so that fully human and excruciating pain and suffering are transformed and overcome, and therefore made bearable. Through the Cross, even death is overcome, and He makes all things new. By uniting our sufferings with His, by offering them up to Him on the Cross, they obtain redemptive meaning. The martyrs could truly smile in joy amidst the flames and beasts that tore at their bodies because they too were one with Him, and so their agonies were transformed by love.

God’s plan for man does not stop at his redemption and salvation, that is, reconciling man to God, but continues toward our sanctification, that is, making men more like God. Jesus calls us to be holy and perfect in love and truth, just as His Father in heaven is perfect. He calls us to be true to the purpose for which we are made, to love and be loved in truth. To love God and love one another as Jesus has loved us, including extending forgiveness and mercy to others. And to help us attain that perfection, to help us love in truth, Jesus, promising to be with us always, to the end of the age, has established His Church and sent us His Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ and His Bride, the Church (CCC 748-962; 1113-1134)

Jesus said that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, that no one could come to the Father except through Him. (Jn. 11:25-26; 14:6) Jesus not only taught, He established the Church as His Holy Bride, two become one, and He gave us the sacraments, which are administered by the Church, so as to help us come to the Father and be redeemed and sanctified.

Man was created as a social creature, intended to exist in relationship, not in solitude. Thus, Christ also established the Church so that we might fulfill our purpose of being in communion with each other, as well as Him. To be one with Jesus means to be one with the one holy Church, which is also the Body of Christ. Accordingly, we see that Jesus Christ and the Church are absolutely necessary for salvation.

In establishing the Church, from the Greek word Kyriake, meaning “what belongs to the Lord,” which is also called an ecclesia in Latin, “an assembly set apart,” Jesus called certain men as apostles, from the Greek for “emissary.” To the Apostle Peter, who was the first Pope, Jesus gave a special supreme authority. The original Apostles later appointed successors, whom we know today as bishops, and assistants, such as priests, who have the authority and power of teaching and administering the sacraments in persona Christi. Each bishop is the spiritual shepherd for a specific area, which is called a diocese, and he in turn delegates certain authority to pastors over a smaller area, which is called a parish.

The Eucharist

Before ascending to heaven, Jesus said that He would be with us always, to the end of the age. In the most obvious sense, Jesus is with us in the Eucharist. (Lk 22:19-20; Jn 6:48-58) The Eucharist is the source (beginning) and summit (end) of the Faith, inasmuch as this Blessed Sacrament is the Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Jesus, even though under the appearance of bread and wine. In the Eucharist, the substance is transformed, that is to say, the fundamental basis of its being. This genuine transformation is called transubstantiation. As described by Pope Benedict, Christ takes possession of the bread and the wine, and He lifts them up out of the setting of their normal existence into a new order. Even if, from a purely physical point of view, they remain the same, they have become profoundly different.

Through the Eucharist in the one Mass, according to His Word, Jesus is with us, not merely spiritually or theoretically or as a philosophy, but physically, such that we, as bodily creatures who experience things through our senses, can be united with Him bodily as well as spiritually.

In a profoundly intimate way, we take His glorified Body and Blood into our bodies. The encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist is not the encounter of a friend or a mentor or a teacher. It is a parental and spousal encounter. It is because the Eucharist is the Real Presence that such an encounter is the most intimate of intimate touchings. The person literally takes Christ within him- or herself both bodily and spiritually, so as to become one with Him in a mystical fashion, as in marriage, which also involves entering into another bodily and spiritually so as to become one in a communion of persons (unitive) and so as to receive life (procreative).

Only in this way is the totality of our person, body and spirit, able to be one with Him, Body and Spirit, fully and completely. Again, because we are creatures of both spirit and body, to receive Him in the entirety of our person, it is essential that we also experience the Body and Blood of Christ, which can be received only at Mass, in addition to His Spirit, which can be experienced at home. In this way, the Eucharist can truly be called Holy Communion.

The consecration of the bread and wine at Mass to become the Blessed Sacrament is not a re-sacrificing of Jesus. There is only One Mass, and there is only One Sacrifice, which is re-presented, that is, presented again. Remember, God transcends time and space, so that, not only does He extend across our concept of linear time, but for Him, specific points in time continue to exist forever. Thus, the Passion and Crucifixion were not isolated events in some distant past. Rather, His sacrifice is an on-going event. He is not crucified again and again, but is one sacrifice. He is perpetually being scourged, eternally on the Cross. In the Mass, in some mystical but true way, we transcend space and time and are made present at the Last Supper, we are made present at the foot of the Cross. And because we partake of His glorified Resurrected Body and Blood, so too are we made present at the Resurrection, and made One with He who rose to eternal life.
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Preparation for Adult Confirmation - Class Three (Part Two)

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses.” (Acts 1:8)

Class Outline for May 11, 2011

III. The Holy Catholic Church – the Universal Sacrament of Salvation
-– the sign and instrument both of the reconciliation and communion of all of humanity with God and of the unity of the entire human race
--the English word “church” is derived from the German word "kirche," which in turn is derived from the Greek word “kyriake,” meaning “what belongs to the Lord,” which is also called an “ecclesia” in Latin, “an assembly set apart”

A. The Church – Children of the Father, Body of Christ the Son, Temple of the Spirit

1. The Christian Faithful – People of God, Family of God

• the origin of the People of God is the Heavenly Father, and it is His plan to save and sanctify men and women, not in isolation, but as part of a people that are gathered together, in their diversity and multiplicity, by the unity of the Trinity
• they participate in Christ's priestly office insofar as the baptized are consecrated by the Holy Spirit to offer spiritual sacrifices
• they share in Christ’s prophetic office when with a supernatural sense of faith they adhere unfailingly to that faith and deepen their understanding and witness to it
• they share in his kingly office by means of service, imitating Jesus Christ who as King of the universe made himself the servant of all

2. The Body of Christ

• the faithful united to Christ by the Holy Spirit form one Body, the Church, which lives from Him, in Him and for Him
• Christ and His Bride the Church are one, making up the “Christus totus” (whole Christ)
• the mystery of the nuptial union of Christ and the Church is both unitive and fruitful – two different persons, yet one in the conjugal union
• to be one with the nuptial union of Christ and His Bride is to one with that everlasting loving communion
• Jesus, the Head of the Body, calls other parts of His Body to perform different roles

3. The Holy Spirit Makes the Church the Temple of the Living God

• the Holy Spirit inspires and sanctifies the Church – “What the soul is to the human body, the Holy Spirit is to the members of Christ, that is, the Body of Christ, which is the Church.” - St. Augustine
• the Holy Spirit builds up the Church in charity, by the Word of God, the sacraments, the virtues, and charisms (special graces which benefit the Church)
• the Spirit confers different kinds of spiritual gifts for the various parts of the Body, including both the hierarchy and the lay faithful

B. The Four Marks of the Church – One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic
– these four characteristics are inseparably linked to each other and they indicate essential features of the Church and her mission

1. The Church is One – One God, One Truth, One Church, One Faith

• the Church is one because of her source in and communion with the Trinity
• visible bonds of communion of the Church on earth include (a) profession of one faith received from the Apostles, (b) common celebration of worship, especially the Sacraments, (c) apostolic succession through the sacrament of Holy Orders and under the leadership of the Pope, as successor of Peter, to whom Jesus entrusted the pastoral care of the Church
• schisms, divisions, and dissensions have wounded this unity of Christ’s Body
• while elements of sanctification and truth may be found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church, the one Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church governed by the Successor of Peter and the bishops in communion with him

2. The Church is Holy

• Christ gave Himself up for the Church, so as to sanctify her, joining her to Himself as His Body and endowing her with the gift of the Holy Spirit
• the Holy Spirit inspires the Church (gives her life) with charity, guiding and protecting her, and it is the Holy Spirit who is the principal agent of the Church’s mission
• it is in the Holy Church, by the grace of God, that we acquire holiness and salvation – each of us is called to be holy and perfect in love and truth, just as God is perfect
• the pilgrim Church on earth is endowed with a sanctity that is real, even though individual members are imperfect sinners ever in need of conversion and purification

3. The Church is Catholic (Universal)

• the Church is universal, existing as a communion of the faithful both horizontally across the world and throughout time and vertically with God, the angels, and saints in heaven, and the faithful in purgatory
• the Church is universal because Christ is present in her and because she has been sent out by Him on a mission of love to proclaim the truth of the Good News to the whole world
• particular local churches (dioceses) under the care of a bishop as their shepherd are fully catholic (universal) through their being in communion and accord with the Church of Rome, whose bishop is the Pope

4. The Church is Apostolic

• the word “apostle” is from the Greek for delegate, envoy, or emissary
• the Church was and is built on the foundation of the Apostles – Jesus Himself is the Father’s emissary
• the original Apostles took care to appoint successors and assistants, who are today’s bishops and their priests and deacons, so that the Church and her divine mission would continue to the end of time
• the apostolic ministry of the Church is a continuation of the mission of Jesus
• Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, which dwells in the Church, to guide, teach, and sanctify the Apostles and their successors

5. The Structure of the Pilgrim Church

• in calling certain men to be Apostles and giving them special authority, together with special charisms of the Holy Spirit, Jesus established a certain structure for His Church, with a diversity of ministry, but unity of mission
• to the Apostles and their successors, Christ entrusted the office of teaching, sanctifying and governing in His name and by His power
• the essential nature of ecclesial ministry is humble service
• individual bishops exercise their pastoral office as shepherds of that portion of the People of God assigned to them, such as a diocese
• Jesus named Peter the rock of His Church and instituted him as shepherd of the entire flock, and the Pope, as his successor, shares that primacy and pastoral office of Peter
• the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church
• the Magisterium, the authoritative teaching office of the Church, is guided and protected by the Holy Spirit, and it includes authoritative interpretation of Divine Revelation, defining dogmas, discernment of moral truth, and assistance in the formation of the individual consciences of the faithful
• Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium are so closely united with each other that one of them cannot stand without the others
• the task of the Magisterium is to preserve God's people from deviations and defections and guarantee them the objective possibility of professing the true faith without error
• the Pope possesses the charism of infallibility when he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals, acting either in virtue of his office as Supreme Pontiff, or together with the college of bishops in union with him, especially in an Ecumenical Council
• in the exercise of his magisterial authority, the Pope is not free to simply impose his opinion or personal preferences, but is necessarily bound by and to love and truth
• even when not making a formally infallible pronouncement, the teachings of the Magisterium should be given our religious assent as presumptively true
• as successors of Peter and the other Apostles endowed with the Spirit, the Pope and his fellow bishops are owed our respect, harmony, Christian obedience in charity
• Jesus established the Church: It is His Church, not ours – we are not free to reinvent it or the faith in the way that we would prefer it to be

6. There is No Salvation Outside the Church

• Jesus Christ is the one mediator and redeemer of mankind – no one can be saved by his or her own efforts and no one can be saved except by the Crucified and Risen One through His Body, the Church
• the fullness of grace and truth, including the fullness of the means of salvation, was entrusted by Jesus to Peter and the other Apostles, their successors, and the faithful who make up the Catholic Church
• there are some who, through no fault of their own, are separate from the One Church – such non-Christians and Christians not in communion with the Catholic Church might still be saved in God’s infinite mercy, but lacking the fullness of truth, it is more difficult and any such salvation is nevertheless by Jesus through the Catholic Church
• God wills the salvation of everyone through the knowledge of the truth and those who obey the prompting of the Spirit of truth are already on the way of salvation
• mere membership in the Catholic Church does not guarantee salvation – one who does not persevere in charity or take advantage of the benefit of the graces of the Sacraments is not saved, one must have Jesus in his or her heart, not merely in the head or on the lips

7. Vocations – the Universal Call to Holiness

• a vocation (from the Latin vocare, to call) is a particular state of life or occupation to which one is especially drawn or called
• we are each called by God to a life of holiness, a common vocation to love God and love one another
• there are two specific ways to realize, in its entirety, the vocation to love – either marriage or the religious life, e.g. the priesthood or religious brother or religious sister (nun)
• in the Sacrament of Confirmation, our vocation is to be a complete Christian, to be an active participant in the mission of the Church to be a witness for Jesus to the world

C. Liturgy and the Sacraments Generally

1. Liturgy – Public Worship and Celebration of the Mysteries of the Lord

• the entire Holy Trinity is at work in the liturgy – the Father is the source and the Son acts through the power of the Holy Spirit
• liturgy is an action of the entire Church – God, angels, and all the faithful on earth and in heaven
• the liturgy is celebrated particularly in making present Christ’s paschal mystery in the Mass
• it is the whole Christ, as High Priest, who acts in the liturgy, with the bishops and priests acting in persona Christi
• liturgy includes the Word, prayer, signs, symbols, and the Sacraments

2. The Paschal Mystery in the Sacraments of the Church

• a Sacrament is (i) an outward visible sign (ii) instituted by Christ (iii) to convey the invisible reality of sacramental and sanctifying grace, so that we might be redeemed and sanctified
• the “outward sign” is composed of the matter (e.g. water) and form (words) together with the right and proper intention of the minister, that is, celebrated in accordance with the intention of the Church
• since we are bodily creatures who experience and come to know things through our bodily senses, the Sacraments offer us a way for us to know the reality of being provided certain graces
• In his Theology of the Body, in a catechesis on the creation of mankind in the Book of Genesis, Pope John Paul II said of marriage, “there is constituted a primordial sacrament, understood as a sign that transmits effectively in the visible world the invisible mystery hidden in God from time immemorial. And this is the mystery of Truth and Love, the mystery of divine life, in which man really participates. In the history of man, it is original innocence which begins this participation and it is also a source of original happiness. The sacrament, as a visible sign, is constituted with man, as a "body," by means of his "visible" masculinity and femininity. The body, in fact, and it alone, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine. It was created to transfer into the visible reality of the world the mystery hidden since time immemorial in God, and thus be a sign of it.” (February 20, 1980)
• the Sacraments were instituted by Jesus and entrusted to the Church, which has the authority to confer them or withhold them
• it is Christ who acts in the Sacraments through the Holy Spirit
• by virtue of the saving work of Christ, the Sacraments are efficacious ex opere operato – they convey the particular grace by the very fact that the sacramental action is performed
• because it is Christ who is acting, the efficacy of the Sacraments does not depend upon the personal holiness of the minister
• “sacramental grace” is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament
• the recipient must necessarily have the right disposition to receive the graces to be conferred
• Baptism and Confession/Penance give sanctifying grace
• the other Sacraments increase sanctifying graces in our souls, such that one must already be in a state of grace (rather than a state of sin) to receive them
• additional ceremonies or actions are used in the rites in order to increase our reverence and devotion for the Sacraments and to explain their meaning and effects
• the seven sacraments include --
• the Sacraments of Christian Initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist)
• the Sacraments of Healing (Confession/Penance and Anointing of the Sick)
• the Sacraments at the Service of Communion and Mission (Matrimony and Holy Orders)
• just as Abraham was marked by circumcision with the sign of the covenant, so too is the soul of the recipient of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders marked with a permanent, indelible seal, so as to configure him or her to Christ and the Church, such that these Sacraments cannot be repeated

D. The Seven Sacraments

1. Baptism – Passage through the Water from Death to Life
• in Baptism, one is immersed into the death of Christ, so as to rise again with Him
• the water of Baptism is sanctified by Jesus and the Cross
• Baptism by water in the name of the Triune God gives us sanctifying grace, so that the stains of Original Sin and individual sin are wiped away
• in Baptism, by water and through the Spirit, we are reborn as children of God and thereby initiated into the communion of the Church
• the ordinary ministers of Baptism are the bishop, priest, or deacon, although any person can baptize in case of necessity, provided he or she has the intention of doing what the Church does


2. Confirmation – Consecrated and Sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit


• brings an increase and deepening of sanctifying grace so as to join us to the mission of the Church and thereby complete what was begun in Baptism
• in being anointed with chrism oil, sanctified by Jesus and the Cross, the recipient is joined more intimately with the Christ, which means “anointed one”
• in Confirmation, we receive the power of the Holy Spirit to be witnesses for Christ in love and truth, including the strength and perseverance to go out and spread the Good News and even endure persecution
• the original minister of Confirmation is the bishop, as a successor of the Apostles, but if authorized by him, a priest may also confer the Sacrament


3. The Eucharist – the Blessed Sacrament


• before ascending to heaven, Jesus said that He would be with us always, to the end of the age – in the fullest and most obvious sense, Jesus is with us in the Eucharist, which is His Real Presence, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity
• in the Eucharist, we have not only spiritual communion with Jesus, as we might praying at home, we have full communion with Him in the totality of our being, body and soul
• reception of Holy Communion is both unitive and fruitful/procreative, that is, in the profoundly intimate encounter with Jesus that is the Eucharist, we are joined in a mystical fashion so as to become one in a communion of persons and to receive life
• the ministers of the Eucharist are the bishop and priest
• the power and authority of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion is limited to assisting in the distribution of the Eucharist


4. Penance/Confession/Reconciliation


• while Baptism cleanses us of Original Sin, it does not abolish the weakness of our impaired human nature nor our inclination to personal sin
• through a sacramental confession, by the Crucifixion and Resurrection, we are absolved of our individual sins and reconciled to God
• the penitent should first make a careful examination of conscience and, to be a “good” confession, one must confess all serious and grave sins (because they would be mortal if not so confessed), and there must be an interior penance, that is, a contrite heart and determination to avoid further sin
• in addition to expressing contrition, the penitent is obligated to perform the acts of penance given to him or her
• in addition to absolution, grace is given, if we accept it, to avoid further sin
• the ministers of Penance are a bishop or priest, although the forgiveness of certain grave sins that incur excommunication may be reserved to the Pope or particular bishop (except in case of imminent death)


5. Anointing of the Sick


• Jesus healed many who were sick, as did Peter and the other Apostles
• anointing of the forehead and palms of the sick with chrism oil is a sacrament of healing, if not physically, then spiritually, including the forgiveness of sins if the recipient is not able to make a sacramental confession
• a special grace is conferred which unites the sick person more intimately to the Passion of Christ
• the Sacrament prepares us for the final journey in order to join God in heaven, offering us comfort, peace, and courage
• the ministers of the Anointing of the Sick are the bishop and priest


6. Matrimony – as it was “in the beginning” and the blessing of Jesus at Cana


• Marriage is the primordial sacrament – "All the sacraments of the new covenant find in a certain sense their prototype in marriage" – Pope John Paul II
• the entirety of Salvation History can be seen as a kind of spousal relationship between God and mankind
• at the Creation, God said that it is not good for Man to be alone
• Man, male and female, is not merely a social creature, but a spousal creature made in the image of the Triune God, who is a loving communion of persons in one being
• God made us to love and be loved and, in creating man and woman for each other, He gave us the ability to share in His creative power, telling us to be fruitful and multiply
• in Matrimony, a man and woman are two made one in a communion of persons by Christ through the power of the Spirit of Love, and spouses should love each other as Christ loves the Church
• the Sacrament is conferred upon the giving of matrimonial consent, that is, when a man and a woman manifest the will to give themselves to each other irrevocably in order to live a covenant of faithful and fruitful love
• such matrimonial consent is sealed by God, and the Sacrament establishes a perpetual and exclusive bond between the spouses
• this communion of persons in marriage is not only unitive, such that it is indissoluble, but fruitful and procreative, just as the love between Christ and His Bride, the Church, is unitive, fruitful, and procreative
• a special grace is conferred to give the husband and wife the ability to maintain their union in accord with the original divine plan, even in the face of threats to the unity and fruitfulness of marriage
• the ministers of Matrimony are the man and woman to be married, with the priest receiving that consent in the name of the Church and giving her blessing to the union


7. Holy Orders


• those who do not marry are still, by human nature, called to love in communion and, if we are not called to marry, we may be called to follow Christ, who is the fullness of Love
• Holy Orders is the sacrament through which the mission entrusted by Christ to His apostles continues to be exercised in the Church until the end of time, and the Church is passed on to the generations throughout time
• some men may be called to follow Jesus in the ministerial priesthood, in which the one priesthood of Jesus Christ is made present, while other men and some women may be called to the religious or consecrated life
• the Sacrament is conferred by the laying on of hands, anointing with chrism oil, and the consecratory prayer proper to each grade of the Sacrament: deacon, priest, or bishop
• anointing by the Spirit in ordination to the priesthood seals a baptized and confirmed man with an indelible, spiritual character that configures him to Christ the Bridegroom of the Church and Christ the High Priest, enabling him to act in His name (in persona Christi), especially in the Sacraments
• the Sacrament of Holy Orders makes one an alter Christus - just as Jesus is espoused to the His Bride the Church, so too is the priest, in a sense, “married” to the Church
• episcopal ordination of a bishop as a successor of the Apostles confers the fullness of the Sacrament on him, including the offices of teaching, sanctifying, and ruling
• the minister of Holy Orders is the bishop

E. Sacramentals and Forms of Popular Piety


1. Sacramentals


• sacred signs instituted by the Church to sanctify different circumstances of life, including
• blessings, which are the praise of God and a prayer to obtain his gifts
• the consecration of persons
• the dedication of things for the worship of God
• sacramentals always include a prayer, often accompanied by a physical sign, such as the sign of the cross, laying on of hands, or sprinkling water


2. Forms of Popular Piety


• expression of the religious sense of the Christian people in various forms of devotion which accompany the sacramental life of the Church
• such forms of piety include the rosary and other Marian devotions, stations of the cross, veneration of relics, visits to sanctuaries, pilgrimages, and processions
• these expressions of piety extend the liturgical life of the Church, but do not replace it

F. Prayer – a Personal and Living Relationship with God
– prayer is our response to God’s revealing of Himself to us – our ongoing friendship with God requires ongoing communication with Him
– a dialogue, not a monologue – we must allow God to speak to us also
– the ultimate aim of prayer should be love and fidelity to God


1. Types of Prayer


• blessing and adoration – we bless God for having blessed us and we pay homage to He who made us
• thanksgiving and praise – showing gratitude and giving glory to God for His own sake, sharing in the blessed happiness of the pure of heart
• petition and intercession – entreating God for assistance for ourselves or others on earth or in purgatory, often extemporaneously and, if made in humility, is already a turning back to Him
• may include asking others, such as saints in heaven, to intercede on our behalf
• the Eucharist contains and expresses all forms of prayer


2. Expressions of Prayer


• vocal – prayer with words, both aloud and interior, personal or communal
• written and traditional prayer allows one to pray in communion with the whole Church
• the model vocal prayer is the one Jesus taught us – the Our Father
• meditation – a fairly active engagement of thought, imagination, emotion, and desire to discern and respond to what God is saying to us
• contemplative – a fairly passive communion with the Holy Trinity and gaze of faith, fixed on the Lord, illuminating and purifying the heart
• we pray with the entirety of our being, but it is most important to involve our heart in prayer


3. Sources of Prayer


• God Himself – Jesus’ prayer on the Cross, “I thirst,” reminds us that we thirst for God and that God also thirsts for us
• sacred scripture and spiritual reading
• Liturgy of the Hours, the official daily prayer of the Church
• Lectio Divina
• the liturgy, which proclaims, makes present and communicates the mystery of salvation
• the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love
• everyday situations

G. The Church in History


1. Persecutions of the Church – the On-Going Trial and Passion of Christ


• the testimony of witnesses who have spread the Good News throughout history, especially during the early Church
• testimony of Apostles and disciples who personally saw the Risen Christ, most of whom were killed, including St. Peter, the first pope, who was crucified in Rome and was the first of many martyred popes, and Paul, who was beheaded in Rome
• testimony of other witnesses in the history of the Church who likewise submitted to tortures and death during various persecutions
• the Greek word for “witness” is “martyr”
• “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church” – Tertullian
• If they were not certain that Jesus existed, and that He was the Christ, why would they submit to tortures and death?


2. The Spread of Christianity, Followed by New Challenges


• Roman persecutions ended with the legalization of Christianity by the Edict of Milan by the Emperor Constantine in A.D. 313
• the Christian faith flourished and the Church spread throughout the Mediterranean and much of Europe
• following the death of Mohammed in 632, Muslim armies conquered Christian lands in the Middle East and Northern Africa before passing into Europe and marching midway into France, where they were turned back in 732 by Charles Martel
• after the Great Schism split Christendom in two, Muslim armies increased their siege of Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Church, and in response to a request for assistance, Pope Urban II in 1095 called what has been called the first Crusade, additional crusades were held over the next few hundred years
• military conflict existed between Christendom and Islam from the 7th century until the 17th century, when the forces of the Ottoman Empire were defeated in the Battle of Vienna


3. Theological Issues within the Church


• various disputes and heresies arose concerning such matters as application of the Jewish Law, the person and nature of Jesus Christ, etc., and ecumenical councils of bishops were held to definitively resolve these questions, e.g. Councils of Nicea and Constantinople
• sometimes disputes led to schism, such as the Great Schism, which split the Church between East and West in 1054
• in compiling the New Testament, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Church discerned which of various writings were, in fact, authentically apostolic and inspired, and which were spurious and false
• the canon of the Bible was formalized in the Vulgate produced by St. Jerome under the direction of Pope Damasus I at the end of the 4th century, and the Vulgate Bible was affirmed in the Council of Trent (1545-1563) as the sole, authorized Latin text of the Bible
• in about the early 16th century, some rejected the authority of the Pope and the Catholic Church, including denying the sacraments, Tradition, and the Magisterium, resulting in another major split in the Church, the Protestant Reformation
• the Council of Trent was held in response to the Protestant Reformation

Preparation for Adult Confirmation - Class Three (Part One)

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses.” (Acts 1:8)

Class Outline for May 11, 2011

II. Jesus Christ – Redeemer of Mankind – Complete Revelation of God

A. Existence and Nature of Jesus - Who and What is Jesus?

1. Tried for blasphemy – “I AM”

• guilty as charged, not guilty by reason of insanity, fictional character, or Son of God?

2. The Word (Logos)

• “Emmanuel,” God with us
• only begotten Son of God, consubstantial with the Father, through whom all things were made
• fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets
• Light of the World, Bread of Life
• the Way, the Truth, and the Life
• Judge of the living and the dead

3. Fully God and Fully Human

• God incarnate, God become man – one divine person with two complete natures, both human and divine, and two wills
• like us in all ways except for sin, with fully human freedom, frailties, and limitations
• the Son of God became a man to sanctify us, to make us partakers of His divine nature; that is, Jesus assumed our nature so that He, made man, might make men gods

4. Savior of the World

• “Jesus,” Yeshua, God saves
• the Messiah King, the “Christ,” anointed one
• Son of Man
• the Suffering Servant
• the Lamb of God, sacrificed in atonement for sin, reconciles mankind with God

B. The Life and Ministry of Jesus – Healer, Teacher, and Testifier to the Truth

1. Early Life of Jesus

• adoration of shepherds and Epiphany
• circumcision and presentation in the Temple
• slaughter of innocents, flight into Egypt, and departure out of Egypt
• teaching in the Temple
• hidden family life in Nazareth

2. Signs, Miracles, and Healings

• bearing witness to who He is and to the fact that the Kingdom of God is present within Him

3. Master Teacher

• utilizes different methods
• teaching on a variety of topics, including --
• testifying to Truth and to Love
• revealing who God the Father is, revealing who He is, revealing who the Holy Spirit is
• revealing who we are as human persons
• instructing us how to pray and how to serve God
• revealing the Kingdom of God, of heaven, of the last things
• giving us assurance and trustworthy hope to overcome all hardship
• commanding us to love God and love one another, to be perfect in love and truth, just as our heavenly Father is perfect, including giving of ourselves and being merciful

C. The Cross and Resurrection – the Paschal Mystery and the Transformative Power of Love

1. Perpetually Crucified, Eternally Resurrected

• the Crucifixion and Resurrection stand at the crossroads and center of human history
• God transcends time and space, so that specific points in human time, including the Crucifixion and Resurrection, continue to exist forever in His "present"
• the Passion of Jesus is an on-going event, He is eternally being scourged and crucified
• sin is a reality in the world, with real consequences – in the Passion and Crucifixion of Jesus, the truth of that reality and those consequences are made manifest in His flesh
• we are the ones who crucify Him - every sin of ours is another lash on His flesh, another pound of the hammer driving nails into His hands and feet
• through the Cross, by His eternal, on-going Resurrection, He “makes all things new”

2. The Lamb of God, Who Takes Away the Sins of the World

• Jesus is Divine Mercy, who gives His life in forgiveness of mankind
• Jesus freely offers His life as an expiatory sacrifice, that is, He makes reparation for our sins out of love for God and mankind, so as to reconcile them and repair the rift that had been caused by man’s infidelity and rejection of God
• rather than conferring forgiveness by simply denying the reality of sin or pretending that it did not happen, and ignoring its consequences, Jesus freely offers His life as a sacrifice in justice and witness to the truth of the real and destructive effects of sin in the world
• by sin, we are held captive to sin and death, by the Cross, Jesus pays our ransom
• Jesus takes the sins of mankind upon Himself, not merely taking them upon Himself spiritually, much less philosophically, but He takes the sins of mankind upon Himself in the totality of His being, that is, upon His Body as well
• the spotless Passover Lamb, who is sacrificed by the high priests for the sins of the people, and who blood is sprinkled so that death would pass over, and we would be lead from the bondage of sin and death to freedom and life

3. The Compassion of Jesus

• Jesus offers Himself as ransom and accepts death on the Cross out of love for us
• as fully man, with all the frailties of humanity, Jesus, God Himself, profoundly knows what it means to suffer horrible pain, fear, and anguish – as such, He suffers with us (com-passion) in all of our own individual hardships
• His joining in our human suffering allows us to join in His suffering, thereby to give meaning to our suffering and to join in His redemptive purpose, our agonies can be transformed and overcome

4. The Destruction of Death and Restoration of Our Life

• the Resurrection is the crowning truth of the Faith
• the Resurrection is the work of the Trinity – Father manifesting His power, Son taking up again the life which He freely offered, and the Holy Spirit bringing that life and glorification
• Love is stronger than death
• death could not be destroyed by simply avoiding it, death could only be destroyed by descending into it and transforming it
• in His resurrected and glorified Body, Jesus carries the wounds of His Passion and Crucifixion

D. The Eucharist – Source and Summit of the Faith

1. Real and Substantial Presence

• Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ
• transubstantiation – genuine transformation of the whole fundamental substance of bread and wine into the substance of His actual flesh and blood, while still remaining under the appearance of bread and wine
• instituted to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross, and be a memorial of His death and Resurrection
• recalls the unleavened bread of the Passover meal
• rightly called “Eucharist,” from the Greek for “thanksgiving”
• Blessed Sacrament, Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper
• recalling the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, Jesus is fully present in each part even in the breaking of the bread

2. Fullness of Communion

• intimately receiving Him in the entirety of our being, body and spirit
• unites us to His Glorified Resurrected Body and Blood
• as in His Incarnation, when Jesus united Himself with humanity, the Eucharist unites God to man and His Creation by utilizing bread and wine, materials that are taken from the earth, but into which man has put a part of himself in his labors by changing grain and grape to bread and wine
• a sign of unity – communion, joining as one with Him in the entirety of our being, joins us in communion with all the faithful on earth and in purgatory and the saints in heaven

3. One Mass, One Sacrifice

• Crucifixion and Resurrection transcend time, such that those moments continue in perpetuity
• in the Eucharistic sacrifice in the Mass, Christ is not sacrificed again and again, rather, the Crucifixion and Resurrection are re-presented, that is, made present again
• At Mass, the bread and wine are consecrated and transubstantiation is brought about in the Eucharistic prayer through the efficacy of the word of Jesus and by the action of the Holy Spirit
• bread and wine are made Body and Blood in the same manner as the creation of the universe, when God said “Let there be light” – by the Breath and Word of God

4. The Fruits of Holy Communion

• the Eucharist is “the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live forever in Jesus Christ” (St. Ignatius of Antioch)
• reception of the Eucharist preserves and renews the life of grace and makes us grow in love of neighbor while strengthening us in charity, wiping away venial sin, and giving grace to live a virtuous and holy life

E. Christ the Bridegroom and His Bride, the Church

1. Jesus Established the Church

• Jesus promised that He would be with us always, until the end of the age
• Jesus established the Church as His Holy Bride, two become one
• being one with Her Bridegroom Christ, the Church is also the Body of Christ
• to be in communion with the Church is to be one with Christ
• the word “church” is derived from the Greek word “kyriake,” meaning “what belongs to the Lord,” which is also called an “ecclesia” in Latin, “an assembly set apart”
• Jesus called His Apostles – the word “Apostle” is from the Greek for “emissary”
• the Apostles given special authority and power to act in persona Christi
• authority to teach
• authority to confer the Sacraments
• to build up and govern the Church
• the Apostle Peter, the first pope, was given a special supreme authority

2. Mission of the Church - Jesus Calls All His Disciples to be His Witnesses

• Jesus said to love God and love others as He has loved us
• Jesus has instructed us to go and make disciples of all nations
• the mission of the Church is to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world
• to testify to truth and to love
• to serve Him and help Him in the reconciliation of man with God and the salvation of mankind
• all of the faithful, the people of God who make up the Church, are called by Jesus to be a light to the world

3. Jesus Promises to Send the Holy Spirit

• the institution of a New Covenant, with an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, had been announced by the prophets Jeremiah and Joel
• Jesus fulfilled the scriptures in promising to send the Holy Spirit to the Church and faithful
• to guide and protect the Church
• to sanctify and make men and women more like God
• to confer the grace and power to be holy and perfect in love and truth, as God is perfect
• Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount that we should be perfect, just as our heavenly Father is perfect

Mankind: Creation, Fall, and the Long Process of Salvation History

Adult Catechism Class Two
Saturday, May 7, 2011

I. The Existence and Nature of Man and the Meaning of Life (CCC 355-384)

If questions about God are unavoidable, so too are the questions: Where does mankind come from and why do we exist?

Just as observation and reason allow us to come to the conclusion that the universe was made by a Creator, so also do observation and reason allow us to conclude that life on earth, especially human beings, were also the fruits of a Creator's thoughts and actions. But, as with the universe generally, written revelation and faith enlightens our reason to an even greater degree, so that we can know not only where man came from, but why he exists in the first place. For those who have no use for God, the meaning of man's existence has only confounded and confused, leaving them all too often in existential angst and nihilistic despair. For those who accept revelation and faith -- the truth has set them free.

Revelation informs us that, in Love and in Truth, God created “man,” male and female, in His image. Man is a created being; he is not self-actualizing, he did not create himself. He is not accidental, and he is not the product of spontaneous animation of matter. We were and are created by a thought of God; each of us is willed by Him as an act of love. Man exists, man lives, only because God the Ultimate Life has breathed into the body of man (Genesis 2:7), thereby giving him life by His own Holy Spirit. This also shows also that man was created not merely as a physical entity, like a stone, and not merely as a spiritual being, like the angels; rather, God created us with a unified soul-infused body, which comprises one nature of spirit and matter, transcendent and temporal. To be made in the image of God also means that we are persons with an inherent dignity, not things, and that we are possessed with sentience and free will, as well as the capacity for reason and for love.

Man is naturally drawn toward God -- even if he does not realize it or argues against it -- because man is naturally drawn toward love and truth, and this love and truth that man seeks has a name, they are a person -- God. Now, although love is naturally fruitful, God did not have to create the universe or human beings. He was not forced or compelled to do so out of some narcissistic need to be worshiped. Rather, He chose to create the universe and humanity. God is complete in and of Himself, in need of nothing outside Himself. As the “I am,” the Logos, God is the only necessary being – we humans are entirely contingent upon Him.

Our bodies (male and female) reveal that God made us, like Him, to be social and relational beings who are equal and complementary, beings who are meant to need each other and exist both in general society and in a specific loving communion of persons. That is, “man” as an individual, is incomplete. We are in need of an “other” to complete and fulfill us.

This truth is further explained by scripture, which presents us with a “theology of the body.” Genesis (1:26-28) informs us that “God created Man in his image; in the divine image He created him; male and female He created them.” To be made in God’s image means to be made in the image of truth and love. As demonstrated in the Trinity, this love is not merely relational, but spousal in nature, that is, a love that draws the individual toward a communion of persons. By the words, “He created him; male and female He created them,” we see that there was an original unity of male and female, man and woman; that they are designed to be complementary and intended for each other in equal dignity.

In another account of the same truth, (Gen. 2:18-25) describes how God said "It is not good for the man to be alone.” To demonstrate this, God first had the man exist in an original solitude, so that we could see how much we are in need of other persons. Although the man had the company of plenty of animals, he saw that none of them were like him, he was alone. Having demonstrated by experience that it is not good for him to be alone, God then took a rib from the side of Adam and, from that rib, made Eve, leading Adam to exclaim joy¬fully, "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” This describes how, as individuals, there is something missing in our very being. For both men and women, there is a gaping hole in our side, and we desperately need an “other” to fill that hole. Without that other, there is a void, an emptiness. We need to have that rib returned to our side to be whole again, to be fulfilled. We need the “other” to be one and complete, to be true to ourselves, and the other can fill the void only with and by love.

We cannot be fulfilled if we are left to ourselves in solitude. We can fill part of that hole with a spouse, as with the first spouses, Adam and Eve, but even then God needs to be part of the relationship to bind them together and to fill the remaining void. Indeed, we see that “man” manifests an image of the Trinity, a communion of three persons in one, when man (male) and woman (female) are joined together with God, as husband and wife, by the Love that is the Holy Spirit. Moreover, love in its fullest sense being not only unitive but naturally fruitful, we have the ability to share and participate in God’s procreative power of creating new life and have been explicitly commanded by Him to “be fruitful and multiply.”

For those who are permanently single, God is the only one who can fill the entirety of that void because He is the One who is Love, the One who is Completeness. Unless and until the heart is thusly filled, there is a restlessness and a hunger.

Indeed, we exist to love and to be loved in truth. That was, and is, God’s plan for humanity; that is the meaning and purpose of life -- to live in the truth and love and be loved. (Mt. 22:37-40; Jn 13:34)

After creating mankind, God did not simply withdraw into heaven, sit back, and do nothing. That would not be love. Rather, in Divine Providence, He continues to interact with His creation, sustaining and caring for it by His Love and Truth.

Man and Freedom

Man, male and female, was created in the image of God, who is Love and Truth. God loves each of us and seeks our love in return. Accordingly, as individual human persons, we are meant to exist in love and truth, that is, the meaning of human life is to love and be loved in truth.

At the same time, love is not truly love if it is not freely given and freely received, and love does not force itself or impose itself upon the other. That would not be love, but an act of falsehood and an act of violence. As such, God does not force Him¬self or His Love upon anyone. God is not a puppet master. Thus, we are also created with a capacity for free choice of the will. This free will, an ability to choose, includes the ability to freely choose to return God’s love, or the freedom to reject Him and live our lives apart from Him.

Now, because humans do have free will, and their thoughts and actions are the result of their own willful choices, they can justly be held morally responsible for them. That is, it is right and just that we should experience the consequences of our choices.

II. The Fall of Man (Gen. 3:1-24) (CCC 385-421)

Free will, an ability to choose, includes the ability to freely choose to return God’s love, or the freedom to reject Him and live our lives apart from Him. Thus, the man and the woman of Creation were free to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, even though God had warned them not to: "the moment you eat from it you are surely doomed to die."

The man and the woman thought that they could be like gods themselves, that they could then choose their own truth, their own reality, their own concepts of right and wrong. They thought that they could be self-fulfilling and self-sufficient, not needing God or other people. Even today, there are many people who still believe this. Indeed, we could easily say that we are, ourselves, both Adam and Eve, that the story of the Fall of Man is one that repeats itself on a daily basis.

However, the man and woman were wrong. In eating the fruit, in freely choosing to oppose God, believing that they did not need the one true God, but could be gods themselves, Adam and Eve did not become gods, but instead fell from truth into error. And error necessarily leads to more error, until ultimately you are so removed from Truth and Love, i.e. Life, that you are "doomed to die," and not merely bodily death, but eternal death, that is, Hell.

By opposing God, by turning against love and truth in this way, man necessarily severed the relationship between mankind and God, who is Love and Truth, and so corrupted human nature that our ability to love and to reason and discern good from evil is impaired. Before the loss of his “original innocence,” man could see – truly see. He could see God, truth, and love.

But after sin, which is an offense against truth and genuine love for God and neighbor, man’s sight is impaired, his hearing is distorted. While hiding in the bushes, vainly seeking to hide from God, instead of being able to see Him clearly, the man now saw only leaves and branches. His ability to see God, to know God, to know love and truth, was grievously impaired. Loss of original innocence necessarily means that man can no longer live in the Garden of innocence and truth.

Thus, we see that, as with this first “original sin,” our own individual sin, which is done by our own free choice of the will, carries its own intrinsic “punishment” -- error leads to more error, until, in your ignorance of the truth, you are in slavery to error and sin and death. By choosing to sin, choosing to set aside the Light and Truth of God, you are necessarily left to fend for yourself in ignorance and darkness, and you will find yourself inadequate to the challenge. And it is that first, original sin that is the root of every other sin.

By sin entering into the world, our entire human nature is wounded, corrupted, and compromised, our souls are tainted. Our judgment is clouded, our ability to reason is impaired, and the influences and temptations of the world overwhelm us, plunging us into darkness and error and slavery to further sin.

Some sin is so grave and deliberate that it destroys love in the heart and turns one away from God, thereby resulting in eternal death if forgiveness is not sought. We call these “mortal sins.” But what is such a serious and grave sin may not be so apparent to us, especially in our fallen state. For example, we might not think that merely eating a piece of fruit after being told not to is all that bad, but that seemingly innocuous act was the most mortal of all sins because by it, eternal death resulted. There are also those sins that wound love in the heart and weaken grace, but are not so serious as to break the covenant with God, thereby still allowing for eternal life after the stain of such sin is purged from us. We call these “venial sins.” While such venial offenses may not result in eternal death, they do warrant temporal punishment, and they also impede us in the exercise of virtue and the pursuit of moral good, as well as the in the ability to fully love and discern truth. Ultimately, Jesus Christ is the judge who determines whether we are in a state of grace or whether the sins we may commit are mortal or merely venial.

The account of the Fall in Genesis not only shows how sin affects the sinner, it demonstrates how sin is intensely social. Indeed, this Original Sin did not affect merely Adam and Eve, but has affected and infected us all, it has left a stain on our being. All sin, both original and individual, affects and injures not only the sinner, but all of us. Sin severs and poisons all relations. After eating the fruit of the Tree, Adam not only foolishly tries to hide from God, but the first thing he does when confronted is to blame Eve. What directly follows is Cain’s murder of Abel.

III. Salvation History (CCC 50-73)

The book of Genesis informs us that man used his freedom, not to embrace love and truth, but to turn away from love and truth, thereby corrupting our human nature. As a result of this sin of believing that you are equal to or above God, of believing that you can create your own truth, your own idea of right and wrong, good and evil, the proper relationship between mankind and God was and is severed. In opposing God, who is Life, man necessarily brings death upon himself.

The result of Original Sin is that a wide gulf of separation between God and humanity was created, a separation between man and love, truth, and life. The gulf of separation between God and humanity is so great that man is incapable of crossing it on his own. To be sure, following the Fall and expulsion of man from the Garden, mankind even began to lose knowledge of God. And not only are proper relationships between mankind and God severed, but, as we see with Adam turning against Eve, and Cain killing Abel, proper relationships between human beings themselves are estranged, so that, instead of living a life of love and truth toward others, mankind has lived a life of selfish self-gratification and exploitation of others; instead of harmony, there is discord.

Now God, who is Divine Mercy, knew this rupture would happen. God knew that His covenant of love with Adam would be broken, and He already had a plan for reconciliation. This process of God calling humanity back to Himself is called “salvation history.”

God did not abandon His creation, but sustains it and has even physically entered into its history. This history of salvation, which recounts the words and marvels of God, what He has done, continues to do and will do in the future, is organized in reference to and converges upon Jesus Christ. The structure of salvation history, of which creation and eschatology are its beginning and its end, includes the events in the Old Testament, by which God progressively prepared mankind for the Gospel, the life of Jesus, who brings Revelation to completion, and the history of the Church. As such, Christ and His Church were prefigured in many ways throughout salvation history.

The first process of God calling humanity to Himself is, of course, creation itself, with God breathing his Holy Spirit into us to give us life, and man, male and female, being made in the Triune God’s image and likeness, thereby imprinting upon our very being a desire for God. Upon the Fall, in Genesis 3:15, in a passage known as the proto-evangelium, God tells the serpent who had tempted Eve in the Garden that her offspring would strike at his head, thereby foreshadowing the deliverance of mankind by Jesus Christ, who would demonstrate the serious nature of sin, and the high cost of redemption, by taking man’s sins upon Himself and dying on the Cross.

After man had forgotten God, the plan of redemption was to establish a relationship with a specific people and develop them so that they could learn to know God and live according to His will of love and truth. In progressive fashion over time, God revealed Himself to a greater and greater degree while also forming covenants with certain people.

God first established a covenant with Noah. (Gen. 6-9) During a time of great evil, the righteous Noah and his family were granted salvation by obeying God’s instruction to build an ark before the waters of the Flood came to wash away sin. Thus, as with Christ and His Church, through one man and the ark, the whole family of the faithful were saved from death and destruction at the end of the world.

God next established the great covenant with Abraham to set apart a people to be His own. (Gen. 12, 17) To show that He was not merely the god of a particular place, as was believed to be the case by the polytheists of the time, but that He is the One God who is Lord everywhere, God told Abraham (then called Abram) to leave his home in Ur (present day southern Iraq) and go to a far land, Canaan (present day Israel), which would be given to him and his descendents. To demonstrate this covenant with Abraham and his descendents, the sign of the covenant, circumcision, was made on the instrument of procreation. Through these chosen people, God would bring salvation to all mankind.

At this time in human history, not only was polytheism widely practiced, but human sacrifice was a part of some of those religions. In order for Abraham (and we) to fully understand the gravity of the situation, and so that he could demonstrate and prove (to himself) that he had total faith in the Lord, even to the point of being willing to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac, God followed the expectations of the times and told Abraham to offer to him in sacrifice, which Abraham dutifully prepared to do. (Gen. 22) God did not test Abraham in order for God to know the extent of his fidelity, the omniscient God already knew. Rather, God tested Abraham so that Abraham would know that he was so faithful that he was willing to sacrifice his own son, whom he loved. However, God does not, in fact, desire human sacrifice; He desires mercy and a loving heart (Hos. 6:6). And in order to graphically demonstrate that as well, God had Abraham proceed to the brink of sacrificing Isaac only so that He could then stop him. Neither Abraham nor any other member of mankind would be asked for such a sacrifice. Instead, as Abraham told Isaac, God Himself would provide for the sacrifice, as He also did in providing Himself as the Lamb of God.

The covenant was renewed with Jacob, also called Israel. (Gen. 28, 35) When Jacob’s son Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, and Joseph was then unjustly thrown into prison, God demonstrated His providence by bringing good out of evil. Joseph was later freed from prison and given a powerful position in Egypt, where he was able to save his family from famine. (Gen. 37-46) Thus, as with Christ, one innocent man suffered to bring life to God’s people.

In time, though, the people of Israel fell into slavery, so God revealed Himself to Moses, who would lead them out of bondage in Egypt, and they were saved from death by the blood of the Passover lamb, just as we are led out of the bondage of sin and death by the Paschal Lamb, who is Jesus Christ. And to help them know what He had already written on their hearts, God gave them the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Law, reduced to physical written form and kept within the Ark of the Covenant. But still, the people chose to wander in the desert, and that has been the history of man throughout the ages. Nevertheless, God continued to protect His people, even providing them manna and water by which to survive.

Eventually, the people settled in Canaan, to be ruled for a period by military leaders known as “judges.” When they desired a king, God sent the prophet Samuel to anoint Saul, who was succeeded by David. God established a covenant with David, saying that his descendent (the Messiah) would reign as King forever. David’s son Solomon built the first Temple in Jerusalem, but the kingdom was soon thereafter divided in two.

Meanwhile, various enemies and invaders threatened Israel, just as the Canaanites and Philistines had done previously. The Assyrians, Babylonians, and Macedonians all imposed their military might upon Israel, which was a major trade route. The land was conquered, many people were carried off into slavery and exile, and outsiders moved in, resulting in intermarriage amongst those who stayed behind. Eventually, however, the people would be restored.

This cycle of events occurred over and over in the history of the people of Israel – The people would rebel by falling into sin and God would allow them to suffer the consequences, such as by being conquered by their enemies. The people then cry out to God for mercy and forgiveness, so the Lord has compassion and forgives. Despite their repeated infidelities, God did not abandon them, but remained ever faithful to His people, so as to continue to prepare them for salvation.

During the unfaithful times, prophets arose, and God in various ways called the people to return to Him. During exile in Babylon, the messianic prophecies of Isaiah told of the Spirit of the Lord resting upon a descendent of David, a suffering servant who would endure pain, hardship, and even death for the sake of the people. In the book of Daniel, it is revealed that one would come like a “son of man” on the clouds of heaven to defeat the beasts of evil, and he would receive everlasting dominion and glory in a kingdom of salvation.

The prophets Jeremiah and Joel also told of God establishing a New Covenant, which would fulfill and exceed the old covenant, and would include the outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit upon all mankind. Unlike the old covenants, He would write His law of love and truth on the hearts of the people. They would know Him and, from the least to the greatest, He would forgive their evildoing and remember their sins no more.

Upon the return from the Babylonian exile, the people of Israel found their land heavily influenced by Greeks and other foreigners. In time, those foreigners included the Romans, who conquered the area they called Palestine and installed Herod to rule as king.

It was then that God chose to bring salvation history to its culmination. A simple and humble girl was conceived immaculately, in the fullness of grace, without the stain of that Original Sin. In effect, in an image of God’s intended relationship with mankind, God proposed marriage to the human race. This young girl, Mary, was like a new Eve, and she accepted that proposal, saying “yes, let it be done” to her as God willed, when an angel announced to her that she would bear the Savior (Lk.1:26-45). Thus, we proclaim that Mary is the Theotókos, the Mother of God. Just as the first Eve was formed out of the first Adam, so Jesus, Son of God and the new Adam, was formed out of the new Eve, flesh of her flesh, bone of her bone.

In Jesus, God literally merged into mankind, becoming small, defenseless, and vulnerable while dwelling within the Virgin Mary’s womb, in the most intimate of relationships. To be sure, to show that such an intimate relationship was not meant to be Mary's alone, to show that all the faithful are called to intimately receive Him into our own bodies, the newborn Jesus was placed in a manger. As with the straw that was food for the animals, so too Jesus is shown to be food for us in the Eucharist. And by becoming small in this way, the all-powerful God who needs nothing chose to need us, chose to need our help in bringing about the salvation of man.

Mary, the handmaid of the Lord, by becoming His mother, became our mother too, and the Mother of the Church. As our Mother, like at Cana when the wine ran out, Mary is sensitive and attentive to our needs, and she intercedes and asks her Son to provide for us. (Jn. 2:1-5)

The preparation of mankind for the coming of the Redeemer was completed by John the Baptist, the last and greatest of the prophets, who leapt for joy and was filled with the Holy Spirit when Mary visited his mother Elizabeth. The Baptist proclaimed to the world that the long period of expectancy was over. The Christ (Messiah) was at hand.

But the One anointed by God would not be as men expected, a military ruler, but the lowly suffering servant and Lamb of God, who would be the sacrifice provided by God to atone for man’s sins and, thus, redeem mankind.
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