Fanning the Flame at 2620 Lebanon Avenue, Belleville, IL 6221 US - The Good News (7)
| The Good News (7) |
The Good News: God has Sent His Son (CCC, NOS. 422-570) Click here for the study sheet for printing, includes * below Who is Jesus Christ? The four gospels of the New Testament are the source of our knowledge of Jesus Christ. God the Holy Spirit, the Soul of the Church, has guided the Church in the proclamation, preservation, and deeper understanding of the truth about Jesus. Jesus is “the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He is true God and true mam.” This is how the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults answers the question, “Who is Jesus Christ?” The Catechism describes Jesus’ call to us and to all to live a “new way of life” as members of his kingdom. We do this through the gifts that Jesus won for us: our faith and hope in and love of Jesus Christ, our Baptism, our reception of Jesus in the Eucharist, and our dying to sin and rising to the new, kingdom life of Jesus, beginning now in this life. The Catechism goes on to explain how the Church’s beliefs about Jesus were clarified in the early centuries of the Christian era. Councils of bishops restated the truth about the divinity and humanity of Jesus in the face of challenges to these truths. According to the Catechism, all people are called to know Jesus Christ. “The mission of the Catholic Church is the Lord’s plan to unite all people in the love of Jesus Christ, the Savior of all.” How is Jesus calling each one of us to participate in this mission? Who is Jesus Christ? The four gospels of the New Testament are the source of our knowledge of Jesus Christ. God the Holy Spirit, the Soul of the Church, has guided the Church in the proclamation, preservation, and deeper understanding of the truth about Jesus. Jesus is “the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He is true God and true man.” This is how our Catechism answers the question, “Who is Jesus Christ?” According to the gospels, Jesus is a king. Saint Matthew writes that the wise men called him the King of the Jews and they paid homage to him. Saint Luke states that the Angel Gabriel told Mary that her son will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and that there will be no end to his kingdom. Jesus preached about the kingdom of God or, in Saint Matthew’s gospel, the kingdom of heaven. Jesus taught that the Kingdom of God is at hand. According to Pope Benedict XVI, in his book, Jesus of Nazareth, volume one, Jesus is the Kingdom of God, the Reign of God, in person. Pope Benedict continues, “to pray for the Kingdom of God is to say to Jesus: let us be yours, Lord! Pervade us, live in us; gather scattered humanity in your body, so that in you everything may be subordinated to God and you can then hand over the universe to the Father, in order that ‘God may be all in all’ (1 Corinthians 15:28).” Jesus, the King, calls us to holiness. According to Pope Benedict, “Perfection now consists … in following Jesus.” Pope Benedict elaborates on the Transfiguration as a foretaste of this Kingdom. According to Mark 9:1, Jesus states that “some standing here will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come in power.” Then, after “six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves.” These apostles witnessed his transfiguration, “the power of the Kingdom that is coming in Christ,” according to Pope Benedict. Yet, these three apostles hear Moses and Elijah speak with Jesus about the “necessity of his Passion as the way to glory.” The heart of the Kingdom is revealed in the Paschal Mystery. Pope Benedict writes of this also in Volume 2 of Jesus of Nazareth. While many followed Jesus, his preaching also led to the hardening of the hearts of many others against him. From his initial rejection by Nazareth to his crucifixion, he lived his beatitude of the kingdom: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” It is through his crucifixion, death, and resurrection that Jesus fully comes into this kingdom and gives us the grace to follow him. Jesus Christ the King is true God and true man, as we proclaim in the Nicene Creed at Mass. Pope John Paul II writes “that in the gospels Jesus Christ revealed himself as God the Son, especially when he said, “I and the Father are one’ (Jn 10:30); when he referred to himself the name of God, ‘I Am’ (cf. Jn 8:58), and the divine attributes; and when he claimed that ‘all power has been given (him) in heaven and on earth’ (Mt 28:18).” Pope John Paul continues to say that the truth of Christ’s humanity is given in Saint John’s gospel: “‘And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us’ (Jn 1:14).” “As a true man, a man of flesh, Jesus experienced fatigue, hunger and thirst. … Only a true man could have suffered as Jesus suffered on Golgotha. Only a true man could have died as Jesus truly died.” The Catechism reviews the teachings of early Church councils regarding Jesus Christ, applying Greek philosophical concepts to “clarify the true being of Christ.” In Introduction to Christianity, the future Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger, cites Acts 16:6-10, regarding Paul crossing over to preach in Macedonia, in Europe, in stating that “it was no mere accident that the Christian message … first entered the Greek world and there merged with the enquiry into understanding, into truth.” Citing these same verses in his 2006 Regensburg address, Pope Benedict stated that “the encounter between the Biblical message and Greek thought did not happen by chance.” Who is Jesus Christ? We read the Scriptures, the teachings of our Church, and the talks and writings of recent popes. We pray. We experience Jesus in our lives. Jesus now asks each of us: “Who do you say that I am?” 2. On page 85, the Catechism states, “The mission of the Catholic Church is the Lord’s plan to unite all people in the love of Jesus Christ, the Savior of all.” How can this mission best be carried out in our diocese through the Pastoral Plan for Parish Renewal and Restructuring? 3. What times in your life have been examples of already entering into new, resurrected life after dying to the past? From the new Youth Catechism, YOUCAT, prepared especially for youth and young adults in the traditional Q&A format with sidebars and more: Without the Gospels we would not know that God sends his Son to us men out of his infinite love, so that despite our sins we might find our way back to eternal fellowship with God. The reports about the life, death, and Resuerrection of Jesus are the best news in the world. They testify that the Jew who was born in Bethlehem, Jesus of Nazareth, is “Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16) made man. He was sent by the Father so that “all men might be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (cf. 1Tim 2:4). ****** “For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven” (Nicene -> CREED) In Jesus Christ, God reconciled the world to himself and redeemed mankind from the imprisonment of sin. “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son” (Jn 3:16). In Jesus, God took on our mortal human flesh (->INCARNATION), shared our earthly lot, our sufferings, and our death, and became one like us in all things but sin. ****** (Excerpts taken from pages 51-53)
About the Author
View a reading of the Chapter's Faith Story by Sr Thea Bowman Catholic School
Nugget*
Quick Reflection (For The Messenger)
Commentary*
Questions to Ponder and Discuss*
Prayer Intentions*
Family Connection
Chapter Nugget:
“Eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, and him whom you have sent, Jesus Christ.” According to Saint John, Jesus spoke these words to God the Father the night before the crucifixion. God the Holy Spirit speaks them to us now through the Scriptures. God calls us to know about Jesus, but, even more, to personally know Jesus, whom God has sent.
Quick Reflection:
Discussion Questions
1. Has the Catechism section “True God and True Man” (pages 81-83) clarified your understanding of Jesus Christ?
Following are "Snippets for Prayerful Thought"
Question #71 Why are the reports about Jesus called “the Gospel”, “The Good News”?
“Knowledge about God without an awareness of our misery produces vanity. Knowledge of our misery without an awareness of God produces despair. Knowledge of Jesus Christ provides the middle ground, because in him we find both God and our misery.” – Blaise Pascal (1588-1651)
Question #76 Why did God become man in Jesus?
Wherever God does not have pride of place, ... human dignity is at risk. It is therefore urgent to bring our contemporaries to “rediscover” the authentic face of God, who revealed himself to us in Jesus Christ.” - Pope Benedict XVI, August 28, 2005
“People do not criticize Christ. They criticize Christians because they do not resemble him.” - Francois Mauriac (1914-1996, French Novelist)
View this short Intro to YOUCAT:
Think about this... God's great love demonstrated to us by sending His Son is Good News for all time and all people. This Good News is being shared through means such as this Catechism for young people ... Now... do a youtube google and you can see similar introductions to this same book in languages from across the globe since it was introduced to the youth of the world at World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid!
About the Author:
Father Von C. Deeke it the Administrator of St. Augustine of Caterbury, Hecker, Illinois.
