1.       Christ's redemptive death in God's Plan of Salvation.

·        Jesus' violent death was not the result of chance but a part of the mystery of God's plan. This plan was revealed in Scriptures (suffering Servant).

·        By giving up his own Son for our sins, God manifests his benevolent love, prior to any merit on our part (1 Jn 4:10)

2.       Christ offered himself to his Father for our sins

·        Christ's whole life is an offering to the Father, to do the will of the Father and to accomplish his work (Jn 4:34)

·        The sacrifice of Jesus for the sins of the whole world expresses his loving communion with the Father (Jn 10: 17). The desire to embrace the Father's plan of redeeming love inspired Jesus' whole life for his redemptive passion was the very reason for his Incarnation.

·        John the Baptist in pointing out Jesus as the "Lamb of God” reveals that Jesus is the suffering servant, the Paschal Lamb. Jesus freely embraced the Father's redeeming love by laying down his life for his friends (Jn 13: 1).

·        At the Last Supper Jesus anticipated the free offering of his life in a meal he shared with his apostles. Jesus trans­formed this Last Supper into a memorial of his voluntary offering to the Father for the salvation of men (Lk 22: 19), a memorial of his sacrifice, to be perpetuated by them. In the agony in the garden of Gethsemani, Jesus accepted the cup of the New Covenant, making himself "obedient unto death" (Mt 26: 42).

·        Christ's death is the unique and definitive sacrifice which restores man to communion with God by reconciling him to God (Mt 26: 28).This sacrifice of Christ is unique; it completes and sur­passes all other sacrifices. It is love to the end that confers on Christ's sacrifice its value as redemption and reparation, as atonement and satis­faction. It is his Passion on the cross that merited jus­tification for us.

·        Our participation in Christ's sacrifice. The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ, the "one mediator between God and men." He calls his disciples to take up their cross and follow him.

THE PASCHAL MYSTERY ACC. TO CCC: 

Note: Paschal mystery includes passion, crucifixion, death burial, descent to the dead, resurrection and ascension of Christ. 

1.       "Christ died for our sins in accordance with scriptures" (1 Cor 15: 3)

2.       Our salvation flows from God's initiative of love for us, because "he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins" (1 Jn 4:10). "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself" (2 Cor 5:19).

3.       Jesus freely offered himself for our salvation. Beforehand, during the Last Supper, he both symbolized this offering and made it really present: "This is my body which is given for you" (Lk 22:19).

4.       The redemption won by Christ consists in this, that he came "to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mt 20:28), that is, he "loved [his own] to the end" (Jn 13:1), so that they might be "ransomed" from the futile ways inherited from [their] fa­thers" (1 Pt 1:18).

5.       By his loving obedience to the Father, "unto death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2:8), Jesus fulfills the atoning mission of the suffering Servant, who will "make may righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities" (Is 53:11).

6.       To the benefit  of every man, Jesus Christ tasted death (cf. Heb 2:9). it is truly the Son of God made man who died and was buried.

7.       During Christ's period in the tomb, his divine person con­tinued to assume both his soul and his body, although they were separated from each other by death. For this reason the dead Christ's body "saw no corruption" (Acts 13:37).

8.       By the expression "He descended to the dead" the Creed confesses that Jesus did really die and through his death for us conquered death and the devil. He opened heaven's gates for the just who had gone before him.

9.       Faith in the Resurrection has as its object an event which is historically attested to by the disciples, who really encoun­tered the Risen One. At the same time, this event is mys­teriously transcendent insofar as it is the entry of Christ's humanity into the glory of God.

10.   The empty tomb and the linen cloths lying there signify to themselves that by God's power Christ's body had escaped the bonds of death and corruption. They prepared the disciples to encounter the Risen Lord.

11.   Christ, "the first-born from the dead" (Col 1:18), is the principle of our own resurrection, even now by the justifica­tion of our souls (cf. Rom 6:4), and one day by the new life he will impart to our bodies (cf. Rom 8:11).

12.   Christ's ascension marks the definitive entrance of Jesus' humanity into God's heavenly domain, whence he will come again (cf. Acts 1:11); this humanity in the meantime hides him from the eyes of men (cf. Col 3:3).

13.   Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, precedes us into the Father's glorious kingdom so that we, the members of his Body, may live in the hope of one day being with him forever.

14.   Jesus Christ, having entered the sanctuary of heaven once and for all, intercedes constantly for us as the mediator who assures us of the permanent outpouring of the Holy Spirit.   

Note: Our participation in Christ’s sacrifice. By his Incarnation, Christ in some way united himself to every man and invites them to be partners in the paschal mystery - to “take up [their] cross and follow [him]”, that they follow in his steps. Christ desires to involve us in his redeeming sacrifice. Mary, his mother was associated more intimately than any other person in the mystery of his redemptive suffering (Lk 2:35).

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Last Updated: Tuesday, November 20, 2001 08:25:34 PM