A Year with the Catechism. Petroc Willey, Dominic Scotto, Donald Asci, & Elizabeth Siegel
The impact of original sin on the whole human race reminds us of our profound unity (402-403). God created us as one human family, with one nature and one destiny. He wills to save us, not as isolated individuals, but together, as a single body (look back to CCC 360). He has made us dependent upon each other. Our sin affects others, as do our prayers and our striving to live in grace in response to Christ. For good or for ill, we affect each other deeply. We often experience this deep mutual impact as unjust. We can remember that the Church describes our “relationality” in precisely the opposite way, as original justice. It is Adam who has corrupted our relationality, turning original justice into a state of original injustice.
The Catechism clarifies that, as transmitted to us, original sin is not to be thought of as “sin” in the sense of a personally willed wrongful act. It is rather “sin” in the way that the Greek word for sin, hamartia, means the term — we are like an arrow that is “missing the mark,” missing the target (404).
Baptism puts us back “on target” (405), but we are now living in a “battlefield” state (409). It is a dramatic image — the danger of serious spiritual injury and death could not be emphasized more. The ignoring of our condition is one of the greatest dangers, for then we live blindly, unaware of the perils (407).
The final image with which we are left, as this chapter concludes, is that of the promise of Christ, who will join us as our brother and Savior on the battlefield. His coming will make everything worthwhile, and the “inexpressible grace” he brings will communicate unimaginable blessings after the definitive victory he will win for us. His coming will be preceded with the finest fruit of his victory, in the form of his mother, freed from original sin.
Day 60
CCC 422-429
I Believe in Jesus Christ, the Only Son of God
With today’s reading we begin a new chapter, a new focus — the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Jesus Christ — and a new period in salvation history, the “fullness of time.” Three headings introduce this second chapter to us.
The first heading reminds us that the Father’s sending of his Son is the heart and center of the Christian faith (422). The purpose of his sending his Son is to redeem us and adopt us as his children. This is the “Good News” of the Christian faith.
A word on terms used here: “Good News” is our translation of the Greek New Testament word, euangelion, which literally means good (eu) message (angelion). We also translate this Greek word as “evangelization.” So, to evangelize is simply to bring “good news”; and the good news is that the Father has sent his beloved Son to redeem and adopt us. This paragraph from the Catechism also quotes from the first line of Saint Mark’s Gospel: “the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (422). “Gospel” is another translation for this Greek word, only now it has come to us via old English — god spell. The important thing, then, is to realize that “Gospel,” “evangelization,” and “Good News” are all translations of the same Greek New Testament word.
The next two headings remind us that the work we are reading is a Catechism — it is a work to help us transmit and tell others about the faith, the Good News. The Catechism has been written to enable us to share its contents with others. What people will find, when we share with them, is not just a wonderful message, but the Person of Jesus Christ (426). Christianity is more than principles to live by, more than a philosophy of life. God might have given us just this, but he has “acted far beyond all expectation — he has sent his own ‘beloved Son’” (422). The Christian faith is God’s invitation to know him personally.
Day 61
CCC 430-435
Jesus
Names in the Bible are not mere labels. “A name expresses a person’s essence and identity and the meaning of this person’s life” (203). Jesus’ name tells us both who he is (God) and what he does (saves). His name expresses both his identity and his action.
God can forgive sins since all persons belong to him — he is their Father and Creator. And because every creature belongs to him, all sin is a sin against him. “Because sin is always an offense against God, only he can forgive it” (431). When Jesus forgave sins, therefore, he was manifesting his divinity in the clearest possible way as the beloved Son sent from the Father for this purpose. Those who rejected him called him a blasphemer for this claim (see Mk 2:5-7; CCC 587).
Jesus saves us by coming among us as God. The Catechism teaches here that he saves us by his Incarnation, for here he united the whole of human nature and every person to himself so that he could work his salvation in them (432); by his death, for here he took upon himself as God made man all the offense of sin and forgave it (433); and by his resurrection, for this manifests the power of God’s loving forgiveness to overcome death, the result of sin (434).
Two other points are worth mentioning. First, the Catechism provides the rich background to this whole section in the biblical references given at the foot of the pages. We are encouraged to read these for a deeper understanding. Second, notice that Jesus’ name is the focus of every paragraph. Jesus hands himself over to us by making his name known, and speaking his name in love and from the heart is how we enter into intimacy with him (see also 203). Speaking his name is the “heart of Christian prayer” (435).
Day 62
CCC 436-440
Christ
Unlike “Jesus,” “Christ” is not a proper name. It is a title. However, because Jesus perfectly lived out the meaning of this title, it has become his name (436). We rightly refer to God the Son as “Jesus Christ.”
Christ, or Messiah, literally means anointed. In the Old Testament, kings, priests, and sometimes prophets were anointed with oil to symbolize their consecration to God’s work. The title became the way in which all Jewish hopes were summed up as they looked for one who would be anointed with God’s Spirit to save them.
Jesus was anointed not with oil, a symbol of the divine blessing and commission, but with the Holy Spirit himself. The Holy Spirit consecrates him at his conception (437), comes down upon him at Baptism to reveal him as the Anointed One, the Christ (438). We can look forward to an extended section later in the Catechism on Jesus and the Spirit (702-741). As “Christians” we are members of Christ’s Body, anointed by the same Holy Spirit.
Finally, we can note that the title “Christ” is the description of a mission. Kings, priests, and prophets were anointed for a purpose: kings to rule a kingdom; priests to sanctify a people; prophets to speak God’s truth. Jesus is anointed as the King, the Ruler of God’s eternal kingdom of love and joy. He is anointed as the Priest, offering himself as the one true sacrifice to save and sanctify us. He is anointed as the Prophet, to speak and live the full truth that sets us free and brings us happiness. Because some understood this mission in too political a way, Jesus also referred to himself by other titles from the Old Testament, especially the Suffering Servant and the Son of Man.
Day 63
CCC 441-445
The Only Son of God
The text of the Catechism here carefully explains how this term, “son of God,” which was applied to many in Israel, as well as to Israel as a whole, came to be used of Jesus to express his divinity. “Son” clearly indicates a relationship, but in all other cases, when applied to creatures — whether angels or human persons — it signifies an “adoptive sonship” and a “relationship of particular intimacy” (441). How, then, do we see this title being used to express Jesus’ unique status?
First, it is because he refers to himself as the only Son of God. There were clearly others called “son of God,” and so the claim