suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; he descended into hell; on the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died and was buried;

he descended into hell;

on the third day he rose again from the

dead;

he ascended into heaven, and is seated at

the right hand of God the Father almighty;

from there he will come to judge

the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

The Paschal Mystery

Christ’s work of redemption accomplished principally by his Passion, death, Resurrection, and glorious Ascension,

whereby “dying he destroyed our death, rising he restored our life” (1067; cf. 654). The Paschal Mystery is celebrated and

made present in the liturgy of the Church, and its saving effects are communicated through the sacraments (1076),

especially the Eucharist, which renews the paschal sacrifice of Christ as the sacrifice offered by the Church (571, 1362–1372).

(CCC Glossary: Paschal Mystery)

Mystery: “does not mean a truth we cannot know anything about, but a truth that we cannot know everything about.”

- Sheed

The Paschal Mystery

• _{Rooted in the Jewish feast of Passover (or Pasch) which}

commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt.

• _{Accomplished by the sacrifice of a lamb whose blood was}

sprinkled on the door posts of the Jewish homes. The Angel of Death “passed over” those homes.

• Jesus is the “Lamb of God”, who takes away the sins of the world.

• _{The Eucharist celebrates the new Passover, in which Jesus}

“passes over” to his Father by his death and resurrection.

• _{Anticipates the final Passover of the Church in the Glory of}

the Kingdom. (CCC Glossary: Pasch)

Passion & Death – Why?

Historical Concrete reasons: In the eyes of many in Israel, Jesus seems to be acting against

the essential institutions of the Chosen People. (CCC 571-594)

Jesus and the Law

Sermon on the Mount – God’s law presented in the light and grace of the NT

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets: I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”

Jesus and the Temple

Jesus expressed the deepest respect for the Temple as a privileged place of encounter with God.

He cleansed the Temple of the moneychangers.

He announced the coming destruction of the Temple, which became a charge against him.

Jesus and Israel’s faith in the One God and Savior

Jesus scandalized the Pharisees by associating with sinners He forgave sins – “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

He claimed a divine identity: “something greater than Jonah… greater than Solomon”, something ,“greater than the Temple”, “Before Abraham was, I AM”.

Blame enough to go around

Church teaching is crystal clear, the Jews are not collectively responsible for Jesus’ death (CCC 597)

• The personal sin of the participants is known to God alone.

• Jesus himself forgave his persecutors from the Cross, as well as Peter later (Cf. Luke 23:34; Acts 3:17)

• It is ridiculous to extend responsibility to Jews of other times. All sinners were the authors of Christ’s Passion (CCC 598)

• The Church does not hesitate to impute to Christians the gravest responsibility for the torments inflicted upon Jesus.

• Nor did demons crucify him; it is you who have crucified him and crucify him still, when you delight in your vices and sins.

- St. Francis of Assisi

Christ’s Redemptive Death in God’s Plan of

Salvation

(CCC 599-605)

•

_{“Jesus handed over according to the definite}

plan of God”

•

_{“He died for our sins in accordance with the}

scriptures”

•

_{“For our sake God made him to be sin”}

•

_{God takes the initiative of universal redeeming}

love

Christ Offered Himself to His Father for Our

Sins

(CCC 606-618)

• Christ’s whole life is an offering to the Father (Jn 6:38)

• “The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29) • Jesus freely embraced the Father’s redeeming love (Jn 13:1; 15:13)

• At the Last Supper Jesus anticipated the free offering of his life (Lk 22:19-20, Mt 26:26-28; cf. 1 Cor 5:7)

• The agony at Gethsemani (Phil 2:8; Mt 26:39; cf. Heb 5:7-8)

• Christ’s death is the unique and definitive sacrifice (Mt 26:28; cf. Jn 10:15-18)

• Jesus substitutes his obedience for our disobedience (Rom 5:19)

• Jesus consummates his sacrifice on the Cross (Jn 13:1, cf. Gal 2:20, Eph 5:2, 25)

• Our participation in Christ’s sacrifice (GS 22 S 5; cf. S 2)

Died and was buried,

•

_{Jesus truly experienced the condition of death,}

the separation of his soul from his body,

between the time he expired on the cross and

the time he was raised from the dead.

•

_{In Baptism we are “buried with Christ”}

•

_{Immersion in water signifies the descent into the}

tomb by the Christian who dies to sin with Christ

in order to have a new life.

He descended into hell (CCC

631-637)

•

_{The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus}

was “raised from the dead” presuppose that the

crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior

to his resurrection.

•

_{He descended as Savior proclaiming the Good News}

to the spirits imprisoned there.

•

_{Hell, Sheol in Hebrew, Hades in Greek; the abode of}

the dead, whether evil or righteous. The parable of

the poor man and Lazarus.

•

_{Jesus did not descend into the hell of the damned, but}

to free the just who had gone before him.

On the third day he rose again

from the dead;

• “The mystery of Christ’s resurrection is a real event, with manifestations that were historically verified, as the New Testament bears witness.” (CCC 639)

• “This is concrete evidence, not abstract myth. The Resurrection did not come from the Apostles’ faith; their faith came from the Resurrection. It was not some inner mystical experience.” - Kreeft

• If Christ did not truly rise, then those who said he did were liars… Liars do not suffer martyrdom. - Kreeft

• “No hallucination ever had such power to transform lives and to give love, joy, peace, hope, and meaning to millions of men for thousands of years. - Kreeft

The Importance of the

Resurrection

Dr. Kreeft gives us two answers

1.“If the bones of the dead Jesus were discovered in some

Palestinian tomb tomorrow, all the essentials of Christianity would remain unchanged.”

● – Rudolph Bultmann

• Founder of “demythologizing”

• How to explain the Resurrection without having to believe Jesus rose from the dead.

The Importance of the

Resurrection

2. “If Christ has not been raised, then (1) our preaching in in vain (2) and your faith is in vain. (3) We are even found to be misrepresenting God…(4) If Christ has not been raised,…you are still in your sins. (5) Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. (6) If for this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied.” (1 Cor 15:14-19)

• Nothing more concretely and conclusively proves Christ’s divinity.

• No one but God can conquer death, and no one can conquer sin except the one who conquered death. We are not saved by a dead savior. The Resurrection is our hope of salvation.

• Not a past event, but a present one. Christ is risen. He is with us always. (Mt 28:20) “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (Lk 24:5)

He ascended into heaven, and is seated at

the right hand of God the Father almighty;

• _{(CCC 659) “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to}

them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.” (Mk 16:19)

• The Ascension, like the Resurrection, is not only about Christ; it is also about us.

• _{(CCC 661) The Ascension is closely linked to the Incarnation}

for, “No one has ascended into heaven but he who

descended from heaven, the Son of Man.” (Jn 3:13) It does not undo it.

• The Incarnation was not a temporary visit, more like a

hunting trip. The trophy brought home was humanity. (Eph 4:8-9)

– - Kreeft

Glorious Ascension

• Left to our own powers humanity is not able to enter the “Father’s house”.

• “Only Christ can open to man such access that we, his members, might have confidence that we too shall go where he, our Head and our Source, has preceded us.”

(Roman Missal, Preface of the Ascension)

• Christ’s Ascension brought his human body and soul to

heaven into the Godhead forever. He is now “seated at the right hand of the Father.”

• The second Person of the Trinity, God himself, is forever human as well as divine.

• The incorporation of humanity into divinity was completed in the Ascension. - Kreeft

From there he will come to judge the

living and the dead. (CCC 678)

• _{Following in the steps of the prophets and John the Baptist, Jesus}

announced the judgment of the Last Day in his preaching. (Cf. Dan 7:10, Joel 3-4; Mal 3:18, Mt 3:7-12)

• Then will the conduct of each one and the secrets of hearts be

brought to light. (Cf. Mk 12:38-40; Lk 12:1-3; Jn 3:20-21; Rom 2:16; 1 Cor 4:5)

• _{Then will the culpable unbelief that counted the offer of God’s grace}

as nothing be condemned. (Cf. Mt 11:20-24; 12:41-42)

• _{Our attitude about our neighbor will disclose acceptance or refusal}

of grace and divine love. (Cf. Mt 5:22; 7:1-5)

• _{On the last day Jesus will say: “Truly I say to you, as you did it to one}

of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.” (Mt 25:40)

I believe in the Holy Spirit

In its barest outline, the doctrine contains four truths:

1. In the one divine Nature, there are three Persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

2. No one of the Persons is either of the others, each is wholly Himself.

3. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Ghost is God.

4. They are not three Gods but one God.

- Sheed

Nature: The what of something Person: The who of something 16

Divine Nature of the Trinity

Divine Nature is one, infinite, and indivisible. No limits, all knowing, all loving, all powerful.

Because each possesses the divine nature, each can do all that goes with being God.

Because each is God, there is no inequality, either in being or operation.

1.The three Persons do not share the divine Nature; it is utterly simple and cannot be divided up; it can be possessed only in its totality.

2.The three Persons are distinct, but not separate. They are distinct, because each is Himself; but they cannot be separated, for each is what He is solely by possessing the one same nature; apart from that one nature, no one of the persons could exist at all.

- Sheed 17

Thinking About the Trinity

• _{The beginning of John’s Gospel reveals to us the Second}

Person of the Trinity is the “Word” of the God.

• _{Word, Logos, Thought, God’s idea of himself. Not like our}

ideas, which are imperfect.

• _{God’s idea of himself is perfect. Thus, because God is infinite,}

eternal, powerful, His Idea of Himself is infinite, eternal, all-powerful. Because God is God, His Idea is God.

• Our Lord tells us of a Third Person. There is a Spirit, to whom

Our Lord will entrust His followers when He Himself shall have ascended to the Father. (John 14:16)

• _{The Spirit, like the Word, is a person, He, not It. “But the}

Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my

name, He will teach you all things” (John 14:26) - Sheed

Final Thoughts on the Trinity

• But God’s Idea is Someone, and an infinite Someone; between

Thinker and Idea there is an infinite dialogue, an infinite interflow.

• Father and Son love each other, with infinite intensity. What we

could not know, if it were not revealed to us, is that they unite to express their love and that the expression is a third divine Person.

• As the one great operation of spirit, knowing, produces the Second

Person, so the other, loving, produces the Third.

- Sheed

• God is a communion of persons, three in one.

• The closest human analogy is marriage, when the two become one

flesh.

The Importance of the

Resurrection to us

•

_{The Resurrection was not a resuscitation like Lazarus.}

•

_{Christ rose with a new kind of body, “not limited by}

space and time but able to be present how and when

he wills” (CCC 645). This resurrected body can no

longer die.

•

_{This is the kind of body he promises us.}

•

_{Christ’s death conquered sin for us, his Resurrection}

conquered death for us.

•

_{We will have immortal bodies like his.}

-

Who is the Holy Spirit?

Person

Counselor, Advocate, Paraclete, One who is called to one’s side, One who is at one’s side Teacher

Witness to Jesus

Prosecutor of the World

Defense attorney for Christians One who acts…