CFC [P.151 - 160]

Chap. 8). It begins with perhaps the oldest Biblical testimony: “when the designated time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman . . . that we might receive our status as adopted sons” (Gal 4:4-5; LG 52). The most basic truth and the essential core of Mary’s unique dignity and role in God’s salvific plan is sharply etched:

The Virgin Mary is acknowledged and honored as being truly the Mother of God and of the Redeemer. Redeemed in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son and united to him by a close and indissoluble tie, she is endowed with the high office and dignity of the Mother of the Son of God, and therefore she is also the beloved daughter of the Father and the temple of the Holy Spirit (LG 53).

520.     Everything we know and revere about Mary, then, depends upon her unique, God-given vocation to be the “Mother of God and of the Redeemer.” This doctrine is expressed everytime we pray the Hail Mary: “Holy Mary, Mother of God” (cf. CCC 495). This asserts not that Mary is a “goddess,” but that her Son is truly God. Mary gives Jesus what any human mother gives her baby. Through her, Jesus is truly man. “The Son of Mary and the Son of God IS one and the same person, Emmanuel” (AMB 52).

         What is unique here is God’s action: the Eternal Son of God united to His Person the baby conceived in Mary’s womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. The baby born of Mary was the God-man, Jesus. “Thus the holy Fathers have unhesitatingly called the holy Virgin ‘Mother of God’ (Theotokos, ‘God-bearer’)” (Council of Ephesus; ND 605).

       Blessed Virgin

521.     Mary, Virgin and Mother, manifests God’s perfectly free initiative in the Incarnation (God’s Word/Son becoming enfleshed, Jn 1:14). Mary’s perpetual virginity is not simply abstention from sexual intercourse, but the positive value of perfect personal integrity in her total gift of self to God. Mary’s virginity flowered into maternity not only for Jesus, the first-born of all creation (cf. Rom 8:29; Col 1:15,18), but also for all who would be born again to new life in him (cf. Jn 3:3; 1 Jn 5:11; LG 57; CCC 499-501).

       The Virgin Birth, then, is not a privilege affecting only Jesus and Mary, but a positive sign of the Father’s gracious saving love which adopts us all in sending His Son, and the Spirit’s building a new People of God, the Body of Christ, the Church.

522.     Against current attacks and doubts both within and without the Church, about Mary’s virginal conception and motherhood, a Catholic profession of faith could calmly respond that Mary’s virginal conception is not just a symbolic description or literary device of Matthew and Luke to describe God’s intervention, nor is it merely a human construct to insist on Jesus “divinity. ” Rather, it is simply the way God in fact chose to send His Son into the world when the fullness of time had come (Gal 4:4). We Filipino Catholics believe this both from Scripture and from the constant and consistent teaching of the Church.

       The Immaculate Conception

523.     Mary, therefore, had the unique mission from God to be Mother of His Son-made-man, the Redeemer. She thus shares in a special way Jesus’ salvific mission. From this mission flows her singular grace and privilege of the Immaculate Conception (cf. CCC 490). This signifies that Mary was, “from the first moment of her conception, in view of the merits of Christ Jesus the Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin” (ND 709).

       The “Immaculate Conception” as God’s gift to Mary, therefore, is doubly Christ-centered: first, as given because she would be Mother of Christ; second, as showing that no one is saved apart from Christ, even those who lived centuries before him. “In view of the merits of Christ” means Mary was made holy by her immediate relationship to Christ, the source of grace, for whom and towards whom all things are created (cf. Col 1:15-17).

       The Assumption

524.     Moreover, thus “preserved free from all guilt of original sin, the Immaculate Virgin was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory [Assumption] upon the completion of her earthly sojourn” (LG 59; cf. ND 715; CCC 966). With her Assumption to join her Son, the Risen Christ, in the fullness of her personality, Mary reveals the fullness of God’s redeeming work for all of us, “a sign of certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim People of God” (LG 68).

525.     Both privileges of Mary, her Immaculate Conception and her Assumption, are not exceptions that separate Mary from us. They are rather privileges of fullness and completion. Mary’s grace is universally shared; her privilege is that of fullness. Both privileges are constituted by the Spirit’s presence, in whom we are all called to share. Thus they put Mary at the inmost core of all human persons and of the Church.

       Practically speaking, this meant that, sinless like Christ himself, Mary was not blinded or confused by pride or false self-centeredness. More fully and truly “human” than we are, Mary then can truly appreciate our human trials and failures.

       These graces were given to Mary precisely in view of her unique role in God’s plan to save all through Christ’s redemptive mission.

       Mediatrix

526. Authentic Catholic doctrine teaches that Mary’s intercession does not in any way detract from, or add to, the unique mediation of Christ (cf. 1 Tim 2:5-6). Two analogies help us to understand this. First, in God’s continuing act of Creating, the one goodness of God is communicated diversely to all creatures. Second, the priesthood of Christ is shared in various ways both by sacred ministers and by all the baptized. Hence, in like manner, the unique mediation of Christ is shared by all, since God calls all to cooperate, in manifold human ways, in Christ’s redemptive mission (cf. LG 62). Catholics see in Mary a special cooperation due to her God-given role within His saving work through Christ and the Spirit.

 

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INTEGRATION

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527.     Every Sunday during the Eucharistic celebration, Filipino Catholics proclaim their faith in Jesus Christ, the only Son, our Lord. The doctrine of the mission and identity of Jesus Christ is the core of every Christian Creed. To affirm “Jesus is Lord” is the central conviction of the Christian community. On the truth of Christ as Son and Savior depend all the basic Catholic doctrines: of God as Triune Creator, of the Church as Christ’s Mystical Body, of redemption from sin by Christ’s Paschal Mystery, of our life of grace in the Holy Spirit, and of our final destiny with God in eternal life.

528.     The moral dimensions of Christ’s mission and identity are innumerable. Christ as Son and Savior becomes in person the fundamental moral norm for Christian action. At his Transfiguration, the link between doctrinal truth and moral action is explicitly made. The truth, “This is my beloved Son,” is followed immediately by the moral command, “Listen to him!” (Mk 9:7). Christ as prophet and Savior not only left us with moral teachings, especially in his great Sermon on the Mount (cf. Mt 5-7). More importantly, he inspired a unique moral vision of loving service, and offered the interior power of his Holy Spirit to pursue that vision. “The way we can be sure of our knowledge of Jesus is to keep his commandments. The man who claims, ‘I have known him,’ without keeping his commandments, is a liar; in such a one there is no truth” (1 Jn 2:3-4).

529. The basic worship dimension of Christ’s mission and person is felt in two areas. There is first the place of Christ in all Christian worship. The center of the Church’s liturgy is the Eucharistic Sacrifice of his Body and Blood, the sacramental representation and application of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross (cf. LG 28; SC 7,47; PCP II 77, 180). Christ himself, as Son and Savior, is in Person the Primordial Sacrament of God’s presence among us. Second, there is the yearning prayer to Christ himself, expressed in the ancient liturgical refrain: “Marana tha! O Lord come!” (1 Cor 16:22; cf. Rv 22:20). Many of us Catholic Filipinos find devotion to Mary, Mother of Christ and our Mother in grace, a natural way to Christ.

 

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

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530.   What conditions indicate a special yearning for Christ in the Philippines today?

       The thirst for a personal relationship with Christ our Savior (e.g., in the “Born Again”), and for Christ the Liberator among the oppressed and exploited, indicates a strong yearning for Christ among many Filipinos today.

531.   What does “knowing” Jesus Christ entail?

       Getting to know Christ is a gradual, life-long, ever-deepening personal relationship with the Jesus of the Gospels, present to us now in multiple ways as the Risen Christ.

       Moreover, “knowing Christ” means being committed to him, being his disciple.

532.   How do we come to know WHO Jesus is?

       We come to know who Jesus IS, from what he DID and continues to DO.

       Therefore, it is important to know the historical life and work of Jesus through constant contact with the Gospels, in order to know in faith that “Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil 2:11).

533.   Why did God become one of us in Jesus Christ?

       God the Son became one of us:

•   for our salvation, that is: to save us from the slavery of sin;

•   to reveal to us God’s unending love for us;

•   to be our model, as the Way, Truth and the Life;

•   to actually share His divine sonship with us.

534.   How was Jesus a prophet?

       Jesus, the “Beloved Son” of the Father and filled with the Holy Spirit, perfectly fulfilled the task of a prophet:

•   to proclaim the Word of God;

•   support it by signs and wonders, and

•   seal it with his own blood.

535.   What did Jesus proclaim?

       Jesus proclaimed the “Kingdom of God,” already present and “at hand” through him, but not yet realized fully, as it will be at the end of time.

       This “Kingdom” summarized all the blessings of God’s presence among His people, liberating them from sin, for loving service of one another.

536.   How did Jesus preach and teach the “Kingdom”?

       Jesus preached and taught with:

•   certainty, because he taught only what he heard from his Father;

•   authority, because he spoke in his own name, of what he knew personally;

•   power because he claimed a unique filial relationship with God, his “Abba,” Father.

537.   What signs and wonders did Jesus perform?

       Jesus worked many miracles, wonders and signs, healing the sick, freeing the possessed, raising the dead to life.

       Through these signs he called all to faith in him and to discipleship which consists in following him in building the Kingdom through loving service of others.

538.   What was Jesus’ fate as a prophet?

       Jesus suffered a martyr’s death at the hands of his own, “who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets” (1 Thes 2:15).

       “The God of our fathers has raised up Jesus whom you put to death, hanging him on a tree” (Acts 5:30; 10:39).

539.   Why is Jesus called “Savior”?

       As announced even before his birth, the Child is to be named Jesus because “he will save his people from their sins” (Mt 1:21).

       “Lord by your Cross and Resurrection, you have set us free. You are the Savior of the world.”

540.   How does Jesus “save”?

       Jesus saves by making it possible for us to work throughout our lives against SIN, the spiritual root of all the evils which we experience. He calls us to embrace and exercise his liberating grace in all our moral actions, especially by working for justice and peace.

541.   How does Jesus liberate from socio-economic oppression?

       Jesus liberates in this area by exposing the corrupting force of:

•   riches that enslave;

•   self-seeking ambition that knows no bounds;

•   social prejudices that oppress and exploit others;

•   a legalistic attitude toward law that makes even God’s commandments oppressive and exploitative.

       Positively, through word and example, Christ saved by inspiring men and women with the ideal of loving service.

542.   How did Jesus save from the “meaninglessness” of life?

       Jesus saved by dissipating the darkness of ignorance and prejudice through the light of his Truth, and by giving meaning and purpose to human life, even its sufferings.

543.   From all Jesus did, what can we say of who he IS?

       Sacred Scripture grounds three fundamental truths about the person of Jesus. He is:

•    truly human, like us in all things but sin (cf. Heb 2:17; 4:15);

•   truly divine, God’s eternal Word, the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth, ever at the Father’s side, who has revealed Him to us (cf. Jn 1:14,18);

•   one, the “one mediator between God and men” (1 Tim 2:5). He cannot be divided.

       “When the designated time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to deliver from the law those who were subjected to it that we might receive our status as adopted sons” (Gal 4:4-5).

       “Simon Peter said in reply, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God’” (Mt 16:16).

544. Was the truth that Jesus is true God and true man easily understood?

       The early Church only gradually came to an accurate expression of the divinity of Jesus, culminating in the Nicene Creed’s profession of:

“One Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,

eternally begotten of the Father,

God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God,

begotten, not made, one in being with the Father.”

       The Council of Chalcedon further defined Jesus as:

“begotten from the Father before the ages as to the divinity, and in the latter days for us and our salvation was born as to his humanity from Mary, the Virgin Mother of God” (ND 614).

545.   Why do Catholics venerate Mary as “Mother of God”?

       The Gospels clearly teach that Mary was chosen by God to conceive and bear a son, Jesus, who will be called Son of the Most High. (Cf. Lk 1:31.) Mary is the mother of God because she is the mother of Jesus, the God-man.

       “Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice, ‘. . . blessed is the fruit of your womb. But who am I that the mother of my Lord should come to me?’ ” (Lk 1:41-43)

546.   Why is Mary exalted as “the Blessed Virgin Mary”?

       Mary’s virginity manifests both God’s free initiative in effecting the Incarnation of His Son, and Mary’s complete gift of self to God.

547.   How is Mary “our Mother”?

       Besides being the virgin mother of Jesus, Mary was given by Christ on the Cross to be the spiritual mother in grace of all his disciples. (Cf. Jn 19:25-27.)

548.   What is the meaning and significance of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption?

       Chosen to be the Mother of Jesus our Savior, Mary was conceived in her mother’s womb “preserved free from all stain of original sin” (Immaculate Conception). At her death, she was taken up body and soul into heaven (Assumption).

       Both graces are not exceptions separating Mary from us, but privileges of perfection and completion that enable Mary to fulfill her unique role in God’s plan to save all through Christ, the one Mediator.

549.   How is Mary “Advocate” and “Mediatrix”?

       St. Paul clearly affirms “there is ONE mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5). But just as Jesus calls all to follow him and share in his mission as prophet, priest, and king, so he gave Mary, his Mother, the unique mission of being mother to all his disciples (cf. Jn 19:26). Thus Jesus makes Mary share in his own saving mediatorship, neither adding nor detracting from it in any way.

Chapter 11

Christ Has Died

The Son of Man has come not to be served but to serve ^__ to give his life in ransom for the many.

(Mk 10:45)

I solemnly assure you, unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat. But if it dies, it produces much fruit.

(Jn 12:24)

 

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OPENING

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550.     Having seen the mission and Person of Christ in Chap. 10, we now focus on his Passion and Death, and their meaning for Filipino Christian life. For suffering and death are two inescapable realities which every human person has to face. Does Jesus Christ help us accept these realities and even find meaning in them?

551.     The whole earthly life of Christ came to its climax in his Paschal Mystery, his suffering, Death and Resurrection (cf. CCC 571f; PCP II 55, 85, 413). This chapter focuses on his suffering and Death, while his Resurrection and glorification are treated in the next. Both chapters are positive, presenting the saving love of God in Jesus Christ.

         For even the Cross is uplifting. In a secular sense, it was the means of the most painful and degrading death. But for us Christians, the Cross of Christ is the symbol of salvation. At Baptism we are marked with the sign of the Cross. Throughout life we are blessed with this sign, and sign ourselves with it in prayer. St. Paul wrote the Corinthians that he “would speak of nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2).

552.     Nevertheless, the Cross has always been, and remains for many today, a scandal. Paul wrote: “We proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and an aburdity to Gentiles.” Yet he continued: “but to those who are called, Jews, and Gentiles alike, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:23f).

       The Cross is the symbol not only of Christ’s saving power, but also of our true selves. For it is the exemplar for all time of Jesus’ great “Paradox,” recorded in all four Gospels: “Whoever would preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the Gospel will save it” (Mk 8:35; cf. Mt 10:39; Lk 9:24; Jn 12:25; PCP II 86).

 

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CONTEXT

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553.     Devotion to the suffering Jesus (Padre Jesus Nazareno) and the dead Jesus, taken down from the Cross (Santo Entierro) is very popular among us Filipinos. This can be seen in many different Lenten and Holy Week practices, especially those focusing on Good Friday. There are the Stations of the Cross, the flagellantes, the Pasyon chanted throughout Holy Week, and the Senakulo dramatizations of Christ’s final week. Lent and Holy Week are also favorite times for Filipinos to make spiritual retreats and days of recollections.

       The suffering and dead Jesus obviously strikes a very responsive chord in the heart of us Filipinos. We see in this Jesus one who can identify with us in our poverty, sufferings, and oppression; one who can reach out to us as a forgiving and healing Savior in our weaknesses and failings.

554.     But the very intensity of these devotions to the suffering Christ unfortunately leads at times to exaggerations, and even superstitions. “We must have the courage to correct what leads to fanaticism or maintains people infantile in their faith” (PCP II 175; cf. 12). These pious practices can give a very one-sided image of Christ which tends to enslave the devotees rather than heal and liberate them.

555. What, then, is the true meaning of Christ’s suffering and death for us, Filipino Christians of today? Two contradictory but widely shared attitudes seem most common. One “piously” makes suffering something to be sought in itself. The other, in worldly fashion, sees it as something to be avoided at all costs. Both gravely misunderstand the authentic Christian approach to suffering and death.

       In the face of such misleading views, it is all the more important for us to develop an accurate and ever-deepening personal understanding of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.