CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY THE LUKE E. HART SERIES What Catholics Believe Section 5: Jesus Christ To Luke E. Hart, exemplary evangelizer and Supreme Knight from 1953-64, the Knights of Columbus dedicates this Series with affection and gratitude. The Knights of Columbus presents The Luke E. Hart Series Basic Elements of the Catholic Faith JESUS C HRIST PART ONE • SECTION FIVE OF CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY What does a Catholic believe? How does a Catholic worship? How does a Catholic live? Based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft General Editor Father John A. Farren, O.P. Catholic Information Service Knights of Columbus Supreme Council Nihil obstat Reverend Alfred McBride, O.Praem. Imprimatur Bernard Cardinal Law December 19, 2000 The Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur are official declarations that a book or pamphlet is free of doctrinal or moral error. No implication is contained therein that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur agree with the contents, opinions or statements expressed. Copyright © 2001-2021 by Knights of Columbus Supreme Council. All rights reserved. English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Modifications from the Editio Typica copyright © 1997, United States Catholic Conference, Inc. – Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Scripture quotations contained herein are adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, 1971, and the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, and are used by permission. All rights reserved. Excerpts from the Code of Canon Law, Latin/English edition, are used with permission, copyright © 1983 Canon Law Society of America, Washington, D.C. Citations of official Church documents from Neuner, Josef, SJ, and Dupuis, Jacques, SJ, eds., The Christian Faith: Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church, 5th ed. (New York: Alba House, 1992). Used with permission. Excerpts from Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, New Revised Edition edited by Austin Flannery, OP, copyright © 1992, Costello Publishing Company, Inc., Northport, NY, are used by permission of the publisher, all rights reserved. No part of these excerpts may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without express permission of Costello Publishing Company. Cover: Fra Angelico (1387-1455), Detail of Saint Thomas Aquinas adoring the cross. Museo di San Marco, Florence, Italy. © 1997 Wood River Gallery No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Write: Catholic Information Service Knights of Columbus Supreme Council PO Box 1971 New Haven CT 06521-1971 www.kofc.org/cis [email protected] 203-752-4267 800-735-4605 fax Printed in the United States of America A WORD ABOUT THIS SERIES This booklet is one of a series of 30 that offer a colloquial expression of major elements of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Pope John Paul II, under whose authority the Catechism was first released in 1992, urged such versions so that each people and each culture can appropriate its content as its own. The booklets are not a substitute for the Catechism, but are offered only to make its contents more accessible. The series is at times poetic, colloquial, playful, and imaginative; at all times it strives to be faithful to the Faith. The Catholic Information Service recommends reading at least one Hart series booklet each month to gain a deeper, more mature understanding of the Faith. -iii- -iv- PART I: WHAT CATHOLICS BELIEVE (THEOLOGY) SECTION 5: JESUS CHRIST “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.” 1. The centrality of Christ In the Apostles’ Creed, 63 percent of the words (54 of 86) are about Christ. Why then is only ten percent of this series on the Creed (one booklet out of ten) about him? Not because Christ is only ten percent of Christianity. He is l00 percent. Christ is the essence of Christianity. Pascal says: “Not only do we only know God through Jesus Christ, but we only know ourselves through Jesus Christ; we only know life and death through Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ we cannot know the meaning of our life or our death, of God or of ourselves” (Pensees 417). -5- Why then is the “Gospel,” or “good news” about Jesus Christ covered in only one booklet? Because we have four perfect supplements to it: the four Gospels in the New Testament. Do you want to be a Christian? Then read the Gospels, for there you meet Christ. Do you want to be a saint? Then read the Gospels, for they were the main spiritual food of all the saints. No human words ever written have come even close to equaling their power to change lives. 2. The distinctive doctrine of Christianity What distinguishes Christianity from all other religions? The answer is simple: Christ himself. All Christians believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, God in human flesh. If they didn’t believe that, they wouldn’t be Christians. No non-Christians believe that; if they did, they’d be Christians. “Belief in the true Incarnation of the Son of God is the distinctive sign of Christian faith” (CCC 463).* 3. The message and the person All other great religious teachers subordinated themselves to their message. They pointed away from themselves to their teachings. For instance, Buddha said, “Look not to me, look to my dharma (doctrine, teaching).” But Christ said, “Come unto me” (Matthew 11:28). Buddha said, “Be lamps unto yourselves.” But Christ said, “I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). Moses and Muhammad claimed only to be prophets of God; Jesus claimed to be God (John 8:58). * CCC = Catechism of the Catholic Church -6- Any other religion could survive the loss of its founder. If Muhammad or Buddha or Abraham or Confucius were proved to be mythical and not historical figures, the religions that stem from them might still survive. But Christianity could never survive without Christ. For other religious founders only claimed to teach the truth; Christ claimed to be the Truth (John 14:6). 4. The essence of catechesis “The transmission of the Christian faith consists primarily in proclaiming Jesus Christ in order to lead others to faith in him. From the beginning, the first disciples burned with the desire to proclaim Christ: ‘We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard’”11 (CCC 425). “‘At the heart of catechesis [instruction in Christianity] we find, in essence, a Person…’”13 (CCC 426). “In catechesis ‘Christ…is taught – everything else is taught in reference to him…’”16 (CCC 427). 5. The essential qualification for all Christian teachers You can’t teach what you don’t know. You can’t give what you don’t have. The primary requirement for any Christian teacher, preacher, evangelist, or catechist is not just to know about Christ, but to know Christ. “Whoever is called ‘to teach Christ’ must first seek ‘the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus’”17 (CCC 428). 6. Christ the supreme surprise Throughout the Biblical narrative, God acts, intervenes in human lives, takes the initiative and reveals himself. It is a story not of “man’s search for God” but of God’s search for man. C. S. Lewis noted: “To speak of man’s search for God is like speaking of the mouse’s search for the cat.” And God’s acts always astonish -7- us. They go “far beyond all expectation” (CCC 422). God is the great iconoclast; the Incarnation leaves all previous ideas of the Messiah in ruins. The Incarnation was the most astonishing of all God’s acts, the most surprising, unforeseeable, unimaginable thing that ever happened. The immortal God, who has no beginning or end, became a mortal man, with a beginning (he had a mother!) and an end (he died!). The Author of all of history stepped into the drama he created and became one of his own characters, without ceasing to be the Author. The Creator became a creature. “He whom the world could not contain was contained in a mother’s womb” (Saint Augustine). No man ever dreamed this could happen (see Isaiah 48:6-8). If it really happened, it is the greatest fact that ever entered the universe. If it did not really happen, then it is the greatest fantasy that ever entered the universe of human thought. Why do Christians believe it is a fact rather than a fantasy or myth? The world was convinced and converted by the Incarnation. Not by arguments for it, but by it – or rather, by him, by the concrete Person, Jesus Christ. Even after he ascended, the world kept meeting him in the Gospels, and in his saints, and simply could not help falling in love with him. The Gospel is a love story – the story of God’s love for man. And the story of the world’s conversion is also a love story – the story of man’s love for this God.