There is no surer pledge or dearer sign of this great hope in the new heavens and new earth "in which righteousness dwells," 245 than the Eucharist. Every time this Mystery is celebrated, "the work of our redemption is carried on" and we "break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live for ever in Jesus Christ." 246

Often Jesus asks the sick to believe. 107 He makes use of signs to heal: spittle and the laying on of hands, 108 mud and washing. 109 The sick try to touch him, "for power came forth from him and healed them all." 110 and so in the sacraments Christ continues to "touch" us in order to heal us.

Christ invites his Disciples to follow him by taking up their Cross in their turn. 113 By following him they acquire a new outlook on illness and the sick. Jesus associates them with his own life of poverty and service. He makes them share in his ministry of compassion and healing: "So they went out and preached that men should repent. and they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them." 114

The risen Lord renews this Mission ("In my name . . . they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover." 115 ) and confirms it through the signs that the Church performs by invoking his name. 116 These signs demonstrate in a special way that Jesus is truly "God who saves." 117

Union with the passion of Christ. By the Grace of this sacrament the sick perSon receives the strength and the gift of uniting himself more closely to Christ's Passion: in a certain way he is consecrated to bear fruit by configuration to the Savior's redemptive Passion. Suffering, a consequence of original Sin, acquires a new meaning; it becomes a participation in the saving work of Jesus.

Everything that the priesthood of the Old Covenant prefigured finds its fulfillment in Christ Jesus, the "one mediator between God and men." 15 The Christian tradition considers Melchizedek, "priest of God Most High," as a prefiguration of the priesthood of Christ, the unique "high priest after the order of Melchizedek"; 16 "holy, blameless, unstained," 17 "by a Single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified," 18 that is, by the unique sacrifice of the Cross.

"Only a baptized man (vir) validly receives sacred ordination." 66 The Lord Jesus chose men (viri) to form the college of the twelve Apostles, and the apostles did the same when they chose collaborators to succeed them in their ministry. 67 The college of bishops, with whom the priests are united in the priesthood, makes the college of the twelve an ever-present and ever-active reality until Christ's return. The Church recognizes herself to be bound by this choice made by the Lord himself. For this reaSon, the ordination of women is not possible. 68

On the threshold of his public life Jesus performs his first sign - at his mother's request - during a wedding feast. 105 The Church attaches great importance to Jesus' presence at the wedding at Cana. She sees in it the confirmation of the goodness of marriage and the proclamation that thenceforth marriage will be an efficacious sign of Christ's presence.

In his preaching Jesus unequivocally taught the original meaning of the union of man and woman as the Creator willed it from the beginning perMission given by Moses to divorce one's wife was a concession to the hardness of Hearts. 106 The matrimonial union of man and woman is indissoluble: God himself has determined it "what therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder." 107

This unequivocal insistence on the indissolubility of the marriage bond may have left some perplexed and could seem to be a demand impossible to realize. However, Jesus has not placed on spouses a burden impossible to bear, or too heavy - heavier than the Law of Moses. 108 By Coming to restore the original order of creation disturbed by Sin, he himself gives the strength and Grace to live marriage in the new dimension of the Reign of God. It is by following Christ, renouncing themselves, and taking up their Crosses that spouses will be able to "receive" the original meaning of marriage and live it with the help of Christ. 109 This grace of Christian marriage is a fruit of Christ's cross, the source of all Christian life.

The Love of the spouses requires, of its very nature, the unity and indissolubility of the spouses' community of perSons, which embraces their entire life: "so they are no longer two, but one flesh." 151 They "are called to grow continually in their Communion through day-to-day fidelity to their marriage promise of total mutual self-giving." 152 This human communion is confirmed, purified, and completed by communion in Jesus Christ, given through the sacrament of Matrimony. It is deepened by lives of the common Faith and by the Eucharist received together.

Today there are numerous Catholics in many countries who have recourse to civil divorce and contract new civil unions. In fidelity to the words of Jesus Christ - "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery" 158 The Church maintains that a new union cannot be recognized as valid, if the first marriage was. If the divorced are remarried civilly, they find themselves in a situation that objectively contravenes God's law. Consequently, they cannot receive Eucharistic Communion as long as this situation persists. For the same reaSon, they cannot exercise certain ecclesial responsibilities. Reconciliation through the sacrament of Penance can be granted only to those who have repented for having violated the sign of the covenant and of fidelity to Christ, and who are committed to living in complete continence.

We must also remember the great number of Single perSons who, because of the particular circumstances in which they have to live - often not of their choosing - are especially close to Jesus' Heart and therefore deserve the special affection and active solicitude of the Church, especially of pastors. Many remain without a human family often due to conditions of poverty. Some live their situation in the spirit of the Beatitudes, serving God and neighbor in exemplary fashion. the doors of homes, the "domestic churches," and of the great family which is the Church must be open to all of them. "No one is without a family in this world: the Church is a home and family for everyone, especially those who 'labor and are heavy laden.'" 170

Among sacramentals blesSings (of perSons, meals, objects, and places) come first. Every blessing praises God and prays for his gifts. In Christ, Christians are blessed by God the Father "with every spiritual blessing." 175 This is why the Church imparts blessings by invoking the name of Jesus, usually while making the holy sign of the Cross of Christ.

When the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a perSon or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called exorcism. Jesus performed exorcisms and from him the Church has received the power and office of exorcizing. 176 In a simple form, exorcism is performed at the celebration of Baptism. the solemn exorcism, called "a major exorcism," can be performed only by a priest and with the perMission of the bishop. the priest must proceed with prudence, strictly observing the rules established by the Church. Exorcism is directed at the expulsion of demons or to the liberation from demonic possession through the spiritual authority which Jesus entrusted to his Church. Illness, especially psychological illness, is a very different matter; treating this is the concern of medical science. Therefore, before an exorcism is performed, it is important to ascertain that one is dealing with the presence of the Evil One, and not an illness. 177

Christ's compassion toward the sick and his many healings of every kind of infirmity are a resplendent sign that "God has visited his people" 103 and that the Kingdom of God is close at hand. Jesus has the power not only to heal, but also to forgive Sins; 104 he has come to heal the whole man, soul and body; he is the physician the sick have need of. 105 His compassion toward all who suffer goes so far that he identifies himself with them: "I was sick and you visited me." 106 His preferential Love for the sick has not ceased through the centuries to draw the very special attention of Christians toward all those who suffer in body and soul. It is the source of tireless efforts to comfort them.

The Lord Jesus Christ, physician of our souls and bodies, who forgave the Sins of the paralytic and restored him to bodily health, 3 has willed that his Church continue, in the power of the Holy Spirit, his work of healing and Salvation, even among her own members. This is the purpose of the two sacraments of healing: the sacrament of Penance and the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.

It is called the sacrament of conversion because it makes sacramentally present Jesus' call to conversion, the first step in returning to the Father 5 from whom one has strayed by Sin. It is called the sacrament of Penance, since it consecrates the Christian sinner's perSonal and ecclesial steps of conversion, penance, and satisfaction.

"YOU were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." 9 One must appreciate the magnitude of the gift God has given us in the sacraments of Christian initiation in order to grasp the degree to which Sin is excluded for him who has "put on Christ." 10 But the apostle John also says: "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 11 and the Lord himself taught us to pray: "Forgive us our trespasses," 12 linking our forgiveness of one another's offenses to the forgiveness of our Sins that God will grant us.

Jesus calls to conversion. This call is an essential part of the proclamation of the Kingdom: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel." 16 In the Church's preaching this call is addressed first to those who do not yet know Christ and his Gospel. Also, Baptism is the principal place for the first and fundamental conversion. It is by Faith in the Gospel and by Baptism 17 that one renounces evil and gains Salvation, that is, the forgiveness of all Sins and the gift of new life.

St. Peter's conversion after he had denied his master three times bears witness to this. Jesus' look of infinite mercy drew tears of repentance from Peter and, after the Lord's Resurrection, a threefold affirmation of Love for him. 20 The second conversion also has a communitarian dimension, as is clear in the Lord's call to a whole Church: "Repent!" 21

Jesus' call to conversion and penance, like that of the prophets before him, does not aim first at outward works, "sackcloth and ashes," fasting and mortification, but at the conversion of the Heart, interior conversion. Without this, such penances remain sterile and false; however, interior conversion urges expression in visible signs, gestures and works of penance. 23

Conversion is accomplished in daily life by gestures of reconciliation, concern for the poor, the exercise and defense of justice and right, 33 by the adMission of faults to one's brethren, fraternal correction, revision of life, examination of conscience, spiritual direction, acceptance of suffering, endurance of persecution for the sake of righteousness. Taking up one's Cross each day and following Jesus is the surest way of penance. 34

The process of conversion and repentance was described by Jesus in the parable of the prodigal Son, the center of which is the merciful Father: 37 The fascination of illusory freedom, the abandonment of the father's house; the extreme misery in which the son finds himself after squandering his fortune; his deep humiliation at finding himself obliged to feed swine, and still worse, at wanting to feed on the husks the pigs ate; his reflection on all he has lost; his repentance and decision to declare himself guilty before his father; the journey back; the father's generous welcome; the father's joy - all these are characteristic of the process of conversion. the beautiful robe, the ring, and the festive banquet are symbols of that new life - pure worthy, and joyful - of anyone who returns to God and to the bosom of his family, which is the Church. Only the Heart of Christ Who knows the depths of his Father's Love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy in so simple and beautiful a way.

Only God forgives Sins. 39 Since he is the Son of God, Jesus says of himself, "The Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins" and exercises this divine power: "Your sins are forgiven." 40 Further, by virtue of his divine authority he gives this power to men to exercise in his name. 41

During his public life Jesus not only forgave Sins, but also made plain the effect of this forgiveness: he reintegrated forgiven Sinners into the community of the People of God from which sin had alienated or even excluded them. A remarkable sign of this is the fact that Jesus receives sinners at his table, a gesture that expresses in an astonishing way both God's forgiveness and the return to the bosom of the People of God. 44

Beneath the changes in discipline and celebration that this sacrament has undergone over the centuries, the same fundamental structure is to be discerned. It comprises two equally essential elements: on the one hand, the acts of the man who undergoes conversion through the action of the Holy Spirit: namely, contrition, confession, and satisfaction; on the other, God's action through the intervention of the Church. the Church, who through the bishop and his priests forgives Sins in the name of Jesus Christ and determines the manner of satisfaction, also prays for the Sinner and does penance with him. Thus the sinner is healed and re-established in ecclesial Communion.

An indulgence is obtained through the Church who, by virtue of the power of binding and looSing granted her by Christ Jesus, intervenes in favor of individual Christians and opens for them the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints to obtain from the Father of mercies the reMission of the temporal punishments due for their Sins. Thus the Church does not want simply to come to the aid of these Christians, but also to spur them to works of devotion, penance, and charity. 89

The Christian meaning of death is revealed in the light of the Paschal Mystery of the death and Resurrection of Christ in whom resides our only hope. the Christian who dies in Christ Jesus is "away from the body and at home with the Lord." 183

Christ Jesus always did what was pleaSing to the Father, 5 and always lived in perfect Communion with him. Likewise Christ's Disciples are invited to live in the sight of the Father "who sees in secret," 6 in order to become "perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." 7

The first work of the Grace of the Holy Spirit is conversion, effecting justification in accordance with Jesus' proclamation at the beginning of the Gospel: "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand." 38 Moved by grace, man turns toward God and away from Sin, thus accepting forgiveness and righteousness from on high. "Justification is not only the reMission of Sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man. 39

Justification is at the same time the acceptance of God's righteousness through Faith in Jesus Christ. Righteousness (or "justice") here means the rectitude of divine Love. With justification, faith, hope, and charity are poured into our Hearts, and obedience to the divine will is granted us.

Justification is the most excellent work of God's Love made manifest in Christ Jesus and granted by the Holy Spirit. It is the opinion of St. Augustine that "the justification of the wicked is a greater work than the creation of heaven and earth," because "heaven and earth will pass away but the Salvation and justification of the elect . . . will not pass away." 43 He holds also that the justification of Sinners surpasses the creation of the angels in justice, in that it bears witness to a greater mercy.

The children of our holy mother the Church rightly hope for the Grace of final perseverance and the recompense of God their Father for the good works accomplished with his grace in Communion with Jesus. 70 Keeping the same rule of life, believers share the "blessed hope" of those whom the divine mercy gathers into the "holy city, the new Jerusalem, Coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." 71

To this first reply Jesus adds a second: "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the

Jesus acknowledged the Ten Commandments, but he also showed the power of the Spirit at work in

When someone asks him, "Which commandment in the Law is the greatest?" 8 Jesus replies: "You

In fidelity to Scripture and in conformity with the example of Jesus, the tradition of the Church has

Jesus says: "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears

Jesus summed up man's duties toward God in this saying: "You shall Love the Lord your God with all your Heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." 1 This immediately echoes the solemn call: "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God is one LORD." 2 God has loved us first. the love of the One God is recalled in the first of the "ten words." the commandments then make explicit the response of love that man is called to give to his God.

Adoration is the first act of the virtue of religion. To adore God is to acknowledge him as God, as the Creator and Savior, the Lord and Master of everything that exists, as infinite and merciful Love. "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve," says Jesus, citing Deuteronomy. 13

Outward sacrifice, to be genuine, must be the expression of spiritual sacrifice: "The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit...." 17 The prophets of the Old Covenant often denounced sacrifices that were not from the Heart or not coupled with Love of neighbor. 18 Jesus recalls the words of the prophet Hosea: "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice." 19 The only perfect sacrifice is the one that Christ offered on the Cross as a total offering to the Father's love and for our Salvation. 20 By uniting ourselves with his sacrifice we can make our lives a sacrifice to God.

The Grace of the Holy Spirit has the power to justify us, that is, to cleanse us from our Sins and to communicate to us "the righteousness of God through Faith in Jesus Christ" and through Baptism: 34

The Law of the Gospel requires us to make the decisive choice between "the two ways" and to put into practice the words of the Lord. 26 It is summed up in the Golden Rule, "Whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; this is the law and the prophets." 27 The entire Law of the Gospel is contained in the "new commandment" of Jesus, to Love one another as he has loved us. 28

Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, Christians are "dead to Sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" and so participate in the life of the Risen Lord. 8 Following Christ and united with him, 9 Christians can strive to be "imitators of God as beLoved children, and walk in love" 10 by conforming their thoughts, words and actions to the "mind . . . which is yours in Christ Jesus," 11 and by following his example. 12

"Justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God," 13 "sanctified . . . (and) called to be saints," 14 Christians have become the temple of the Holy Spirit. 15 This "Spirit of the Son" teaches them to pray to the Father 16 and, having become their life, prompts them to act so as to bear "the fruit of the Spirit" 17 by charity in action. Healing the wounds of Sin, the Holy Spirit renews us interiorly through a spiritual transformation. 18 He enlightens and strengthens us to live as "children of light" through "all that is good and right and true." 19

The first and last point of reference of this catechesis will always be Jesus Christ himself, who is "the way, and the truth, and the life." 24 It is by looking to him in Faith that Christ's faithful can hope that he himself fulfills his promises in them, and that, by loving him with the same Love with which he has loved them, they may perform works in keeping with their dignity:

The Beatitudes are at the Heart of Jesus' preaching. They take up the promises made to the chosen people Since Abraham. the Beatitudes fulfill the promises by ordering them no longer merely to the possession of a territory, but to the Kingdom of heaven:

The Beatitudes depict the countenance of Jesus Christ and portray his charity. They express the vocation of the Faithful associated with the Glory of his Passion and Resurrection; they shed light on the actions and attitudes characteristic of the Christian life; they are the paradoxical promises that sustain hope in the midst of tribulations; they proclaim the blesSings and rewards already secured, however dimly, for Christ's Disciples; they have begun in the lives of the Virgin Mary and all the saints.

Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the Kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the Grace of the Holy Spirit. "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is Faithful." 84 "The Holy Spirit . . . he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life." 85

Christian hope unfolds from the beginning of Jesus' preaching in the proclamation of the beatitudes. the beatitudes raise our hope toward heaven as the new Promised Land; they trace the path that leads through the trials that await the Disciples of Jesus. But through the merits of Jesus Christ and of his Passion, God keeps us in the "hope that does not disappoint." 88 Hope is the "sure and steadfast anchor of the soul . . . that enters . . . where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf." 89 Hope is also a weapon that protects us in the struggle of Salvation: "Let us . . . put on the breastplate of Faith and charity, and for a helmet the hope of salvation." 90 It affords us joy even under trial: "Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation." 91 Hope is expressed and nourished in Prayer, especially in the Our Father, the sumMary of everything that hope leads us to desire.

Jesus makes charity the new commandment. 96 By loving his own "to the end," 97 he makes manifest the Father's Love which he receives. By loving one another, the Disciples imitate the love of Jesus which they themselves receive. Whence Jesus says: "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love." and again: "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." 98

The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God's mercy to Sinners. 113 The angel announced to Joseph: "You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their Sins." 114 The same is true of the Eucharist, the sacrament of redemption: "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." 115

As St. Paul affirms, "Where Sin increased, Grace abounded all the more." 118 But to do its work grace must uncover sin so as to convert our Hearts and bestow on us "righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ ourLord." 119 Like a physician who probes the wound before treating it, God, by his Word and by his Spirit, casts a living light on sin:

Sin is an offense against God: "Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight." 122 Sin sets itself against God's Love for us and turns our Hearts away from it. Like the first sin, it is disobedience, a revolt against God through the will to become "like gods," 123 knowing and determining good and evil. Sin is thus "love of oneself even to contempt of God." 124 In this proud self-exaltation, sin is diametrically opposed to the obedience of Jesus, which achieves our Salvation. 125

It is precisely in the Passion, when the mercy of Christ is about to vanquish it, that Sin most clearly manifests its violence and its many forms: unbelief, murderous hatred, shunning and mockery by the leaders and the people, Pilate's cowardice and the cruelty of the soldiers, Judas' betrayal - so bitter to Jesus, Peter's denial and the Disciples' flight. However, at the very hour of darkness, the hour of the prince of this world, 126 The sacrifice of Christ secretly becomes the source from which the forgiveness of our Sins will pour forth inexhaustibly.

Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments, corresponding to the answer of Jesus to the rich young man: "Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your Father and your mother." 132 The gravity of Sins is more or less great: murder is graver than theft. One must also take into account who is wronged: violence against parents is in itself graver than violence against a stranger.

The moral law finds its fullness and its unity in Christ. Jesus Christ is in perSon the way of perfection. He is the end of the law, for only he teaches and bestows the justice of God: "For Christ is the end of the law, that every one who has Faith may be justified." 4

Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to Faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, "You cannot serve God and mammon." 44 Many martyrs died for not adoring "the Beast" 45 refuSing even to simulate such worship. Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with Communion with God. 46

The Church knows that the Lord comes even now in his Eucharist and that he is there in our midst. However, his presence is veiled. Therefore we celebrate the Eucharist "awaiting the blessed hope and the Coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ," 243 asking "to share in your Glory when every tear will be wiped away. On that day we shall see you, our God, as you are. We shall become like you and praise you for ever through Christ our Lord." 244

Likewise, it belongs to the sacramental nature of ecclesial ministry that it have a collegial character. In fact, from the beginning of his ministry, the Lord Jesus instituted the Twelve as "the seeds of the new Israel and the beginning of the sacred hierarchy." 395 Chosen together, they were also sent out together, and their fraternal unity would be at the service of the fraternal Communion of all the Faithful: they would reflect and witness to the communion of the divine perSons. 396 For this reason every bishop exercises his ministry from within the episcopal college, in communion with the bishop of Rome, the successor of St. Peter and head of the college. So also priests exercise their ministry from within the presbyterium of the diocese, under the direction of their bishop.

The Last Judgment will come when Christ returns in Glory. Only the Father knows the day and the hour; only he determines the moment of its Coming. Then through his Son Jesus Christ he will pronounce the final word on all history. We shall know the ultimate meaning of the whole work of creation and of the entire economy of Salvation and understand the marvellous ways by which his Providence led everything towards its final end. the Last Judgment will reveal that God's justice triumphs over all the injustices committed by his creatures and that God's Love is stronger than death. 626

The visible universe, then, is itself destined to be transformed, "so that the world itself, restored to its original state, facing no further obstacles, should be at the service of the just," sharing their glorification in the risen Jesus Christ. 638

Jesus Christ himself is the "Amen." 648 He is the definitive "Amen" of the Father's Love for us. He takes up and completes our "Amen" to the Father: "For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the Glory of God": 649

"The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the font from which all her power flows." 13 It is therefore the privileged place for catechizing the People of God. "Catechesis is intrinsically linked with the whole of liturgical and sacramental activity, for it is in the sacraments, especially in the Eucharist, that Christ Jesus works in fullness for the transformation of men." 14

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blesSing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. He destined us before him in Love to be his Sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious Grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." 3

In the liturgy of the Church, it is principally his own Paschal Mystery that Christ signifies and makes present. During his earthly life Jesus announced his Paschal mystery by his teaching and anticipated it by his actions. When his Hour comes, he lives out the unique event of history which does not pass away: Jesus dies, is buried, rises from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of the Father "once for all." 8 His Paschal mystery is a real event that occurred in our history, but it is unique: all other historical events happen once, and then they pass away, swallowed up in the past. the Paschal mystery of Christ, by contrast, cannot remain only in the past, because by his death he destroyed death, and all that Christ is - all that he did and suffered for all men - participates in the divine eternity, and so transcends all times while being made present in them all. the event of the Cross and Resurrection abides and draws everything toward life.

"In the earthly liturgy we share in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the Holy City of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle. With all the warriors of the heavenly army we Sing a hymn of Glory to the Lord; venerating the memory of the saints, we hope for some part and fellowship with them; we eagerly await the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, until he, our life, shall appear and we too will appear with him in glory." 13

The epiclesis is also a Prayer for the full effect of the assembly's Communion with the Mystery of Christ. "The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit" 28 have to remain with us always and bear fruit beyond the Eucharistic celebration. the Church therefore asks the Father to send the Holy Spirit to make the lives of the Faithful a living sacrifice to God by their spiritual transformation into the image of Christ, by concern for the Church's unity, and by taking part in her Mission through the witness and service of charity.

"Adhering to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, to the apostolic traditions, and to the consensus . . . of the Fathers," we profess that "the sacraments of the new law were . . . all instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord." 31

Jesus' words and actions during his hidden life and public ministry were already salvific, for they anticipated the power of his Paschal Mystery. They announced and prepared what he was going to give the Church when all was accomplished. the mysteries of Christ's life are the foundations of what he would henceforth dispense in the sacraments, through the ministers of his Church, for "what was visible in our Savior has passed over into his mysteries." 32

The ordained ministry or ministerial priesthood is at the service of the Baptismal priesthood. 38 The ordained priesthood guarantees that it really is Christ who acts in the sacraments through the Holy Spirit for the Church. the saving Mission entrusted by the Father to his incarnate Son was committed to the Apostles and through them to their successors: they receive the Spirit of Jesus to act in his name and in his person. 39 The ordained minister is the sacramental bond that ties the liturgical action to what the apostles said and did and, through them, to the words and actions of Christ, the source and foundation of the sacraments.

The Church celebrates the Mystery of her Lord "until he comes," when God will be "everything to everyone." 53 Since the apostolic age the liturgy has been drawn toward its goal by the Spirit's groaning in the Church: Marana tha! 54 The liturgy thus shares in Jesus' desire: "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you . . . until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God." 55 In the sacraments of Christ the Church already receives the guarantee of her inheritance and even now shares in everlasting life, while "awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the Glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus." 56 The "Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come . . . Come, Lord Jesus!"' 57

Jesus often speaks of "Gehenna" of "the unquenchable fire" reserved for those who to the end of their lives refuse to believe and be converted, where both soul and body can be lost. 612 Jesus solemnly proclaims that he "will send his angels, and they will gather . . . all evil doers, and throw them into the furnace of fire," 613 and that he will pronounce the condemnation: "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire!" 614

By his death and Resurrection, Jesus Christ has "opened" heaven to us. the life of the blessed consists in the full and perfect possession of the fruits of the redemption accomplished by Christ. He makes partners in his heavenly glorification those who have believed in him and remained Faithful to his will. Heaven is the blessed community of all who are perfectly incorporated into Christ.

The Good Shepherd ought to be the model and "form" of the bishop's pastoral office. Conscious of his own weaknesses, "the bishop . . . can have compassion for those who are ignorant and erring. He should not refuse to listen to his subjects whose welfare he promotes as of his very own children.... the Faithful ... should be closely attached to the bishop as the Church is to Jesus Christ, and as Jesus Christ is to the Father": 428

"Hence the laity, dedicated as they are to Christ and anointed by the Holy Spirit, are marvellously called and prepared so that even richer fruits of the Spirit maybe produced in them. For all their works, Prayers, and apostolic undertakings, family and married life, daily work, relaxation of mind and body, if they are accomplished in the Spirit - indeed even the hardships of life if patiently born - all these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. In the celebration of the Eucharist these may most fittingly be offered to the Father along with the body of the Lord. and so, worshipping everywhere by their holy actions, the laity consecrate the world itself to God, everywhere offering worship by the holiness of their lives." 434

Communion of the sacraments. "The fruit of all the sacraments belongs to all the Faithful. All the sacraments are sacred links uniting the faithful with one another and binding them to Jesus Christ, and above all Baptism, the gate by which we enter into the Church. the communion of saints must be understood as the communion of the sacraments.... the name 'communion' can be applied to all of them, for they unite us to God.... But this name is better suited to the Eucharist than to any other, because it is primarily the Eucharist that brings this communion about." 481

The intercession of the saints. "Being more closely united to Christ, those who dwell in heaven fix the whole Church more firmly in holiness.... They do not cease to intercede with the Father for us, as they proffer the merits which they acquired on earth through the one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus.... So by their fraternal concern is our weakness greatly helped." 493

Communion with the dead. "In full consciousness of this communion of the whole Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, the Church in its pilgrim members, from the very earliest days of the Christian religion, has honored with great respect the memory of the dead; and 'because it is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their Sins' she offers her suffrages for them." 498 Our Prayer for them is capable not only of helping them, but also of making their intercession for us effective.

In this battle against our inclination towards evil, who could be brave and watchful enough to escape every wound of Sin? "If the Church has the power to forgive Sins, then Baptism cannot be her only means of using the keys of the Kingdom of heaven received from Jesus Christ. the Church must be able to forgive all penitents their offenses, even if they should sin until the last moment of their lives." 522

"In the forgiveness of Sins, both priests and sacraments are instruments which our Lord Jesus Christ, the only author and liberal giver of Salvation, wills to use in order to efface our Sins and give us the Grace of justification" (Roman Catechism, I, 11, 6).

The Pharisees and many of the Lord's contemporaries hoped for the Resurrection. Jesus teaches it firmly. To the Sadducees who deny it he answers, "Is not this why you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God?" 540 Faith in the resurrection rests on faith in God who "is not God of the dead, but of the living." 541

But there is more. Jesus links Faith in the Resurrection to his own perSon: "I am the Resurrection and the life." 542 It is Jesus himself who on the last day will raise up those who have believed in him, who have eaten his body and drunk his blood. 543 Already now in this present life he gives a sign and pledge of this by restoring some of the dead to life, 544 announcing thereby his own Resurrection, though it was to be of another order. He speaks of this unique event as the "sign of Jonah," 545 The sign of the temple: he announces that he will be put to death but rise thereafter on the third day. 546

What is "riSing"? In death, the separation of the soul from the body, the human body decays and the soul goes to meet God, while awaiting its reunion with its glorified body. God, in his almighty power, will definitively grant incorruptible life to our bodies by reuniting them with our souls, through the power of Jesus' Resurrection.

United with Christ by Baptism, believers already truly participate in the heavenly life of the risen Christ, but this life remains "hidden with Christ in God." 558 The Father has already "raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." 559 Nourished with his body in the Eucharist, we already belong to the Body of Christ. When we rise on the last day we "also will appear with him in Glory." 560

Death is transformed by Christ. Jesus, the Son of God, also himself suffered the death that is part of the human condition. Yet, despite his anguish as he faced death, he accepted it in an act of complete and free subMission to his Father's will. 572 The obedience of Jesus has transformed the curse of death into a blesSing. 573

The Christian who unites his own death to that of Jesus views it as a step towards him and an entrance into everlasting life. When the Church for the last time speaks Christ's words of pardon and absolution over the dying Christian, seals him for the last time with a strengthening anointing, and gives him Christ in viaticum as nourishment for the journey, she speaks with gentle assurance:

The great religions of mankind witness, often impressively, to this cosmic and symbolic meaning of religious rites. the liturgy of the Church presupposes, integrates and sanctifies elements from creation and human culture, conferring on them the dignity of signs of Grace, of the new creation in Jesus Christ.

Signs taken up by Christ. In his preaching the Lord Jesus often makes use of the signs of creation to make known the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. 17 He performs healings and illustrates his preaching with physical signs or symbolic gestures. 18 He gives new meaning to the deeds and signs of the Old Covenant, above all to the Exodus and the Passover, 19 for he himself is the meaning of all these signs.

The miracles of the multiplication of the loaves, when the Lord says the blesSing, breaks and distributes the loaves through his Disciples to feed the multitude, prefigure the superabundance of this unique bread of his Eucharist. 156 The sign of water turned into wine at Cana already announces the Hour of Jesus' glorification. It makes manifest the fulfillment of the wedding feast in the Father's Kingdom, where the Faithful will drink the new wine that has become the Blood of Christ. 157

The three synoptic Gospels and St. Paul have handed on to us the account of the institution of the Eucharist; St. John, for his part, reports the words of Jesus in the synagogue of Capernaum that prepare for the institution of the Eucharist: Christ calls himself the bread of life, come down from heaven. 163

Jesus chose the time of Passover to fulfill what he had announced at Capernaum: giving his Disciples his Body and his Blood:

By celebrating the Last Supper with his Apostles in the course of the Passover meal, Jesus gave the Jewish Passover its definitive meaning. Jesus' pasSing over to his Father by his death and Resurrection, the new Passover, is anticipated in the Supper and celebrated in the Eucharist, which fulfills the Jewish Passover and anticipates the final Passover of the Church in the Glory of the Kingdom.

The command of Jesus to repeat his actions and words "until he comes" does not only ask us to remember Jesus and what he did. It is directed at the liturgical celebration, by the Apostles and their successors, of the memorial of Christ, of his life, of his death, of his Resurrection, and of his intercession in the presence of the Father. 165

It was above all on "the first day of the week," Sunday, the day of Jesus' Resurrection, that the Christians met "to break bread." 167 From that time on down to our own day the celebration of the Eucharist has been continued so that today we encounter it everywhere in the Church with the same fundamental structure. It remains the center of the Church's life.

Thus from celebration to celebration, as they proclaim the Paschal Mystery of Jesus "until he comes," the pilgrim People of God advances, "following the narrow way of the Cross," 168 toward the heavenly banquet, when all the elect will be seated at the table of the Kingdom.

Is this not the same movement as the Paschal meal of the risen Jesus with his Disciples? Walking with them he explained the Scriptures to them; sitting with them at table "he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them." 172

In the epiclesis, the Church asks the Father to send his Holy Spirit (or the power of his blesSing 178 ) on the bread and wine, so that by his power they may become the body and blood of Jesus Christ and so that those who take part in the Eucharist may be one body and one spirit (some liturgical traditions put the epiclesis after the anamnesis). In the institution narrative, the power of the words and the action of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit, make sacramentally present under the species of bread and wine Christ's body and blood, his sacrifice offered on the Cross once for all.

In the anamnesis that follows, the Church calls to mind the Passion, Resurrection, and glorious return of Christ Jesus; she presents to the Father the offering of his Son which reconciles us with him. In the intercessions, the Church indicates that the Eucharist is celebrated in Communion with the whole Church in heaven and on earth, the living and the dead, and in communion with the pastors of the Church, the Pope, the diocesan bishop, his presbyterium and his deacons, and all the bishops of the whole world together with their Churches.

"Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us," is present in many ways to his Church: 195 in his word, in his Church's Prayer, "where two or three are gathered in my name," 196 in the poor, the sick, and the impriSoned, 197 in the sacraments of which he is the author, in the sacrifice of the Mass, and in the person of the minister. But "he is present . . . most especially in the Eucharistic species." 198

The mode of Christ's presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as "the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend." 199 In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist "the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained." 200 "This presence is called 'real' - by which is not intended to exclude the other types of presence as if they could not be 'real' too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense: that is to say, it is a substantial presence by which Christ, God and man, makes himself wholly and entirely present." 201

Holy Communion augments our union with Christ. the principal fruit of receiving the Eucharist in Holy Communion is an intimate union with Christ Jesus. Indeed, the Lord said: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him." 223 Life in Christ has its foundation in the Eucharistic banquet: "As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me." 224

In an ancient Prayer the Church acclaims the Mystery of the Eucharist: "O sacred banquet in which Christ is received as food, the memory of his Passion is renewed, the soul is filled with Grace and a pledge of the life to come is given to us." If the Eucharist is the memorial of the Passover of the Lord Jesus, if by our Communion at the altar we are filled "with every heavenly blesSing and grace," 239 then the Eucharist is also an anticipation of the heavenly Glory.

In the Old Covenant bread and wine were offered in sacrifice among the first fruits of the earth as a sign of grateful acknowledgment to the Creator. But they also received a new significance in the context of the Exodus: the unleavened bread that Israel eats every year at Passover commemorates the haste of the departure that liberated them from Egypt; the remembrance of the manna in the desert will always recall to Israel that it lives by the bread of the Word of God; 154 their daily bread is the fruit of the promised land, the pledge of God's Faithfulness to his promises. The "cup of blesSing" 155 at the end of the Jewish Passover meal adds to the festive joy of wine an eschatological dimension: the messianic expectation of the rebuilding of Jerusalem. When Jesus instituted the Eucharist, he gave a new and definitive meaning to the blessing of the bread and the cup.

The Lord's Supper, because of its connection with the supper which the Lord took with his Disciples on the eve of his Passion and because it anticipates the wedding feast of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem. 141 The Breaking of Bread, because Jesus used this rite, part of a Jewish meat when as master of the table he blessed and distributed the bread, 142 above all at the Last Supper. 143 It is by this action that his disciples will recognize him after his Resurrection, 144 and it is this expression that the first Christians will use to designate their Eucharistic assemblies; 145 by doing so they signified that all who eat the one broken bread, Christ, enter into Communion with him and form but one body in him. 146 The Eucharistic assembly (synaxis), because the Eucharist is celebrated amid the assembly of the Faithful, the visible expression of the Church. 147

When the Church celebrates the Mystery of Christ, there is a word that marks her Prayer: "Today!" - a word echoing the prayer her Lord taught her and the call of the Holy Spirit. 34 This "today" of the living God which man is called to enter is "the hour" of Jesus' Passover, which reaches aCross and underlies all history:

Sunday is the pre-eminent day for the liturgical assembly, when the Faithful gather "to listen to the word of God and take part in the Eucharist, thus calling to mind the Passion, Resurrection, and Glory of the Lord Jesus, and giving thanks to God who 'has begotten them again, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead' unto a living hope": 40

Beginning with the Easter Triduum as its source of light, the new age of the Resurrection fills the whole liturgical year with its brilliance. Gradually, on either side of this source, the year is transfigured by the liturgy. It really is a "year of the Lord's favor." 42 The economy of Salvation is at work within the framework of time, but Since its fulfillment in the Passover of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the culmination of history is anticipated "as a foretaste," and the Kingdom of God enters into our time.

All the Old Covenant prefigurations find their fulfillment in Christ Jesus. He begins his public life after having himself baptized by St. John the Baptist in the Jordan. 17 After his Resurrection Christ gives this Mission to his Apostles: "Go therefore and make Disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." 18

Our Lord voluntarily submitted himself to the Baptism of St. John, intended for Sinners, in order to "fulfill all righteousness." 19 Jesus' gesture is a manifestation of his self-emptying. 20 The Spirit who had hovered over the waters of the first creation descended then on the Christ as a prelude of the new creation, and the Father revealed Jesus as his "beLoved Son." 21

In his Passover Christ opened to all men the fountain of Baptism. He had already spoken of his Passion, which he was about to suffer in Jerusalem, as a "Baptism" with which he had to be baptized. 22 The blood and water that flowed from the pierced side of the crucified Jesus are types of Baptism and the Eucharist, the sacraments of new life. 23 From then on, it is possible "to be born of water and the Spirit" 24 in order to enter the Kingdom of God.

From the very day of Pentecost the Church has celebrated and administered holy Baptism. Indeed St. Peter declares to the crowd astounded by his preaching: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your Sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." 26 The Apostles and their collaborators offer Baptism to anyone who believed in Jesus: Jews, the God-fearing, pagans. 27 Always, Baptism is seen as connected with Faith: "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household," St. Paul declared to his jailer in Philippi. and the narrative continues, the jailer "was baptized at once, with all his family." 28

As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus' tenderness toward children which caused him to say: "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them," 63 allow us to hope that there is a way of Salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Church's call not to prevent little children Coming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism.

Yet certain temporal consequences of Sin remain in the baptized, such as suffering, illness, death, and such frailties inherent in life as weaknesses of character, and so on, as well as an inclination to sin that Tradition calls concupiscence, or metaphorically, "the tinder for sin" (fomes peccati); since concupiscence "is left for us to wrestle with, it cannot harm those who do not consent but manfully resist it by the Grace of Jesus Christ." 66 Indeed, "an athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules." 67

In the Old Testament the prophets announced that the Spirit of the Lord would rest on the hoped-for Messiah for his saving Mission. 90 The descent of the Holy Spirit on Jesus at his Baptism by John was the sign that this was he who was to come, the Messiah, the Son of God. 91 He was conceived of the Holy Spirit; his whole life and his whole mission are carried out in total Communion with the Holy Spirit whom the Father gives him "without measure." 92

Anointing with oil has all these meanings in the sacramental life. the pre-Baptismal anointing with the oil of catechumens signifies cleanSing and strengthening; the anointing of the sick expresses healing and comfort. the post-baptismal anointing with sacred chrism in Confirmation and ordination is the sign of consecration. By Confirmation Christians, that is, those who are anointed, share more completely in the Mission of Jesus Christ and the fullness of the Holy Spirit with which he is filled, so that their lives may give off "the aroma of Christ." 104

Like Baptism which it completes, Confirmation is given only once, for it too imprints on the soul an indelible spiritual mark, the "character," which is the sign that Jesus Christ has marked a Christian with the seal of his Spirit by clothing him with power from on high so that he may be his witness. 119

Preparation for Confirmation should aim at leading the Christian toward a more intimate union with Christ and a more lively familiarity with the Holy Spirit - his actions, his gifts, and his biddings - in order to be more capable of assuming the apostolic responsibilities of Christian life. To this end catechesis for Confirmation should strive to awaken a sense of belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ, the universal Church as well as the parish community. the latter bears special responsibility for the preparation of confirmands. 125

At the Last Supper the Lord himself directed his Disciples' attention toward the fulfillment of the Passover in the Kingdom of God: "I tell you I shall not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." 240 Whenever the Church celebrates the Eucharist she remembers this promise and turns her gaze "to him who is to come." In her Prayer she calls for his Coming: "Marana tha!" "Come, Lord Jesus!" 241 "May your Grace come and this world pass away!" 242

"No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit." 21 Every time we begin to pray to Jesus it is the Holy Spirit who draws us on the way of Prayer by his prevenient Grace. Since he teaches us to pray by recalling Christ, how could we not pray to the Spirit too? That is why the Church invites us to call upon the Holy Spirit every day, especially at the beginning and the end of every important action.

In positive terms, the battle against the possessive and dominating self requires vigilance, sobriety of Heart. When Jesus insists on vigilance, he always relates it to himself, to his Coming on the last day and every day: today. the bridegroom comes in the middle of the night; the light that must not be extinguished is that of Faith: "'Come,' my heart says, 'seek his face!'" 17

Another difficulty, especially for those who Sincerely want to pray, is dryness. Dryness belongs to contemplative Prayer when the Heart is separated from God, with no taste for thoughts, memories, and feelings, even spiritual ones. This is the moment of sheer Faith clinging faithfully to Jesus in his agony and in his tomb. "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if dies, it bears much fruit." 18 If dryness is due to the lack of roots, because the word has fallen on rocky soil, the battle requires conversion. 19

In the first place, we ought to be astonished by this fact: when we praise God or give him thanks for his benefits in general, we are not particularly concerned whether or not our Prayer is acceptable to him. On the other hand, we demand to see the results of our petitions. What is the image of God that motivates our prayer: an instrument to be used? or the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ?

The Prayer of Jesus makes Christian prayer an efficacious petition. He is its model, he prays in us and with us. Since the Heart of the Son seeks only what pleases the Father, how could the prayer of the children of adoption be centered on the gifts rather than the Giver?

Jesus also prays for us - in our place and on our behalf. All our petitions were gathered up, once for all, in his cry on the Cross and, in his Resurrection, heard by the Father. This is why he never ceases to intercede for us with the Father. 32 If our Prayer is resolutely united with that of Jesus, in trust and boldness as children, we obtain all that we ask in his name, even more than any particular thing: the Holy Spirit himself, who contains all gifts.

"Pray constantly . . . always and for everything giving thanks in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father." 33 St. Paul adds, "Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all Prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance making supplication for all the saints." 34 For "we have not been commanded to work, to keep watch and to fast constantly, but it has been laid down that we are to pray without ceaSing." 35 This tireless fervor can come only from Love. Against our dullness and laziness, the battle of prayer is that of humble, trusting, and persevering love. This love opens our Hearts to three enlightening and life-giving facts of Faith about prayer.

Prayer and Christian life are inseparable, for they concern the same Love and the same renunciation, proceeding from love; the same filial and loving conformity with the Father's plan of love; the same transforming union in the Holy Spirit who conforms us more and more to Christ Jesus; the same love for all men, the love with which Jesus has loved us. "Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he [will] give it to you. This I command you, to love one another." 41

When "his hour" came, Jesus prayed to the Father. 43 His Prayer, the longest transmitted by the Gospel, embraces the whole economy of creation and Salvation, as well as his death and Resurrection. the prayer of the Hour of Jesus always remains his own, just as his Passover "once for all" remains ever present in the liturgy of his Church.

Christian Tradition rightly calls this Prayer the "priestly" prayer of Jesus. It is the prayer of our high priest, inseparable from his sacrifice, from his pasSing over (Passover) to the Father to whom he is wholly "consecrated." 44

Jesus fulfilled the work of the Father completely; his Prayer, like his sacrifice, extends until the end of time. the prayer of this hour fills the end-times and carries them toward their consummation. Jesus, the Son to whom the Father has given all things, has given himself wholly back to the Father, yet expresses himself with a sovereign freedom 46 by virtue of the power the Father has given him over all flesh. the Son, who made himself Servant, is Lord, the Pantocrator. Our high priest who prays for us is also the one who prays in us and the God who hears our prayer.

By entering into the holy name of the Lord Jesus we can accept, from within, the Prayer he teaches us: "Our Father!" His priestly prayer fulfills, from within, the great petitions of the Lord's Prayer: concern for the Father's name; 47 passionate zeal for his Kingdom (Glory); 48 The accomplishment of the will of the Father, of his plan of Salvation; 49 and deliverance from evil. 50

Finally, in this Prayer Jesus reveals and gives to us the "knowledge," inseparably one, of the Father and of the Son, 51 which is the very Mystery of the life of prayer.

Contemplative Prayer is a Communion of Love bearing Life for the multitude, to the extent that it consents to abide in the night of Faith. the Paschal night of the Resurrection passes through the night of the agony and the tomb - the three intense moments of the Hour of Jesus which his Spirit (and not "the flesh [which] is weak") brings to life in prayer. We must be willing to "keep watch with (him) one hour." 14

Contemplative Prayer is silence, the "symbol of the world to come" 12 or "silent Love." 13 Words in this kind of prayer are not speeches; they are like kindling that feeds the fire of love. In this silence, unbearable to the "outer" man, the Father speaks to us his incarnate Word, who suffered, died, and rose; in this silence the Spirit of adoption enables us to share in the prayer of Jesus.

The traditional form of petition to the Holy Spirit is to invoke the Father through Christ our Lord to give us the Consoler Spirit. 23 Jesus insists on this petition to be made in his name at the very moment when he promises the gift of the Spirit of Truth. 24 But the simplest and most direct Prayer is also traditional, "Come, Holy Spirit," and every liturgical tradition has developed it in antiphons and hymns.

In Prayer the Holy Spirit unites us to the perSon of the only Son, in his glorified humanity, through which and in which our filial prayer unites us in the Church with the Mother of Jesus. 27

Mary gave her consent in Faith at the Annunciation and maintained it without hesitation at the foot of the Cross. Ever Since, her motherhood has extended to the brothers and sisters of her Son "who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties." 28 Jesus, the only mediator, is the way of our Prayer; Mary, his mother and ours, is wholly transparent to him: she "shows the way" (hodigitria), and is herself "the Sign" of the way, according to the traditional iconography of East and West.

Beginning with Mary's unique cooperation with the working of the Holy Spirit, the Churches developed their Prayer to the holy Mother of God, centering it on the perSon of Christ manifested in his mysteries. In countless hymns and antiphons expresSing this prayer, two movements usually alternate with one another: the first "magnifies" the Lord for the "great things" he did for his lowly servant and through her for all human beings 29 The second entrusts the supplications and praises of the children of God to the Mother of Jesus, because she now knows the humanity which, in her, the Son of God espoused.

This twofold movement of Prayer to Mary has found a privileged expression in the Ave Maria: Hail Mary [or Rejoice, Mary]: the greeting of the angel Gabriel opens this prayer. It is God himself who, through his angel as intermediary, greets Mary. Our prayer dares to take up this greeting to Mary with the regard God had for the lowliness of his humble servant and to exult in the joy he finds in her. 30 Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee: These two phrases of the angel's greeting shed light on one another. Mary is full of grace because the Lord is with her. the grace with which she is filled is the presence of him who is the source of all grace. "Rejoice . . . O Daughter of Jerusalem . . . the Lord your God is in your midst." 31 Mary, in whom the Lord himself has just made his dwelling, is the daughter of Zion in perSon, the ark of the covenant, the place where the Glory of the Lord dwells. She is "the dwelling of God . . . with men." 32 Full of grace, Mary is wholly given over to him who has come to dwell in her and whom she is about to give to the world. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. After the angel's greeting, we make Elizabeth's greeting our own. "Filled with the Holy Spirit," Elizabeth is the first in the long succession of generations who have called Mary "blessed." 33 "Blessed is she who believed...." 34 Mary is "blessed among women" because she believed in the fulfillment of the Lord's word. Abraham. because of his Faith, became a blesSing for all the nations of the earth. 35 Mary, because of her faith, became the mother of believers, through whom all nations of the earth receive him who is God's own blessing: Jesus, the "fruit of thy womb."

Holy Mary, Mother of God: With Elizabeth we marvel, "and why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" 36 Because she gives us Jesus, her Son, Mary is Mother of God and our mother; we can entrust all our cares and petitions to her: she prays for us as she prayed for herself: "Let it be to me according to your word." 37 By entrusting ourselves to her Prayer, we abandon ourselves to the will of God together with her: "Thy will be done." Pray for us Sinners, now and at the hour of our death: By asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the "Mother of Mercy," the All-Holy One. We give ourselves over to her now, in the Today of our lives. and our trust broadens further, already at the present moment, to surrender "the hour of our death" wholly to her care. May she be there as she was at her son's death on the Cross. May she welcome us as our mother at the hour of our passing 38 to lead us to her son, Jesus, in paradise.

Mary is the perfect Orans (Prayer), a figure of the Church. When we pray to her, we are adhering with her to the plan of the Father, who sends his Son to save all men. Like the beLoved disciple we welcome Jesus' mother into our homes, 39 for she has become the mother of all the living. We can pray with and to her. the prayer of the Church is sustained by the prayer of Mary and united with it in hope. 40

Vocal Prayer is an essential element of the Christian life. To his Disciples, drawn by their Master's silent prayer, Jesus teaches a vocal prayer, the Our Father. He not only prayed aloud the liturgical prayers of the synagogue but, as the Gospels show, he raised his voice to express his perSonal prayer, from exultant blesSing of the Father to the agony of Gesthemani. 3

There are as many and varied methods of meditation as there are spiritual masters. Christians owe it to themselves to develop the desire to meditate regularly, lest they come to resemble the three first kinds of soil in the parable of the sower. 5 But a method is only a guide; the important thing is to advance, with the Holy Spirit, along the one way of Prayer: Christ Jesus.

Meditation engages thought, imagination, emotion, and desire. This mobilization of faculties is necessary in order to deepen our convictions of Faith, prompt the conversion of our Heart, and strengthen our will to follow Christ. Christian Prayer tries above all to meditate on the mysteries of Christ, as in lectio divina or the rosary. This form of prayerful reflection is of great value, but Christian prayer should go further: to the knowledge of the Love of the Lord Jesus, to union with him.

What is contemplative Prayer? St. Teresa answers: "Contemplative prayer [oracion mental] in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know Loves us." 6 Contemplative prayer seeks him "whom my soul loves." 7 It is Jesus, and in him, the Father. We seek him, because to desire him is always the beginning of love, and we seek him in that pure Faith which causes us to be born of him and to live in him. In this inner prayer we can still meditate, but our attention is fixed on the Lord himself.

Contemplation is a gaze of Faith, fixed on Jesus. "I look at him and he looks at me": this is what a certain peasant of Ars used to say to his holy cure about his Prayer before the tabernacle. This focus on Jesus is a renunciation of self. His gaze purifies our Heart; the light of the countenance of Jesus illumines the eyes of our heart and teaches us to see everything in the light of his truth and his compassion for all men. Contemplation also turns its gaze on the mysteries of the life of Christ. Thus it learns the "interior knowledge of our Lord," the more to Love him and follow him. 11

Jesus "was praying at a certain place, and when he ceased, one of his Disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.'" 1 In response to this request the Lord entrusts to his disciples and to his Church the fundamental Christian Prayer. St. Luke presents a brief text of five petitions, 2 while St. Matthew gives a more developed version of seven petitions. 3 The liturgical tradition of the Church has retained St. Matthew's text:

Very early on, liturgical usage concluded the Lord's Prayer with a doxology. In the Didache, we find, "For yours are the power and the Glory for ever." 4 The Apostolic Constitutions add to the beginning: "the Kingdom," and this is the formula retained to our day in ecumenical prayer. 5 The Byzantine tradition adds after "the glory" the words "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." the Roman Missal develops the last petition in the explicit perspective of "awaiting our blessed hope" and of the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 6 Then comes the assembly's acclamation or the repetition of the doxology from the Apostolic Constitutions.

In the waters of Baptism, we have been "washed . . . sanctified . . . justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." 79 Our Father calls us to holiness in the whole of our life, and Since "he is the source of (our) life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and . . .sanctification," 80 both his Glory and our life depend on the hallowing of his name in us and by us. Such is the urgency of our first petition.

This petition embodies all the others. Like the six petitions that follow, it is fulfilled by the Prayer of Christ. Prayer to our Father is our prayer, if it is prayed in the name of Jesus. 84 In his priestly prayer, Jesus asks: "Holy Father, protect in your name those whom you have given me." 85

This petition is "Marana tha," the cry of the Spirit and the Bride: "Come, Lord Jesus."

This petition is taken up and granted in the Prayer of Jesus which is present and effective in the Eucharist; it bears its fruit in new life in keeping with the Beatitudes. 94

In Christ, and through his human will, the will of the Father has been perfectly fulfilled once for all. Jesus said on entering into this world: "Lo, I have come to do your will, O God." 99 Only Jesus can say: "I always do what is pleaSing to him." 100 In the Prayer of his agony, he consents totally to this will: "not my will, but yours be done." 101 For this reaSon Jesus "gave himself for our Sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father." 102 "and by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." 103

"Although he was a Son, [Jesus] learned obedience through what he suffered." 104 How much more reason have we Sinful creatures to learn obedience - we who in him have become children of adoption. We ask our Father to unite our will to his Son's, in order to fulfill his will, his plan of Salvation for the life of the world. We are radically incapable of this, but united with Jesus and with the power of his Holy Spirit, we can surrender our will to him and decide to choose what his Son has always chosen: to do what is pleasing to the Father. 105

By Prayer we can discern "what is the will of God" and obtain the endurance to do it. 108 Jesus teaches us that one enters the Kingdom of heaven not by speaking words, but by doing "the will of my Father in heaven." 109

"Give us": the trust of children who look to their Father for everything is beautiful. "He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." 113 He gives to all the living "their food in due seaSon." 114 Jesus teaches us this petition, because it glorifies our Father by acknowledging how good he is, beyond all goodness.

"Our bread": the Father who gives us life cannot not but give us the nourishment life requires - all appropriate goods and blesSings, both material and spiritual. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus insists on the filial trust that cooperates with our Father's providence. 115 He is not inviting us to idleness, 116 but wants to relieve us from nagging worry and preoccupation. Such is the filial surrender of the children of God:

This "as" is not unique in Jesus' teaching: "You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect"; "Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful"; "A new commandment I give to you, that you Love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another." 139 It is impossible to keep the Lord's commandment by imitating the divine model from outside; there has to be a vital participation, Coming from the depths of the Heart, in the holiness and the mercy and the love of our God. Only the Spirit by whom we live can make "ours" the same mind that was in Christ Jesus. 140 Then the unity of forgiveness becomes possible and we find ourselves "forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave" us. 141

Christian Prayer extends to the forgiveness of enemies, 144 transfiguring the disciple by configuring him to his Master. Forgiveness is a high-point of Christian prayer; only Hearts attuned to God's compassion can receive the gift of prayer. Forgiveness also bears witness that, in our world, Love is stronger than Sin. the martyrs of yesterday and today bear this witness to Jesus. Forgiveness is the fundamental condition of the reconciliation of the children of God with their Father and of men with one another. 145

Such a battle and such a victory become possible only through Prayer. It is by his prayer that Jesus vanquishes the tempter, both at the outset of his public Mission and in the ultimate struggle of his agony. 159 In this petition to our heavenly Father, Christ unites us to his battle and his agony. He urges us to vigilance of the Heart in Communion with his own. Vigilance is "custody of the heart," and Jesus prayed for us to the Father: "Keep them in your name." 160 The Holy Spirit constantly seeks to awaken us to keep watch. 161 Finally, this petition takes on all its dramatic meaning in relation to the last temptation of our earthly battle; it asks for final perseverance. "Lo, I am Coming like a thief! Blessed is he who is awake." 162

The last petition to our Father is also included in Jesus' Prayer: "I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one." 163 It touches each of us perSonally, but it is always "we" who pray, in Communion with the whole Church, for the deliverance of the whole human family. the Lord's Prayer continually opens us to the range of God's economy of Salvation. Our interdependence in the drama of Sin and death is turned into solidarity in the Body of Christ, the "communion of saints." 164

Victory over the "prince of this world" 169 was won once for all at the Hour when Jesus freely gave himself up to death to give us his life. This is the judgment of this world, and the prince of this world is "cast out." 170 "He pursued the woman" 171 but had no hold on her: the new Eve, "full of Grace" of the Holy Spirit, is preserved from Sin and the corruption of death (the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God, Mary, ever virgin). "Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring." 172 Therefore the Spirit and the Church pray: "Come, Lord Jesus," 173 since his Coming will deliver us from the Evil One.

Finally, in Jesus the name of the Holy God is revealed and given to us, in the flesh, as Savior, revealed by what he is, by his word, and by his sacrifice. 75 This is the Heart of his priestly Prayer: "Holy Father . . . for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated in truth." 76 Because he "sanctifies" his own name, Jesus reveals to us the name of the Father. 77 At the end of Christ's Passover, the Father gives him the name that is above all names: "Jesus Christ is Lord, to the Glory of God the Father." 78

The term "to hallow" is to be understood here not primarily in its causative sense (only God hallows, makes holy), but above all in an evaluative sense: to recognize as holy, to treat in a holy way. and so, in adoration, this invocation is sometimes understood as praise and thanksgiving. 66 But this petition is here taught to us by Jesus as an optative: a petition, a desire, and an expectation in which God and man are involved. Beginning with this first petition to our Father, we are immersed in the innermost Mystery of his Godhead and the drama of the Salvation of our humanity. Asking the Father that his name be made holy draws us into his plan of loving kindness for the fullness of time, "according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ," that we might "be holy and blameless before him in Love." 67

The Sermon on the Mount is teaching for life, the Our Father is a Prayer; but in both the one and the other the Spirit of the Lord gives new form to our desires, those inner movements that animate our lives. Jesus teaches us this new life by his words; he teaches us to ask for it by our prayer. the rightness of our life in him will depend on the rightness of our prayer.

The traditional expression "the Lord's Prayer" - oratio Dominica - means that the prayer to our Father is taught and given to us by the Lord Jesus. the prayer that comes to us from Jesus is truly unique: it is "of the Lord." On the one hand, in the words of this prayer the only Son gives us the words the Father gave him: 13 he is the master of our prayer. On the other, as Word incarnate, he knows in his human Heart the needs of his human brothers and sisters and reveals them to us: he is the model of our prayer.

But Jesus does not give us a formula to repeat mechanically. 14 As in every vocal Prayer, it is through the Word of God that the Holy Spirit teaches the children of God to pray to their Father. Jesus not only gives us the words of our filial prayer; at the same time he gives us the Spirit by whom these words become in us "spirit and life." 15 Even more, the proof and possibility of our filial prayer is that the Father "sent the Spirit of his Son into our Hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!'" 16 Since our prayer sets forth our desires before God, it is again the Father, "he who searches the hearts of men," who "knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." 17 The prayer to Our Father is inserted into the mysterious Mission of the Son and of the Spirit.

In the Roman liturgy, the Eucharistic assembly is invited to pray to our heavenly Father with filial boldness; the Eastern liturgies develop and use similar expressions: "dare in all confidence," "make us worthy of...." From the burning bush Moses heard a voice saying to him, "Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." 26 Only Jesus could Cross that threshold of the divine holiness, for "when he had made purification for Sins," he brought us into the Father's presence: "Here am I, and the children God has given me." 27

We can invoke God as "Father" because he is revealed to us by his Son become man and because his Spirit makes him known to us. the personal relation of the Son to the Father is something that man cannot conceive of nor the angelic powers even dimly see: and yet, the Spirit of the Son grants a participation in that very relation to us who believe that Jesus is the Christ and that we are born of God. 32

When we pray to the Father, we are in Communion with him and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 33 Then we know and recognize him with an ever new sense of wonder. the first phrase of the Our Father is a blesSing of adoration before it is a supplication. For it is the Glory of God that we should recognize him as "Father," the true God. We give him thanks for having revealed his name to us, for the gift of believing in it, and for the indwelling of his Presence in us.

When we say "our" Father, we recognize first that all his promises of Love announced by the prophets are fulfilled in the new and eternal covenant in his Christ: we have become "his" people and he is henceforth "our" God. This new relationship is the purely gratuitous gift of belonging to each other: we are to respond to "Grace and truth" given us in Jesus Christ with love and Faithfulness. 45

When we pray to "our" Father, we perSonally address the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. By doing so we do not divide the Godhead, Since the Father is its "source and origin," but rather confess that the Son is eternally begotten by him and the Holy Spirit proceeds from him. We are not confusing the persons, for we confess that our Communion is with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, in their one Holy Spirit. the Holy Trinity is consubstantial and indivisible. When we pray to the Father, we adore and glorify him together with the Son and the Holy Spirit.

For this reaSon, in spite of the divisions among Christians, this Prayer to "our" Father remains our common patrimony and an urgent summons for all the baptized. In Communion by Faith in Christ and by Baptism, they ought to join in Jesus' prayer for the unity of his Disciples. 50

When the Church prays "our Father who art in heaven," she is profesSing that we are the People of God, already seated "with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" and "hidden with Christ in God;" 60 yet at the same time, "here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling." 61

The Lord's Prayer brings us into Communion with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. At the same time it reveals us to ourselves (cf GS 22 # 1).

When we say "Our" Father, we are invoking the new covenant in Jesus Christ, Communion with the Holy Trinity, and the divine Love which spreads through the Church to encompass the world.

The Prayer of the Church venerates and honors the Heart of Jesus just as it invokes his most holy name. It adores the incarnate Word and his Heart which, out of Love for men, he allowed to be pierced by our Sins. Christian prayer loves to follow the way of the Cross in the Savior's steps. the stations from the Praetorium to Golgotha and the tomb trace the way of Jesus, who by his holy Cross has redeemed the world.

Tempting God consists in putting his goodness and almighty power to the test by word or deed. Thus Satan tried to induce Jesus to throw himself down from the Temple and, by this gesture, force God to act. 49 Jesus opposed Satan with the word of God: "You shall not put the Lord your God to the test." 50 The challenge contained in such tempting of God wounds the respect and trust we owe our Creator and Lord. It always harbors doubt about his Love, his providence, and his power. 51

The Lord Jesus insisted on the original intention of the Creator who willed that marriage be indissoluble. 173 He abrogates the accommodations that had slipped into the old Law. 174 Between the baptized, "a ratified and consummated marriage cannot be dissolved by any human power or for any reaSon other than death." 175

Incest designates intimate relations between relatives or in-laws within a degree that prohibits marriage between them. 180 St. Paul stigmatizes this especially grave offense: "It is actually reported that there is immorality among you . . . for a man is living with his Father's wife.... In the name of the Lord Jesus ... you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh...." 181 Incest corrupts family relationships and marks a regression toward animality.

The Church's social teaching comprises a body of doctrine, which is articulated as the Church interprets events in the course of history, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, in the light of the whole of what has been revealed by Jesus Christ. 201 This teaching can be more easily accepted by men of good will, the more the Faithful let themselves be guided by it.

Human work proceeds directly from perSons created in the image of God and called to prolong the work of creation by subduing the earth, both with and for one another. 209 Hence work is a duty: "If any one will not work, let him not eat." 210 Work honors the Creator's gifts and the talents received from him. It can also be redemptive. By enduring the hardship of work 211 in union with Jesus, the carpenter of Nazareth and the one crucified on Calvary, man collaborates in a certain fashion with the Son of God in his redemptive work. He shows himself to be a disciple of Christ by carrying the Cross, daily, in the work he is called to accomplish. 212 Work can be a means of sanctification and a way of animating earthly realities with the Spirit of Christ.

God blesses those who come to the aid of the poor and rebukes those who turn away from them: "Give to him who begs from you, do not refuse him who would borrow from you"; "you received without pay, give without pay." 231 It is by what they have done for the poor that Jesus Christ will recognize his chosen ones. 232 When "the poor have the good news preached to them," it is the sign of Christ's presence. 233

"The Church's Love for the poor . . . is a part of her constant tradition." This love is inspired by the Gospel of the Beatitudes, of the poverty of Jesus, and of his concern for the poor. 234 Love for the poor is even one of the motives for the duty of working so as to "be able to give to those in need." 235 It extends not only to material poverty but also to the many forms of cultural and religious poverty. 236

Beginning with the Old Testament, all kinds of juridical measures (the jubilee year of forgiveness of debts, prohibition of loans at interest and the keeping of collateral, the obligation to tithe, the daily payment of the day-laborer, the right to glean vines and fields) answer the exhortation of Deuteronomy: "For the poor will never cease out of the land; therefore I command you, 'You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor in the land.'" 248 Jesus makes these words his own: "The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me." 249 In so doing he does not soften the vehemence of former oracles against "buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals . . .," but invites us to recognize his own presence in the poor who are his brethren: 250

In Jesus Christ, the whole of God's truth has been made manifest. "Full of Grace and truth," he came as the "light of the world," he is the Truth. 256 "Whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness." 257 The disciple of Jesus continues in his word so as to know "the truth [that] will make you free" and that sanctifies. 258 To follow Jesus is to live in "the Spirit of truth," whom the Father sends in his name and who leads "into all the truth." 259 To his Disciples Jesus teaches the unconditional Love of truth: "Let what you say be simply 'Yes or No.'" 260

"But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through Faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe." 332 Henceforth, Christ's faithful "have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires"; they are led by the Spirit and follow the desires of the Spirit. 333

Jesus enjoins his Disciples to prefer him to everything and everyone, and bids them "renounce all that [they have]" for his sake and that of the Gospel. 334 Shortly before his passion he gave them the example of the poor widow of Jerusalem who, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on. 335 The precept of detachment from riches is obligatory for entrance into the Kingdom of heaven.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit." 337 The Beatitudes reveal an order of happiness and Grace, of beauty and peace. Jesus celebrates the joy of the poor, to whom the Kingdom already belongs: 338

"If you knew the gift of God!" 7 The wonder of Prayer is revealed beside the well where we come seeking water: there, Christ comes to meet every human being. It is he who first seeks us and asks us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God's desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God's thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him. 8

In the New Covenant, Prayer is the living relationship of the children of God with their Father who is good beyond measure, with his Son Jesus Christ and with the Holy Spirit. The Grace of the Kingdom is "the union of the entire holy and royal Trinity . . . with the whole human spirit." 12 Thus, the life of prayer is the habit of being in the presence of the thrice-holy God and in Communion with him. This communion of life is always possible because, through Baptism, we have already been united with Christ. 13 Prayer is Christian insofar as it is communion with Christ and extends throughout the Church, which is his Body. Its dimensions are those of Christ's Love. 14

Jesus came to restore creation to the purity of its origins. In the Sermon on the Mount, he interprets God's plan strictly: "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his Heart." 122 What God has joined together, let not man put asunder. 123 The tradition of the Church has understood the sixth commandment as encompasSing the whole of human sexuality.

Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reaSon of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. It prompted our Lord to utter this curse: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to Sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." 85 Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others. Jesus reproaches the scribes and Pharisees on this account: he likens them to wolves in sheep's clothing. 86

Simony is defined as the buying or selling of spiritual things. 53 To Simon the magician, who wanted to buy the spiritual power he saw at work in the Apostles, St. Peter responded: "Your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain God's gift with money!" 54 Peter thus held to the words of Jesus: "You received without pay, give without pay." 55 It is impossible to appropriate to oneself spiritual goods and behave toward them as their owner or master, for they have their source in God. One can receive them only from him, without payment.

The Faithful should bear witness to the Lord's name by confesSing the faith without giving way to fear. 76 Preaching and catechizing should be permeated with adoration and respect for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The second commandment forbids the abuse of God's name, i.e., every improper use of the names of God, Jesus Christ, but also of the Virgin Mary and all the saints.

Blasphemy is directly opposed to the second commandment. It consists in uttering against God - inwardly or outwardly - words of hatred, reproach, or defiance; in speaking ill of God; in failing in respect toward him in one's speech; in misuSing God's name. St. James condemns those "who blaspheme that honorable name [of Jesus] by which you are called." 78 The prohibition of blasphemy extends to language against Christ's Church, the saints, and sacred things. It is also blasphemous to make use of God's name to cover up criminal practices, to reduce peoples to servitude, to torture perSons or put them to death. the misuse of God's name to commit a crime can provoke others to repudiate religion. Blasphemy is contrary to the respect due God and his holy name. It is in itself a grave sin. 79

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explained the second commandment: "You have heard that it was said to the men of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.' But I say to you, Do not swear at all.... Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one." 82 Jesus teaches that every oath involves a reference to God and that God's presence and his truth must be honored in all speech. Discretion in calling upon God is allied with a respectful awareness of his presence, which all our assertions either witness to or mock.

Following St. Paul, 83 The tradition of the Church has understood Jesus' words as not excluding oaths made for grave and right reaSons (for example, in court). "An oath, that is the invocation of the divine name as a witness to truth, cannot be taken unless in truth, in judgment, and in justice." 84

The Gospel reports many incidents when Jesus was accused of violating the sabbath law. But Jesus never fails to respect the holiness of this day. 98 He gives this law its authentic and authoritative interpretation: "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath." 99 With compassion, Christ declares the sabbath for doing good rather than harm, for saving life rather than killing. 100 The sabbath is the day of the Lord of mercies and a day to honor God. 101 "The Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath." 102

Jesus rose from the dead "on the first day of the week." 104 Because it is the "first day," the day of Christ's Resurrection recalls the first creation. Because it is the "eighth day" following the sabbath, 105 it symbolizes the new creation ushered in by Christ's Resurrection. For Christians it has become the first of all days, the first of all feasts, the Lord's Day (he kuriake hemera, dies dominica) Sunday:

In response to the question about the first of the commandments, Jesus says: "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall Love the Lord your God with all your Heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' the second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." 2 The apostle St. Paul reminds us of this: "He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,' and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." 3

The fourth commandment reminds grown children of their responsibilities toward their parents. As much as they can, they must give them material and moral support in old age and in times of illness, loneliness, or distress. Jesus recalls this duty of gratitude. 23

Family ties are important but not absolute. Just as the child grows to maturity and human and spiritual autonomy, so his unique vocation which comes from God asserts itself more clearly and forcefully. Parents should respect this call and encourage their children to follow it. They must be convinced that the first vocation of the Christian is to follow Jesus: "He who Loves Father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves Son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." 39

BeComing a disciple of Jesus means accepting the invitation to belong to God's family, to live in conformity with His way of life: "For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother." 40 Parents should welcome and respect with joy and thanksgiving the Lord's call to one of their children to follow him in virginity for the sake of the Kingdom in the consecrated life or in priestly ministry.

Once the promise begins to be fulfilled (Passover, the Exodus, the gift of the Law, and the ratification of the covenant), the Prayer of Moses becomes the most striking example of intercessory prayer, which will be fulfilled in "the one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." 19

On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of the Promise was poured out on the Disciples, gathered "together in one place." 92 While awaiting the Spirit, "all these with one accord devoted themselves to Prayer." 93 The Spirit who teaches the Church and recalls for her everything that Jesus said 94 was also to form her in the life of prayer.

The first movement of the Prayer of petition is asking forgiveness, like the tax collector in the parable: "God, be merciful to me a Sinner!" 105 It is a prerequisite for righteous and pure prayer. A trusting humility brings us back into the light of Communion between the Father and his Son Jesus Christ and with one another, so that "we receive from him whatever we ask." 106 Asking forgiveness is the prerequisite for both the Eucharistic liturgy and personal prayer.

Intercession is a Prayer of petition which leads us to pray as Jesus did. He is the one intercessor with the Father on behalf of all men, especially Sinners. 112 He is "able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them." 113 The Holy Spirit "himself intercedes for us . . . and intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." 114

As in the Prayer of petition, every event and need can become an offering of thanksgiving. the letters of St. Paul often begin and end with thanksgiving, and the Lord Jesus is always present in it: "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you"; "Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving." 120

The Revelation of "what must soon take place," the Apocalypse, is borne along by the Songs of the heavenly liturgy 127 but also by the intercession of the "witnesses" (martyrs). 128 The prophets and the saints, all those who were slain on earth for their witness to Jesus, the vast throng of those who, having come through the great tribulation, have gone before us into the Kingdom, all Sing the praise and Glory of him who sits on the throne, and of the Lamb. 129 In Communion with them, the Church on earth also sings these songs with Faith in the midst of trial. By means of petition and intercession, faith hopes against all hope and gives thanks to the "Father of lights," from whom "every perfect gift" comes down. 130 Thus faith is pure praise.

The Church "forcefully and specially exhorts all the Christian Faithful . . . to learn 'the surpasSing knowledge of Jesus Christ' ( ⇒ Phil 3:8) by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures.... Let them remember, however, that Prayer should accompany the reading of Sacred Scripture, so that a dialogue takes place between God and man. For 'we speak to him when we pray; we listen to him when we read the divine oracles."' 4

We learn to pray at certain moments by hearing the Word of the Lord and sharing in his Paschal Mystery, but his Spirit is offered us at all times, in the events of each day, to make Prayer spring up from us. Jesus' teaching about praying to our Father is in the same vein as his teaching about providence: 12 time is in the Father's hands; it is in the present that we encounter him, not yesterday nor tomorrow, but today: "O that today you would hearken to his voice! Harden not your Hearts." 13

In the living tradition of Prayer, each Church proposes to its Faithful, according to its historic, social, and cultural context, a language for prayer: words, melodies, gestures, iconography. the Magisterium of the Church 15 has the task of discerning the fidelity of these ways of praying to the tradition of apostolic faith; it is for pastors and catechists to explain their meaning, always in relation to Jesus Christ.

There is no other way of Christian Prayer than Christ. Whether our prayer is communal or perSonal, vocal or interior, it has access to the Father only if we pray "in the name" of Jesus. the sacred humanity of Jesus is therefore the way by which the Holy Spirit teaches us to pray to God our Father.

The Prayer of the Church, nourished by the Word of God and the celebration of the liturgy, teaches us to pray to the Lord Jesus. Even though her prayer is addressed above all to the Father, it includes in all the liturgical traditions forms of prayer addressed to Christ. Certain psalms, given their use in the Prayer of the Church, and the New Testament place on our lips and engrave in our Hearts prayer to Christ in the form of invocations: Son of God, Word of God, Lord, Savior, Lamb of God, King, BeLoved Son, Son of the Virgin, Good Shepherd, our Life, our Light, our Hope, our Resurrection, Friend of mankind....

But the one name that contains everything is the one that the Son of God received in his incarnation: Jesus. the divine name may not be spoken by human lips, but by assuming our humanity the Word of God hands it over to us and we can invoke it: "Jesus," "YHWH saves." 16 The name "Jesus" contains all: God and man and the whole economy of creation and Salvation. To pray "Jesus" is to invoke him and to call him within us. His name is the only one that contains the presence it signifies. Jesus is the Risen One, and whoever invokes the name of Jesus is welComing the Son of God who Loved him and who gave himself up for him. 17

This simple invocation of Faith developed in the tradition of Prayer under many forms in East and West. the most usual formulation, transmitted by the spiritual writers of the Sinai, Syria, and Mt. Athos, is the invocation, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners." It combines the Christological hymn of Philippians 2:6-11 with the cry of the publican and the blind men begging for light. 18 By it the Heart is opened to human wretchedness and the Savior's mercy.

The Gospel reveals to us how Mary prays and intercedes in Faith. At Cana, 89 The mother of Jesus asks her Son for the needs of a wedding feast; this is the sign of another feast - that of the wedding of the Lamb where he gives his body and blood at the request of the Church, his Bride. It is at the hour of the New Covenant, at the foot of the Cross, 90 that Mary is heard as the Woman, the new Eve, the true "Mother of all the living."

The drama of Prayer is fully revealed to us in the Word who became flesh and dwells among us. To seek to understand his prayer through what his witnesses proclaim to us in the Gospel is to approach the holy Lord Jesus as Moses approached the burning bush: first to contemplate him in prayer, then to hear how he teaches us to pray, in order to know how he hears our prayer.

The Gospel according to St. Luke emphasizes the action of the Holy Spirit and the meaning of Prayer in Christ's ministry. Jesus prays before the decisive moments of his Mission: before his Father's witness to him during his Baptism and Transfiguration, and before his own fulfillment of the Father's plan of Love by his Passion. 43 He also prays before the decisive moments involving the mission of his Apostles: at his election and call of the Twelve, before Peter's confession of him as "the Christ of God," and again that the Faith of the chief of the Apostles may not fail when tempted. 44 Jesus' prayer before the events of Salvation that the Father has asked him to fulfill is a humble and trusting commitment of his human will to the loving will of the Father.

Jesus often draws apart to pray in solitude, on a mountain, preferably at night. 46 He includes all men in his Prayer, for he has taken on humanity in his incarnation, and he offers them to the Father when he offers himself. Jesus, the Word who has become flesh, shares by his human prayer in all that "his brethren" experience; he sympathizes with their weaknesses in order to free them. 47 It was for this that the Father sent him. His words and works are the visible manifestation of his prayer in secret.

The evangelists have preserved two more explicit Prayers offered by Christ during his public ministry. Each begins with thanksgiving. In the first, Jesus confesses the Father, acknowledges, and blesses him because he has hidden the mysteries of the Kingdom from those who think themselves learned and has revealed them to infants, the poor of the Beatitudes. 48 His exclamation, "Yes, Father!" expresses the depth of his Heart, his adherence to the Father's "good pleasure," echoing his mother's Fiat at the time of his conception and prefiguring what he will say to the Father in his agony. the whole prayer of Jesus is contained in this loving adherence of his human heart to the Mystery of the will of the Father. 49

The second Prayer, before the raiSing of Lazarus, is recorded by St. John. 50 Thanksgiving precedes the event: "Father, I thank you for having heard me," which implies that the Father always hears his petitions. Jesus immediately adds: "I know that you always hear me," which implies that Jesus, on his part, constantly made such petitions. Jesus' prayer, characterized by thanksgiving, reveals to us how to ask: before the gift is given, Jesus commits himself to the One who in giving gives himself. the Giver is more precious than the gift; he is the "treasure"; in him abides his Son's Heart; the gift is given "as well." 51

When the hour had come for him to fulfill the Father's plan of Love, Jesus allows a glimpse of the boundless depth of his filial Prayer, not only before he freely delivered himself up (“Abba . . . not my will, but yours."), 53 but even in his last words on the Cross, where prayer and the gift of self are but one: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do", 54 "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise", 55 "Woman, behold your Son" - "Behold your mother", 56 "I thirst."; 57 "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" 58 "It is finished"; 59 "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" 60 until the "loud cry" as he expires, giving up his spirit. 61

When Jesus prays he is already teaching us how to pray. His Prayer to his Father is the theological path (the path of Faith, hope, and charity) of our prayer to God. But the Gospel also gives us Jesus' explicit teaching on prayer. Like a wise teacher he takes hold of us where we are and leads us progressively toward the Father. AddresSing the crowds following him, Jesus builds on what they already know of prayer from the Old Covenant and opens to them the newness of the Coming Kingdom. Then he reveals this newness to them in parables. Finally, he will speak openly of the Father and the Holy Spirit to his Disciples who will be the teachers of prayer in his Church.

From the Sermon on the Mount onwards, Jesus insists on conversion of Heart: reconciliation with one's brother before presenting an offering on the altar, Love of enemies, and Prayer for persecutors, prayer to the Father in secret, not heaping up empty phrases, prayerful forgiveness from the depths of the heart, purity of heart, and seeking the Kingdom before all else. 64 This filial conversion is entirely directed to the Father.

Just as Jesus prays to the Father and gives thanks before receiving his gifts, so he teaches us filial boldness: "Whatever you ask in Prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will." 66 Such is the power of prayer and of Faith that does not doubt: "all things are possible to him who believes." 67 Jesus is as saddened by the "lack of faith" of his own neighbors and the "little faith" of his own Disciples 68 as he is struck with admiration at the great faith of the Roman centurion and the Canaanite woman. 69

The Prayer of Faith consists not only in saying "Lord, Lord," but in dispoSing the Heart to do the will of the Father. 70 Jesus calls his Disciples to bring into their prayer this concern for cooperating with the divine plan. 71

In Jesus "the Kingdom of God is at hand." 72 He calls his hearers to conversion and Faith, but also to watchfulness. In Prayer the disciple keeps watch, attentive to Him Who Is and Him Who Comes, in memory of his first Coming in the lowliness of the flesh, and in the hope of his second coming in Glory. 73 In Communion with their Master, the Disciples' prayer is a battle; only by keeping watch in prayer can one avoid falling into temptation. 74

When Jesus openly entrusts to his Disciples the Mystery of Prayer to the Father, he reveals to them what their prayer and ours must be, once he has returned to the Father in his glorified humanity. What is new is to "ask in his name." 78 Faith in the Son introduces the disciples into the knowledge of the Father, because Jesus is "the way, and the truth, and the life." 79 Faith bears its fruit in Love: it means keeping the word and the commandments of Jesus, it means abiding with him in the Father who, in him, so loves us that he abides with us. In this new covenant the certitude that our petitions will be heard is founded on the prayer of Jesus. 80

Even more, what the Father gives us when our Prayer is united with that of Jesus is "another Counselor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth." 81 This new dimension of prayer and of its circumstances is displayed throughout the farewell discourse. 82 In the Holy Spirit, Christian prayer is a Communion of Love with the Father, not only through Christ but also in him: "Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." 83

Prayer to Jesus is answered by him already during his ministry, through signs that anticipate the power of his death and Resurrection: Jesus hears the prayer of Faith, expressed in words (the leper, Jairus, the Canaanite woman, the good thief) 84 or in silence (the bearers of the paralytic, the woman with a hemorrhage who touches his clothes, the tears and ointment of the Sinful woman). 85 The urgent request of the blind men, "Have mercy on us, Son of David" or "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" has-been renewed in the traditional prayer to Jesus known as the Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!" 86 Healing infirmities or forgiving Sins, Jesus always responds to a prayer offered in faith: "Your faith has made you well; go in peace."

The invocation of the holy name of Jesus is the simplest way of praying always. When the holy name is repeated often by a humbly attentive Heart, the Prayer is not lost by heaping up empty phrases, 19 but holds fast to the word and "brings forth fruit with patience." 20 This prayer is possible "at all times" because it is not one occupation among others but the only occupation: that of loving God, which animates and transfigures every action in Christ Jesus.

Such is not the case for Simon Peter when he confesses Jesus as "the Christ, the Son of the living God", for Jesus responds solemnly: "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven." 46 Similarly Paul will write, regarding his conversion on the road to Damascus, "When he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his Grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles..." 47 "and in the synagogues immediately [Paul] proclaimed Jesus, saying, 'He is the Son of God.'" 48 From the beginning this acknowledgment of Christ's divine sonship will be the centre of the apostolic Faith, first professed by Peter as the Church's foundation. 49

The first heresies denied not so much Christ's divinity as his true humanity (Gnostic Docetism). From apostolic times the Christian Faith has insisted on the true incarnation of God's Son "come in the flesh". 87 But already in the third century, the Church in a council at Antioch had to affirm against Paul of Samosata that Jesus Christ is Son of God by nature and not by adoption. the first ecumenical council of Nicaea in 325 confessed in its Creed that the Son of God is "begotten, not made, of the same substance (homoousios) as the Father", and condemned Arius, who had affirmed that the Son of God "came to be from things that were not" and that he was "from another substance" than that of the Father. 88

The Monophysites affirmed that the human nature had ceased to exist as such in Christ when the divine perSon of God's Son assumed it. Faced with this heresy, the fourth ecumenical council, at Chalcedon in 451, confessed: Following the holy Fathers, we unanimously teach and confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: the same perfect in divinity and perfect in humanity, the same truly God and truly man, composed of rational soul and body; consubstantial with the Father as to his divinity and consubstantial with us as to his humanity; "like us in all things but Sin". He was begotten from the Father before all ages as to his divinity and in these last days, for us and for our Salvation, was born as to his humanity of the virgin Mary, the Mother of God. 91

After the Council of Chalcedon, some made of Christ's human nature a kind of perSonal subject. Against them, the fifth ecumenical council, at Constantinople in 553, confessed that "there is but one hypostasis [or person], which is our Lord Jesus Christ, one of the Trinity." 93 Thus everything in Christ's human nature is to be attributed to his divine person as its proper subject, not only his miracles but also his sufferings and even his death: "He who was crucified in the flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ, is true God, Lord of Glory, and one of the Holy Trinity." 94

The Church thus confesses that Jesus is inseparably true God and true man. He is truly the Son of God who, without ceaSing to be God and Lord, became a man and our brother: "What he was, he remained and what he was not, he assumed", sings the Roman Liturgy. 95 and the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom proclaims and sings: "O only-begotten Son and Word of God, immortal being, you who deigned for our Salvation to become incarnate of the holy Mother of God and ever-virgin Mary, you who without change became man and were crucified, O Christ our God, you who by your death have crushed death, you who are one of the Holy Trinity, glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit, save us!" 96

Since the Word became flesh in assuming a true humanity, Christ's body was finite. 112 Therefore the human face of Jesus can be portrayed; at the seventh ecumenical council (Nicaea II in 787) the Church recognized its representation in holy images to be legitimate. 113

At the same time the Church has always acknowledged that in the body of Jesus "we see our God made visible and so are caught up in Love of the God we cannot see." 114 The individual characteristics of Christ's body express the divine perSon of God's Son. He has made the features of his human body his own, to the point that they can be venerated when portrayed in a holy image, for the believer "who venerates the icon is venerating in it the person of the one depicted". 115

Jesus knew and Loved us each and all during his life, his agony and his Passion, and gave himself up for each one of us: "The Son of God. . . loved me and gave himself for me." 116 He has loved us all with a human Heart. For this reason, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced by our Sins and for our Salvation, 117 "is quite rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that. . . love with which the divine Redeemer continually loves the eternal Father and all human beings" without exception. 118

The Father's only Son, conceived as man in the womb of the Virgin Mary, is "Christ", that is to say, anointed by the Holy Spirit, from the beginning of his human existence, though the manifestation of this fact takes place only progressively: to the shepherds, to the magi, to John the Baptist, to the Disciples. 123 Thus the whole life of Jesus Christ will make manifest "how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power." 124

At the announcement that she would give birth to "the Son of the Most High" without knowing man, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary responded with the obedience of Faith, certain that "with God nothing will be impossible": "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word." 139 Thus, giving her consent to God's word, Mary becomes the mother of Jesus. EspouSing the divine will for Salvation wholeHeartedly, without a single sin to restrain her, she gave herself entirely to the person and to the work of her Son; she did so in order to serve the Mystery of redemption with him and dependent on him, by God's Grace: 140

Called in the Gospels "the mother of Jesus", Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her Son, as "the mother of my Lord". 144 In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father's eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly "Mother of God" (Theotokos). 145

From the first formulations of her Faith, the Church has confessed that Jesus was conceived solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, affirming also the corporeal aspect of this event: Jesus was conceived "by the Holy Spirit without human seed". 146 The Fathers see in the virginal conception the sign that it truly was the Son of God who came in a humanity like our own. Thus St. Ignatius of Antioch at the beginning of the second century says: You are firmly convinced about our Lord, who is truly of the race of David according to the flesh, Son of God according to the will and power of God, truly born of a virgin,. . . he was truly nailed to a tree for us in his flesh under Pontius Pilate. . . he truly suffered, as he is also truly risen. 147

The Gospel accounts understand the virginal conception of Jesus as a divine work that surpasses all human understanding and possibility: 148 "That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit", said the angel to Joseph about Mary his fiancee. 149 The Church sees here the fulfilment of the divine promise given through the prophet Isaiah: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son." 150

The unique and altogether Singular event of the Incarnation of the Son of God does not mean that Jesus Christ is part God and part man, nor does it imply that he is the result of a confused mixture of the divine and the human. He became truly man while remaining truly God. Jesus Christ is true God and true man. During the first centuries, the Church had to defend and clarify this truth of Faith against the heresies that falsified it.

Belief in the true Incarnation of the Son of God is the distinctive sign of Christian Faith: "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God." 85 Such is the joyous conviction of the Church from her beginning whenever she Sings "the Mystery of our religion": "He was manifested in the flesh." 86

Peter could recognize the transcendent character of the Messiah's divine Sonship because Jesus had clearly allowed it to be so understood. To his accusers' question before the Sanhedrin, "Are you the Son of God, then?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am." 50 Well before this, Jesus referred to himself as "the Son" who knows the Father, as distinct from the "servants" God had earlier sent to his people; he is superior even to the angels. 51 He distinguished his sonship from that of his Disciples by never saying "our Father", except to command them: "You, then, pray like this: 'Our Father'", and he emphasized this distinction, saying "my Father and your Father". 52

The Gospels report that at two solemn moments, the Baptism and the Transfiguration of Christ, the voice of the Father designates Jesus his "beLoved Son". 53 Jesus calls himself the "only Son of God", and by this title affirms his eternal pre-existence. 54 He asks for Faith in "the name of the only Son of God". 55 In the centurion's exclamation before the crucified Christ, "Truly this man was the Son of God", 56 that Christian confession is already heard. Only in the Paschal Mystery can the believer give the title "Son of God" its full meaning.

After his Resurrection, Jesus' divine Sonship becomes manifest in the power of his glorified humanity. He was "designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his Resurrection from the dead". 57 The Apostles can confess: "We have beheld his Glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of Grace and truth." 58

In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the ineffable Hebrew name YHWH, by which God revealed himself to Moses, 59 is rendered as Kyrios, "Lord". From then on, "Lord" becomes the more usual name by which to indicate the divinity of Israel's God. the New Testament uses this full sense of the title "Lord" both for the Father and - what is new - for Jesus, who is thereby recognized as God Himself. 60

Jesus ascribes this title to himself in a veiled way when he disputes with the Pharisees about the meaning of Psalm 110, but also in an explicit way when he addresses his Apostles. 61 Throughout his public life, he demonstrated his divine sovereignty by works of power over nature, illnesses, demons, death and Sin.

Very often in the Gospels people address Jesus as "Lord". This title testifies to the respect and trust of those who approach him for help and healing. 62 At the prompting of the Holy Spirit, "Lord" expresses the recognition of the divine Mystery of Jesus. 63 In the encounter with the risen Jesus, this title becomes adoration: "My Lord and my God!" It thus takes on a connotation of Love and affection that remains proper to the Christian tradition: "It is the Lord!" 64

By attributing to Jesus the divine title "Lord", the first confessions of the Church's Faith affirm from the beginning that the power, honour and Glory due to God the Father are due also to Jesus, because "he was in the form of God", 65 and the Father manifested the sovereignty of Jesus by raiSing him from the dead and exalting him into his glory. 66

From the beginning of Christian history, the assertion of Christ's Lordship over the world and over history has implicitly recognized that man should not submit his perSonal freedom in an absolute manner to any earthly power, but only to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Caesar is not "the Lord". 67 "The Church. . . believes that the key, the centre and the purpose of the whole of man's history is to be found in its Lord and Master." 68

Christian Prayer is characterized by the title "Lord", whether in the invitation to prayer ("The Lord be with you"), its conclusion ("through Christ our Lord") or the exclamation full of trust and hope: Maranatha ("Our Lord, come!") or Maranatha ("Come, Lord!") - "Amen Come Lord Jesus!" 69

The Word became flesh to be our model of holiness: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me." "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me." 74 On the mountain of the Transfiguration, the Father commands: "Listen to him!" 75 Jesus is the model for the Beatitudes and the norm of the new law: "Love one another as I have loved you." 76 This love implies an effective offering of oneself, after his example. 77

People are sometimes troubled by the silence of St. Mark's Gospel and the New Testament Epistles about Jesus' virginal conception. Some might wonder if we were merely dealing with legends or theological constructs not claiming to be history. To this we must respond: Faith in the virginal conception of Jesus met with the lively opposition, mockery or incomprehension of non-believers, Jews and pagans alike; 151 so it could hardly have been motivated by pagan mythology or by some adaptation to the ideas of the age. the meaning of this event is accessible only to faith, which understands in it the "connection of these mysteries with one another" 152 in the totality of Christ's mysteries, from his Incarnation to his Passover. St. Ignatius of Antioch already bears witness to this connection: "Mary's virginity and giving birth, and even the Lord's death escaped the notice of the prince of this world: these three mysteries worthy of proclamation were accomplished in God's silence." 153

Against this doctrine the objection is sometimes raised that the Bible mentions brothers and sisters of Jesus. 157 The Church has always understood these passages as not referring to other children of the Virgin Mary. In fact James and Joseph, "brothers of Jesus", are the Sons of another Mary, a disciple of Christ, whom St. Matthew significantly calls "the other Mary". 158 They are close relations of Jesus, according to an Old Testament expression. 159

The flight into Egypt and the Massacre of the innocents 217 make manifest the opposition of darkness to the light: "He came to his own home, and his own people received him not." 218 Christ's whole life was lived under the sign of persecution. His own share it with him. 219 Jesus' departure from Egypt recalls the exodus and presents him as the definitive liberator of God's people. 220

During the greater part of his life Jesus shared the condition of the vast majority of human beings: a daily life spent without evident greatness, a life of manual labour. His religious life was that of a Jew obedient to the law of God, 221 a life in the community. From this whole period it is revealed to us that Jesus was "obedient" to his parents and that he "increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man." 222

Jesus' obedience to his mother and legal Father fulfils the fourth commandment perfectly and was the temporal image of his filial obedience to his Father in heaven. the everyday obedience of Jesus to Joseph and Mary both announced and anticipated the obedience of Holy Thursday: "Not my will. . ." 223 The obedience of Christ in the daily routine of his hidden life was already inaugurating his work of restoring what the disobedience of Adam had destroyed. 224

The hidden life at Nazareth allows everyone to enter into fellowship with Jesus by the most ordinary events of daily life:

The finding of Jesus in the temple is the only event that breaks the silence of the Gospels about the hidden years of Jesus. 226 Here Jesus lets us catch a glimpse of the Mystery of his total consecration to a Mission that flows from his divine Sonship: "Did you not know that I must be about my Father's work?" 227 Mary and Joseph did not understand these words, but they accepted them in Faith. Mary "kept all these things in her Heart" during the years Jesus remained hidden in the silence of an ordinary life.

Jesus' public life begins with his Baptism by John in the Jordan. 228 John preaches "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of Sins". 229 A crowd of Sinners 230 - tax collectors and soldiers, Pharisees and Sadducees, and prostitutes - come to be baptized by him. "Then Jesus appears." the Baptist hesitates, but Jesus insists and receives baptism. Then the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, comes upon Jesus and a voice from heaven proclaims, "This is my beLoved Son." 231 This is the manifestation ("Epiphany") of Jesus as Messiah of Israel and Son of God.

The Baptism of Jesus is on his part the acceptance and inauguration of his Mission as God's suffering Servant. He allows himself to be numbered among Sinners; he is already "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world". 232 Already he is anticipating the "baptism" of his bloody death. 233 Already he is Coming to "fulfil all righteousness", that is, he is submitting himself entirely to his Father's will: out of Love he consents to this baptism of death for the remission of our Sins. 234 The Father's voice responds to the Son's acceptance, proclaiming his entire delight in his Son. 235 The Spirit whom Jesus possessed in fullness from his conception comes to "rest on him". 236 Jesus will be the source of the Spirit for all mankind. At his baptism "the heavens were opened" 237 - the heavens that Adam's sin had closed - and the waters were sanctified by the descent of Jesus and the Spirit, a prelude to the new creation.

Through Baptism the Christian is sacramentally assimilated to Jesus, who in his own baptism anticipates his death and Resurrection. the Christian must enter into this Mystery of humble self-abasement and repentance, go down into the water with Jesus in order to rise with him, be reborn of water and the Spirit so as to become the Father's beLoved Son in the Son and "walk in newness of life": 238

The Gospels speak of a time of solitude for Jesus in the desert immediately after his Baptism by John. Driven by the Spirit into the desert, Jesus remains there for forty days without eating; he lives among wild beasts, and angels minister to him. 241 At the end of this time Satan tempts him three times, seeking to compromise his filial attitude toward God. Jesus rebuffs these attacks, which recapitulate the temptations of Adam in Paradise and of Israel in the desert, and the devil leaves him "until an opportune time". 242

The evangelists indicate the salvific meaning of this mysterious event: Jesus is the new Adam who remained Faithful just where the first Adam had given in to temptation. Jesus fulfils Israel's vocation perfectly: in contrast to those who had once provoked God during forty years in the desert, Christ reveals himself as God's Servant, totally obedient to the divine will. In this, Jesus is the devil's conqueror: he "binds the strong man" to take back his plunder. 243 Jesus' victory over the tempter in the desert anticipates victory at the Passion, the supreme act of obedience of his filial Love for the Father.

Jesus' temptation reveals the way in which the Son of God is Messiah, contrary to the way Satan proposes to him and the way men wish to attribute to him. 244 This is why Christ vanquished the Tempter for us: "For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without Sinning." 245 By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the Mystery of Jesus in the desert.

"Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying: 'The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe in the gospel.'" 246 "To carry out the will of the Father Christ inaugurated the kingdom of heaven on earth." 247 Now the Father's will is "to raise up men to share in his own divine life". 248 He does this by gathering men around his Son Jesus Christ. This gathering is the Church, "on earth the seed and beginning of that kingdoms". 249

Christ stands at the Heart of this gathering of men into the "family of God". By his word, through signs that manifest the reign of God, and by sending out his Disciples, Jesus calls all people to come together around him. But above all in the great Paschal Mystery - his death on the Cross and his Resurrection - he would accomplish the Coming of his Kingdom. "and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." Into this union with Christ all men are called. 250

Everyone is called to enter the Kingdom. First announced to the children of Israel, this messianic kingdom is intended to accept men of all nations. 251 To enter it, one must first accept Jesus' word:

The presentation of Jesus in the temple shows him to be the firstborn Son who belongs to the Lord. 216 With Simeon and Anna, all Israel awaits its encounter with the Saviour - the name given to this event in the Byzantine tradition. Jesus is recognized as the long-expected Messiah, the "light to the nations" and the "Glory of Israel", but also "a sign that is spoken against". the sword of sorrow predicted for Mary announces Christ's perfect and unique oblation on the Cross that will impart the Salvation God had "prepared in the presence of all peoples".

The Epiphany is the manifestation of Jesus as Messiah of Israel, Son of God and Saviour of the world. the great feast of Epiphany celebrates the adoration of Jesus by the wise men (magi) from the East, together with his Baptism in the Jordan and the wedding feast at Cana in Galilee. 212 In the magi, representatives of the neighbouring pagan religions, the Gospel sees the first-fruits of the nations, who welcome the good news of Salvation through the Incarnation. the magi's Coming to Jerusalem in order to pay homage to the king of the Jews shows that they seek in Israel, in the messianic light of the star of David, the one who will be king of the nations. 213 Their coming means that pagans can discover Jesus and worship him as Son of God and Saviour of the world only by turning towards the Jews and receiving from them the messianic promise as contained in the Old Testament. 214 The Epiphany shows that "the full number of the nations" now takes its "place in the family of the patriarchs", and acquires Israelitica dignitas 215 (is made "worthy of the heritage of Israel").

Jesus is Mary's only Son, but her spiritual motherhood extends to all men whom indeed he came to save: "The Son whom she brought forth is he whom God placed as the first-born among many brethren, that is, the Faithful in whose generation and formation she co-operates with a mother's Love." 160

Mary's virginity manifests God's absolute initiative in the Incarnation. Jesus has only God as Father. "He was never estranged from the Father because of the human nature which he assumed. . . He is naturally Son of the Father as to his divinity and naturally son of his mother as to his humanity, but properly Son of the Father in both natures." 161

Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary's womb because he is the New Adam, who inaugurates the new creation: "The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven." 162 From his conception, Christ's humanity is filled with the Holy Spirit, for God "gives him the Spirit without measure." 163 From "his fullness" as the head of redeemed humanity "we have all received, Grace upon grace." 164

By his virginal conception, Jesus, the New Adam, ushers in the new birth of children adopted in the Holy Spirit through Faith. "How can this be?" 165 Participation in the divine life arises "not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God". 166 The acceptance of this life is virginal because it is entirely the Spirit's gift to man. the spousal character of the human vocation in relation to God 167 is fulfilled perfectly in Mary's virginal motherhood.

Concerning Christ's life the Creed speaks only about the mysteries of the Incarnation (conception and birth) and Paschal Mystery (passion, crucifixion, death, burial, descent into hell, Resurrection and ascension). It says nothing explicitly about the mysteries of Jesus' hidden or public life, but the articles of Faith concerning his Incarnation and Passover do shed light on the whole of his earthly life. "All that Jesus did and taught, from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven", 171 is to be seen in the light of the mysteries of Christmas and Easter.

According to circumstances catechesis will make use of all the richness of the mysteries of Jesus. Here it is enough merely to indicate some elements common to all the mysteries of Christ's life (I), in order then to sketch the principal mysteries of Jesus' hidden (II) and public (III) life.

Many things about Jesus of interest to human curiosity do not figure in the Gospels. Almost nothing is said about his hidden life at Nazareth, and even a great part of his public life is not recounted. 172 What is written in the Gospels was set down there "so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name." 173

The Gospels were written by men who were among the first to have the Faith 174 and wanted to share it with others. Having known in faith who Jesus is, they could see and make others see the traces of his Mystery in all his earthly life. From the swaddling clothes of his birth to the vinegar of his Passion and the shroud of his Resurrection, everything in Jesus' life was a sign of his mystery. 175 His deeds, miracles and words all revealed that "in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily." 176 His humanity appeared as "sacrament", that is, the sign and instrument, of his divinity and of the Salvation he brings: what was visible in his earthly life leads to the invisible mystery of his divine Sonship and redemptive Mission

Christ's whole earthly life - his words and deeds, his silences and sufferings, indeed his manner of being and speaking - is Revelation of the Father. Jesus can say: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father", and the Father can say: "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" 177 Because our Lord became man in order to do his Father's will, even the least characteristics of his mysteries manifest "God's Love. . . among us". 178

Christ's whole life is a Mystery of recapitulation. All Jesus did, said and suffered had for its aim restoring fallen man to his original vocation:

In all of his life Jesus presents himself as our model. He is "the perfect man", 191 who invites us to become his Disciples and follow him. In humbling himself, he has given us an example to imitate, through his Prayer he draws us to pray, and by his poverty he calls us to accept freely the privation and persecutions that may come our way. 192

St. John the Baptist is the Lord's immediate precursor or forerunner, sent to prepare his way. 196 "Prophet of the Most High", John surpasses all the prophets, of whom he is the last. 197 He inaugurates the Gospel, already from his mother's womb welcomes the Coming of Christ, and rejoices in being "the friend of the bridegroom", whom he points out as "the Lamb of God, who takes away the Sin of the world". 198 Going before Jesus "in the spirit and power of Elijah", John bears witness to Christ in his preaching, by his Baptism of conversion, and through his martyrdom. 199

Jesus was born in a humble stable, into a poor family. 202 Simple shepherds were the first witnesses to this event. In this poverty heaven's Glory was made manifest. 203 The Church never tires of Singing the glory of this night:

Jesus' circumcision, on the eighth day after his birth, 209 is the sign of his incorporation into Abraham's descendants, into the people of the covenant. It is the sign of his subMission to the Law 210 and his deputation to Israel's worship, in which he will participate throughout his life. This sign prefigures that "circumcision of Christ" which is Baptism. 211

The Kingdom belongs to the poor and lowly, which means those who have accepted it with humble Hearts. Jesus is sent to "preach good news to the poor"; 253 he declares them blessed, for "theirs is the kingdom of heaven." 254 To them - the "little ones" the Father is pleased to reveal what remains hidden from the wise and the learned. 255 Jesus shares the life of the poor, from the cradle to the Cross; he experiences hunger, thirst and privation. 256 Jesus identifies himself with the poor of every kind and makes active Love toward them the condition for entering his kingdom. 257

In the Old Testament, "Son of God" is a title given to the angels, the Chosen People, the children of Israel, and their kings. 44 It signifies an adoptive sonship that establishes a relationship of particular intimacy between God and his creature. When the promised Messiah-King is called "son of God", it does not necessarily imply that he was more than human, according to the literal meaning of these texts. Those who called Jesus "son of God", as the Messiah of Israel, perhaps meant nothing more than this. 45

Quite early on, the name catechesis was given to the totality of the Church's efforts to make Disciples, to help men believe that Jesus is the Son of God so that believing they might have life in his name, and to educate and instruct them in this life, thus building up the body of Christ. 7

One cannot believe in Jesus Christ without sharing in his Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals to men who Jesus is. For "no one can say "Jesus is Lord", except by the Holy Spirit", 22 who "searches everything, even the depths of God. . No one comprehends the thoughts of God, except the Spirit of God." 23 Only God knows God completely: we believe in the Holy Spirit because he is God.

When St. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus declared to him that this revelation did not come "from flesh and blood", but from "my Father who is in heaven". 24 Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him. "Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the Grace of God to move and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the Heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and 'makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth.'" 25

To be human, "man's response to God by Faith must be free, and... therefore nobody is to be forced to embrace the faith against his will. the act of faith is of its very nature a free act." 39 "God calls men to serve him in spirit and in truth. Consequently they are bound to him in conscience, but not coerced. . . This fact received its fullest manifestation in Christ Jesus." 40 Indeed, Christ invited people to faith and conversion, but never coerced them. "For he bore witness to the truth but refused to use force to impose it on those who spoke against it. His Kingdom... grows by the Love with which Christ, lifted up on the Cross, draws men to himself." 41

Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our Salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation. 42 "Since "without Faith it is impossible to please (God) " and to attain to the fellowship of his Sons, therefore without faith no one has ever attained justification, nor will anyone obtain eternal life 'But he who endures to the end.'"]

It is then we must turn to the witnesses of Faith: to Abraham, who "in hope... believed against hope"; 51 to the Virgin Mary, who, in "her pilgrimage of faith", walked into the "night of faith" 52 in sharing the darkness of her Son's suffering and death; and to so many others: "Therefore, Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith." 53

Faith is a perSonal act - the free response of the human person to the initiative of God who reveals himself. But faith is not an isolated act. No one can believe alone, just as no one can live alone. You have not given yourself faith as you have not given yourself life. the believer has received faith from others and should hand it on to others. Our Love for Jesus and for our neighbour impels us to speak to others about our faith. Each believer is thus a link in the great chain of believers. I cannot believe without being carried by the faith of others, and by my faith I help support others in the faith.

Jesus himself affirms that God is "the one Lord" whom you must Love "with all your Heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength". 6 At the same time Jesus gives us to understand that he himself is "the Lord". 7 To confess that Jesus is Lord is distinctive of Christian Faith. This is not contrary to belief in the One God. Nor does believing in the Holy Spirit as "Lord and giver of life" introduce any division into the One God:

Faced with God's fascinating and mysterious presence, man discovers his own insignificance. Before the burning bush, Moses takes off his sandals and veils his face in the presence of God's holiness. 13 Before the Glory of the thrice-holy God, Isaiah cries out: "Woe is me! I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips." 14 Before the divine signs wrought by Jesus, Peter exclaims: "Depart from me, for I am a Sinful man, O Lord." 15 But because God is holy, he can forgive the man who realizes that he is a sinner before him: "I will not execute my fierce anger. . . for I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst." 16 The apostle John says likewise: "We shall. . . reassure our Hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything." 17

Out of respect for the holiness of God, the people of Israel do not pronounce his name. In the reading of Sacred Scripture, the revealed name (YHWH) is replaced by the divine title "Lord" (in Hebrew Adonai, in Greek Kyrios). It is under this title that the divinity of Jesus will be acclaimed: "Jesus is LORD."

The divine name, "I Am" or "He Is", expresses God's Faithfulness: despite the faithlessness of men's Sin and the punishment it deserves, he keeps "steadfast Love for thousands". 21 By going so far as to give up his own Son for us, God reveals that he is "rich in mercy". 22 By giving his life to free us from sin, Jesus reveals that he himself bears the divine name: "When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will realize that "I AM"." 23

It means trusting God in every circumstance, even in adversity. A Prayer of St. Teresa of Jesus wonderfully expresses this trust:

Jesus revealed that God is Father in an unheard-of sense: he is Father not only in being Creator; he is eternally Father by his relationship to his only Son who, reciprocally, is Son only in relation to his Father: "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." 64

For this reaSon the Apostles confess Jesus to be the Word: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God"; as "the image of the invisible God"; as the "radiance of the Glory of God and the very stamp of his nature". 65

Before his Passover, Jesus announced the sending of "another Paraclete" (Advocate), the Holy Spirit. At work Since creation, having previously "spoken through the prophets", the Spirit will now be with and in the Disciples, to teach them and guide them "into all the truth". 68 The Holy Spirit is thus revealed as another divine perSon with Jesus and the Father.

For a Christian, believing in God cannot be separated from believing in the One he sent, his "beLoved Son", in whom the Father is "well pleased"; God tells us to listen to him. 18 The Lord himself said to his Disciples: "Believe in God, believe also in me." 19 We can believe in Jesus Christ because he is himself God, the Word made flesh: "No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known." 20 Because he "has seen the Father", Jesus Christ is the only one who knows him and can reveal him. 21

Throughout her life and until her last ordeal 15 when Jesus her Son died on the Cross, Mary's Faith never wavered. She never ceased to believe in the fulfilment of God's word. and so the Church venerates in Mary the purest realization of faith.

Those who belong to Christ through Faith and Baptism must confess their baptismal faith before men. 16 First therefore the Catechism expounds revelation, by which God addresses and gives himself to man, and the faith by which man responds to God (Section One). the profession of faith summarizes the gifts that God gives man: as the Author of all that is good; as Redeemer; and as Sanctifier. It develops these in the three chapters on our baptismal faith in the one God: the almighty Father, the Creator; his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour; and the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, in the Holy Church (Section Two).

The second part of the Catechism explains how God's Salvation, accomplished once for all through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit, is made present in the sacred actions of the Church's liturgy (Section One), especially in the seven sacraments (Section Two).

By natural reaSon man can know God with certainty, on the basis of his works. But there is another order of knowledge, which man cannot possibly arrive at by his own powers: the order of divine Revelation. 1 Through an utterly free decision, God has revealed himself and given himself to man. This he does by revealing the Mystery, his plan of loving goodness, formed from all eternity in Christ, for the benefit of all men. God has fully revealed this plan by sending us his beLoved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

The divine plan of Revelation is realized simultaneously "by deeds and words which are intrinsically bound up with each other" 4 and shed light on each another. It involves a specific divine pedagogy: God communicates himself to man gradually. He prepares him to welcome by stages the supernatural Revelation that is to culminate in the perSon and Mission of the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.

"The Christian economy, therefore, Since it is the new and definitive Covenant, will never pass away; and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ." 28 Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely explicit; it remains for Christian Faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the centuries.

God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth": 29 that is, of Christ Jesus. 30 Christ must be proclaimed to all nations and individuals, so that this revelation may reach to the ends of the earth:

The Tradition here in question comes from the Apostles and hands on what they received from Jesus' teaching and example and what they learned from the Holy Spirit. the first generation of Christians did not yet have a written New Testament, and the New Testament itself demonstrates the process of living Tradition.

"The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether in its written form or in the form of Tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone. Its authority in this matter is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ." 47 This means that the task of interpretation has been entrusted to the bishops in Communion with the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome.

Be especially attentive "to the content and unity of the whole Scripture". Different as the books which compose it may be, Scripture is a unity by reaSon of the unity of God's plan, of which Christ Jesus is the center and Heart, open Since his Passover. 79

"The Word of God, which is the power of God for Salvation to everyone who has Faith, is set forth and displays its power in a most wonderful way in the writings of the New Testament" 96 which hand on the ultimate truth of God's Revelation. Their central object is Jesus Christ, God's incarnate Son: his acts, teachings, Passion and glorification, and his Church's beginnings under the Spirit's guidance. 97

We can distinguish three stages in the formation of the Gospels: 1. the life and teaching of Jesus. the Church holds firmly that the four Gospels, "whose historicity she unhesitatingly affirms, Faithfully hand on what Jesus, the Son of God, while he lived among men, really did and taught for their eternal Salvation, until the day when he was taken up." 99 2. the oral tradition. "For, after the ascension of the Lord, the Apostles handed on to their hearers what he had said and done, but with that fuller understanding which they, instructed by the glorious events of Christ and enlightened by the Spirit of truth, now enjoyed." 100 3. the written Gospels. "The sacred authors, in writing the four Gospels, selected certain of the many elements which had been handed on, either orally or already in written form; others they synthesized or explained with an eye to the situation of the churches, the while sustaining the form of preaching, but always in such a fashion that they have told us the honest truth about Jesus." 101

The Church "forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian Faithful... to learn the surpasSing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures. Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ. 112

The Old Testament is rich in witnesses to this Faith. the Letter to the Hebrews proclaims its eulogy of the exemplary faith of the ancestors who "received divine approval". 10 Yet "God had foreseen something better for us": the Grace of believing in his Son Jesus, "the pioneer and perfecter of our faith". 11

The eternal origin of the Holy Spirit is revealed in his Mission in time. the Spirit is sent to the Apostles and to the Church both by the Father in the name of the Son, and by the Son in person, once he had returned to the Father. 69 The sending of the person of the Spirit after Jesus' glorification 70 reveals in its fullness the Mystery of the Holy Trinity.

From the beginning, the revealed truth of the Holy Trinity has been at the very root of the Church's living Faith, principally by means of Baptism. It finds its expression in the rule of baptismal faith, formulated in the preaching, catechesis and Prayer of the Church. Such formulations are already found in the apostolic writings, such as this salutation taken up in the Eucharistic liturgy: "The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." 81

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 It and they invite people of every era to enter into the joy of their Communion with Christ:

"At the Heart of catechesis we find, in essence, a PerSon, the Person of Jesus of Nazareth, the only Son from the Father. . .who suffered and died for us and who now, after riSing, is living with us forever." 13 To catechize is "to reveal in the Person of Christ the whole of God's eternal design reaching fulfilment in that Person. It is to seek to understand the meaning of Christ's actions and words and of the signs worked by him." 14 Catechesis aims at putting "people . . . in Communion . . . with Jesus Christ: only he can lead us to the Love of the Father in the Spirit and make us share in the life of the Holy Trinity." 15

In catechesis "Christ, the Incarnate Word and Son of God,. . . is taught - everything else is taught with reference to him - and it is Christ alone who teaches - anyone else teaches to the extent that he is Christ's spokesman, enabling Christ to teach with his lips. . . Every catechist should be able to apply to himself the mysterious words of Jesus: 'My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.'" 16

Whoever is called "to teach Christ" must first seek "the surpasSing worth of knowing Christ Jesus"; he must suffer "the loss of all things. . ." in order to "gain Christ and be found in him", and "to know him and the power of his Resurrection, and (to) share his sufferings, beComing like him in his death, that if possible (he) may attain the resurrection from the dead". 17

From this loving knowledge of Christ springs the desire to proclaim him, to "evangelize", and to lead others to the "yes" of Faith in Jesus Christ. But at the same time the need to know this faith better makes itself felt. To this end, following the order of the Creed, Jesus' principal titles - "Christ", "Son of God", and "Lord" (article 2) - will be presented. the Creed next confesses the chief mysteries of his life - those of his Incarnation (article 3), Paschal Mystery (articles 4 and 5) and glorification (articles 6 and 7).

Jesus means in Hebrew: "God saves." At the annunciation, the angel Gabriel gave him the name Jesus as his proper name, which expresses both his identity and his Mission. 18 Since God alone can forgive Sins, it is God who, in Jesus his eternal Son made man, "will save his people from their sins". 19 in Jesus, God recapitulates all of his history of Salvation on behalf of men.

The name "Jesus" signifies that the very name of God is present in the perSon of his Son, made man for the universal and definitive redemption from Sins. It is the divine name that alone brings Salvation, and henceforth all can invoke his name, for Jesus united himself to all men through his Incarnation, 23 so that "there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." 24

The name of the Saviour God was invoked only once in the year by the high priest in atonement for the Sins of Israel, after he had sprinkled the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies with the sacrificial blood. the mercy seat was the place of God's presence. 25 When St. Paul speaks of Jesus whom "God put forward as an expiation by his blood", he means that in Christ's humanity "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself." 26

Jesus' Resurrection glorifies the name of the Saviour God, for from that time on it is the name of Jesus that fully manifests the supreme power of the "name which is above every name". 27 The evil spirits fear his name; in his name his Disciples perform miracles, for the Father grants all they ask in this name. 28

The name of Jesus is at the Heart of Christian Prayer. All liturgical prayers conclude with the words "through our Lord Jesus Christ". the Hail Mary reaches its high point in the words "blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus." the Eastern prayer of the heart, the Jesus Prayer, says: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a Sinner." Many Christians, such as St. Joan of Arc, have died with the one word "Jesus" on their lips.

The word "Christ" comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah, which means "anointed". It became the name proper to Jesus only because he accomplished perfectly the divine Mission that "Christ" signifies. In effect, in Israel those consecrated to God for a mission that he gave were anointed in his name. This was the case for kings, for priests and, in rare instances, for prophets. 29 This had to be the case all the more so for the Messiah whom God would send to inaugurate his Kingdom definitively. 30 It was necessary that the Messiah be anointed by the Spirit of the Lord at once as king and priest, and also as prophet. 31 Jesus fulfilled the messianic hope of Israel in his threefold office of priest, prophet and king.

To the shepherds, the angel announced the birth of Jesus as the Messiah promised to Israel: "To you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord." 32 From the beginning he was "the one whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world", conceived as "holy" in Mary's virginal womb. 33 God called Joseph to "take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit", so that Jesus, "who is called Christ", should be born of Joseph's spouse into the messianic lineage of David. 34

Jesus' messianic consecration reveals his divine Mission, "for the name 'Christ' implies 'he who anointed', 'he who was anointed' and 'the very anointing with which he was anointed'. the one who anointed is the Father, the one who was anointed is the Son, and he was anointed with the Spirit who is the anointing.'" 35 His eternal messianic consecration was revealed during the time of his earthly life at the moment of his Baptism by John, when "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power", "that he might be revealed to Israel" 36 as its Messiah. His works and words will manifest him as "the Holy One of God". 37

Many Jews and even certain Gentiles who shared their hope recognized in Jesus the fundamental attributes of the messianic "Son of David", promised by God to Israel. 38 Jesus accepted his rightful title of Messiah, though with some reserve because it was understood by some of his contemporaries in too human a sense, as essentially political. 39

Moved by the Grace of the Holy Spirit and drawn by the Father, we believe in Jesus and confess: 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' 8 On the rock of this Faith confessed by St. Peter, Christ built his Church. 9 "To preach. . . the unsearchable riches of Christ" 10

We believe and confess that Jesus of Nazareth, born a Jew of a daughter of Israel at Bethlehem at the time of King Herod the Great and the emperor Caesar Augustus, a carpenter by trade, who died crucified in Jerusalem under the procurator Pontius Pilate during the reign of the emperor Tiberius, is the eternal Son of God made man. He 'came from God', 4 'descended from heaven', 5 and 'came in the flesh'. 6 For 'the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of Grace and truth; we have beheld his Glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. . . and from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace.' 7

"O blessed light, O Trinity and first Unity!" 93 God is eternal blessedness, undying life, unfading light. God is Love: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God freely wills to communicate the Glory of his blessed life. Such is the "plan of his loving kindness", conceived by the Father before the foundation of the world, in his beloved Son: "He destined us in love to be his sons" and "to be conformed to the image of his Son", through "the spirit of sonship". 94 This plan is a "Grace [which] was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began", stemming immediately from Trinitarian love. 95 It unfolds in the work of creation, the whole history of Salvation after the fall, and the Missions of the Son and the Spirit, which are continued in the mission of the Church. 96

The whole divine economy is the common work of the three divine perSons. For as the Trinity has only one and the same natures so too does it have only one and the same operation: "The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are not three principles of creation but one principle." 97 However, each divine person performs the common work according to his unique personal property. Thus the Church confesses, following the New Testament, "one God and Father from whom all things are, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things are, and one Holy Spirit in whom all things are". 98 It is above all the divine Missions of the Son's Incarnation and the gift of the Holy Spirit that show forth the properties of the divine persons.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." 116 Holy Scripture begins with these solemn words. the profession of Faith takes them up when it confesses that God the Father almighty is "Creator of heaven and earth" (Apostles' Creed), "of all that is, seen and unseen" (Nicene Creed). We shall speak first of the Creator, then of creation and finally of the fall into Sin from which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to raise us up again.

The Glory of God consists in the realization of this manifestation and communication of his goodness, for which the world was created. God made us "to be his Sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious Grace", 138 for "the glory of God is man fully alive; moreover man's life is the vision of God: if God's revelation through creation has already obtained life for all the beings that dwell on earth, how much more will the Word's manifestation of the Father obtain life for those who see God." 139 The ultimate purpose of creation is that God "who is the creator of all things may at last become "all in all", thus simultaneously assuring his own glory and our beatitude." 140

Jesus asks for childlike abandonment to the providence of our heavenly Father who takes care of his children's smallest needs: "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?". . . Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well." 167

Angels have been present Since creation and throughout the history of Salvation, announcing this salvation from afar or near and serving the accomplishment of the divine plan: they closed the earthly paradise; protected Lot; saved Hagar and her child; stayed Abraham's hand; communicated the law by their ministry; led the People of God; announced births and callings; and assisted the prophets, just to cite a few examples. 194 Finally, the angel Gabriel announced the birth of the Precursor and that of Jesus himself. 195

From the Incarnation to the Ascension, the life of the Word incarnate is surrounded by the adoration and service of angels. When God "brings the firstborn into the world, he says: 'Let all God's angels worship him.'" 196 Their Song of praise at the birth of Christ has not ceased resounding in the Church's praise: "Glory to God in the highest!" 197 They protect Jesus in his infancy, serve him in the desert, strengthen him in his agony in the garden, when he could have been saved by them from the hands of his enemies as Israel had been. 198 Again, it is the angels who "evangelize" by proclaiming the Good News of Christ's Incarnation and Resurrection. 199 They will be present at Christ's return, which they will announce, to serve at his judgement. 200

The hierarchy of creatures is expressed by the order of the "six days", from the less perfect to the more perfect. God Loves all his creatures 209 and takes care of each one, even the sparrow. Nevertheless, Jesus said: "You are of more value than many sparrows", or again: "of how much more value is a man than a sheep!" 210

With the progress of Revelation, the reality of Sin is also illuminated. Although to some extent the People of God in the Old Testament had tried to understand the pathos of the human condition in the light of the history of the fall narrated in Genesis, they could not grasp this story's ultimate meaning, which is revealed only in the light of the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. 261 We must know Christ as the source of Grace in order to know Adam as the source of sin. the Spirit-Paraclete, sent by the risen Christ, came to "convict the world concerning sin", 262 by revealing him who is its Redeemer.

The doctrine of original Sin is, so to speak, the "reverse side" of the Good News that Jesus is the Saviour of all men, that all need Salvation and that salvation is offered to all through Christ. the Church, which has the mind of Christ, 263 knows very well that we cannot tamper with the revelation of original sin without undermining the Mystery of Christ.

Scripture witnesses to the disastrous influence of the one Jesus calls "a murderer from the beginning", who would even try to divert Jesus from the Mission received from his Father. 273 "The reaSon the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil." 274 In its consequences the gravest of these works was the mendacious seduction that led man to disobey God.

The power of Satan is, nonetheless, not infinite. He is only a creature, powerful from the fact that he is pure spirit, but still a creature. He cannot prevent the building up of God's reign. Although Satan may act in the world out of hatred for God and his Kingdom in Christ Jesus, and although his action may cause grave injuries - of a spiritual nature and, indirectly, even of a physical nature - to each man and to society, the action is permitted by divine providence which with strength and gentleness guides human and cosmic history. It is a great Mystery that providence should permit diabolical activity, but "we know that in everything God works for good with those who Love him." 275

'But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.' 1 This is 'the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God': 2 God has visited his people. He has fulfilled the promise he made to Abraham and his descendants. He acted far beyond all expectation - he has sent his own 'beLoved Son'. 3

Jesus accepted Peter's profession of Faith, which acknowledged him to be the Messiah, by announcing the imminent Passion of the Son of Man. 40 He unveiled the authentic content of his messianic kingship both in the transcendent identity of the Son of Man "who came down from heaven", and in his redemptive Mission as the suffering Servant: "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." 41 Hence the true meaning of his kingship is revealed only when he is raised high on the Cross. 42 Only after his Resurrection will Peter be able to proclaim Jesus' messianic kingship to the People of God: "Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." 43

"By the Grace of God" Jesus tasted death "for every one". 459 In his plan of Salvation, God ordained that his Son should not only "die for our Sins" 460 but should also "taste death", experience 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. the state of the dead Christ is the Mystery of the tomb and the descent into hell. It is the mystery of Holy Saturday, when Christ, lying in the tomb, 461 reveals God's great sabbath rest 462 after the fulfilment 463 of man's salvation, which brings peace to the whole universe. 464

Christ's Resurrection is an object of Faith in that it is a transcendent intervention of God himself in creation and history. In it the three divine perSons act together as one, and manifest their own proper characteristics. the Father's power "raised up" Christ his Son and by doing so perfectly introduced his Son's humanity, including his body, into the Trinity. Jesus is conclusively revealed as "Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his Resurrection from the dead". 514 St. Paul insists on the manifestation of God's power 515 through the working of the Spirit who gave life to Jesus' dead humanity and called it to the glorious state of Lordship.

As for the Son, he effects his own Resurrection by virtue of his divine power. Jesus announces that the Son of man will have to suffer much, die, and then rise. 516 Elsewhere he affirms explicitly: "I lay down my life, that I may take it again. . . I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." 517 "We believe that Jesus died and rose again." 518

Christ's Resurrection is the fulfilment of the promises both of the Old Testament and of Jesus himself during his earthly life. 521 The phrase "in accordance with the Scriptures" 522 indicates that Christ's Resurrection fulfilled these predictions.

The truth of Jesus' divinity is confirmed by his Resurrection. He had said: "When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he." 523 The Resurrection of the crucified one shows that he was truly "I AM", the Son of God and God himself. So St. Paul could declare to the Jews: "What God promised to the Fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raiSing Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, 'You are my Son, today I have begotten you.'" 524 Christ's Resurrection is closely linked to the Incarnation of God's Son, and is its fulfilment in accordance with God's eternal plan.

The Paschal Mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us from Sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life. This new life is above all justification that reinstates us in God's Grace, "so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." Justification consists in both victory over the death caused by sin and a new participation in grace. 526 It brings about filial adoption so that men become Christ's brethren, as Jesus himself called his Disciples after his Resurrection: "Go and tell my brethren." 527 We are brethren not by nature, but by the gift of grace, because that adoptive filiation gains us a real share in the life of the only Son, which was fully revealed in his Resurrection.

"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." 531 Christ's body was glorified at the moment of his Resurrection, as proved by the new and supernatural properties it subsequently and permanently enjoys. 532 But during the forty days when he eats and drinks familiarly with his Disciples and teaches them about the Kingdom, his Glory remains veiled under the appearance of ordinary humanity. 533 Jesus' final apparition ends with the irreversible entry of his humanity into divine glory, symbolized by the cloud and by heaven, where he is seated from that time forward at God's right hand. 534 Only in a wholly exceptional and unique way would Jesus show himself to Paul "as to one untimely born", in a last apparition that established him as an apostle. 535

This final stage stays closely linked to the first, that is, to his descent from heaven in the Incarnation. Only the one who "came from the Father" can return to the Father: Christ Jesus. 537 "No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man." 538 Left to its own natural powers humanity does not have access to the "Father's house", to God's life and happiness. 539 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. 540

"and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." 541 The lifting up of Jesus on the Cross signifies and announces his lifting up by his Ascension into heaven, and indeed begins it. Jesus Christ, the one priest of the new and eternal Covenant, "entered, not into a sanctuary made by human hands. . . but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf." 542 There Christ permanently exercises his priesthood, for he "always lives to make intercession" for "those who draw near to God through him". 543 As "high priest of the good things to come" he is the centre and the principal actor of the liturgy that honours the Father in heaven. 544

"Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living." 548 Christ's Ascension into heaven signifies his participation, in his humanity, in God's power and authority. Jesus Christ is Lord: he possesses all power in heaven and on earth. He is "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion", for the Father "has put all things under his feet." 549 Christ is Lord of the cosmos and of history. In him human history and indeed all creation are "set forth" and transcendently fulfilled. 550

The glorious Messiah's Coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by "all Israel", for "a hardening has come upon part of Israel" in their "unbelief" toward Jesus. 568 St. Peter says to the Jews of Jerusalem after Pentecost: "Repent therefore, and turn again, that your Sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old." 569 St. Paul echoes him: "For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?" 570 The "full inclusion" of the Jews in the Messiah's Salvation, in the wake of "the full number of the Gentiles", 571 will enable the People of God to achieve "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ", in which "God may be all in all". 572

Following in the steps of the prophets and John the Baptist, Jesus announced the judgement of the Last Day in his preaching. 581 Then will the conduct of each one and the secrets of Hearts be brought to light. 582 Then will the culpable unbelief that counted the offer of God's Grace as nothing be condemned. 583 Our attitude to our neighbour will disclose acceptance or refusal of grace and divine Love. 584 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." 585

Christ's Resurrection was not a return to earthly life, as was the case with the raiSings from the dead that he had performed before Easter: Jairus' daughter, the young man of Naim, Lazarus. These actions were miraculous events, but the perSons miraculously raised returned by Jesus' power to ordinary earthly life. At some particular moment they would die again. Christ's Resurrection is essentially different. In his risen body he passes from the state of death to another life beyond time and space. At Jesus' Resurrection his body is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit: he shares the divine life in his glorious state, so that St. Paul can say that Christ is "the man of heaven". 511

By means of touch and the sharing of a meal, the risen Jesus establishes direct contact with his Disciples. He invites them in this way to recognize that he is not a ghost and above all to verify that the risen body in which he appears to them is the same body that had been tortured and crucified, for it still bears the traces of his Passion. 508 Yet at the same time this authentic, real body possesses the new properties of a glorious body: not limited by space and time but able to be present how and when he wills; for Christ's humanity can no longer be confined to earth, and belongs henceforth only to the Father's divine realm. 509 For this reaSon too the risen Jesus enjoys the sovereign freedom of appearing as he wishes: in the guise of a gardener or in other forms familiar to his disciples, precisely to awaken their Faith. 510

Christ's death was a real death in that it put an end to his earthly human existence. But because of the union his body retained with the perSon of the Son, his was not a mortal corpse like others, for "divine power preserved Christ's body from corruption." 470 Both of these statements can be said of Christ: "He was cut off out of the land of the living", 471 and "My flesh will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let your Holy One see corruption." 472 Jesus' Resurrection "on the third day" was the proof of this, for bodily decay was held to begin on the fourth day after death. 473

Jesus "descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens." 475 The Apostles' Creed confesses in the same article Christ's descent into hell and his Resurrection from the dead on the third day, because in his Passover it was precisely out of the depths of death that he made life spring forth:

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. 477 This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ's descent into hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Saviour, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits impriSoned there. 478

Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, "hell" - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek - because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God. 479 Such is the case for all the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the poor man Lazarus who was received into "Abraham's bosom": 480 "It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Saviour in Abraham's bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell." 481 Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him. 482

"The gospel was preached even to the dead." 483 The descent into hell brings the Gospel message of Salvation to complete fulfilment. This is the last phase of Jesus' messianic Mission, a phase which is condensed in time but vast in its real significance: the spread of Christ's redemptive work to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made sharers in the redemption.

Christ went down into the depths of death so that "the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live." 484 Jesus, "the Author of life", by dying destroyed "him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and [delivered] all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage." 485 Henceforth the risen Christ holds "the keys of Death and Hades", so that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth." 486

"We bring you the good news that what God promised to the Fathers, this day he has fulfilled to us their children by raiSing Jesus." 488 The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our Faith in Christ, a faith believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community; handed on as fundamental by Tradition; established by the documents of the New Testament; and preached as an essential part of the Paschal Mystery along with the Cross:

"Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen." 492 The first element we encounter in the framework of the Easter events is the empty tomb. In itself it is not a direct proof of Resurrection; the absence of Christ's body from the tomb could be explained otherwise. 493 Nonetheless the empty tomb was still an essential sign for all. Its discovery by the Disciples was the first step toward recognizing the very fact of the Resurrection. This was the case, first with the holy women, and then with Peter. 494 The disciple "whom Jesus Loved" affirmed that when he entered the empty tomb and discovered "the linen cloths lying there", "he saw and believed". 495 This suggests that he realized from the empty tomb's condition that the absence of Jesus' body could not have been of human doing and that Jesus had not simply returned to earthly life as had been the case with Lazarus. 496

Mary Magdalene and the holy women who came to finish anointing the body of Jesus, which had been buried in haste because the Sabbath began on the evening of Good Friday, were the first to encounter the Risen One. 497 Thus the women were the first messengers of Christ's Resurrection for the Apostles themselves. 498 They were the next to whom Jesus appears: first Peter, then the Twelve. Peter had been called to strengthen the Faith of his brothers, 499 and so sees the Risen One before them; it is on the basis of his testimony that the community exclaims: "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" 500

Everything that happened during those Paschal days involves each of the Apostles - and Peter in particular - in the building of the new era begun on Easter morning. As witnesses of the Risen One, they remain the foundation stones of his Church. the Faith of the first community of believers is based on the witness of concrete men known to the Christians and for the most part still living among them. Peter and the Twelve are the priMary "witnesses to his Resurrection", but they are not the only ones - Paul speaks clearly of more than five hundred perSons to whom Jesus appeared on a Single occasion and also of James and of all the apostles. 501

Given all these testimonies, Christ's Resurrection cannot be interpreted as something outside the physical order, and it is impossible not to acknowledge it as an historical fact. It is clear from the facts that the Disciples' Faith was drastically put to the test by their master's Passion and death on the Cross, which he had foretold. 502 The shock provoked by the Passion was so great that at least some of the disciples did not at once believe in the news of the Resurrection. Far from showing us a community seized by a mystical exaltation, the Gospels present us with disciples demoralized ("looking sad" 503 ) and frightened. For they had not believed the holy women returning from the tomb and had regarded their words as an "idle tale". 504 When Jesus reveals himself to the Eleven on Easter evening, "he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of Heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen." 505

Even when faced with the reality of the risen Jesus the Disciples are still doubtful, so impossible did the thing seem: they thought they were seeing a ghost. "In their joy they were still disbelieving and still wondering." 506 Thomas will also experience the test of doubt and St. Matthew relates that during the risen Lord's last appearance in Galilee "some doubted." 507 Therefore the hypothesis that the Resurrection was produced by the Apostles' Faith (or credulity) will not hold up. On the contrary their faith in the Resurrection was born, under the action of divine Grace, from their direct experience of the reality of the risen Jesus.

"No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit." 1 "God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our Hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!"' 2 This knowledge of Faith is possible only in the Holy Spirit: to be in touch with Christ, we must first have been touched by the Holy Spirit. He comes to meet us and kindles faith in us. By virtue of our Baptism, the first sacrament of the faith, the Holy Spirit in the Church communicates to us, intimately and personally, the life that originates in the Father and is offered to us in the Son.

Through his Grace, the Holy Spirit is the first to awaken Faith in us and to communicate to us the new life, which is to "know the Father and the one whom he has sent, Jesus Christ." 4 But the Spirit is the last of the perSons of the Holy Trinity to be revealed. St. Gregory of Nazianzus, the Theologian, explains this progression in terms of the pedagogy of divine "condescension":

The Lord Jesus endowed his community with a structure that will remain until the Kingdom is fully achieved. Before all else there is the choice of the Twelve with Peter as their head. 168 Representing the twelve tribes of Israel, they are the foundation stones of the new Jerusalem. 169 The Twelve and the other Disciples share in Christ's Mission and his power, but also in his lot. 170 By all his actions, Christ prepares and builds his Church.

The Church is born primarily of Christ's total self-giving for our Salvation, anticipated in the institution of the Eucharist and fulfilled on the Cross. "The origin and growth of the Church are symbolized by the blood and water which flowed from the open side of the crucified Jesus." 171 "For it was from the side of Christ as he slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth the 'wondrous sacrament of the whole Church.'" 172 As Eve was formed from the sleeping Adam's side, so the Church was born from the pierced Heart of Christ hanging dead on the cross. 173

The People of God is marked by characteristics that clearly distinguish it from all other religious, ethnic, political, or cultural groups found in history: - It is the People of God: God is not the property of any one people. But he acquired a people for himself from those who previously were not a people: "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation." 202 - One becomes a member of this people not by a physical birth, but by being "born anew," a birth "of water and the Spirit," 203 that is, by Faith in Christ, and Baptism. - This People has for its Head Jesus the Christ (the anointed, the Messiah). Because the same anointing, the Holy Spirit, flows from the head into the body, this is "the messianic people." - "The status of this people is that of the dignity and freedom of the Sons of God, in whose Hearts the Holy Spirit dwells as in a temple." - "Its law is the new commandment to Love as Christ loved us." 204 This is the "new" law of the Holy Spirit. 205 - Its Mission is to be salt of the earth and light of the world. 206 This people is "a most sure seed of unity, hope, and Salvation for the whole human race." -Its destiny, finally, "is the Kingdom of God which has been begun by God himself on earth and which must be further extended until it has been brought to perfection by him at the end of time." 207

Jesus Christ is the one whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit and established as priest, prophet, and king. the whole People of God participates in these three offices of Christ and bears the responsibilities for Mission and service that flow from them. 208

From the beginning, Jesus associated his Disciples with his own life, revealed the Mystery of the Kingdom to them, and gave them a share in his Mission, joy, and sufferings. 215 Jesus spoke of a still more intimate Communion between him and those who would follow him: "Abide in me, and I in you.... I am the vine, you are the branches." 216 and he proclaimed a mysterious and real communion between his own body and ours: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him." 217

When his visible presence was taken from them, Jesus did not leave his Disciples orphans. He promised to remain with them until the end of time; he sent them his Spirit. 218 As a result Communion with Jesus has become, in a way, more intense: "By communicating his Spirit, Christ mystically constitutes as his body those brothers of his who are called together from every nation." 219

The body's unity does not do away with the diversity of its members: "In the building up of Christ's Body there is engaged a diversity of members and functions. There is only one Spirit who, according to his own richness and the needs of the ministries, gives his different gifts for the welfare of the Church." 222 The unity of the Mystical Body produces and stimulates charity among the Faithful: "From this it follows that if one member suffers anything, all the members suffer with him, and if one member is honored, all the members together rejoice." 223 Finally, the unity of the Mystical Body triumphs over all human divisions: "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." 224

"Christ bestowed unity on his Church from the beginning. This unity, we believe, subsists in the Catholic Church as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time." 277 Christ always gives his Church the gift of unity, but the Church must always pray and work to maintain, reinforce, and perfect the unity that Christ wills for her. This is why Jesus himself prayed at the hour of his Passion, and does not cease praying to his Father, for the unity of his Disciples: "That they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be one in us, . . . so that the world may know that you have sent me." 278 The desire to recover the unity of all Christians is a gift of Christ and a call of the Holy Spirit. 279

The word "catholic" means "universal," in the sense of "according to the totality" or "in keeping with the whole." the Church is catholic in a double sense: First, the Church is catholic because Christ is present in her. "Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic Church." 307 In her subsists the fullness of Christ's body united with its head; this implies that she receives from him "the fullness of the means of Salvation" 308 which he has willed: correct and complete confession of Faith, full sacramental life, and ordained ministry in apostolic succession. the Church was, in this fundamental sense, catholic on the day of Pentecost 309 and will always be so until the day of the Parousia.

and when one considers the future, God's People of the Old Covenant and the new People of God tend towards similar goals: expectation of the Coming (or the return) of the Messiah. But one awaits the return of the Messiah who died and rose from the dead and is recognized as Lord and Son of God; the other awaits the coming of a Messiah, whose features remain hidden till the end of time; and the latter waiting is accompanied by the drama of not knowing or of misunderstanding Christ Jesus.

Jesus is the Father's Emissary. From the beginning of his ministry, he "called to him those whom he desired; .... and he appointed twelve, whom also he named Apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to preach." 368 From then on, they would also be his "emissaries" (Greek apostoloi). In them, Christ continues his own Mission: "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." 369 The apostles' ministry is the continuation of his mission; Jesus said to the Twelve: "he who receives you receives me." 370

Jesus unites them to the Mission he received from the Father. As "the Son can do nothing of his own accord," but receives everything from the Father who sent him, so those whom Jesus sends can do nothing apart from him, 371 from whom they received both the mandate for their mission and the power to carry it out. Christ's Apostles knew that they were called by God as "ministers of a new covenant," "servants of God," "ambassadors for Christ," "servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God." 372

"This Kingdom shines out before men in the word, in the works and in the presence of Christ." 163 To welcome Jesus' word is to welcome "the Kingdom itself." 164 The seed and beginning of the Kingdom are the "little flock" of those whom Jesus came to gather around him, the flock whose shepherd he is. 165 They form Jesus' true family. 166 To those whom he thus gathered around him, he taught a new "way of acting" and a Prayer of their own. 167

It was the Son's task to accomplish the Father's plan of Salvation in the fullness of time. Its accomplishment was the reason for his being sent. 160 "The Lord Jesus inaugurated his Church by preaching the Good News, that is, the Coming of the Reign of God, promised over the ages in the scriptures." 161 To fulfill the Father's will, Christ ushered in the Kingdom of heaven on earth. the Church "is the Reign of Christ already present in Mystery." 162

Jesus is Christ, "anointed," because the Spirit is his anointing, and everything that occurs from the Incarnation on derives from this fullness. 11 When Christ is finally glorified, 12 he can in turn send the Spirit from his place with the Father to those who believe in him: he communicates to them his Glory, 13 that is, the Holy Spirit who glorifies him. 14 From that time on, this joint Mission will be manifested in the children adopted by the Father in the Body of his Son: the mission of the Spirit of adoption is to unite them to Christ and make them live in him:

When he proclaims and promises the Coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls him the "Paraclete," literally, "he who is called to one's side," advocatus. 18 "Paraclete" is commonly translated by "consoler," and Jesus is the first consoler. 19 The Lord also called the Holy Spirit "the Spirit of truth." 20

Anointing. the symbolism of anointing with oil also signifies the Holy Spirit, 30 to the point of beComing a synonym for the Holy Spirit. In Christian initiation, anointing is the sacramental sign of Confirmation, called "chrismation" in the Churches of the East. Its full force can be grasped only in relation to the priMary anointing accomplished by the Holy Spirit, that of Jesus. Christ (in Hebrew "messiah") means the one "anointed" by God's Spirit. There were several anointed ones of the Lord in the Old Covenant, pre-eminently King David. 31 But Jesus is God's Anointed in a unique way: the humanity the Son assumed was entirely anointed by the Holy Spirit. the Holy Spirit established him as "Christ." 32 The Virgin Mary conceived Christ by the Holy Spirit who, through the angel, proclaimed him the Christ at his birth, and prompted Simeon to come to the temple to see the Christ of the Lord. 33 The Spirit filled Christ and the power of the Spirit went out from him in his acts of healing and of saving. 34 Finally, it was the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. 35 Now, fully established as "Christ" in his humanity victorious over death, Jesus pours out the Holy Spirit abundantly until "the saints" constitute - in their union with the humanity of the Son of God - that perfect man "to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ": 36 "the whole Christ," in St. Augustine's expression.

Fire. While water signifies birth and the fruitfulness of life given in the Holy Spirit, fire symbolizes the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit's actions. the Prayer of the prophet Elijah, who "arose like fire" and whose "word burned like a torch," brought down fire from heaven on the sacrifice on Mount Carmel. 37 This event was a "figure" of the fire of the Holy Spirit, who transforms what he touches. John the Baptist, who goes "before [the Lord] in the spirit and power of Elijah," proclaims Christ as the one who "will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." 38 Jesus will say of the Spirit: "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!" 39 In the form of tongues "as of fire," the Holy Spirit rests on the Disciples on the morning of Pentecost and fills them with himself 40 The spiritual tradition has retained this symbolism of fire as one of the most expressive images of the Holy Spirit's actions. 41 "Do not quench the Spirit." 42

Cloud and light. These two images occur together in the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. In the theophanies of the Old Testament, the cloud, now obscure, now luminous, reveals the living and saving God, while veiling the transcendence of his Glory - with Moses on Mount Sinai, 43 at the tent of meeting, 44 and during the wandering in the desert, 45 and with Solomon at the dedication of the Temple. 46 In the Holy Spirit, Christ fulfills these figures. the Spirit comes upon the Virgin Mary and "overshadows" her, so that she might conceive and give birth to Jesus. 47 On the mountain of Transfiguration, the Spirit in the "cloud came and overshadowed" Jesus, Moses and Elijah, Peter, James and John, and "a voice came out of the cloud, saying, 'This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!'" 48 Finally, the cloud took Jesus out of the sight of the Disciples on the day of his ascension and will reveal him as Son of man in glory on the day of his final Coming. 49

The hand. Jesus heals the sick and blesses little children by laying hands on them. 51 In his name the Apostles will do the same. 52 Even more pointedly, it is by the Apostles' imposition of hands that the Holy Spirit is given. 53 The Letter to the Hebrews lists the imposition of hands among the "fundamental elements" of its teaching. 54 The Church has kept this sign of the all-powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit in its sacramental epicleses.

The finger. "It is by the finger of God that [Jesus] cast out demons." 55 If God's law was written on tablets of stone "by the finger of God," then the "letter from Christ" entrusted to the care of the Apostles, is written "with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human Hearts." 56 The hymn Veni Creator Spiritus invokes the Holy Spirit as the "finger of the Father's right hand." 57

The Messiah's characteristics are revealed above all in the "Servant Songs." 82 These songs proclaim the meaning of Jesus' Passion and show how he will pour out the Holy Spirit to give life to the many: not as an outsider, but by embracing our "form as slave." 83 Taking our death upon himself, he can communicate to us his own Spirit of life.

The entire Mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit, in the fullness of time, is contained in this: that the Son is the one anointed by the Father's Spirit Since his Incarnation - Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. Everything in the second chapter of the Creed is to be read in this light. Christ's whole work is in fact a joint mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Here, we shall mention only what has to do with Jesus' promise of the Holy Spirit and the gift of him by the glorified Lord.

Jesus does not reveal the Holy Spirit fully, until he himself has been glorified through his Death and Resurrection. Nevertheless, little by little he alludes to him even in his teaching of the multitudes, as when he reveals that his own flesh will be food for the life of the world. 110 He also alludes to the Spirit in speaking to Nicodemus, 111 to the Samaritan woman, 112 and to those who take part in the feast of Tabernacles. 113 To his Disciples he speaks openly of the Spirit in connection with Prayer 114 and with the witness they will have to bear. 115

Only when the hour has arrived for his glorification does Jesus promise the Coming of the Holy Spirit, Since his Death and Resurrection will fulfill the promise made to the Fathers. 116 The Spirit of truth, the other Paraclete, will be given by the Father in answer to Jesus' Prayer; he will be sent by the Father in Jesus' name; and Jesus will send him from the Father's side, since he comes from the Father. the Holy Spirit will come and we shall know him; he will be with us for ever; he will remain with us. the Spirit will teach us everything, remind us of all that Christ said to us and bear witness to him. the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth and will glorify Christ. He will prove the world wrong about sin, righteousness, and judgment.

At last Jesus' hour arrives: 117 he commends his spirit into the Father's hands 118 at the very moment when by his death he conquers death, so that, "raised from the dead by the Glory of the Father," 119 he might immediately give the Holy Spirit by "breathing" on his Disciples. 120 From this hour onward, the Mission of Christ and the Spirit becomes the mission of the Church: "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." 121

"Christ is the light of humanity; and it is, accordingly, the Heart-felt desire of this sacred Council, being gathered together in the Holy Spirit, that, by proclaiming his Gospel to every creature, it may bring to all men that light of Christ which shines out visibly from the Church." 135 These words open the Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. By chooSing this starting point, the Council demonstrates that the article of Faith about the Church depends entirely on the articles concerning Christ Jesus. the Church has no other light than Christ's; according to a favorite image of the Church Fathers, the Church is like the moon, all its light reflected from the sun.

In the office of the Apostles there is one aspect that cannot be transmitted: to be the chosen witnesses of the Lord's Resurrection and so the foundation stones of the Church. But their office also has a permanent aspect. Christ promised to remain with them always. the divine Mission entrusted by Jesus to them "will continue to the end of time, Since the Gospel they handed on is the lasting source of all life for the Church. Therefore, . . . the apostles took care to appoint successors." 373

Jesus invites Sinners to the table of the Kingdom: "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." 258 He invites them to that conversion without which one cannot enter the kingdom, but shows them in word and deed his Father's boundless mercy for them and the vast "joy in heaven over one sinner who repents". 259 The supreme proof of his Love will be the sacrifice of his own life "for the forgiveness of Sins". 260

The Paschal Mystery of Christ's Cross and Resurrection stands at the centre of the Good News that the Apostles, and the Church following them, are to proclaim to the world. God's saving plan was accomplished "once for all" 313 by the redemptive death of his Son Jesus Christ.

The Church remains Faithful to the interpretation of "all the Scriptures" that Jesus gave both before and after his Passover: "Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his Glory?" 314 Jesus' sufferings took their historical, concrete form from the fact that he was "rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes", who handed "him to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified". 315

Faith can therefore try to examine the circumstances of Jesus' death, faithfully handed on by the Gospels 316 and illuminated by other historical sources, the better to understand the meaning of the Redemption.

From the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, certain Pharisees and partisans of Herod together with priests and scribes agreed together to destroy him. 317 Because of certain acts of his expelling demons, forgiving Sins, healing on the sabbath day, his novel interpretation of the precepts of the Law regarding purity, and his familiarity with tax collectors and public Sinners 318 --some ill-intentioned perSons suspected Jesus of demonic possession. 319 He is accused of blasphemy and false prophecy, religious crimes which the Law punished with death by stoning. 320

Many of Jesus' deeds and words constituted a "sign of contradiction", 321 but more so for the religious authorities in Jerusalem, whom the Gospel according to John often calls simply "the Jews", 322 than for the ordinary People of God. 323 To be sure, Christ's relations with the Pharisees were not exclusively polemical. Some Pharisees warn him of the danger he was courting; 324 Jesus praises some of them, like the scribe of Mark 12:34, and dines several times at their homes. 325 Jesus endorses some of the teachings imparted by this religious elite of God's people: the Resurrection of the dead, 326 certain forms of piety (almsgiving, fasting and Prayer), 327 The custom of addresSing God as Father, and the centrality of the commandment to Love God and neighbour. 328

In the eyes of many in Israel, Jesus seems to be acting against essential institutions of the Chosen People: - subMission to the whole of the Law in its written commandments and, for the Pharisees, in the interpretation of oral tradition; - the centrality of the Temple at Jerusalem as the holy place where God's presence dwells in a special way; - Faith in the one God whose Glory no man can share.

At the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus issued a solemn warning in which he presented God's law, given on Sinai during the first covenant, in light of the Grace of the New Covenant:

Jesus, Israel's Messiah and therefore the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven, was to fulfil the Law by keeping it in its all embracing detail - according to his own words, down to "the least of these commandments". 330 He is in fact the only one who could keep it perfectly. 331 On their own adMission the Jews were never able to observe the Law in its entirety without violating the least of its precepts. 332 This is why every year on the Day of Atonement the children of Israel ask God's forgiveness for their transgressions of the Law. the Law indeed makes up one inseparable whole, and St. James recalls, "Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it." 333

This principle of integral observance of the Law not only in letter but in spirit was dear to the Pharisees. By giving Israel this principle they had led many Jews of Jesus' time to an extreme religious zeal. 334 This zeal, were it not to lapse into "hypocritical" casuistry, 335 could only prepare the People for the unprecedented intervention of God through the perfect fulfilment of the Law by the only Righteous One in place of all Sinners. 336

The perfect fulfilment of the Law could be the work of none but the divine legislator, born subject to the Law in the perSon of the Son. 337 In Jesus, the Law no longer appears engraved on tables of stone but "upon the Heart" of the Servant who becomes "a covenant to the people", because he will "Faithfully bring forth justice". 338 Jesus fulfils the Law to the point of taking upon himself "the curse of the Law" incurred by those who do not "abide by the things written in the book of the Law, and do them", for his death took place to redeem them "from the transgressions under the first covenant". 339

Jesus' entry into Jerusalem manifested the Coming of the Kingdom that the King-Messiah was going to accomplish by the Passover of his Death and Resurrection. It is with the celebration of that entry on Palm Sunday that the Church's liturgy solemnly opens Holy Week.

Jesus' invitation to enter his Kingdom comes in the form of parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching. 261 Through his parables he invites people to the feast of the kingdom, but he also asks for a radical choice: to gain the kingdom, one must give everything. 262 Words are not enough, deeds are required. 263 The parables are like mirrors for man: will he be hard soil or good earth for the word? 264 What use has he made of the talents he has received? 265 Jesus and the presence of the kingdom in this world are secretly at the Heart of the parables. One must enter the kingdom, that is, become a disciple of Christ, in order to "know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven". 266 For those who stay "outside", everything remains enigmatic. 267

Jesus accompanies his words with many "mighty works and wonders and signs", which manifest that the Kingdom is present in him and attest that he was the promised Messiah. 268

The signs worked by Jesus attest that the Father has sent him. They invite belief in him. 269 To those who turn to him in Faith, he grants what they ask. 270 So miracles strengthen faith in the One who does his Father's works; they bear witness that he is the Son of God. 271 But his miracles can also be occasions for "offence"; 272 they are not intended to satisfy people's curiosity or desire for magic Despite his evident miracles some people reject Jesus; he is even accused of acting by the power of demons. 273

By freeing some individuals from the earthly evils of hunger, injustice, illness and death, 274 Jesus performed messianic signs. Nevertheless he did not come to abolish all evils here below, 275 but to free men from the gravest slavery, Sin, which thwarts them in their vocation as God's Sons and causes all forms of human bondage. 276

The Coming of God's Kingdom means the defeat of Satan's: "If it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." 277 Jesus' exorcisms free some individuals from the domination of demons. They anticipate Jesus' great victory over "the ruler of this world". 278 The kingdom of God will be definitively established through Christ's Cross: "God reigned from the wood." 279

From the beginning of his public life Jesus chose certain men, twelve in number, to be with him and to participate in his Mission. 280 He gives the Twelve a share in his authority and 'sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal." 281 They remain associated for ever with Christ's kingdom, for through them he directs the Church:

Simon Peter holds the first place in the college of the Twelve; 283 Jesus entrusted a unique Mission to him. Through a revelation from the Father, Peter had confessed: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Our Lord then declared to him: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." 284 Christ, the "living Stone", 285 thus assures his Church, built on Peter, of victory over the powers of death. Because of the Faith he confessed Peter will remain the unshakeable rock of the Church. His mission will be to keep this faith from every lapse and to strengthen his brothers in it. 286

Jesus entrusted a specific authority to Peter: "I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." 287 The "power of the keys" designates authority to govern the house of God, which is the Church. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, confirmed this mandate after his Resurrection: "Feed my sheep." 288 The power to "bind and loose" connotes the authority to absolve Sins, to pronounce doctrinal judgements, and to make disciplinary decisions in the Church. Jesus entrusted this authority to the Church through the ministry of the Apostles 289 and in particular through the ministry of Peter, the only one to whom he specifically entrusted the keys of the kingdom.

From the day Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Master "began to show his Disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things. . . and be killed, and on the third day be raised." 290 Peter scorns this prediction, nor do the others understand it any better than he. 291 In this context the mysterious episode of Jesus' Transfiguration takes place on a high mountain, 292 before three witnesses chosen by himself: Peter, James and John. Jesus' face and clothes become dazzling with light, and Moses and Elijah appear, speaking "of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem". 293 A cloud covers him and a voice from heaven says: "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" 294

For a moment Jesus discloses his divine Glory, confirming Peter's confession. He also reveals that he will have to go by the way of the Cross at Jerusalem in order to "enter into his glory". 295 Moses and Elijah had seen God's glory on the Mountain; the Law and the Prophets had announced the Messiah's sufferings. 296 Christ's Passion is the will of the Father: the Son acts as God's servant; 297 The cloud indicates the presence of the Holy Spirit. "The whole Trinity appeared: the Father in the voice; the Son in the man; the Spirit in the shining cloud." 298

On the threshold of the public life: the Baptism; on the threshold of the Passover: the Transfiguration. Jesus' baptism proclaimed "the Mystery of the first regeneration", namely, our Baptism; the Transfiguration "is the sacrament of the second regeneration": our own Resurrection. 300 From now on we share in the Lord's Resurrection through the Spirit who acts in the sacraments of the Body of Christ. the Transfiguration gives us a foretaste of Christ's glorious Coming, when he "will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body." 301 But it also recalls that "it is through many persecutions that we must enter the Kingdom of God": 302

"When the days drew near for him to be taken up [Jesus] set his face to go to Jerusalem." 304 By this decision he indicated that he was going up to Jerusalem prepared to die there. Three times he had announced his Passion and Resurrection; now, heading toward Jerusalem, Jesus says: "It cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem." 305

Jesus recalls the martyrdom of the prophets who had been put to death in Jerusalem. Nevertheless he persists in calling Jerusalem to gather around him: "How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!" 306 When Jerusalem comes into view he weeps over her and expresses once again his Heart's desire: "Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace! But now they are hid from your eyes." 307

How will Jerusalem welcome her Messiah? Although Jesus had always refused popular attempts to make him king, he chooses the time and prepares the details for his messianic entry into the city of "his Father David". 308 Acclaimed as Son of David, as the one who brings Salvation (Hosanna means "Save!" or "Give salvation!"), the "King of Glory" enters his City "riding on an ass". 309 Jesus conquers the Daughter of Zion, a figure of his Church, neither by ruse nor by violence, but by the humility that bears witness to the truth. 310 and so the subjects of his Kingdom on that day are children and God's poor, who acclaim him as had the angels when they announced him to the shepherds. 311 Their acclamation, "Blessed be he who comes in the name of the Lord", 312 is taken up by the Church in the Sanctus of the Eucharistic liturgy that introduces the memorial of the Lord's Passover.

The Jewish people and their spiritual leaders viewed Jesus as a rabbi. 340 He often argued within the framework of rabbinical interpretation of the Law. 341 Yet Jesus could not help but offend the teachers of the Law, for he was not content to propose his interpretation alongside theirs but taught the people "as one who had authority, and not as their scribes". 342 In Jesus, the same Word of God that had resounded on Mount Sinai to give the written Law to Moses, made itself heard anew on the Mount of the Beatitudes. 343 Jesus did not abolish the Law but fulfilled it by giving its ultimate interpretation in a divine way: "You have heard that it was said to the men of old. . . But I say to you. . ." 344 With this same divine authority, he disavowed certain human traditions of the Pharisees that were "making void the word of God". 345

Going even further, Jesus perfects the dietary law, so important in Jewish daily life, by revealing its pedagogical meaning through a divine interpretation: "Whatever goes into a man from outside cannot defile him. . . (Thus he declared all foods clean.). . . What comes out of a man is what defiles a man. For from within, out of the Heart of man, come evil thoughts. . ." 346 In presenting with divine authority the definitive interpretation of the Law, Jesus found himself confronted by certain teachers of the Law who did not accept his interpretation of the Law, guaranteed though it was by the divine signs that accompanied it. 347 This was the case especially with the sabbath laws, for he recalls, often with rabbinical arguments, that the sabbath rest is not violated by serving God and neighbour, 348 which his own healings did.

Jesus' violent death was not the result of chance in an unfortunate coincidence of circumstances, but is part of the Mystery of God's plan, as St. Peter explains to the Jews of Jerusalem in his first sermon on Pentecost: "This Jesus (was) delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God." 393 This Biblical language does not mean that those who handed him over were merely passive players in a scenario written in advance by God. 394

To God, all moments of time are present in their immediacy. When therefore he establishes his eternal plan of "predestination", he includes in it each perSon's free response to his Grace: "In this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place." 395 For the sake of accomplishing his plan of Salvation, God permitted the acts that flowed from their blindness. 396 "He died for our Sins in accordance with the Scriptures"

The Scriptures had foretold this divine plan of Salvation through the putting to death of "the righteous one, my Servant" as a Mystery of universal redemption, that is, as the ransom that would free men from the slavery of Sin. 397 Citing a confession of Faith that he himself had "received", St. Paul professes that "Christ died for our Sins in accordance with the scriptures." 398 In particular Jesus' redemptive death fulfils Isaiah's prophecy of the suffering Servant. 399 Indeed Jesus himself explained the meaning of his life and death in the light of God's suffering Servant. 400 After his Resurrection he gave this interpretation of the Scriptures to the Disciples at Emmaus, and then to the Apostles. 401

Jesus did not experience reprobation as if he himself had Sinned. 405 But in the redeeming Love that always united him to the Father, he assumed us in the state of our waywardness of sin, to the point that he could say in our name from the Cross: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" 406 Having thus established him in solidarity with us sinners, God "did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all", so that we might be "reconciled to God by the death of his Son". 407

At the end of the parable of the lost sheep Jesus recalled that God's Love excludes no one: "So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." 410 He affirms that he came "to give his life as a ransom for many"; this last term is not restrictive, but contrasts the whole of humanity with the unique perSon of the redeemer who hands himself over to save us. 411 The Church, following the Apostles, teaches that Christ died for all men without exception: "There is not, never has been, and never will be a Single human being for whom Christ did not suffer." 412

The Son of God, who came down "from heaven, not to do (his) own will, but the will of him who sent (him)", 413 said on Coming into the world, "Lo, I have come to do your will, O God." "and by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." 414 From the first moment of his Incarnation the Son embraces the Father's plan of divine Salvation in his redemptive Mission: "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work." 415 The sacrifice of Jesus "for the Sins of the whole world" 416 expresses his loving Communion with the Father. "The Father Loves me, because I lay down my life", said the Lord, "(for) I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father." 417

The desire to embrace his Father's plan of redeeming Love inspired Jesus' whole life, 418 for his redemptive passion was the very reaSon for his Incarnation. and so he asked, "and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour." 419 and again, "Shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given me?" 420 From the Cross, just before "It is finished", he said, "I thirst." 421

After agreeing to baptize him along with the Sinners, John the Baptist looked at Jesus and pointed him out as the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world". 422 By doing so, he reveals that Jesus is at the same time the suffering Servant who silently allows himself to be led to the slaughter and who bears the sin of the multitudes, and also the Paschal Lamb, the symbol of Israel's redemption at the first Passover. 423 Christ's whole life expresses his Mission: "to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." 424

By embracing in his human Heart the Father's Love for men, Jesus "loved them to the end", for "greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." 425 In suffering and death his humanity became the free and perfect instrument of his divine love which desires the Salvation of men. 426 Indeed, out of love for his Father and for men, whom the Father wants to save, Jesus freely accepted his Passion and death: "No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord." 427 Hence the sovereign freedom of God's Son as he went out to his death. 428

Jesus gave the supreme expression of his free offering of himself at the meal shared with the twelve Apostles "on the night he was betrayed". 429 On the eve of his Passion, while still free, Jesus transformed this Last Supper with the apostles into the memorial of his voluntary offering to the Father for the Salvation of men: "This is my body which is given for you." "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of Sins." 430

The Eucharist that Christ institutes at that moment will be the memorial of his sacrifice. 431 Jesus includes the Apostles in his own offering and bids them perpetuate it. 432 By doing so, the Lord institutes his apostles as priests of the New Covenant: "For their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth." 433

The cup of the New Covenant, which Jesus anticipated when he offered himself at the Last Supper, is afterwards accepted by him from his Father's hands in his agony in the garden at Gethsemani, 434 making himself "obedient unto death". Jesus prays: "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. . ." 435 Thus he expresses the horror that death represented for his human nature. Like ours, his human nature is destined for eternal life; but unlike ours, it is perfectly exempt from Sin, the cause of death. 436 Above all, his human nature has been assumed by the divine perSon of the "Author of life", the "Living One". 437 By accepting in his human will that the Father's will be done, he accepts his death as redemptive, for "he himself bore our Sins in his body on the tree." 438

"For as by one man's disobedience many were made Sinners, so by one man's obedience many will be made righteous." 443 By his obedience unto death, Jesus accomplished the substitution of the suffering Servant, who "makes himself an offering for sin", when "he bore the sin of many", and who "shall make many to be accounted righteous", for "he shall bear their iniquities". 444 Jesus atoned for our faults and made satisfaction for our Sins to the Father. 445

The Cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ, the "one mediator between God and men". 452 But because in his incarnate divine perSon he has in some way united himself to every man, "the possibility of being made partners, in a way known to God, in the paschal Mystery" is offered to all men. 453 He calls his Disciples to "take up [their] cross and follow (him)", 454 for "Christ also suffered for (us), leaving (us) an example so that (we) should follow in his steps." 455 In fact Jesus desires to associate with his redeeming sacrifice those who were to be its first beneficiaries. 456 This is achieved supremely in the case of his mother, who was associated more intimately than any other person in the mystery of his redemptive suffering. 457 Apart from the cross there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven. 458

In her Magisterial teaching of the Faith and in the witness of her saints, the Church has never forgotten that "Sinners were the authors and the ministers of all the sufferings that the divine Redeemer endured." 389 Taking into account the fact that our Sins affect Christ himself, 390 The Church does not hesitate to impute to Christians the gravest responsibility for the torments inflicted upon Jesus, a responsibility with which they have all too often burdened the Jews alone:

The historical complexity of Jesus' trial is apparent in the Gospel accounts. the perSonal Sin of the participants (Judas, the Sanhedrin, Pilate) is known to God alone. Hence we cannot lay responsibility for the trial on the Jews in Jerusalem as a whole, despite the outcry of a manipulated crowd and the global reproaches contained in the Apostles' calls to conversion after Pentecost. 385 Jesus himself, in forgiving them on the Cross, and Peter in following suit, both accept "the ignorance" of the Jews of Jerusalem and even of their leaders. 386 Still less can we extend responsibility to other Jews of different times and places, based merely on the crowd's cry: "His blood be on us and on our children!", a formula for ratifying a judicial sentence. 387 As the Church declared at the Second Vatican Council: . . .

Like the prophets before him Jesus expressed the deepest respect for the Temple in Jerusalem. It was in the Temple that Joseph and Mary presented him forty days after his birth. 349 At the age of twelve he decided to remain in the Temple to remind his parents that he must be about his Father's buSiness. 350 He went there each year during his hidden life at least for Passover. 351 His public ministry itself was patterned by his pilgrimages to Jerusalem for the great Jewish feasts. 352

Jesus went up to the Temple as the privileged place of encounter with God. For him, the Temple was the dwelling of his Father, a house of Prayer, and he was angered that its outer court had become a place of commerce. 353 He drove merchants out of it because of jealous Love for his Father: "You shall not make my Father's house a house of trade. His Disciples remembered that it was written, 'Zeal for your house will consume me.'" 354 After his Resurrection his Apostles retained their reverence for the Temple. 355

On the threshold of his Passion Jesus announced the Coming destruction of this splendid building, of which there would not remain "one stone upon another". 356 By doing so, he announced a sign of the last days, which were to begin with his own Passover. 357 But this prophecy would be distorted in its telling by false witnesses during his interrogation at the high priest's house, and would be thrown back at him as an insult when he was nailed to the Cross. 358

Far from having been hostile to the Temple, where he gave the essential part of his teaching, Jesus was willing to pay the Temple-tax, associating with him Peter, whom he had just made the foundation of his future Church. 359 He even identified himself with the Temple by presenting himself as God's definitive dwelling-place among men. 360 Therefore his being put to bodily death 361 presaged the destruction of the Temple, which would manifest the dawning of a new age in the history of Salvation: "The hour is Coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father." 362

If the Law and the Jerusalem Temple could be occasions of opposition to Jesus by Israel's religious authorities, his role in the redemption of Sins, the divine work par excellence, was the true stumbling-block for them. 363

Jesus scandalized the Pharisees by eating with tax collectors and Sinners as familiarly as with themselves. 364 Against those among them "who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others", Jesus affirmed: "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." 365 He went further by proclaiming before the Pharisees that, since sin is universal, those who pretend not to need Salvation are blind to themselves. 366

Jesus gave scandal above all when he identified his merciful conduct toward Sinners with God's own attitude toward them. 367 He went so far as to hint that by sharing the table of sinners he was admitting them to the messianic banquet. 368 But it was most especially by forgiving Sins that Jesus placed the religious authorities of Israel on the horns of a dilemma. Were they not entitled to demand in consternation, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" 369 By forgiving sins Jesus either is blaspheming as a man who made himself God's equal, or is speaking the truth and his perSon really does make present and reveal God's name. 370

Only the divine identity of Jesus' perSon can justify so absolute a claim as "He who is not with me is against me"; and his saying that there was in him "something greater than Jonah,. . . greater than Solomon", something "greater than the Temple"; his reminder that David had called the Messiah his Lord, 371 and his affirmations, "Before Abraham was, I AM", and even "I and the Father are one." 372

Jesus asked the religious authorities of Jerusalem to believe in him because of the Father's works which he accomplished. 373 But such an act of Faith must go through a mysterious death to self, for a new "birth from above" under the influence of divine Grace. 374 Such a demand for conversion in the face of so surpriSing a fulfilment of the promises 375 allows one to understand the Sanhedrin's tragic misunderstanding of Jesus: they judged that he deserved the death sentence as a blasphemer. 376 The members of the Sanhedrin were thus acting at the same time out of "ignorance" and the "hardness" of their "unbelief". 377

Among the religious authorities of Jerusalem, not only were the Pharisee Nicodemus and the prominent Joseph of Arimathea both secret Disciples of Jesus, but there was also long-standing dissension about him, so much so that St. John says of these authorities on the very eve of Christ's Passion, "many.. . believed in him", though very imperfectly. 378 This is not surpriSing, if one recalls that on the day after Pentecost "a great many of the priests were obedient to the Faith" and "some believers. . . belonged to the party of the Pharisees", to the point that St. James could tell St. Paul, "How many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed; and they are all zealous for the Law." 379

The religious authorities in Jerusalem were not unanimous about what stance to take towards Jesus. 380 The Pharisees threatened to excommunicate his followers. 381 To those who feared that "everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation", the high priest Caiaphas replied by prophesying: "It is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish." 382 The Sanhedrin, having declared Jesus deserving of death as a blasphemer but having lost the right to put anyone to death, hands him over to the Romans, accuSing him of political revolt, a charge that puts him in the same category as Barabbas who had been accused of sedition. 383 The chief priests also threatened Pilate politically so that he would condemn Jesus to death. 384