With bold confidence, we began praying to our Father. In begging him that his name be hallowed, we were in fact asking him that we ourselves might be always made more holy. But though we are clothed with the baptismal garment, we do not cease to Sin, to turn away from God. Now, in this new petition, we return to him like the prodigal Son and, like the tax collector, recognize that we are sinners before him. 133 Our petition begins with a "confession" of our wretchedness and his mercy. Our Hope is firm because, in his Son, "we have Redemption, the forgiveness of Sins." 134 We find the efficacious and undoubted sign of his forgiveness in the sacraments of his Church. 135

"In celebrating this annual cycle of the mysteries of Christ, Holy Church honors the Blessed Mary, Mother of God, with a special love. She is inseparably linked with the saving work of her Son. In her the Church admires and exalts the most excellent fruit of Redemption and joyfully contemplates, as in a faultless image, that which she herself desires and Hopes wholly to be." 44

"Holy Mother Church believes that she should celebrate the saving work of her divine Spouse in a sacred commemoration on certain days throughout the course of the year. Once each week, on the day which she has called the Lord's Day, she keeps the memory of the Lord's Resurrection. She also celebrates it once every year, together with his blessed Passion, at Easter, that most solemn of all feasts. In the course of the year, moreover, she unfolds the whole Mystery of Christ .... Thus recalling the mysteries of the Redemption, she opens up to the Faithful the riches of her Lord's powers and merits, so that these are in some way made present in every age; the faithful lay hold of them and are filled with saving Grace." 33

The word "liturgy" originally meant a "public work" or a "service in the name of/on behalf of the people." In Christian tradition it means the participation of the People of God in "the work of God." 5 Through the liturgy Christ, our redeemer and high priest, continues the work of our Redemption in, with, and through his Church.

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.

In the Church, which is like the sacrament - the sign and instrument - of God's own life, the consecrated life is seen as a special sign of the Mystery of Redemption. To follow and imitate Christ more nearly and to manifest more clearly his self-emptying is to be more deeply present to one's contemporaries, in the heart of Christ. For those who are on this "narrower" path encourage their brethren by their example, and bear striking witness "that the world cannot be transfigured and offered to God without the spirit of the beatitudes." 475

On her pilgrimage, the Church has also experienced the "discrepancy existing between the message she proclaims and the human weakness of those to whom the Gospel has been entrusted." 348 Only by taking the "way of penance and renewal," the "narrow way of the Cross," can the People of God extend Christ's reign. 349 For "just as Christ carried out the work of Redemption in poverty and oppression, so the Church is called to follow the same path if she is to communicate the fruits of Salvation to men." 350

Christ "is the head of the body, the Church." 225 He is the principle of Creation and Redemption. Raised to the Father's glory, "in everything he (is) preeminent," 226 especially in the Church, through whom he extends his reign over all things.

The sign of the Cross, on the threshold of the celebration, marks with the imprint of Christ the one who is going to belong to him and signifies the Grace of the Redemption Christ won for us by his cross.

The Holy Spirit has marked us with the seal of the Lord ("Dominicus character") "for the day of Redemption." 85 "Baptism indeed is the seal of eternal life." 86 The Faithful Christian who has "kept the seal" until the end, remaining faithful to the demands of his Baptism, will be able to depart this life "marked with the sign of faith," 87 with his baptismal faith, in expectation of the blessed vision of God - the consummation of faith - and in the Hope of Resurrection.

The New Testament contains scarcely any prayers of lamentation, so frequent in the Old Testament. In the risen Christ the Church's petition is buoyed by Hope, even if we still wait in a state of expectation and must be converted anew every day. Christian petition, what St. Paul calls {"groaning," arises from another depth, that of Creation "in labor pains" and that of ourselves "as we wait for the Redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved." 103 In the end, however, "with sighs too deep for words" the Holy Spirit "helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words." 104

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

The Symbol of the Faith confesses the greatness of God's gifts to man in his work of Creation, and even more in Redemption and sanctification. What faith confesses, the sacraments communicate: by the sacraments of rebirth, Christians have become "children of God," 2 "partakers of the divine nature." 3 Coming to see in the faith their new dignity, Christians are called to lead henceforth a life "worthy of the gospel of Christ." 4 They are made capable of doing so by the Grace of Christ and the gifts of his Spirit, which they receive through the sacraments and through prayer.

We also call these spiritual goods of the communion of saints the Church's treasury, which is "not the sum total of the material goods which have accumulated during the course of the centuries. On the contrary the 'treasury of the Church' is the infinite value, which can never be exhausted, which Christ's merits have before God. They were offered so that the whole of mankind could be set free from Sin and attain communion with the Father. In Christ, the Redeemer himself, the satisfactions and merits of his Redemption exist and find their effficacy." 87

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

In the New Testament, the memorial takes on new meaning. When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, she commemorates Christ's Passover, and it is made present the Sacrifice Christ offered once for all on the Cross remains ever present. 183 "As often as the sacrifice of the Cross by which 'Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed' is celebrated on the altar, the work of our Redemption is carried out." 184

The Eucharist is a Sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Father, a blesSing by which the Church expresses her gratitude to God for all his benefits, for all that he has accomplished through Creation, Redemption, and sanctification. Eucharist means first of all "thanksgiving."

The inexhaustible richness of this sacrament is expressed in the different names we give it. Each name evokes certain aspects of it. It is called: Eucharist, because it is an action of thanksgiving to God. the Greek words eucharistein 139 and eulogein 140 recall the Jewish blesSings that proclaim - especially during a meal - God's works: Creation, Redemption, and sanctification.

"Behold, I am doing a new thing." 78 Two prophetic lines were to develop, one leading to the expectation of the Messiah, the other pointing to the announcement of a new Spirit. They converge in the small Remnant, the people of the poor, who await in Hope the "consolation of Israel" and "the Redemption of Jerusalem." 79

As Lord, Christ is also head of the Church, which is his Body. 551 Taken up to heaven and glorified after he had thus fully accomplished his mission, Christ dwells on earth in his Church. the Redemption is the source of the authority that Christ, by virtue of the Holy Spirit, exercises over the Church. "The kingdom of Christ (is) already present in Mystery", "on earth, the seed and the beginning of the kingdom". 552

"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.

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

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 doctrine of original Sin, closely connected with that of Redemption by Christ, provides lucid discernment of man's situation and activity in the world. By our first parents' sin, the devil has acquired a certain domination over man, even though man remains free. Original sin entails "captivity under the power of him who thenceforth had the power of death, that is, the devil". 298 Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action 299 and morals.

The eighth day. But for us a new day has dawned: the day of Christ's Resurrection. the seventh day completes the first Creation. the eighth day begins the new creation. Thus, the work of creation culminates in the greater work of Redemption. the first creation finds its meaning and its summit in the new creation in Christ, the splendour of which surpasses that of the first creation. 217

In time we can discover that God in his almighty providence can bring a good from the consequences of an evil, even a moral evil, caused by his creatures: "It was not you", said Joseph to his brothers, "who sent me here, but God. . . You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive." 178 From the greatest moral evil ever committed - the rejection and murder of God's only Son, caused by the Sins of all men - God, by his Grace that "abounded all the more", 179 brought the greatest of goods: the glorification of Christ and our Redemption. But for all that, evil never becomes a good.

This paragraph expounds briefly (I) how the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity was revealed, (II) how the Church has articulated the doctrine of the Faith regarding this mystery, and (III) how, by the divine missions of the Son and the Holy Spirit, God the Father fulfils the "plan of his loving goodness" of Creation, Redemption and sanctification.

and so the Creed is divided into three parts: "the first part speaks of the first divine PerSon and the wonderful work of Creation; the next speaks of the second divine Person and the Mystery of his Redemption of men; the final part speaks of the third divine Person, the origin and source of our sanctification." 4 These are "the three chapters of our [baptismal] seal". 5

Through the prophets, God forms his people in the Hope of Salvation, in the expectation of a new and everlasting Covenant intended for all, to be written on their hearts. 22 The prophets proclaim a radical Redemption of the People of God, purification from all their infidelities, a salvation which will include all the nations. 23 Above all, the poor and humble of the Lord will bear this hope. Such holy women as Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Judith and Esther kept alive the hope of Israel's salvation. the purest figure among them is Mary. 24

Christ's whole life is a Mystery of Redemption. Redemption comes to us above all through the blood of his Cross, 179 but this mystery is at work throughout Christ's entire life: -already in his Incarnation through which by becoming poor he enriches us with his poverty; 180 - in his hidden life which by his submission atones for our disobedience; 181 - in his word which purifies its hearers; 182 - in his healings and exorcisms by which "he took our infirmities and bore our diseases"; 183 - and in his Resurrection by which he justifies us. 184

It is love "to the end" 446 that confers on Christ's Sacrifice its value as Redemption and reparation, as atonement and satisfaction. He knew and loved us all when he offered his life. 447 Now "the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died." 448 No man, not even the holiest, was ever able to take on himself the Sins of all men and offer himself as a sacrifice for all. the existence in Christ of the divine perSon of the Son, who at once surpasses and embraces all human persons, and constitutes himself as the Head of all mankind, makes possible his redemptive sacrifice for all.

Christ's death is both the Paschal Sacrifice that accomplishes the definitive Redemption of men, through "the Lamb of God, who takes away the Sin of the world", 439 and the sacrifice of the New Covenant, which restores man to communion with God by reconciling him to God through the "blood of the covenant, which was poured out for many for the forgiveness of Sins". 440

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

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

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

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.

This revelation was not broken off by our first parents' Sin. "After the fall, (God) buoyed them up with the Hope of Salvation, by promising Redemption; and he has never ceased to show his solicitude for the human race. For he wishes to give eternal life to all those who seek salvation by patience in well-doing." 7