Since God could create everything out of nothing, he can also, through the Holy Spirit, give spiritual life to Sinners by creating a pure heart in them, 148 and bodily life to the dead through the Resurrection. God "gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist." 149 and since God was able to make light shine in darkness by his Word, he can also give the light of faith to those who do not yet know him. 150

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

Christ's call to conversion continues to resound in the lives of Christians. This second conversion is an uninterrupted task for the whole Church who, "clasping Sinners to her bosom, (is) at once holy and always in need of purification, (and) follows constantly the path of penance and renewal." 18 This endeavor of conversion is not just a human work. It is the movement of a "contrite heart," drawn and moved by grace to respond to the merciful Love of God who loved us first. 19

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

In imparting to his apostles his own power to forgive Sins the Lord also gives them the authority to reconcile Sinners with the Church. This ecclesial dimension of their task is expressed most notably in Christ's solemn words to Simon 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." 45 "The office of binding and looSing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of the apostles united to its head." 46

The formula of absolution used in the Latin Church expresses the essential elements of this sacrament: the Father of mercies is the source of all Forgiveness. He effects the reconciliation of Sinners through the Passover of his Son and the gift of his Spirit, through the prayer and ministry of the Church:

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

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 vocabulary of supplication in the New Testament is rich in shades of meaning: ask, beseech, plead, invoke, entreat, cry out, even "struggle in prayer." 102 Its most usual form, because the most spontaneous, is petition: by prayer of petition we express awareness of our relationship with God. We are creatures who are not our own beginning, not the masters of adversity, not our own last end. We are Sinners who as Christians know that we have turned away from our Father. Our petition is already a turning back to him.

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

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.

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.

Finally, our battle has to confront what we experience as failure in prayer: discouragement during periods of dryness; sadness that, because we have "great possessions," 15 we have not given all to the Lord; disappointment over not being heard according to our own will; wounded pride, stiffened by the indignity that is ours as Sinners; our resistance to the idea that prayer is a free and unmerited gift; and so forth. the conclusion is always the same: what good does it do to pray? To overcome these obstacles, we must battle to gain humility, trust, and perseverance.

By the three first petitions, we are strengthened in faith, filled with hope, and set aflame by charity. Being creatures and still Sinners, we have to petition for us, for that "us" bound by the world and history, which we offer to the boundless Love of God. For through the name of his Christ and the reign of his Holy Spirit, our Father accomplishes his plan of salvation, for us and for the whole world.

"Christ, 'holy, innocent, and undefiled,' knew nothing of Sin, but came only to expiate the Sins of the people. the Church, however, clasping Sinners to her bosom, at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal." 299 All members of the Church, including her ministers, must acknowledge that they are sinners. 300 In everyone, the weeds of sin will still be mixed with the good wheat of the Gospel until the end of time. 301 Hence the Church gathers sinners already caught up in Christ's salvation but still on the way to holiness:

All men are implicated in Adam's Sin, as St. Paul affirms: "By one man's disobedience many (that is, all men) were made Sinners": "sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned." 289 The Apostle contrasts the universality of sin and death with the universality of salvation in Christ. "Then as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man's act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men." 290

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.

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

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

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

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

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:

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

By giving up his own Son for our Sins, God manifests that his plan for us is one of benevolent Love, prior to any merit on our part: "In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our Sins." 408 God "shows his love for us in that while we were yet Sinners Christ died for us." 409

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

This sacrifice of Christ is unique; it completes and surpasses all other sacrifices. 441 First, it is a gift from God the Father himself, for the Father handed his Son over to Sinners in order to reconcile us with himself. At the same time it is the offering of the Son of God made man, who in freedom and Love offered his life to his Father through the Holy Spirit in reparation for our disobedience. 442

"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

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