Tag Archives: Catechism of the Catholic Church

The Cross the Unique Sacrifice

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Our participation in Christ’s sacrifice

618 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 BRIEF

619 ”Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures” (I Cor 15:3).

620 Our salvation flows from God’s initiative of love for us, because “he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins” (I Jn 4:10). “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself” (2 Cor 5:19).

621 Jesus freely offered himself for our salvation. Beforehand, during the Last Supper, he both symbolized this offering and made it really present: “This is my body which is given for you” (Lk 22:19).

622 The redemption won by Christ consists in this, that he came “to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mt 20:28), that is, he “loved [his own] to the end” (Jn 13:1), so that they might be “ransomed from the futile ways inherited from [their] fathers” (I Pt 1:18).

623 By his loving obedience to the Father, “unto death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:8), Jesus fulfills the atoning mission (cf. Is 53:10) of the suffering Servant, who will “make many righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities” (Is 53:11; cf. Rom 5:19).


More:

  1. The Redemptive Value of Christ’s Sacrifice

    www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/…/aud19881026en.html

    Oct 26, 1988 – This truth of our faith does not exclude but demands the participationof each and every human being in Christ’s sacrifice in collaboration with …

  2. Catechism of the Catholic Church – Jesus Died Crucified

    www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p122a4p2.htm

    450 And the Church venerates his cross as she sings: “Hail, O Cross, our …

    Show more results from vatican.va

  3. Catechism of the Catholic Church – PART 2 SECTION 2 CHAPTER 1 …

    www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p2s2c1a3.htm

    The Holy Sacrifice, because it makes present the one sacrifice of Christ the …..participation in our Redeemer’s sacrifice which we celebrate in the Eucharist: …

  4. Eucharist as Sacrifice - Sacrament: Mass and Liturgy

    www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/link/e-litur.html

    By our participation in the Holy Eucharist, we unite ourselves to Christ in HisSacrifice, pouring out our lives, with Him, in love of God and our neighbor. …



    Catechism – Catholic Culture

    www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/catechism/index.cfm?…

    Our participation in Christ’s sacrifice. 618 The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ, the “one mediator between God and men”. 452 But because in his incarnate …

Partners in a Divine Undertaking?

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‎”A man and woman joined in matrimony become partners in a divine undertaking: Through the act of procreation, God’s gift is accepted and a new life opens to the future.”  ~Pope John Paul II in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae, no. 43


Although, not all of us have the ability to conceive or our challenges are many, we must embrace Jesus throughout. What has helped me is being a part of the Carmelite community, it is good to find community support through the cross.  We are like soldiers of faith who are enduring the imperfections of this world.  Our answers to the question of pain and emotional suffering is to go to Our Lord in all of our weakness and ask for His guidance.  This is a challenge and depending on your health and situation, it may take a while to reach a place of peace.  Continue to pray, and seek God’s will for your marriage, and try to find joy in the little things of life.


As the Catechism states below, our openness to life does not always give us children but we can find ways of helping those God sends our way that He calls us to adopt spiritually.  Like the pain that St. Paul talks about a thorn in the flesh this is what we all endure in our cross, but let me tell you when we embrace it with Love then you will find the answers…


2 Cor. 12:8-10   Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said to me, ”My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.  Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong.


Your peace may come and go throughout your life but relying on Our Lord is the answer that will get you through all of the many challenges  of married life.  Have peace and hope and you will be free.


Catechism of the Catholic Church
2379
The Gospel shows that physical sterility is not an absolute evil. Spouses who still suffer from infertility after exhausting legitimate medical procedures should unite themselves with the Lord’s Cross, the source of all spiritual fecundity. They can give expression to their generosity by adopting abandoned children or performing demanding services for others.


Truly, you will find that all your answers that you seek are within Holy Mother Church.  As God spoke to David “Be still and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10.

A Time to Prepare ~ the Coming of Christ is at Hand!

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522 The coming of God’s Son to earth is an event of such immensity that God willed to prepare for it over centuries. He makes everything converge on Christ: all the rituals and sacrifices, figures and symbols of the “First Covenant”.195 He announces him through the mouths of the prophets who succeeded one another in Israel. Moreover, he awakens in the hearts of the pagans a dim expectation of this coming.

523 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

524 When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior’s first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming. 200 By celebrating the precursor’s birth and martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his desire: “He must increase, but I must decrease.“201

-Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Edition, pp. 131-132

The Sacrament of Matrimony

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The grace of the sacrament of Matrimony

1641 “By reason of their state in life and of their order, [Christian spouses] have their own special gifts in the People of God.”147 This grace proper to the sacrament of Matrimony is intended to perfect the couple’s love and to strengthen their indissoluble unity. By this grace they “help one another to attain holiness in their married life and in welcoming and educating their children.”148

1642 Christ is the source of this grace. “Just as of old God encountered his people with a covenant of love and fidelity, so our Savior, the spouse of the Church, now encounters Christian spouses through the sacrament of Matrimony.”149 Christ dwells with them, gives them the strength to take up their crosses and so follow him, to rise again after they have fallen, to forgive one another, to bear one another’s burdens, to “be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ,”150 and to love one another with supernatural, tender, and fruitful love. In the joys of their love and family life he gives them here on earth a foretaste of the wedding feast of the Lamb:

How can I ever express the happiness of a marriage joined by the Church, strengthened by an offering, sealed by a blessing, announced by angels, and ratified by the Father? . . . How wonderful the bond between two believers, now one in hope, one in desire, one in discipline, one in the same service! They are both children of one Father and servants of the same Master, undivided in spirit and flesh, truly two in one flesh. Where the flesh is one, one also is the spirit.151