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EXPLORING CATHOLICISM JESUS

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM FAITH ReceivesAccepts Fides quaeFides qua

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction. Saint John's Gospel describes that event in these words: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should... have eternal life” (3:16).

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM Jesus: Revelation of the Father The Incarnation Jesus the Saviour The Faith of the Church

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM "In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son." (Heb 1:1-2) Christ, the Son of God made man, is the Father's one, perfect and unsurpassable Word. In him he has said everything; there will be no other word than this one. (CCC 65)

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM Jesus and the Father in the Gospel according to St John: Jesus comes from/is sent from heaven: Nicodemus: We know that you are a teacher who comes from God (3:2) For God sent his Son into the world (3:17) He who comes from heaven bears witness to the things he has seen and heard (3:31) The Son completes the will of the Father: My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to complete his work (4:34) I tell you most solemnly, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees the Father doing (5:19) I have come in the name of my Father (5:43) Jesus reveals the Father and his will: My teaching is not from myself, it comes from the one who sent me (7:16) I am not alone, the one who sent me is with me (8:16) I do nothing of myself, what the Father taught me is what I preach (8:28)

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM Jesus and the Father in the Gospel according to St John: Jesus comes from/is sent from heaven: Nicodemus: We know that you are a teacher who comes from God (3:2) For God sent his Son into the world (3:17) He who comes from heaven bears witness to the things he has seen and heard (3:31)

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM Jesus and the Father in the Gospel according to St John: The Son completes the will of the Father: My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to complete his work (4:34) I tell you most solemnly, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can only do what he sees the Father doing (5:19) I have come in the name of my Father (5:43)

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM Jesus and the Father in the Gospel according to St John: Jesus reveals the Father and his will: My teaching is not from myself, it comes from the one who sent me (7:16) I am not alone, the one who sent me is with me (8:16) I do nothing of myself, what the Father taught me is what I preach (8:28)

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM ‘Have you been with me all this time, Philip,’ said Jesus to him, ‘and you still do not know me? To have seen me is to have seen the Father’. (14:9)

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM

The Church calls ‘Incarnation’ the fact that the Son of God assumed a human nature in order to accomplish our salvation in it. CCC 461

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM Creed: I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ … … and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man.

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM What do you imagine Jesus to look like?

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM

Previously God, who has neither a body nor a face, absolutely could not be represented by an image. But now that he has made himself visible in the flesh and has lived with men, I can make an of what I have seen of God … and contemplate the glory of the Lord, his face unveiled. CCC 1159

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM For us men and our salvation, He came down from heaven Jesus the Saviour

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM Why did the Word become flesh? To save us by reconciling us with God That we might know God’s love To be our model of holiness To make us partakers of the divine nature CCC Why did the Word become flesh? To save us by reconciling us with God That we might know God’s love To be our model of holiness To make us partakers of the divine nature CCC

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM To save us by reconciling us with God That we might know God’s love To be our model of holiness To make us partakers of the divine nature

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM

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, not does it imply he is the result of a confused mixture of the divine and the human. He became truly man while remaining truly God CCC 464

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM Docetism The Son of God only appeared to be human St Gregory of Nazianzus What has not been assumed has not been healed He took the worst upon himself to make us a gift of the best

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM Monophysitism The human nature ceased to exist Council of Chalcedon (451AD) o Perfect in divinity and perfect in humanity o Truly God and truly man o Consubstantial with the Father as to his divinity o And consubstantial with us as to his humanity CCC 467

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM Apollinarianism Jesus had a human body but the human mind is replaced by the divine mind Pope Damasus Redeemed the whole person

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM Adoptionism The human person Jesus is adopted as Son of God, at for example, his baptism Council of Nicea, 325 AD Begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM Arianism Homoiousios: of a similar substance to the Father Council of Nicea, 325AD o Begotten not made o One in being with the Father (homoousios)

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM Nestorianism Jesus the human person is joined to the Son, the divine person. Council of Ephesus, 431 Mary is ‘Theotokos’ – Mother of God

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM

What the Catholic faith believes about Mary is based on what it believes about Christ, and what it teaches about Mary illumines in turn its faith in Christ CCC 487

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM I invite all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least an openness to letting him encounter them; I ask all of you to do this unfailingly each day. No one should think that this invitation is not meant for him or her, since “no one is excluded from the joy brought by the Lord”. The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk; whenever we take a step towards Jesus, we come to realize that he is already there, waiting for us with open arms.

EXPLORING CATHOLICISM 10 November 2015 Revelation: The