Living the Catechism of The Catholic Church: 1 by Schoenborn Christoph Cardinal

Author:Schoenborn, Christoph Cardinal [Schoenborn, Christoph Cardinal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spiritual & Religion
ISBN: 9780898705607
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2011-01-11T16:00:00+00:00

26

The life of Jesus

During the course of the year, the Church celebrates the whole cycle of events in the life of Jesus, from his conception (March 25) through to his Ascension. These liturgical celebrations serve not only the purpose of commemoration. It is true that Jesus lived at a definite time, when Augustus was emperor of Rome. Jesus was crucified “under Pontius Pilate”. All these things belong to the past, and we can remind ourselves of them just as we can of other events from an earlier time.

Yet the situation is different regarding the life of Jesus. For we believe and profess that Jesus is “true God and true man”. Everything that he did and suffered as a man, between his birth in Bethlehem and his Resurrection in Jerusalem, was unique: not a transient human life, but the once-only life on earth of the eternal Son of the Father. Jesus’ entire life is “divine-human”.

The Catechism devotes a self-contained section to “the mysteries of Christ’s life” (CCC 512-60). The word “mysteries” indicates that, “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” (CCC 515).

To inquire into Christ’s life through the methods of historical science is surely justifiable. It is helpful to be aware of the history of those times, the conditions of life in Galilee, the religious customs and beliefs of first-century Judaism. Archaeological research has brought pieces of evidence about Jesus more clearly to light. Biblical scholarship has contributed much to construction of a historical picture of Jesus and his environment that is as exact as possible.

Every pilgrim to the Holy Land knows how touching it is to see the land in which Jesus lived. Yet what also moves us is the mystery of him who lived here. And when we reflect, in Nazareth, on the Annunciation, or see, in Capernaum, the synagogue where Jesus spoke his words on the “bread of life”, or are reminded, at Tabgha, of Jesus’ preaching from Peter’s boat, then all of this is present. Nothing is simply past. It lives, because he who lived it at that time has risen, and lives eternally, in all his humanness, both with the Father and for us. “He remains ever ‘in the presence of God on our behalf (Heb 9:24), bringing before him all that he lived and suffered for us” (CCC 519).

Saint Ignatius of Loyola, in his little book of Spiritual Exercises, recommends that, when we meditate on the life of Jesus, we should concretely imagine the relevant places and scenes and also try to enter into Jesus’ joy and sadness. This method is intended to have the effect that we not only regard Jesus as our model but seek to live together with him. For, as the Catechism says: “Christ enables us to live in him all that he himself lived, and he lives it in us” (CCC 521). The various liturgical celebrations, throughout the

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