PASCHAL MYSTERY

Jesus and the Cross

CROSS

• Stauros (Greek) – The word was used for “fence posts.”

– Later the word was used for a wooden stake fixed in the ground and used as an instrument of torture or death.

• A reference to an execution instrument of wooden timber affixed on the ground.

DEATH BY CRUCIFIXION

• The Romans employed this form of execution for slaves and also used it for foreigners, traitors and criminals.

• It was a public display of capital punishment.

DEATH BY CRUCIFIXION

• The condemned criminal was often forced to carry the cross-beam, the “patibulum,” to the site of his own execution, thus exposing himself as an object of public reproach.

THE CROSS OF JESUS

• Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ died on a cross.

• By His death on a cross, He gave deeper and fuller meaning to the cross and made the cross a most powerful symbol.

THE CROSS OF JESUS

• The Cross does not exalt passive suffering or weakness.

• Rather, Jesus’ Cross is a reminder of the transformation of suffering and weakness through active, total self-giving love.

• Christ’s death on the Cross saved us because it was Jesus’ act of self-giving love for the Father and for us.

• The cross is a symbol of Christ’s saving love.

• “Clearly it is not the very sufferings and death of Christ that save us, for this would make His torturers and executioners our saviors. Rather, we are saved by Jesus’ perfect self-giving love for His Father and for us, a love lived out to death.” -CFC, 559

• The message of the cross is the message of God’s completed, finished work in Christ.

The Agony in the Garden

Luke 22:39-46

CUP• Refers to Jesus’ passion and death

which He feared. But His fear did not overcome Him.

• Through prayer and obedience to the will of the Father, He was able to accept the cup, His suffering and death, with the assurance of the Father’s unconditional and everlasting love.

PRAYER & OBEDIENCE

• Jesus leaves the important message that prayer is indeed very important if one is to do the will of the Father.

• Jesus, the Son of the Father, obeyed His will until death.

PRAYER & OBEDIENCE

• We, as baptized Christians, are likewise called to obey the will of the Father in our daily undertakings and to radiate this saving love of Jesus that He has given us.

WAY OF THE CROSS

• It was developed during the Crusades when the knights and pilgrims began to follow the route of Christ's way to Calvary.

• The Way of the Cross is a journey that Jesus took toward our redemption.

• When we pray this devotion we are making ourselves one with Jesus in this journey.

• This is a journey well esteemed by the Church since it has retained a living memory of the words and gestures of the final earthly days of her Spouse and Lord.

The Way of the Cross should lead us to a fuller and deeper understanding of the suffering and death of Jesus Christ.

The Seven Last Words of Jesus

“Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.”

- Lk 23:33-34

“In truth I tell you: this day you will be with me in paradise.”

- Lk 23:43

“Woman, there is your Son… Son, there is Your mother.”

- Jn 19:26-27

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

- Mt 27:46

“I thirst.”- Jn 19:28

“Now, it is finished.”

- Jn 19:30

“Father, into Your hands I commend my spirit.”

- Lk 23:46

Jesus’ Death on the Cross

Mark 15:22-39

Characteristics of Christ’s Suffering & Death (CFC 567; 602)

“St. Paul described ‘the redemption wrought in Christ Jesus’ in four steps:

• Jesus offered a sacrifice as both priest and victim;

• to expiate for our sins;• creating a new covenant with God

in His blood;• for us and for our salvation.”

What, then, does “Christ died for our sins” mean?

• Jesus died because of human sinfulness.

• He died to show us, empower us to overcome sin & its effects in our broken world.

Profound Effects of Christ’s Death

• Universal (1 Jn 2:2)

• Eschatological – He died that those who follow Him will receive “eternal life in the age to come.”

• Empowering – 1 Jn 5:11-12

New Testament Theology of Salvation in Christ can be sketched in 4 truths:

• Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world; there is no salvation apart from Him.

• “Through His sufferings & death, He has won for us sinners “objective redemption,” that is, reconciled with the Father.”

• He did this in loving obedience to His Father’s will & love for us.

• He calls us to a personal interior repentance for our sins & a life of loving service of others, that is, “subjective redemption.”

Resurrection of JesusMark 16:1-7

Three points of view (CFC 628):

The Resurrection of Jesus can be described from three points of view:

• as passage: an event in human history

• as the glorified life of the Risen Christ; and

• as effected by the Blessed Trinity.

The Resurrection of Jesus is the Gospel message, the Good News of salvation. The truth is that the resurrection is NOT a proof, it is the Good News, it is the message.

The firm belief that the crucified Jesus rose from the dead, is alive, and is among us, constitutes for all time the central truth of our Christian faith.

(1 Cor 15:17; 1 Cor 15:20)

It is the apostles’ concrete historical witness to the reality of Jesus’ Resurrection that:

• changed their lives completely;

• grounded the beginnings of the Church;

• inspired the writing & formation of the New Testament; and

• instituted the observance of Sunday as the Lord’s Day.

We can sketch the salvific importance of Christ’s resurrection in five points:

• It confirmed everything Christ has done and taught.

• It fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies promising a Savior for all the world.

• It confirmed Jesus’ divinity.

• It brought us a share in the new life.

• It is the principle and source of our future resurrection.”

The Meaning of the Resurrection for Us:

• The Resurrection is the event that repairs the friendship between God & man.

• The Resurrection is also the fulfillment of man’s hope for immortality & transcendence.

• Jesus’ Resurrection is the experience of encountering Him in the breaking of the bread.

The Meaning of the Resurrection for Us:

• Jesus’ Resurrection is also an experience of vocation & mission. (Jn 20:21; 21:15-19; Mt 28:18-20)

• Jesus’ Resurrection is an experience of forgiveness. (Jn 20:22-23)

• The Resurrection is an experience of total conversion to Jesus.

Ascension of Christ

Mark 16:19-20

Mystery of Ascension

• The mystery of Jesus being lifted up, being exalted at the right hand of the Father.

The Church teaches that:

• The Ascension marks Jesus’ exaltation as He is now seated in glory at the right hand of the Father.

• Christ’s return to the Father is necessary for sending the Holy Spirit.

• Christ lives forever to make intercession as He continues to exercise His priesthood.

• The ascended Christ as head of the Church gives us, members of His Body, the hope of one day entering into glory with Him.