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Jesus
Christ
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Jesus (Topic Page)
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"And
in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a
city of Galilee, called Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man
whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's
name was Mary. And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail,
full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among
women. Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought
with herself what manner of salutation this should be. And the
angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with
God. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth
a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and
shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall
give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign
in the house of Jacob for ever. And of his kingdom there shall be
no end." (Lk. 1:26-33)
"In
the beginning was the Word: and the Word was with God: and the
Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things
were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made.
In him was life: and the life was the light of men. And the light
shineth in darkness: and the darkness did not comprehend it. There
was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a
witness, to give testimony of the light, that all men might
believe through him. He was not the light, but was to give
testimony of the light. That was the true light, which
enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world. He was in the
world: and the world was made by him: and the world knew him not.
He came unto his own: and his own received him not. But as many as
received him, he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to
them that believe in his name. Who are born, not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we saw his glory, the
glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father), full of
grace and truth." (Jn. 1:1-14)
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father."
(Our Lord Jesus Christ, Jn. 14:6-7)
"After
all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized
and was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended
upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven,
'You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.'" (Lk.
3:21-22)
"When
Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his
disciples, 'Who do people say that the Son of Man is?' They
replied, 'Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others
Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' He said to them, 'But who do you
say that I am?' Simon Peter said in reply, 'You are the Messiah,
the Son of the living God.' Jesus said to him in reply, 'Blessed
are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed
this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are
Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of
the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the
keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed
in heaven.' Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one
that he was the Messiah." (Mt. 16:13-20)
"The
feast of the Dedication was then taking place in Jerusalem. It was
winter. And Jesus walked about in the temple area on the Portico
of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, 'How
long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah,
tell us plainly.' Jesus answered them, 'I told you and you do not
believe. The works I do in my Father's name testify to me. But you
do not believe, because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear
my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal
life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my
hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,
and no one can take them out of the Father's hand. The Father and
I are one.'" (Jn. 10:22-30)
"So
Pilate went back into the praetorium and summoned Jesus and said
to him, 'Are you the King of the Jews?' Jesus answered, 'Do you
say this on your own or have others told you about me?' Pilate
answered, 'I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief
priests handed you over to me. What have you done?' Jesus
answered, 'My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom
did belong to this world, my attendants (would) be fighting to
keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my
kingdom is not here.' So Pilate said to him, 'Then you are a
king?' Jesus answered, 'You say I am a king. For this I was born
and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.
Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.'" (Jn.
18:33-37)
"Thomas,
called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus
came. So the other disciples said to him, 'We have seen the Lord.'
But he said to them, 'Unless I see the mark of the nails in his
hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into
his side, I will not believe.' Now a week later his disciples were
again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the
doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, 'Peace be
with you.' Then he said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here and see
my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not
be unbelieving, but believe.' Thomas answered and said to him, 'My
Lord and my God!' Jesus said to him, 'Have you come to believe
because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and
have believed.'" (Jn. 20:24-29)
"And
[Jesus] said to them, 'Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And (behold) I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on
high.'" (Lk. 24:46-49)
"There
is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name
under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be
saved." (St. Peter, Acts 4:12)
"But the gift is not like the transgression. For if by that one person's transgression the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one person Jesus Christ overflow for the many."
(Rom. 5:15)
"Whoever possesses the Son has life; whoever does not possess the Son of God does not have life."
(1 Jn. 5:12 )
"Then
Jesus approached and said to them, 'All power in heaven and on
earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I
have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the
end of the age.'" (Mt. 28:18-20)
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."
(Heb. 13:8)
"My
children, I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin.
But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous one. He is expiation for our sins, and not
for our sins only but for those of the whole world. The way we may
be sure that we know him is to keep his commandments. Whoever
says, 'I know him,' but does not keep his commandments is a liar,
and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, the love
of God is truly perfected in him. This is the way we may know that
we are in union with him: whoever claims to abide in him ought to
live (just) as he lived." (1 Jn. 2:1-6)
"Without
Jesus, all would have been lost."
"Jesus
is alike to us in all things but sin."
"[Jesus]
is both God and man united in one person." (Responsory)
"In
Him are our life and our happiness; it is vain to seek them
elsewhere." (Dom Gueranger)
"The
very acts of Christ are precepts." (Pope St. Gregory I the
Great, Doctor of the Church)
"To the name Jesus is added that of Christ, which
signifies the anointed." (Catechism of the Council of Trent)
"If
any one saith, that Christ Jesus was given of God to men, as a
redeemer in whom to trust, and not also as a legislator whom to
obey; let him be anathema." (Council of Trent)
"If anyone denies that the Son
of God is true God, just as the Father is true God, having all
power, knowing all things, and equal to the Father: he is a
heretic." (Council of Rome, 382 A.D.)
"No one, therefore, can enter into communion
with God except through Christ, by the working of the Holy Spirit"
(Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratified &
Approved by Pope John Paul II, 2000 A.D.)
"If
anyone does not confess that Emmanuel is God in truth, and
therefore that the holy virgin is the mother of God (for she bore
in a fleshly way the Word of God become
flesh), let him be anathema." (Council of Ephesus, 431 A.D.)
"If
anyone does not confess that the Word from God the Father has been
united by hypostasis with the flesh and is one Christ with his own
flesh, and is therefore God and man together, let him be anathema." (Council of Ephesus, 431 A.D.)
"Jesus is the proper name of the God-man and signifies Savior:
a name given Him not accidentally, or by the judgment or will of
man, but by the counsel and command of God." (Catechism of
the Council of Trent)
Error
CONDEMNED by Pope Pius X in "Lamentabili": "Christ did not always have the consciousness of His
Messianic dignity." (Pope St. Pius X, This proposition was condemned in
"Lamentabili", 1907 A.D.)
"If
anyone does not confess that the Word of God suffered in the flesh
and was crucified in the flesh and tasted death in the flesh and
became the first born of the dead, although as God he is life and
life-giving, let him be anathema." (Council of Ephesus, 431 A.D.)
Error
CONDEMNED by Pope Pius X in "Lamentabili": "Christ did not teach a defined body of doctrine applicable
to all times and to all men, but rather began a religious movement
adapted, or to be adapted to different times and places." (Pope St. Pius X, This proposition was condemned in
"Lamentabili", 1907 A.D.)
Error
CONDEMNED by Pope Pius X in "Lamentabili": "The resurrection of the Savior is not properly a fact of
the historical order, but a fact of the purely supernatural order,
neither demonstrated nor demonstrable, and which the Christian
conscience gradually derived from other sources'" (Pope St. Pius X, This proposition was condemned in
"Lamentabili", 1907 A.D.)
"For
through Him we are reborn spiritually, through Him we are
crucified to the world. By His death that bond of death introduced
into all of us by Adam and transmitted to every soul, that bond
contracted by propagation is broken, in which no one of our
children is held not guilty until he is freed through
baptism." (Council of Carthage, 418 A.D.)
"But
we say that passible man was so taken by God the Son, that His
Deity remained impassible. Indeed the Son of God suffered, not by
imputation but actually, all that Scripture testifies, in respect
of that part of Him which could suffer, viz. in respect of the
substance that He had taken on Him." (St. Jerome, Doctor of
the Church)
"If anyone does not confess that there are two generations of
the Word of God, the one from the Father before the ages, without
time and incorporeally, the other in the last days, when the same
came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the holy and glorious
Mother of God and ever Virgin Mary, and was born of her, let such
a one be anathema." (Council of Constantinople II, 553 A.D.)
"To recognize the two natures in Christ, that is to
say, the Divine, by which He is equal to the Father; the human, by
which the Father is greater. But both together are not two beings,
for Christ is one; else, God would be a 'quaternity,' not a
Trinity. For as a single human being results from the union of a
rational soul and human flesh, so Christ is one, God and man."
(St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)
"It
is He who imparts the light of faith to believers; it is He who
enriches pastors and teachers and above all His Vicar on earth
with the supernatural gifts of knowledge, understanding and
wisdom, so that they may loyally preserve the treasury of faith,
defend it vigorously, and explain it and confirm it with reverence
and devotion." (Pope Pius XII,
"Mystici Corporis Christi", 1943 A.D.)
"Being
God and likewise perfect man, He gave positive indications of His
two natures; of His Deity, by the miracles during the three years
following after His Baptism; of His humanity, in the thirty years
which came before His Baptism, during which, by reason of His
condition according to the flesh, He concealed the signs of His
Deity, although He was the true God existing before the
ages." (St. Melito of
Sardes, 2nd century A.D.)
"Of
our Savior many things are recorded in Sacred Scripture. Some of
these, it is evident, apply to Him as God and some as man, because
from His two natures He received the different properties which
belong to both. Hence we say with truth that Christ is Almighty,
Eternal, Infinite, and these attributes He has from His Divine
Nature; again, we say of Him that He suffered, died, and rose
again, which are properties manifestly that belong to His Human
nature." (Catechism of the Council of Trent)
"But when we are told that Jesus is the Son of God, we are
not to understand anything earthly or mortal in His birth; but are
firmly to believe and piously to adore that birth by which, from
all eternity, the Father begot the Son, a mystery which reason
cannot fully conceive or comprehend, and at the contemplation of
which, overwhelmed, as it were, with admiration, we should exclaim
with the Prophet: Who shall declare his generation?"
(Catechism of the Council of Trent)
"[Our
Lord's] every act, even from His first coming, is marked by an
accompanying patience. From the first moment when He descended
from the sublimity of heaven to earthy things, the Son of God did
not disdain to put on the flesh of man; nor, although not Himself
a sinner, to bear the sins of others. He put aside His immortality
for a time, and allowed Himself to become mortal, so that, although
innocent, He might be slain for the salvation of the guilty."
(St. Cyprian of Carthage, 256 A.D.)
"If
anyone says that one is the Word of God who performed miracles,
and another the Christ who suffered, or says that God the Word was
with Christ when he was born of a woman, or was with him as one in
another, but not that the same is our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word
of God, incarnate and made man, and that both the miracles and the
sufferings which He voluntarily endured in the flesh were of the
same person, let such a one be anathema." (Council of
Constantinople II, 553 A.D.)
"The
design of our God and Savior in regard to mankind is a calling
back from the fall and a return to familiar friendship with God
from the alienation brought about by disobedience. This is the
reason for Christ's sojourning in the flesh, for the models of His
Gospel actions, the suffering, the cross, the tomb, the
resurrection: that man, who is being saved through his imitation
of Christ, might receive that old adoption as son." (St.
Basil the Great, Doctor of the Church, c. 375 A.D.)
"It would be unacceptable
and inadmissible
that, besides that human nature taken by the Word, could be placed
any dignity which should have a right to any kind of superiority
over Christ as man. It would be inadmissible that a prince or a
legislative assembly could pronounce itself legally or in effect
superior to Him whom God has clothed with the transcendent
prerogative of the hypostatic union. This is the first and
essential foundation of the kingly power attributed to Jesus
Christ." (Fahey)
"And
let them be convinced that nowhere, even on earth, can they find
full happiness save with Him who, being rich, became poor for our
sakes that through His poverty we might become rich, Who was poor
and in labors from His youth, Who invited to Himself all that
labor and are heavily burdened that He might refresh them fully in
the love of His heart, and Who, lastly, without any respect for
persons will require more of them to whom more has been given and
'will render to everyone according to his conduct.'" (Pope
Pius XI, "Quadragesimo Anno", 1931 A.D.)
"And
hence, although a man ought to account Christ's gifts as given to
himself, yet he ought not to consider them not to be given to
others. And thus we do not exclude that He came to wipe away the
sin of the whole nature rather than the sin of one person. But the
sin of the nature is as perfectly healed in each one as if it were
healed in him alone. Hence, on account of the union of charity,
what is vouchsafed to all ought to be accounted his own by each
one." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
"greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"Christ
Jesus is true God as well as true man... He has the reality of each
nature equally; and this in such wise that He lacks nothing in
either, lest perhaps He might cease being God by reason of His
birth as man, or lest, on the other hand, He might not be a man
while remaining God. This, therefore, is the true faith which
brings blessedness to men: to acknowledge Him as God and man, to
confess Him as the Word and as flesh, neither forgetting His
divinity in view of His humanity, nor ignoring His flesh because
He is the Word." (St. Hilary of Poitiers, Doctor of the
Church, c. 356 A.D.)
"If
anyone says that Christ is to be worshipped in his two natures,
and by that wishes to introduce two adorations, a separate one for
God the Word and another for the man; or if anyone, so as to
remove the human flesh or to mix up the divinity and the humanity,
monstrously invents one nature or substance brought together from
the two, and so worships Christ, but not by a single adoration God
the Word in human flesh along with his human flesh, as has been
the tradition of the Church from the beginning: let him be
anathema." (Second Council of Constantinople)
"The
disciples having recounted the opinion of the common people, He
then by a second question invites them to higher thoughts
concerning Him; and therefore it follows, Jesus said to them, Whom
say you that I am? You who are with Me always, and have seen
greater miracles than the multitudes, ought not to agree in the
opinion of the multitudes. For this reason He did not put this
question to them at the commencement of His preaching, but after
He had done many signs; then also He spoke many things to them
concerning His Deity. (Mt. 16)" (St. John Chrysostom, Doctor
of the Church)
"Our
Lord Himself had said that as Moses lifted up the brazen serpent
in the desert, so He would be lifted up. The meaning was this:
when the Israelites were bitten by serpents, God ordered that they
make a brazen serpent and hang it on a cross. All who looked at it
were cured of the serpent's poison. The brazen serpent had the
appearance of the serpent that stung and yet was without venom.
Christ is the brazen serpent inasmuch as He is in the likeness and
the form of man and yet without the venom of sin. All who look
upon Him will be healed of that sin that came from the serpent,
who is the Devil." (Archbishop Fulton Sheen)
"Whence
it came to pass, that the heavenly Father, the father of mercies
and the God of all comfort, when that blessed fullness of the time
was come, sent unto men, Jesus Christ, His own Son - who had been,
both before the Law, and during the time of the Law, to many of
the holy fathers announced and promised - that He might both
redeem the Jews who were under the Law, and that the Gentiles, who
followed not after justice, might attain to justice, and that all
men might receive the adoption of sons. Him God hath proposed as a
propitiator, through faith in his blood, for our sins, and not for
our sins only, but also for those of the whole world."
(Council of Trent)
"At
length the Holy Family enter Jerusalem. The name of this holy City
signifies 'Vision of Peace'; and Jesus comes to bring her Peace.
Let us consider the names of the three places in which our
Redeemer began, continued, and ended his life on earth. He is
conceived at Nazareth, which signifies a Flower; and Jesus is, as
he tells us in the Canticle, the Flower of the field and the Lily
of the valley (Cant. ii I), by whose fragrance we are refreshed.
He is born at Bethlehem, the 'House of Bread', for he is the
nourishment of our souls. He dies on the Cross in Jerusalem ('Vision
of Peace'), and,
by his Blood, he restores peace between heaven and earth, peace
between men, peace within our own souls" (Dom Gueranger)
"But
some one will ask, How is Christ related to David, since Mary
sprang from the blood of Aaron, the angel having declared
Elisabeth to be her kinswoman? But this was brought about by the
Divine counsel, to the end that the royal race might be united to
the priestly stock; that Christ, Who is both King and Priest,
might be descended from both according to the flesh. For it is
written, that Aaron, the first High Priest according to the law,
took from the tribe of Judah for his wife Elisabeth, the daughter
of Aminadab. And observe the most holy administration of the
Spirit, in ordering that the wife of Zacharias should be called
Elisabeth, so bringing us back to that Elisabeth whom Aaron
married." (St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Doctor of the Church)
"We
have the narratives of the Evangelists, by which we know that
Christ was both born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was seized by the
Jews, scourged, crucified, put to death, and buried in a tomb, all
which cannot be supposed to have taken place without a body, and
not even the maddest will say that these things are to be
understood figuratively, when they are told by men who wrote what
they remembered to have happened. These then are witnesses that He
had a body, as those affections which cannot be without mind prove
Him to have had a mind, and which we read in the accounts of the
same Evangelists, that Jesus wondered, was angry, was
sorrowful." (St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church)
"Certainly,
no one was better fitted to make satisfaction to Almighty God for
all the sins of men than was Christ. Therefore, He desired to be
immolated upon the cross 'as a propitiation for our sins, not for
ours only but also for those of the whole world' and likewise He
daily offers Himself upon our altars for our redemption, that we
may be rescued from eternal damnation and admitted into the
company of the elect. This He does, not for us only who are in
this mortal life, but also 'for all who rest in Christ, who have
gone before us with the sign of faith and repose in the sleep of
peace;' for whether we live, or whether we die 'still we are not
separated from the one and only Christ.'" (Pope Pius XII,
"Mediator Dei", 1947 A.D.)
"But
although Christ died for all [2 Cor. 5:15], yet not all receive
the benefit of His death, but those only to whom the merit of His
passion is communicated. For, as indeed men would not be born
unjust, if they were not born through propagation of the seed of
Adam, since by that propagation they contract through him, in
conception, injustice as their own, so unless they were born again
in Christ, they never would be justified, since in that new birth
through the merit of His passion, the grace, whereby they are made
just, is bestowed upon them. For this benefit the Apostle exhorts
us always to 'give thanks to the Father who has made us worthy to
be partakers of the lot of the saints in light' [Col. 1:12], 'and
has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us
into the kingdom of the Son of his love, in whom we have
redemption and remission of sins [Col. 1:13 ff.]." (Council
of Trent, 1547 A.D.)
"He
Himself declared that the reason of His advent among men was this,
that He might bring them the assured fullness of a more than
merely human life. 'I am come that they may have life, and may
have it more abundantly' (St. John x., 10). Everyone is aware that
no sooner had 'the goodness and kindness of God our Savior
appeared' (Tit. iii., 4), than there at once burst forth a certain
creative force, which issued in a new order of things and pulsed
through all the veins of society, civil and domestic. Hence arose
new relations between man and man; new rights and new duties,
public and private; henceforth a new direction was given to
government, to education, to the arts; and most important of all,
man's thoughts and energies were turned towards religious truth
and the pursuit of holiness. Thus was life communicated to man, a
life truly heavenly and divine." (Pope Leo XIII, "Mirae
Caritatis", 1902 A.D.)
"And
finally the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, incarnate by
the whole Trinity in common, conceived of Mary ever Virgin, with
the Holy Spirit cooperating, made true man, formed of a rational
soul and human flesh, one Person in two natures, clearly pointed
out the way of life. And although He according to divinity is
immortal and impassible, the very same according to humanity was
made passible and mortal, who, for the salvation of the human
race, having suffered on the wood of the Cross and died, descended
into hell, arose from the dead and ascended into heaven. But He
descended in soul, and He arose in the flesh, and He ascended
equally in both, to come at the end of time, to judge the living
and the dead, and to render to each according to his works, to the
wicked as well as to the elect, all of whom will rise with their
bodies which they now bear, that they may receive according to
their works, whether these works have been good or evil, the
latter everlasting punishment with the devil, and the former
everlasting glory with Christ." (Lateran Council IV, 1215
A.D.)
"The
Word perceived that the corruption of men could be undone in no
other way whatever, but only by death. Neither could such a one as
the Word suffer death, being immortal and Son of the Father. For
this reason, then, He takes to Himself flesh capable of dying, so
that this flesh, by partaking of the Word who is superior to all
might be worthy to suffer death in place of all, and might,
because of the Word dwelling in it, remain incorruptible, so that
from then on corruption might be stayed from everyone, by the
grace of the resurrection. Then, by offering to death the body
which He Himself had taken, as a sacrifice and offering free of
every stain, He forthwith removed death from all His fellowmen, by
that sentencing of a substitute. Since He, the Word of God, is
over all, by offering His own temple and bodily component for the
life of all, He surely satisfied the debt by His death. And thus,
too, the incorruptible Son of God, being joined with all by the
similarity of flesh, He surely clothed all in incorruptibility
through the promise of resurrection." (St. Athanasius, Doctor
of the Church, c. 318
A.D.)
"We
believe that the same Son of God, the Word of God, is eternally
born from the Father, consubstantial, co-omnipotent, and equal
through all things to the Father in divinity, temporally born from
the Holy Spirit and Mary ever Virgin with a rational soul; having
two births, one eternal birth from the Father, the other temporal
from the mother; true God and true man, proper and perfect in each
nature, not adopted nor phantastic, but the one and only Son of
God, in two and from two natures, that is divine and human, in the
singleness of one person impassible and immortal in divinity, but
in humanity for us and for our salvation having suffered in the
true passion of the flesh, died, and was buried, descended to
hell, and on the third day arose again from the dead in the true
resurrection of the flesh, on the fortieth day after the
resurrection with the flesh in which He arose and with His soul
ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father,
whence He will come to judge the living and the dead, and will
return to each one according to his works whether they were good
or evil."
(Council of Lyons II, Profession of Faith of Michael Palaeologus, 1274 A.D.)
"Adhering
firmly to the foundation of the Catholic Faith, other than which,
as the Apostle testifies, no one can lay, we openly profess with
Holy Mother Church that the only begotten Son of God, subsisting
eternally together with the Father in everything in which God the
Father exists, assumed in time in the womb of a virgin the parts
of our nature united together, from which he himself true God
became true man: namely the human, passible body and the
intellectual or rational soul truly of itself and essentially
informing the body. And that in this assumed nature the Word of
God willed for the salvation of all not only to be nailed to the
cross and to die on it, but also, having already breathed forth
his spirit, permitted his side to be pierced by a lance, so that
from the outflowing water and blood there might be formed the one,
immaculate and holy virginal mother church, the bride of Christ,
as from the side of the first man in his sleep Eve was fashioned
as his wife, in this way, to the determinate figure of the first
and old Adam, who according to the Apostle is a type of the one
who was to come, the truth might correspond in our last Adam, that
is to say in Christ." (Council of Vienne)
"In
Him resided the absolute fullness of grace, in the greatest and
most efficacious manner possible; in Him were all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge, graces gratis datae, virtues, and all other
gifts foretold in the prophecies of Isaias (Is. iv., I; xi., 23),
and also signified in that miraculous dove which appeared at the
Jordan, when Christ, by His baptism, consecrated its waters for a
new sacrament. On this the words of St. Augustine may
appropriately be quoted: 'It would be absurd to say that Christ
received the Holy Ghost when He was already thirty years of age,
for He came to His baptism without sin, and therefore not without
the Holy Ghost. At this time, then (that is, at His baptism), He
was pleased to prefigure His Church, in which those especially who
are baptized receive the Holy Ghost' (De. Trin. 1., xv., c. 26).
Therefore, by the conspicuous apparition of the Holy Ghost over
Christ and by His invisible power in His soul, the twofold mission
of the Spirit is foreshadowed, namely, His outward and visible
mission in the Church, and His secret indwelling in the souls of
the just." (Pope Leo XIII, "Divinum Illud Munus",
1897 A.D.)
"[The
Church] believes, professes, and proclaims that one person of the
Trinity, true God, Son of God born from the Father, consubstantial
and coeternal with the Father, in the plenitude of time which the
inscrutable depth of divine counsel has disposed for the salvation
of the human race, assumed true and complete human nature from the
immaculate womb of the Virgin Mary, and joined with itself in the
unity of person, with such unity that whatever is of God there, is
not separated from man, and whatever is of man, is not divided
from the Godhead; He is one and the same undivided, both natures,
God and man, remaining in their own peculiar properties, God and
man, Son of God and Son of man, equal to the Father according to
divinity, less than the Father according to humanity, immortal and
eternal from the nature of divinity, passible and temporal from
the condition of assumed humanity. It firmly believes, professes,
and proclaims that the Son of God in the assumed humanity was
truly born of the Virgin, truly suffered, truly died and was
buried, truly rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, and
sits at the right hand of the Father, and will come at the end of
time to judge the living and the dead." (Pope Eugenius IV,
"Cantata Domino", 1441/2 A.D.)
"Now
Christ fulfilled the precepts of the Old Law both in His works and
in His doctrine. In His works, because He was willing to be
circumcised and to fulfill the other legal observances, which were
binding for the time being; according to Galatians 4:4: 'Made
under the Law.' In His doctrine He fulfilled the precepts of the
Law in three ways. First, by explaining the true sense of the Law.
This is clear in the case of murder and adultery, the prohibition
of which the Scribes and Pharisees thought to refer only to the
exterior act: wherefore Our Lord fulfilled the Law by showing that
the prohibition extended also to the interior acts of sins.
Secondly, Our Lord fulfilled the precepts of the Law by
prescribing the safest way of complying with the statutes of the
Old Law. Thus the Old Law forbade perjury: and this is more safely
avoided, by abstaining altogether from swearing, save in cases of
urgency. Thirdly, Our Lord fulfilled the precepts of the Law, by
adding some counsels of perfection: this is clearly seen in [the
gospels] where Our Lord said to the man who affirmed that he had
kept all the precepts of the Old Law: 'One thing is wanting to
thee: If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell whatsoever thou hast,'
etc." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and
"greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"Therefore,
following the holy fathers, we all teach that with one accord we
confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the same
perfect in human nature, truly God and the same with a rational
soul and a body truly man, consubstantial with the Father
according to divinity, and consubstantial with us according to
human nature, like unto us in all things except sin, [cf. Heb.
4:15]; indeed born of the Father before the ages according to
divine nature, but in the last days the same born of the virgin
Mary, Mother of God according to human nature; for us and for our
deliverance, one and the same Christ only begotten Son, our Lord,
acknowledged in two natures, without mingling, without change,
indivisibly, undividedly, the distinction of the natures nowhere
removed on account of the union but rather the peculiarity of each
nature being kept, and uniting in one person and substance, not
divided or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son
only begotten God, Word, Lord Jesus Christ, just as from the
beginning the prophets taught about Him and the Lord Jesus Himself
taught us, and the creed of our fathers has handed down to us.
Therefore, since these have been arranged by us with all possible
care and diligence, the holy and ecumenical synod has declared
that no one is allowed to profess or in any case to write up or to
compose or to devise or to teach others a different faith."
(Council of Chalcedon, 451 A.D.)
"But
how we know and speak regarding the Virgin Mother of God, and
about the manner of the incarnation of the only-begotten Son of
God, necessary not because of increase but for satisfaction, we
have taken and possess from above, from the divine Scriptures as
well as from the tradition of the holy fathers, and we speak
briefly, adding nothing at all to the faith of the holy Fathers,
which was set forth at Nicea. For, as we have already said, this
suffices for all understanding of piety and for all renunciation
of heretical perfidy. But we speak not presuming the unlawful, but
by confession of special weakness excluding those who wish to rise
up against what we regard as beyond man. We confess our Lord Jesus
Christ, the only begotten son of God, perfect God and perfect man,
of a rational soul and of a body, born of the Father before the
ages according to the Godhead, but in the last days the same on
account of us and on account of our salvation according to the
incarnation from the Virgin Mary, consubstantial with the Father,
the same according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us
according to the incarnation. For the unity of the two natures was
made; wherefore, we confess one Christ, one son, one Lord.
According to this unmingled unity we confess the holy Virgin
Mother of God, because the Word of God was made flesh and was made
man, and by the conception united to Himself a temple assumed from
her." (Formula of Union, Approved by Pope St. Sixtus III,
433 A.D.)
"It
is certain that Christ came into this world not only to take away
that sin which is handed on originally to posterity, but also in
order to take away all sins subsequently added to it; not that all
are taken away (and this is from men's fault, inasmuch as they do
not adhere to Christ, according to John 3:19: 'The light is come
into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light'),
but because He offered what was sufficient for blotting out all
sins. Hence it is written (Romans 5:15-16): 'But not as the
offense, so also the gift ... For judgment indeed was by one unto
condemnation, but grace is of many offenses unto justification.'
Moreover, the more grievous the sin, the more particularly did
Christ come to blot it out. But greater is said in two ways: in
one way intensively, as a more intense whiteness is said to be
greater, and in this way actual sin is greater than original sin;
for it has more of the nature of voluntary... In another way a thing is said to be greater
extensively, as whiteness on a greater superficies is said to be
greater; and in this way original sin, whereby the whole human
race is infected, is greater than any actual sin, which is proper
to one person. And in this respect Christ came principally to take
away original sin, inasmuch as 'the good of the race is a more
Divine thing than the good of an individual,' as is said Ethica
Nicomachea i,2." (St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church
and "greatest theologian in the history of the Church")
"The
body of Christ was similar to ours, with the exception of sin. It
is not only but also sanctifying, capable of suffering, exposed to
death, and able to stand in the stead of all of us. Christ offered
his body, and us at the same time, to satisfy divine justice. He
handed himself - and us at the same time to all the torments which
our crimes merited. He was condemned to the sorrows of death and
suffered the curse given to sinners by the law: death under the
harshest tortures. He satisfied the law... The Lord Jesus rose from the
grave with the same flesh but it was stripped of its mortality and
adorned with glory of eternity. In order that they may be
justified, it is necessary for sinners to die with Christ, who
died in their place and in their name. Then they must enter the
grave with Christ, in order to leave behind the flesh defiled by
sin. They must hand over the old man to the wrath of God and to
the death of the sinner, so that by baptism a new man might return
to life in us and live again with Christ in immortality and
eternal glory. Therefore all Christians should think about that
eternal life and not this brief one. They should remove from their
hearts the desire for pleasures and riches which are the
instruments of pleasure. Cast off pride, in which all harmful
desires are contained. The world is passing away, as well as what
it craves for; however, he who keeps the will of God will endure
forever." (Pope Clement XIII, "A Quo Die", 1758
A.D.)
"Consequently,
the Son of God entered into these lowly conditions of the world,
after descending from His celestial throne, and though He did not
withdraw from the glory of the Father, He was generated in a new
order and in a new nativity. In a new order, because invisible in
His own, He was made visible in ours; incomprehensible [in His
own], He wished to be comprehended; permanent before times, He
began to be in time; the Lord of the universe assumed the form of
a slave, concealing the immensity of His majesty; the impassible
God did not disdain to be a passible man and the immortal [did not
disdain] to be subject to the laws of death. Moreover, He was
generated in a new nativity, because inviolate virginity [that]
did not know concupiscence furnished the material of His body... [B]ecause
His birth was miraculous, nature was not for that reason different
from ours. For He who is true God, is likewise true man, and there
is no falsehood in this unity, as long as there are alternately
the lowliness of man and the exaltedness of the Divinity. For,
just as God is not changed by His compassion, so man is not
destroyed by His dignity. For each nature does what is proper to
it with the mutual participation of the other; the Word clearly
effecting what belongs to the Word, and the flesh performing what
belongs to the flesh. One of these gleams with miracles; the other
sinks under injuries. And just as the Word does not withdraw from
the equality of the paternal glory, so His body does not abandon
the nature of our race." (Pope St. Leo the Great, Doctor of
the Church, 449 A.D.)
"The
human race, exiled and disinherited, had for ages been daily
hurrying into ruin, involved in the terrible and numberless ills
brought about by the sin of our first parents, nor was there any
human hope of salvation, when Christ Our Lord came down as the
Savior from Heaven. At the very beginning of the world, God had
promised Him as the conqueror of 'the Serpent,' hence, succeeding
ages had eagerly looked forward to His coming. The Prophets had
long and clearly declared that all hope was in Him. The varying
fortunes, the achievements, customs, laws, ceremonies and
sacrifices of the Chosen People had distinctly and lucidly
foreshadowed the truth, that the salvation of mankind was to be
accomplished in Him who should be the Priest, Victim, Liberator,
Prince of Peace, Teacher of all Nations, Founder of an Eternal
Kingdom. By all these titles, images and prophecies, differing in
kind though like in meaning, He alone was designated who 'for His
exceeding charity wherewith He loved us,' gave Himself up for our
salvation. And so, when the fullness of time came in God's Divine
Providence, the only-begotten Son of God became man, and in behalf
of mankind made most abundant satisfaction in His Blood to the
outraged majesty of His Father and by this infinite price He
redeemed man for His own... Thus all men, though already subject
to His Kingly power, inasmuch as He is the Creator and Preserver
of all, were over and above made His property by a true and real
purchase. 'You are not your own: for you are bought with a great
price' (2 Corinthians vi, 19-20). Hence in Christ all things are
made new." (Pope Leo XIII, "Tametsi Futura
Prospicientibus", 1900 A.D.)
"In
this form of assumed human nature we believe according to the
truth of the Gospels that He was conceived without sin, born
without sin, and died without sin, who alone for us became sin [2
Cor. 5:21], that is, a sacrifice for our sin. And yet He endured
His passion without detriment to His divinity, for our sins, and
condemned to death and to the cross, He accepted the true death of
the body; also on the third day, restored by His own power, He
arose from the grave. In this example, therefore, of our Head we
confess is accomplished...the true resurrection of the body of all
the dead. Neither do we believe that we shall rise in an ethereal
or any other body (as some madly say) but in that in which we live
and exist and move. When this example of His holy resurrection was
finished, our same Lord and Savior returned by ascending to His
paternal home, which in His divinity He had never left. There
sitting at the right hand of the Father, He awaits the end of time
to be the judge of all the living and the dead. Thence with the
holy angels and men He will come to judge, and to render to
everyone the due of his own reward, according as each one living
in the body has done good or evil [2 Cor. 5:10]. We believe that
the holy Catholic Church, purchased by the price of His blood,
will reign with Him for eternity. Established in her bosom we
believe in and confess one baptism for the remission of all sins.
In this faith we both truly believe in the resurrection of the
dead and we await the joys of the future life. We must pray and
beg for this only, that when, the judgment finished and over, the
Son will hand over the kingdom to God the Father [1 Cor. 15:24],
that He may render us participators of His kingdom, so that
through this faith in which we cling to Him, we may reign with Him
without end." (Council of Toledo XI, 675 A.D.)
"It
was fitting for Christ to lead a life of poverty in this world.
First, because this was in keeping with the duty of preaching, for
which purpose He says that He came (Mk 1:38): 'Let us go into the
neighboring towns and cities, that I may preach there also: for to
this purpose am I come.' Now in order that the preachers of God's
word may be able to give all their time to preaching, they must be
wholly free from care of worldly matters: which is impossible for
those who are possessed of wealth. Wherefore the Lord Himself,
when sending the apostles to preach, said to them (Matthew 10:9):
'Do not possess gold nor silver.' And the apostles (Acts 6:2) say:
'It is not reasonable that we should leave the word of God and
serve tables.' Secondly, because just as He took upon Himself the
death of the body in order to bestow spiritual life on us, so did
He bear bodily poverty, in order to enrich us spiritually,
according to 2 Corinthians 8:9: 'You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ: that ... He became poor for our sakes that through
His poverty we might be rich.' Thirdly, lest if He were rich His
preaching might be ascribed to cupidity. Wherefore Jerome says on
Matthew 10:9, that if the disciples had been possessed of wealth,
'they had seemed to preach for gain, not for the salvation of
mankind.' And the same reason applies to Christ. Fourthly, that
the more lowly He seemed by reason of His poverty, the greater
might the power of His Godhead be shown to be. Hence in a sermon
of the Council of Ephesus (Part 3, chapter 9) we read: 'He chose
all that was poor and despicable, all that was of small account
and hidden from the majority, that we might recognize His Godhead
to have transformed the terrestrial sphere. For this reason did He
choose a poor maid for His Mother, a poorer birthplace; for this
reason did He live in want. Learn this from the manger.'"
(St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the Church and "greatest
theologian in the history of the Church")
Also See: Incarnation
& Nativity of Christ / Christmas | Name
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Passion / The Cross | Sin
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