Category: Dogma

Our Lord Jesus Christ is not only the Eternal Redeemer of humanity (Romans 3:21-24), who for our salvation came down from heaven and by the and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,  but is also the King of Creation, by the very fact that through Him that all creation was made (John 1:1-5), how can he not then be king of his own creation?

The coming of Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah; is announced to humanity since the beginning of time (Genesis 3:15), His arrival and kingship prophesied in several passages of the old testament, both in the first days of the formation of the kingdom of Israel (Psalm 22:27-29), during the exile of God’s chosen people in Babylon (Daniel 7:13-14) as king of an eternal kingdom. The prophet Isaiah not only prophesied the virginal birth of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 7:14) but also his royal lineage (Isaiah 9:6).

The royal lineage of Jesus was also recognized during his stay among us, from his birth announced by the angels (Luke 2:11), by his own disciples (John 12:14-15 ref Zechariah 9:9), by the Jewish people themselves (John 12:12-13), by those who were in a position of power (John 18:37), by the powerless (Luke 18:35-38), as well as by those sentenced to death (Luke 23:40-42).

Jesus Christ the King is present at the beginning of the Church (1 Timothy 6:13-15) and is also present at the end of time (Revelations 17:14), as King and triumphant winner.

Let us recognize in Jesus Christ the King of Kings, to whom God gave the highest honor and the most excellent of all names, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

Long Live Christ the King! Long Live Christ the King! Long Live Christ the King!

Forty days after Resurrection Sunday, the Catholic Church celebrates the day of the Ascension of the Lord, when our Lord Jesus Christ returns to the Kingdom of Heaven. This event marks the transition between the glory of the risen Christ and that of the exalted Christ at the right hand of the Father. It also opens the possibility for humanity to enter the Kingdom of God as Jesus announced so many times.

The Ascension of Christ is also the starting point to begin to bear witness to the exalted Christ who returned to the Father to sit at His right. The glorified Lord continues to be present in the world through his action in those who believe in his Word and allow the Spirit to act within them. Jesus’ mandate is clear and current: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15).

This is how through the events of the Old Testament the nature of God the Father is revealed to humanity in a certain way, it is during the walk of our Lord Jesus Christ on Earth that the nature of God the Son is revealed to us, being His Ascension to the heavens necessary for the nature of God the Holy Spirit to be revealed later on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4).

Having the Way, the Truth, and the Life been revealed to us (John 14:6), now we are to seek to be holy as our Father who is in Heaven is holy (Matthew 5:47-48).

Let us cultivate the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit to reach the Kingdom of Heaven that has been opened for us thanks to the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that all who believe in Him do not wander in darkness, but live in the Eternal Glory of God.

Jesus Christ came into this world to offer himself as the perfect sacrifice, shedding his blood on the cross for the salvation of all sinners, living and dead (CCC 632), as part of God the Father’s salvific plan for us (CCC 601).

We can observe this salvific plan from the beginning of time in the fall of humanity when God warns the serpent of the enmity between his offspring and the offspring of Eve (Genesis 3:14-15).

Just like this, we have many other references in the old testament prefiguring Jesus.

Isaac carries the wood to build the altar, when on the way he asks his father Abraham where the lamb is for the sacrifice; he continues to accompany and obey his father when he had already realized that it was himself, who would be the sacrifice to God (Genesis 22:6-9). So also Jesus Christ, carries the wooden cross for his own sacrifice (John 19:17), obeying the will of his heavenly Father (Mark 14:36).

When the Israelite people in the exodus from Egypt begin to speak against God, they are attacked by snakes in the desert, God tells Moses to raise a bronze serpent on a banner and whoever has been bitten by a snake, should turn to see said banner and would not die (Numbers 21:4-9), so also Jesus was raised on the cross, those who fix their eyes on Jesus Christ and believe in Him, will not suffer eternal death (John 3:14)

Another reference in the history of salvation is the story of Jonah, who was inside a big fish for three days (Jonah 1:17), then, coming out of it, he went to Nineveh to do the will of God. Also Jesus Christ was in darkness and on the third day he came out of it through his resurrection (Luke 24:6-7) to redeem the world following God’s salvific plan.

We also have one of the greatest references in the salvation of the Israelite people in the first Passover, where they were saved from death by having the mark of the blood of the spotless lamb on their doors (Exodus 2:13) and consuming their meat accompanied by the unleavened bread (Exodus 2:8), so is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who by his blood shed on the cross opened the door to the Kingdom of Heaven for us, who frees us from the death of sin through his body and blood that we consume in the paschal banquet that is offered to us in each mass.

Let us faithfully attend Mass, recognizing God’s salvific plan announced from the beginning of time and through the scriptures in our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we receive every time we enter in communion with Jesus through the Holy Eucharist.

While Jesus was in his ministry, in the region of Caesarea Philippi, after having fed more than four thousand men, he asked his disciples the following question, “Who do people say that the Son of man is?” (Matthew 16:13), and they reply “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” (Matthew 16:14), then he asks them the same question: “And you, who do you say I am?”, to which Simon Peter, answers him: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:15-16), Jesus blesses Simon saying: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven” (Matthew 16:17), to then establish on him the foundations of the Church, giving him power over earthly things (Matthew 16:18-19).

It is important to note the point of view of the people at that time, according to the testimony of the apostles, the people still resisted recognizing Jesus as the Messiah despite the miracles he was already performing among them, but compared Him to something they already knew, with John the Baptist or as one of the prophets, since they had a preconception of how the Messiah was to arrive. Being oppressed by dominance Roman, they expected a liberator of a military nature, a strongman; without realizing that the greatest oppressor of humanity is sin. It is at that moment that God reveals to Simon  Peter through the Holy Spirit the reality of who his teacher was, the promised Messiah, Son of the Living God. It is after this episode that Jesus will reveal to three of his disciples: Peter, James and John, his divine nature (Matthew 17:1-2).

Do we recognize Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? (John 1:29) Have we paid attention when he said that whoever does not eat of his body and drink of his blood will not partake of eternal life? (John 6:53-55)

What would our response be, if walking the path of our life, we met Jesus Christ, and looking into our eyes he asked us: and you, who do you say that I am?

During the last week of Advent, the Church guides us to meditate on the mystery of the Incarnation, but what is the Incarnation itself? As the apostle Saint John says in the preface of his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…” (John 1:1,14) The incarnation means that the second Person of the Trinity, the eternal Son of God became flesh, in other words, he assumed a nature additional to the divine, a human nature.

But this miracle would not be possible without the acceptance of Mary, the human vehicle through which Jesus Christ became incarnate and dwelt among us, the one through whom we were created (John 1:3) wanted to be part of human nature and was the Holy Spirit was incarnate of a virgin as Isaiah had prophesied (Isaiah 7:14), Jesus Christ is born, God and man at the same time. Faced with the angel Gabriel’s announcement that she would be the mother of the promised Messiah, Mary humbly accepts by saying: “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:34-38)

The incarnation is also necessary for the redemption of sins, it was necessary for Jesus Christ to take human form, since it was necessary for him to be born under the law (Galatians 4:4-5), to fulfill the law in our favor (Matthew 5:17). It was also necessary that our Savior shed his blood for the forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22), since without a body of flesh and blood there can be no blood sacrifice. Without the Incarnation, our Lord Jesus Christ could not really die, and the cross would have no meaning.

Let us participate in the great banquet that our Lord Jesus Christ has prepared for us, since it is through his sacrifice of his flesh and blood that we were redeemed from sin, flesh and blood that are present in the consecrated bread and wine.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is not only the Eternal Redeemer of humanity (Romans 3:21-24), who for our salvation came down from heaven and by the and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,  but is also the King of Creation, by the very fact that through Him that all creation was made (John 1:1-5), how can he not then be king of his own creation?

The coming of Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah; is announced to humanity since the beginning of time (Genesis 3:15), His arrival and kingship prophesied in several passages of the old testament, both in the first days of the formation of the kingdom of Israel (Psalm 22:27-29), during the exile of God’s chosen people in Babylon (Daniel 7:13-14) as king of an eternal kingdom. The prophet Isaiah not only prophesied the virginal birth of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 7:14) but also his royal lineage (Isaiah 9:6).

The royal lineage of Jesus was also recognized during his stay among us, from his birth announced by the angels (Luke 2:11), by his own disciples (John 12:14-15 ref Zechariah 9:9), by the Jewish people themselves (John 12:12-13), by those who were in a position of power (John 18:37), by the powerless (Luke 18:35-38), as well as by those sentenced to death (Luke 23:40-42).

Jesus Christ the King is present at the beginning of the Church (1 Timothy 6:13-15) and is also present at the end of time (Revelations 17:14), as King and triumphant winner.

Let us pray with faith and conviction “My Lord and my God” when the priest repeats the words of our Lord in the consecration of the bread and wine, acknowledging in Jesus Christ the King of Kings, our Lord and our God.

Long Live Christ the King! Long Live Christ the King! Long Live Christ the King!

The Church recognizes as saints those souls who left this world and find themselves in the glory of the presence of God (CCC 954), the souls of those who, amid worldly suffering, were able to reach perfect union with Christ, according to the state and condition of each one. Those who, being men like us, were transformed more perfectly into the image of Christ (LG 50). They are the witnesses who have preceded us in the Kingdom, they participate in the living tradition of prayer, through the model of their life, through the transmission of their writings and for his current prayer. They contemplate God, praise him and do not stop caring for those who have stayed on earth. Entering “into the joy” of the Lord, they have been “charged with much more.” Their intercession is their highest service to God’s plan. we can and we must beg them to intercede for us and for the whole world (CCC 2683).

Due to the fact that they are already glorified, these souls are more intimately united with Christ, they consolidate more firmly to the whole Church in holiness. They do not cease to intercede with the Father for us, as they proffer the merits which they acquired on earth through the one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus. By their fraternal concern is our weakness greatly helped (CCC 956).

Jesus Christ made a call to holiness to all his disciples (Matthew 5:48), “Be holy as your Heavenly Father is holy.” That call is open to all of us, because God has placed us in the world to know him, serve him and love him, and thus go to heaven. Having a clean heart makes us participate in the divine nature and eternal life. With it, man enters into the glory of Christ and into the joy of the Trinitarian life (CCC 1721).

The Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount and the apostolic catechesis describe for us the paths that lead to the Kingdom of Heaven. Sustained by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we tread them, step by step, by everyday acts. By the working of the Word of Christ, we slowly bear fruit in the Church to the glory of God (CCC 1724).

Let us then purify ourselves with the grace of the Holy Spirit through the Sacraments that Christ Jesus gave us, so that we can follow the map towards holiness that He Himself left us in the beatitudes and we can enjoy, like the saints, being in the presence of God at the end of times.