A Complete Catechism of the Catholic Religion/Second Article
The Second Article.
'And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.'
1. What does this Second Article of the Creed teach us?
It teaches us that the Redeemer whom God promised and sent to us is the only Son of God, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
2. What does the name 'Jesus' signify?
The name Jesus signifies Saviour or Redeemer.
'Thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins' (Matt. i. 21)
3. What does the word 'Christ' signify?
The word Christ — in Hebrew Messias—signifies Anointed.
4. Why is Jesus called the Anointed?
Because in the Old Law the prophets, high-priests, and kings were anointed with oil, and Jesus is our greatest Prophet (Acts iii. 22), Priest (Hebr. iv. 14), and King (John xviii. 37).
'Jesus of Nazareth; how God anointed Him with the Holy Ghost, and with power' (Acts x, 38). The anointing of Jesus is the plenitude of the Divinity that dwells in Him.
5. Why is Jesus called our Prophet, Priest, and King?
Jesus is called, and is, 1. Our Prophet, because He revealed the mysteries of God to us, and taught us all that we are to believe, to hope, and to do in order to be saved; 2. Our Priest, because He offered Himself for us on the Cross, and offers himself daily on the altar, and is also our mediator and intercessor for ever in Heaven; and 3. Our King, because He established a spiritual kingdom (the Church) of which He is, and will be through all eternity, the Head.
6. Why is Jesus Christ called the "only Son of God"?
Because Jesus Christ, as the Second Person of the Most Blessed Trinity, is the only true and real Son of God—i.e., Son of God from eternity, of one nature and substance with God the Father.
'To which of the Angels hath He said at any time: Thou art my Son, to-day [i.e., at present, from eternity] have I begotten thee' (Hebr. i. 5). The Catholic Church has, in the Ecumenical Council of Nice, expressed this fundamental doctrine of the Christian Religion, 'respecting the one nature and substance of Jesus Christ with God the Father,' in the following terms: 'I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, and born of the Father before all ages; God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God; begotten, not made; consubstantial with the Father, by whom all things were made.'
7. Are we not, then, also children of God?
Yes, we are children of God, but not by nature and from all eternity; we are only children adopted by grace.
'As many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God' (John i. 12).
8. Why is Jesus Christ called "Our Lord"?
Jesus Christ is called, and is, our Lord, 1. As God, because, being one with the Father, He is, like Him, Lord and Creator of Heaven and earth; and 2. As Man, because, in the human nature. He has redeemed us, and therefore bought us, with His Blood, as His property;1 and because, in the same nature. He will be one day our Judge,2 and our Head and King through all eternity.3
1 'For you are bought with a great price '(1 Cor. vi. 20). 2 'It is He who was appointed by God, to be judge of the living and of the dead' (Acts x. 42). 3 And He [God] hath subjected all things under His feet, and hath made Him Head over all this Church' (Eph. i. 22).
Application. Constantly cherish the most ardent love and devotion to Jesus, 'in whose name every knee should bow, of those that are in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth' (Philip, ii. 10). Often invoke, with the greatest veneration and confidence, this Holy Name, especially in times of temptation. Take a delight in using this beautiful form of salutation: 'Praised be Jesus Christ for evermore. Amen.' (Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus.)
This mode of saluting one another is quite common in Germany and Switzerland. An indulgence of one hundred days has been granted by Sixtus V. in 1587, and by Benedict XIII. in 1728, to those who salute each other, the one saying, 'Praised be Jesus Christ, ' and the other answering, ' Amen, ' or ' For evermore, Amen. ' To those who have generally used this form of salutation during their life a Plenary Indulgence is granted at the hour of death. The same indulgences are imparted to those who teach others this holy practice.
§ 1. Jesus Christ the Promised Messias.
9. How do we know that Jesus Christ is the 'Messias' or 'Redeemer' promised by God?
We know it because in Him has been fulfilled all that the prophets have foretold of the Redeemer, as may be seen in the life and sufferings of Christ. (On the prophets see Short Hist, of Revealed Rel., 17.)
10. What have the prophets foretold of the Messias?
1. The time of His coming, the circumstances of His birth, of His life. Passion, and death; 2. His Resurrection and Ascension, and the sending down of the Holy Ghost; 3. The destruction of Jerusalem, which happened after His death; the rejection of the Jews, and the conversion of the Gentiles; and 4. The founding, spreading, and duration of His Church.
11. How did they indicate the time of His coming?
The Prophet Daniel (ix. 24, etc.) foretold that not quite seventy weeks of years—i.e., 490 years — should elapse from the time when it was commanded that Jerusalem should be rebuilt, until the death of Christ; 2. Jacob prophesied that at the time of the coming of the Messias the sceptre should have been taken away from Juda. Others again foretold that then the Temple of Jerusalem should still exist, and the world be in great expectation. And all this was exactly fulfilled in Jesus (Short Hist, of Revealed Rel., 8 and 18).
12. What did they prophesy of His birth?
That He should be born at Bethlehem of a Virgin, of the tribe of Juda and family of David, and should be adored by kings from distant countries (Isai. vii. 14, xi. 1, and lx. 6; Mich. v. 2; Ps. lxxi. 10).
13. What account do they give us of His life?
They give us an account of His public teaching, of His miraculous cures, of His forbearing charity and meekness, of His entering into Jerusalem upon an ass, etc. (Isai. lxi. and xxxv. 3, etc.; Zach. ix. 9).
14. What do they relate of His Passion and death?
They relate almost all, even the least circumstances; for example, that they would sell Him for thirty pieces of silver, strike Him, pull out His hair, spit in His face, give Him gall and vinegar to drink, pierce His hands and feet, and cast lots for His garment; that those who should see Him would mock Him, and wag their heads, saying: 'He hoped in the Lord, let Him deliver Him ' (Zach. xi. 12, 13; Isai. 1. 6; Ps. xxi. 7, etc., and lxviii. 22).
The prophets did indeed promise a great King, but not a king of this world, as the Jews are still expecting; otherwise they would not have described Him as 'a man of sorrows' (Isai. liii. 3, 4), nor called him the 'reproach of men, and the outcast of the people' (Ps. xxi. 7); but a King of a spiritual and supernatural kingdom of God (the Church), which was indeed to begin and spread on earth, but is to be consummated only in Heaven, and to last for ever.
15. What do they say of His Resurrection and Ascension, and of His sending down the Holy Ghost?
They say that His sepulchre shall be glorious, and that He shall not see corruption, but shall mount above the Heaven of heavens, and pour out His Spirit upon all flesh (Ps. XV. 10, and lxvii. 19, 34; Isai. xi. 10; Joel ii. 28, 29).
16. What did the prophets foretell of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the rejecting of the Jews?
1. After the Messias shall have been slain, a people with their leader shall come, and destroy Jerusalem and the Temple, and the desolation shall continue even to the consummation, and to the end; 2. The Jews, blinded, rejected, dispersed among all nations, shall have no longer a sacrifice nor a temple; however, they shall not be extirpated by God, but the remnant may be saved at the end of the world (Dan. ix. 26, 27; Ps. lxviii. 24-26 and 108; Isai. X. 21, and lix. 20).
(How this was accomplished, see Short Hist, of Revealed Rel., 31.)
17. What did they prophesy of the conversion of the Gentiles, and of the foundation, spreading, and duration of the Church?
All that we see already accomplished, or being accomplished. They prophesied, 1. That the Messias shall be the light of the Gentiles, and that all nations of the earth shall be blessed in Him (Gen. xxii. 18; Ps. lxxi.; Isai. xlii. 6, etc.); and 2. That He shall establish a new sacrifice and a new priesthood, and found a kingdom of God, that shall reach from sea to sea to the end of the earth, and shall never be destroyed, but stand for ever (Mai. i. 11; Isai. lxvi. 21; Jer. iii. 15; Zach. ix. 10; Dan. ii. 44, and vii. 14, etc.).
18. Did the prophets prophesy long before the coming of Christ?
Malachias, the last of the prophets, prophesied four hundred and fifty years before Christ.
19. Were their prophecies also known long before Christ?
Yes; they had already been written many centuries before Christ, and were preserved and read by the Jews as Divine writings; they were also translated into other languages, and spread among the pagan nations.
20. Did not also Christ and the Apostles appeal to the testimony of the prophets?
Yes; Christ and the Apostles proved to the Jews from the writings of the prophets that the Messias was come, and that He Himself — Jesus of Nazareth — was the Messias.
'Search the Scriptures,' said Jesus to the Jews, 'and the same are they that give testimony of me' (John v. 39). He convinced also the unbelieving Disciples from the prophets (Luke xxiv. 25-27, and xliv. 47). St. Peter convinced by the prophecies the three thousand and the five thousand who were baptized (Acts ii. and iii.). St. Paul protested before King Agrippa, saying: 'Being aided by the help of God, I stand unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other thing than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come to pass' (Acts xxvi. 22). The Evangelists, in their narrative, always refer to the prophets. It is also said of Apollo: 'With much vigor he convinced the Jews openly, showing by the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ'—i.e., the Promised Messias (Acts xviii. 28).
21. Do we see nothing else fulfilled in Christ but the prophecies?
We see also in Him the fulfilment of all the Figures by which the deeds and sufferings of the Messias were indicated many centuries before.
22. Which are the most remarkable Figures of the Messias?
1. His Passion and Death were prefigured by Abel, Isaac, Joseph, David, the Paschal Lamb, the Propitiatory Sacrifice, and the Brazen Serpent; 2. His Priesthood chiefly by Melchisedech; 3. His office of Prophet and Mediator by Moses; 4. His Resurrection by Jonas in the whale's belly; and 5. His Church and the Holy Sacraments by the Ark, the Red Sea, the Manna, and the Temple with its various appurtenances and sacrifices (Hebr. ix.).
Application. How happy you are to know and possess the promised Saviour of the world, for whom the holy Patriarchs sighed so long and so ardently! May He always find in your heart a dwelling agreeable to Him! Endeavor, therefore, at all times, and especially during the holy season of Advent, to prepare it well for Him.
§ 2. Jesus Christ, true God.
23. Whence do we know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and true God?
We know it, 1. From the prophecies; 2. From the testimony of His Heavenly Father; 3. From His own testimony; 4. From the teaching of the Apostles; and 5. From the doctrine of the Catholic Church.
24. What do the prophets say?
They call the promised Redeemer: 'God, God with us, the Saint of Saints, the Wonderful, the Father of the world to come' (Isai. vii. 14, and ix. 6; Dan. ix. 24). Isaias (xxxv. 4) says of Him: 'God Himself will come and will save you'; and Jeremias (xxiii. 6) says: ' This is the name that they shall call Him, The Lord, our Just One.'
25. What is the testimony of His Heavenly Father? At the Baptism of Christ in the Jordan, and at His Transfiguration on Mount Thabor, a voice from Heaven was heard, saying: 'This is my Beloved Son. in whom I am well pleased' (Matt. iii. 17, and xvii. 5).
26. What is the testimony of Christ?
Christ, 1. Testified that He is the Son of God, and true God, like His Father; 2. He confirmed His testimony by the holiness of His life, as well as by miracles and prophecies; and 3. He sealed it with His death.
' I and the Father are one. Believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father' (John x. 30, 38). 'He that seeth me, seeth the Father also' (John xiv. 9). 'All things whatsoever the Father hath, are mine' (John xvi. 15). 'What things he [the Father] doth, these the Son also doth in like manner. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and giveth life, so the Son also giveth life to whom He will; that all men may honor the Son, as they honor the Father' (John v. 19, 21, 23). 'Amen, amen I say to you, before Abraham was made, I am' (John viii. 58, etc.). When Peter said to Jesus: 'Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God' (Matt. xvi. 16); and Thomas said to Him: 'My Lord and my God '(John xx, 28), our Saviour confirmed the faith and the declaration of both the Apostles.
27. What are miracles?
Miracles are such extraordinary works as cannot be done by natural powers, and "require for their performance the Omnipotence of God.
28. Which are the principal miracles wrought by Christ?
He changed water into wine; with five loaves He filled several thousands; with one word He calmed the winds and the waves, cured diseases of all sorts, cast out devils, and raised the dead to life. When He died, all nature mourned; three days after His death, He rose again from the grave, and forty days later He ascended into Heaven in the sight of His Disciples.
The miracles of Jesus were such that all Judea must have known whether they had been really wrought or not; and thousands, nay, millions of people have given up all they possessed, even their lives, in testimony of their belief in these miracles.
29. How do these miracles prove the Divinity of Christ?
They prove, 1. That when Christ said that He is the Son of (God. He spoke the truth, since God cannot possibly confirm a lie by miracles; and 2. That Christ possessed Divine power, since of Himself He wrought miracles.
1. 'If you will not believe me [my words], believe my works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father' (John x. 38). 2. 'What things soever the Father doth, these the Son also doth in like manner .... For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and giveth life, so the Son also giveth life to whom He will' (John v. 19, 21).
30. How did Jesus confirm the doctrine of His Divinity by prophecies?
By this: that He foretold many things which God alone could know; for instance, His betrayal by Judas, and His denial by Peter; the manner of His death; His resurrection; His ascension, etc.
31. Which prophecies of Christ do we still see being accomplished?
These, for instance: 1. That the Gospel shall be preached in the whole world (Matt. xxiv. 14); 2. That the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church (Matt. xvi. 18); and 3. That of the Temple of Jerusalem there shall not be left a stone upon a stone (Mark xiii. 2).
With a view to falsify the prediction of our Lord and of the prophets, the Apostate Emperor Julian resolved, in 353, to rebuild the Temple of Jerusalem. Full of joy, the Jews came in great haste from all countries, set to work, and cleared away the rubbish of the old Temple, insomuch that not one stone was left upon another. But when they were going to commence the building, terrible flames flashed out of the ground, which partly killed the workmen, and partly put them to flight. This occurred at each fresh attempt that was made, until they gave up their undertaking. This miracle is attested by contemporary pagan as well as Christian writers.
32. How did Jesus seal the doctrine of His Divinity with His death?
When the High Priest adjured Him in the name of the living God, He solemnly confessed that He was ' the Christ, the Son of God, and that they shall see Him sitting on the right hand of the power of God, and coming in the clouds of Heaven '; and, on account of this confession. He suffered death (Matt. xxvi. 63, 64; John xix. 7).
As it would be the most grievous sin falsely to pretend to be God, so it is the greatest dishonor to Jesus Christ not to give credit to His declaration that He is God.
33. What do the Apostles teach of Jesus Christ?
The Apostles explicitly teach, 1. That Jesus Christ is true God; 2. That He possesses all the fulness of the Godhead, and the infinite perfections of God; and 3. That all creatures should adore Him.
1. 'We know that the Son of God is come. This is the true God and life eternal' (1 John v. 20). 'Christ who is over all things, God blessed for ever. Amen' (Rom. ix. 5).
2. 'In Him [Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead corporally'—i.e., substantially (Col. ii. 9). Of Christ, the Son of God, St. John says: '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' (John i. 1-3). 'In Him [Christ] were all things created in Heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him and in Him; and He is before all, and by Him all things consist' (Col. i. 16, 17). 'By His Son God made the world, who, being the brightness of His glory and the figure of His substance, upholds all things by the word of His power' (Hebr. i. 2, 3).
3. 'In the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in Heaven, on earth, and under the earth; and every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father' (Phil. ii. 10, 11). 'Let all the angels of God adore Him' (Hebr. i. 6).
The Apostles also confirmed their doctrine of the Divinity of Jesus by innumerable miracles which they wrought in the name of Jesus, and by the most stupendous of all miracles, the conversion of the world (Short Hist, of Revealed Rel., 28, 29, etc.).
34. What does the Catholic Church teach of Jesus Christ?
The Catholic Church has ever believed and taught that Jesus Christ is true God, and of one substance with God the Father; and in defence of this fundamental Christian doctrine, she composed, at the Council of Nice, a special Creed, and excommunicated those who taught the contrary. (See Short Hist, of Revealed Rel., 36.)
The holy Martyrs also professed this belief, and suffered with joy indescribable torments, nay, death itself, for it; and it often pleased God to confirm their possession by undeniable miracles. One of these is particularly remarkable. It took place in Africa in 484, and is attested by many unobjectionable eye-witnesses. For when Hunneric, King of the Arian Vandals, who most cruelly persecuted those who professed the Divinity of Christ, had had the tongues of the orthodox Christians of the city of Tipisa torn out, they spoke without tongues as fluently and distinctly as before, and proclaimed everywhere that Jesus Christ is true God, and of one substance with the Father. About sixty of them fled to Constantinople, where all the town saw them, and heard them speak daily, and that for many years.
Application. Wickedness dims the understanding. Be always pious and virtuous, and you will never have any doubts respecting the truth of your faith. ' If any man will do the will of Him that sent me, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God' (John vii. 16, 17).