FINDING OUT MORE
Life is full of questions. Which came first the Dinosaur or the egg? Can you name the latest model of your old smart phone? What is the circumference of the earth? When we want to find the answers to most questions these days we just google them, but what about our spiritual questions? How do we know what to believe? How can we find out more? God our Father has given us the tools we need to find the answers to all our questions. They can all be found in a person, Jesus and He can be found in Holy Scripture and in the Catholic Faith. In the book of Wisdom 13: 9 it says, “If they had the power to know so much that they could investigate the world, how did they fail to find sooner the Lord of these things?”
HE IS THE WAY
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14: 6) Jesus is the way and He will show us the way to God and answer all our questions. Jesus reconciled us to God through His death on the Cross and His Resurrection from the dead. He paid the price for our sins and our turning away from the love of God. The prophet Isaiah describes it this way, “He was pierced for our ever in the history of mankind, but we believe that the Son of God came down from heaven to save us. He is called Jesus and was born, a helpless baby, in humble surroundings. His mother was a virgin called Mary and He redeemed all mankind, through His death on the Cross and His Resurrection from the dead. After appearing to many people after His death, He ascended to Heaven and is seated at the right hand of his Heavenly Father and one day He will come back again to judge the living and the dead. This is the foolishness of the Gospel that we preach so that others can be saved. This belief is the foundation of our Christian life and is summarised in the Nicene Creed. If we recite the Creed daily our faith will be strengthened. transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on Him and by His wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53)
“If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.” James 1:5
A FOOLISH MESSAGE
St Paul explains it this way, “Since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.” (1 Corinthians 1:21) God knew that we could not find salvation from our sins on our own so He decided to send His Son to save those who believe the Gospel message from eternal damnation.
WE BELIEVE
The message of the Gospel may sound to some people like the biggest foolishness ever in the history of mankind, but we believe that the Son of God came down from heaven to save us. He is called Jesus and was born, a helpless baby, in humble surroundings. His mother was a virgin called Mary and He redeemed all mankind, through His death on the Cross and His Resurrection from the dead. After appearing to many people after His death, He ascended to Heaven and is seated at the right hand of his Heavenly Father and one day He will come back again to judge the living and the dead. This is the foolishness of the Gospel that we preach so that others can be saved. This belief is the foundation of our Christian life and is summarised in the Nicene Creed. If we recite the Creed daily our faith will be strengthened.
ACCEPT AND BELIEVE
We may not fully understand the Creed that we recite but we don’t have to; all we have to do is believe that it is so. It’s like when we switch on a light. Most of us don’t understand how the electric current moves round the circuit to make the light bulb glow, but we know that when we press the switch the light goes on. We learnt this when we saw it work for other people. In a similar way when we accept and believe the Gospel message, it is like the first time that we actually press the switch and turn on the light. Because when we truly believe the Gospel message, then Jesus, the light of the world will reveal himself to us and dispel our darkness and our doubts and His light will shine in us.
WHAT MATTERS
The mysteries of our Salvation that we recite in the Creed are celebrated at every Holy Mass through signs and symbols. “The Eucharist is the memorial of Christ’s Passover, that is, of the work of salvation accomplished by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, a work made present by the liturgical action.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1409) We do have many questions but it doesn’t matter whether the egg or the Dinosaur came first, what is important is that we are a new creation in Jesus Christ and we are one in Christ and in His Church through the Sacraments.
Written by Sebastian Sales