“He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new!” then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
— Revelations 21:5
Catholics believe that Jesus Christ is the second person of the trinity: God made flesh. This “becoming flesh” is also known at the incarnation. The word incarnation comes from the Latin incarnatio meaning, “to make flesh.” The Person of Christ is God made flesh. This notion of God becoming a human being is a unique mark of the Catholic faith that sets it apart from other religious beliefs. It is in the person of Jesus Christ that we discover the crux of the Catholic faith and the essence of who God is.
Why did God become a human being?
There are much more elaborate explanations as to why God became a human being, which we will discuss in future articles, yet the simplest and most straightforward response to this question is this: God became man so that man might become like God.
God’s becoming human was a complete act of selfless love. An all powerful, all knowing, all present God has no “need” to become a human. Yet in God’s limitless love for us, He chose to become one of us in order to set us free.
In the beginning . . . when God created all things, Creation was perfectly good and humanity was very good (GN 1:31). Yet after the fall of mankind and his newfound intimacy with now good and evil, humanity now inherited a brokenness that man alone could not heal or restore.
For centuries after this “initial wound” of original sin in the garden, God sent person after person to form a covenant and provided new opportunities to return to a relationship with him. Yet regardless of the covenants and animal sacrifices that were made on behalf of all human error, it was not enough to truly restore a broken humanity. And so in an effort to heal our illness at its core: God sent the greatest remedy he could – he sent himself.
Christ’s coming is the perfect fulfillment of all prior covenants and offers to God the most perfect sacrifice that could be made as an atonement for our sins. In other words, God not only knew our illness intimately but, in his perfect love, sent the perfect remedy to make us whole.
Christ The Redeemer
Therefore, Christ is not simply a historical figure, a teacher, or a wise prophet, but for the Catholic faith He is Lord – Christ is the very reason for our hope and the cause of our joy. Christ is redeemer because it is in and through his passion and death that he offered the most perfect and pleasing sacrifice to God the father in place of our sins. Where sin once held us captive and friends of death, Christ sets us free of these chains and makes us heirs to the Kingdom of God.
Prior to Christ, it was not possible to enter into Heaven. After death, it was believed that all the righteous (i.e., Abraham, King David, Moses, etc.) went into “the place of the dead,” or “Abraham’s bosom,” – and while this place was not hell, it also was not Heaven. All of the living and the dead anticipated the coming of the one who could set humanity free from the clutches of death. This waiting was perfectly fulfilled in the coming of Christ.
Sin has to do with death and it is Christ who restores us to life
Why was Heaven not possible prior to Christ? Put simply, we were not worthy. If Heaven is the most glorious and perfect union of God and all that is good it was not possible for a broken humanity to enter into such a glorious state (yet!). This was all a direct result of original sin and walking away from a relationship with God. When Adam and Even freely chose to turn their backs to God they at the same time turned their backs to the creator of life and the possibility of life everlasting (in Heaven). Put simply, when we close the door to life, we become friends of death. And so it was death that humanity now suffered.
But take heart, death is not the will of God – the will of God is LIFE. God is LIFE and will do everything within His capacity to ensure that we are redeemed and restored so that we might become one with Him in life everlasting. It was for this very reason that God became man, that he suffered a horrendous death on the cross, that he took on all the sufferings of the world, and he conquered evil at the grave.
The Resurrection of Christ is a foreshadowing of the Resurrection of Us
Christ’s selfless action of laying down his life was not done for his own self – it was done for us. His conquering of death and rising from the dead was the perfect act of redemption to set us free from the clutches of death. And so while we must (for the time being) still suffer a physical death, as Catholics we believe that death is not eternal – it is the greatness of LIFE everlasting that awaits us beyond the grave – a reality that was not possible prior to Christ.
As followers of Christ, as souls who have given our whole lives to the dominion of Jesus, we have given our lives over to the One who is victorious over death itself. And so we can have full confidence that we are set free from the clutches of an eternal death and can have hope that Heaven awaits us and we too can join in the resurrection of life.
Christ is our Hope
Where there was once despair, fear, worry, brokenness, Christ’s life and power within us releases a spirit of hope. We need not worry about a permanent, empty, dark death. It is because of Christ that we now have an eternal sense of trust that our eternal life is in GOOD HANDS in the hands of God. It is for this reason that there is an unworldly type of “joy” when the soul passes from this life into the next. This is not to lessen the suffering and sadness found in a physical death, but instead, it redirects or focus to set our eyes on something even more powerful than death and the grave. Christ as our hope allows the soul to enter into the reality that the power that resurrected Christ from the dead is the same power that now lives in us.
So we need not worry, we need not fret, but like children, we are called to entrust ourselves to the most Sacred Heart of Jesus, trusting that His hand will be the very hand that walks us from this life and into the next.
Prayer
God, allow us to more deeply understand your love through the incarnation of Christ. Help us to know that love is action, love is a Person, love is you. When we fail to love, help us to look to you, to look to the cross, and to never fail to entrust ourselves to you. In a world full of darkness, help us to encounter the light of your love and the face of your son, Jesus. May our entire lives be a glory story of Jesus’ victory in our lives and as we are brought into a greater communion with Him. We ask this through the intercession of all of Heaven and in the name of Christ. Amen.
