He will return with his immense heart, with his heart of fire, his poor man's soul
and his smile. He will return! And the Immaculate Heart of Mary will triumph!

CATECHETICAL LOAF OF BREAD

THE CATECHISM OF BENEDICT XVI (5)

109. WHAT AUTHORITY DID JESUS IMPART TO HIS APOSTLES IN THE KINGDOM?

• JESUS CHOSE THE TWELVE, THE FUTURE WITNESSES OF HIS RESURRECTION, AND GAVE THEM A SHARE IN HIS MISSION AND HIS AUTHORITY TO TEACH, ABSOLVE SINS, TO BUILD AND TO GOVERN THE CHURCH. IN THIS APOSTOLIC COLLEGE, PETER RECEIVES « THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM » (Mt 16.19). HE HOLDS THE FIRST PLACE, WITH THE MISSION TO KEEP THE FAITH IN ALL ITS INTEGRITY AND TO CONFIRM HIS BRETHREN.

The Kingdom of God is Jesus alone. After His death, His resurrection and His ascension into Heaven, « the Kingdom of God became the Church. She was founded on the rock, but she keeps her roots in Heaven. It is a mystery. » (G. de Nantes, The Kingdom of God on Earth, established, opposed, victorious, CCR n° 132, p. 15) Christ continued and communicated: such were the Apostles, and first of all their head, Saint Peter.

Having gone to Ituraea and Caesarea Philippi, a city in which the pagan temple was built on an impressive rock, Jesus questioned the Apostles: « Who do you say that I am? » St. Peter replied, « You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. » Then Jesus gave thanks and made surprising predictions on behalf of Peter: « You are Peter and upon this rock I will build My Church. The gates of Hell will not prevail against it. » (Mt 16.15-18) Not only will Peter be steadfast in his Faith, but he will support that of the other Apostles and of the first Christians who rested on this « rock ».

« The task of founding the Church in accordance with the plans made by Christ was entrusted to the Apostles and was to be implemented on the Day of Pentecost. It obviously required special gifts from the Holy Spirit, truly singular and extraordinary ones, for the generation of the builders. This is why the Twelve, the Apostles, were made the columns of the Church, endowed with powers so vast and so exceptional that the totality could not be passed on even to their successors.

« The Apostles were favoured with divine Revelation of which they received a complete “prophetic” knowledge, comprehending it more perfectly than anyone else could ever do here below, and they enjoyed the charisma of “inspiration” for teaching it in their words and writings, always and absolutely infallible. They had the power to institute the sacraments that Christ had announced and to give them their definitive ritual form, to compose prayers and to regulate the life of the Church in accordance with the teachings of the Lord.

« This was not yet sufficient. They also had the power to work miracles – this is not the lot of everyone! – and they were confirmed in grace, that is to say holy, fixed in the perfection of their vocation, and neither is this the lot of everyone!

« Thus endowed with such extraordinary and wide-ranging powers, they were powerful and perfect instruments of God for the foundation of the Church. This is why all rebellion against them was illegitimate and culpable. Yet there were some, against whom the wrath of God was kindled. » (Georges de Nantes, CRC n° 69, June 1973, p. 4)

110. WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE TRANSFIGURATION?

• THE WHOLE TRINITY APPEARED IN THE TRANSFIGURATION: « THE FATHER IN THE VOICE; THE SON IN THE MAN; THE SPIRIT IN THE SHINING CLOUD. » (ST. THOMAS AQUINAS). SPEAKING WITH MOSES AND ELIJAH OF HIS « EXODUS » (Lk 9.31), JESUS SHOWS THAT HIS GLORY PASSES THROUGH THE CROSS AND GIVES A GLIMPSE OF HIS RESURRECTION AND OF HIS COMING IN GLORY, « WHICH WILL CHANGE OUR LOWLY BODY TO BE LIKE HIS GLORIOUS BODY » (Ph 3.21).

After having promised St. Peter that he would be the « rock » on which He would build His Church, Jesus began to reveal to the Twelve that He would have to suffer His Passion in Jerusalem, and experience abjection and a cruel death there, before rising from the dead. The same St. Peter « rebuked » Christ, like an insolent simpleton: « Ah! Lord, this will never happen to You! » He incurred this terrible reply: « Get behind me, Satan! You are a scandal to me » (Mt 16.22-25)

The Apostle St. Peter has one great merit: he sustained the Faith of the Apostles. Nevertheless the perspective of a crucified life was a stumbling block for him. It was then that Jesus ascended a high mountain to pray to His Father. While He was praying, the divine glory was manifested in Him. His face shone like the sun, St. Matthew tells us. Even His garments were radiated by this power of the interior light of Jesus burning with divine glory because of the intensity of His prayer.

It was like a first recompense that God gave to His holy humanity. He was so pious, so fervent, and so obedient to His Father that, in advance, His Body experienced this brilliance that His glorious Resurrection would give to Him.

Moses had seen God as a great flame, while the people at the foot of the mountain saw Sinai ablaze like a volcano. God was a fire, and a consuming fire. Here this fire, this flame was the Face of Christ Himself, it was His Body. God is in Him, He is God and he radiates this light from within Himself.

During this time, the Apostles were sleeping. Not all of them! One of the three must not have been sleeping in order to be able to relate to us the conversation of Jesus with Moses and Elijah. Probably it was St. John, who related it to St. Luke, for St. Mark repeats St. Peter, and St. Matthew must have got his information from James. Neither of them tells us what Moses and Elijah were speaking about with Jesus, as though the two Apostles, Peter, who was heavy with sleep, and James, who was very tired, had only awakened at the end of the conversation, at the moment when Moses and Elijah were taking their leave of Jesus.

Then Peter said: « “Lord, if You wish, we will make – according to St. Matthew: I will make – three tents, one for You and one for Moses and one for Elijah”, and thus, we will be able to spend the night on the top of this mountain. » He would like it to last…

Since he had not heard Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus of His Passion, « he did not know what he was saying », wrote St. Luke. St. John, who had heard, knew what to believe. He had understood very well that they had not climbed up there to settle into this beatitude, but to regain strength for the coming battle.

This is when God reveals to them that there is no “tent” to be made on the earth for Jesus, Moses and Elijah, who are from Heaven and not earth. Their dwelling is God, it is the glory of God that comes in the form of a « shining cloud », St. Matthew says: like a brilliant mist, of a soft, yet blinding light. Already in the Old Testament, the “cloud” manifested the presence of God. At the beginning of the twentieth century, in 1917, the seers of Fatima experienced it: they were taken « into this light that is God », as Sister Lucy said.

It enveloped the Apostles, and they fell on their faces, adoring God, exactly like the children of Fatima. Then a voice was heard: « This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him! »

St. Peter, who rebuked Christ with insolence when He announced His ignominious death at Jerusalem, and His resurrection, and the others who had not yet understood, heard: « Listen to Him! » In the same way as God had given the Decalogue, and Moses was charged with proclaiming it to the whole people, Jesus is going to descend this mountain, as a bearer of the new Law… that is nothing other than Himself.

Let us listen to Him! Let us not, however, merely listen to Him. Let us follow Him! Let us say with Lucy, Francisco and Jacinta, in the shining cloud: « O Most Holy Trinity, I adore You. My God, my God, I love Thee in the Most Holy Sacrament. »

111. HOW DID THE MESSIANIC ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM TAKE PLACE?

• WHEN THE HOUR HAD COME, JESUS DECIDED TO GO TO JERUSALEM IN ORDER TO SUFFER HIS PASSION, DIE AND RISE FROM THE DEAD. AS THE KING-MESSIAH WHO MANIFESTS THE COMING OF THE KINGDOM, HE ENTERS INTO HIS CITY RIDING ON THE COLT OF AN ASS. HE IS ACCOMPANIED BY CHILDREN WHOSE ACCLAMATIONS ARE REPEATED IN THE EUCHARISTIC SANCTUS: « BLESSED BE HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD! HOSANNA (SAVE US)! » (Mt 21.9) THE LITURGY OF THE CHURCH INAUGURATES HOLY WEEK BY THE CELEBRATION OF THIS ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM

The entry of Jesus into Jerusalem is a triumph, a mystery of glory but also of humiliation and suffering. Holy Church makes us relive it in the liturgy for “Palm Sunday”.

Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead a few days earlier, the news of this spread like wildfire, and crowds came to meet Jesus coming from Bethany, determined to go up to the Temple in order to enthrone Him in a Messianic procession.

The people formed a liturgical procession, as was done for the Feast of Tabernacles. They went to the Temple celebrating the royalty of Yahweh, but on that day God incarnate was in the midst of His people. It is to Jesus that they shout: « Hosanna to the Son of David! May the reign of God come! Here is the King of Israel! » In other words, the children shout Long live the King! The Pharisees are furious: « Master, do You hear what the children are crying? » The reply of Jesus was: « If these were silent, the very stones would cry out! »

Coming from Bethany after having passed over the Mont of Olives, Our Lord saw the Holy City stretched before His eyes. He is so little intoxicated with the glory of this triumph that He launches into a lamentation for Jerusalem that kills the prophets. He wanted to gather her under His kingship, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but she did not want the salvation that God was bringing her: far from joining in the popular enthusiasm, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, priests and high priests, plotted to arrest Jesus and put Him to death.

The first meaning of the “Palms” lies in this contrast between the enthusiasm of the crowd and the hatred of the authorities, and their resolve to put to death Him who came as a King in order to save them.

The second meaning, which St. John humbly admits not to have understood at the time, is the prophetic action of Jesus sending His Apostles to Bethphage to fetch the colt of an ass. He indicates to them precisely where they will find it, attached to the side of a house. They had only to ask the proprietor of the house, saying that it was for the Lord.

Everything took place as Our Lord had foreseen, and it was on this humble mount that Jesus was going to enter into Jerusalem. It was a sign given to the Apostles, as humble as the sign given to the shepherds of Bethlehem in order to recognise their King wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.

Jesus mounted on this colt of an ass on which no one had yet mounted. It was the mount of David, of Solomon, that the kings of Judah used to ride in the past to make their royal entry into Jerusalem. We read the account of this in the Book of Kings for the enthronement of Solomon.

Jesus followed the same itinerary as Solomon. He descended the Cedron, then climbed towards the Temple. Jesus wanted to make Himself known to His Apostles, to those close to Him, as a meek and humble King, a King after the Heart of God, a King like David, a modest King, who would not ride on a horse, who would not ride in a chariot to wage war on His enemies, but who would vanquish His enemies by the love of His Heart.

Later on, the Apostles understood and remembered Chapter 9 of Zacharias where this was predicted: « Exult with joy, Jerusalem, rejoice, for your Saviour comes to you. He is just and generous. He is humble and riding on a colt, on the foal of an ass. »

What an extraordinary encounter! The Apostles were completely dazzled by it! We also, two thousand years later, we are dazzled to recognise in Jesus this King so awaited in the Old Testament and who, now, is going to reign by gentleness.

A third meaning of the event is given for the benefit of the Greeks, recalling the star of the Magi. Very politely these pagans ask Philip who asks Andrew; Philip and Andrew then ask Jesus, whom they want to see, for an audience with them. As the Magi came to see Jesus, and finally saw the Child and His Mother.

The Jews saw, but with the eyes of blind men, understanding nothing of the mystery of Christ. The pagans, on the other hand, asked to see, and indeed they met Jesus who gave them a “sign”: that of the grain of wheat that falls into the earth and dies in order to bear fruit.

After having said this, Jesus entered into an agony. He prayed His Father to let this “Chalice” pass from Him. The hour had arrived for Christ to be “glorified” and, suddenly, He hesitates. The Greeks are there and witness this despondency of Christ. What is more contrary to the pride of the pagans, to the pride of the Greeks, than this despondency of the Messiah? Well, it is the sign that God gave to them.

At that moment, a voice was heard. Some thought that it was thunder; others thought that it was an angel. It was the voice of the Father who promises Jesus: « I will glorify You, I have glorified You, I will glorify You again. » These are words suitable for comforting Our Lord. Not only Him, however, as Jesus explains to them: These words are for you, the Greeks. The Greek are the pagans, all the pagans right up until today, so that we will not be scandalised, and that we understand this great sign of Christ: not a human victory, but on the contrary, a despondency. It is the secret of the Passion to come.

The Jews were closing their hearts but the pagans were opening theirs to this truth: in order to follow Christ, it does not suffice to applaud Him in the days of glory; one still has to understand that these days of glory themselves announce humiliation, self-sacrifice, death and Resurrection.

« JESUS CHRIST SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE,
WAS CRUCIFIED, DIED AND WAS BURIED. »

112. WHAT IMPORTANCE DOES THE PASCAL MYSTERY HAVE?

• THE PASCAL MYSTERY OF JESUS INCLUDES HIS PASSION, HIS DEATH, HIS RESURRECTION AND HIS GLORIFICATION. IT IS AT THE CENTRE OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH BECAUSE THE SAVING PLAN OF GOD WAS ACCOMPLISHED ONCE AND FOR ALL BY THE REDEMPTIVE DEATH OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST.

The Pascal mystery is the work of death and resurrection that Christ wants to accomplish in the least members of his Mystical Body. « This will of Jesus Christ is so unknown! Without including those for whom Easter is no more than a spring festival, how many only think during Holy Week of recalling the distant events that the Gospels scrupulously report in order to crush their hearts with imagining such violent tortures! So much emotion generally remains without fruit and does not last long […].

« The Pascal mystery is, in fact, something else, and how much happier! Jesus is eager to carry out this same work of transfiguration in us that he first accomplished in His own humanity through death. It is He Himself who, by the power of His will, guided by love, handed his flesh over to death member by member; it is He, in His courageous human soul, who poured out His Blood in order finally to abandon Himself corporeally to death; such is the mystery of Good Friday when Jesus, Sovereign Priest, immolates Himself as a victim charged with the sin of the world. It is He again who in the silence of the tomb arouses and reanimates His Body and dons it, throws off the shroud and appears free, invincible, as a triumphant victor, in order to manifest the universal redemptive grace of which He has become the source; such is the work of the Pascal night when there shines forth suddenly the indefectible Light of Christ » (G. de Nantes, Letter to My Friends n° 52, Easter 1959)

113. ON WHAT ACCUSATIONS WAS JESUS CONDEMNED?

• CERTAIN LEADERS OF ISRAEL ACCUSED JESUS OF ACTING AGAINST THE LAW, AGAINST THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM, AND IN PARTICULAR AGAINST THE FAITH IN ONE GOD, BECAUSE HE PROCLAIMED HIMSELF THE SON OF GOD. THIS IS WHY THEY HANDED HIM OVER TO PILATE SO THAT HE WOULD CONDEMN HIM TO DEATH.

As for the Law, they accused Jesus above all of not respecting the day of the Sabbath, that is to say the rest of Saturday. On that day one should not work. Now, Jesus worked miracles! As for the Temple, Jesus chased the sellers of livestock and the moneychangers out of it, calling them thieves. As for faith in one God, Jesus only confirmed it because He said to the Jews: « My Father and I are one! » (Jn 10.30)

114. HOW DID JESUS ACT TOWARDS THE LAW OF ISRAEL?

• JESUS DID NOT ABOLISH THE LAW GIVEN BY GOD TO MOSES ON SINAI, BUT HE BROUGHT IT TO ITS FULFILMENT BY GIVING IT ITS DEFINITIVE INTERPRETATION. HE IS THE DIVINE LEGISLATOR WHO FULLY OBSERVED THIS LAW. MOREOVER, HE, THE FAITHFUL SERVANT, WOULD OFFER, THROUGH HIS ATONING DEATH, THE ONLY SACRIFICE CAPABLE OF REDEEMING « FROM THE TRANSGRESSIONS COMMITTED UNDER THE FIRST COVENANT » (He 9.15).

Jesus is unlike Moses: He does not receive the Law in order to give it to His people. He Himself is the Law. He speaks to His Father, He knows what He has to do, He is the great Legislator of the new times.

The Old Covenant was concluded in the blood of a sacrifice of young bulls that Moses threw upon the altar and upon the people saying: « Behold the blood of the Covenant that Yahweh has made with you in accordance with all these words. » (Ex 24.8) The Jews, however, proved themselves incapable of observing the « words » of the Law, while Jesus alone not only perfectly observed them, but poured out His own Blood: « This why He is the Mediator of a new Covenant, so that, His death having occurred for redemption from the transgressions under the first Covenant, those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance. » (He 9.15)

115. WHAT WAS THE ATTITUDE OF JESUS TOWARDS THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM?

• JESUS WAS ACCUSED OF HOSTILITY TOWARDS THE TEMPLE. HE VENERATED IT, HOWEVER, AS « THE HOUSE OF HIS FATHER » (Jn 2.16). HE CONSECRATED AN IMPORTANT PART OF HIS TEACHING TO IT. ON THE OTHER HAND, HE ALSO PREDICTED ITS DESTRUCTION, IN RELATION TO HIS OWN DEATH, AND HE PRESENTED HIMSELF AS THE DEFINITIVE DWELLING OF GOD AMONG MEN.

It was on the day that Jesus drove the sellers of livestock and the moneychangers out of the “sanctuary” that Jesus called the Temple of Jerusalem « the house of My Father ». To the Jews who asked Him: « What sign have You to show us for doing this? » and moreover to speak of the Temple of God in such terms, Jesus replied: « Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

– It took forty-six years to build this Temple, and will you raise it up in three days? » they replied. St. John, who was witness to the scene, explains to us: « He spoke, however, of the temple of His Body. » Indeed, when the Jews destroyed It by nailing It to the Cross, He would raise It up by rising from the dead on the third day, and would become in His own Person the “holy place” of a new and definitive worship, abolishing the former one. Destroyed by the Romans, who did not leave one stone upon another, as Jesus had prophesied, the Temple of Jerusalem would never be rebuilt.

116. DID JESUS CONTRADICT THE FAITH OF ISRAEL IN ONE SAVING GOD?

• JESUS NEVER CONTRADICTED THE FAITH IN ONE GOD, NOT EVEN WHEN HE ACCOMPLISHED THE DIVINE WORK PAR EXCELLENCE, THAT WHICH FULFILLED THE MESSIANIC PROMISES AND REVEALED HIM TO BE THE EQUAL OF GOD: THE FORGIVING OF SINS. THE DEMAND OF JESUS FOR BELIEF IN HIM AND FOR CONVERSION ALLOWS US TO GRASP THE TRAGIC INCOMPREHENSION OF THE SANHEDRIN, JUDGING THAT JESUS DESERVED DEATH AS A BLASPHEMER.

We grasp it all the better since our apostate generation renews this tragic incomprehension. If the Sanhedrin displayed a tragic blindness by refusing to believe in Jesus and to convert, when Jesus had proven by miracles His power to forgive sins, what can be said of the pride of the modern heresiarchs who no longer have any need for redemption or grace and show the same malice as the sanctimonious Pharisees and the materialistic Sadducees, idolaters of money, after two thousand years of Christian civilisation!

It is tragic because together they have been joining forces to institute proceedings against Jesus, or His servant… for two thousand years!

117. WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATH OF JESUS?

• THE PASSION AND THE DEATH OF JESUS CANNOT BE INDISCRIMINATELY ATTRIBUTED EITHER TO ALL THE JEWS LIVING THEN, OR TO THE JEWS WHO CAME AFTERWARDS IN OTHER TIMES AND OTHER PLACES.

EACH SINNER, THUS EVERY MAN, IS TRULY THE CAUSE AND INSTRUMENT OF THE SUFFERING OF THE REDEEMER. MORE SERIOUSLY GUILTY ARE THOSE WHO, ABOVE ALL IF THEY ARE CHRISTIANS, FALL MORE OFTEN INTO SIN AND WHO TAKE PLEASURE IN VICES.

It is true that on Palm Sunday, while the Sanhedrin plotted the death of Jesus, the people of Jerusalem manifested its enthusiasm for its Messiah, for Him whose miracles, stature, intelligence, and majesty placed above all others. Yet it was but a passing fancy, because everyone is a sinner.

Why then cannot the passion and death of Jesus be attributed to the Jews of all time, if they must be attributed to all sinners? Are not the Jews sinners as well? Assuredly. It is necessary, however, to distinguish several ways of being the « cause and the instrument of the suffering of the Redeemer » The final cause: Jesus suffered and died for all men. The efficient cause: He was arrested, judged and condemned by the Sanhedrin, collegially responsible for the crime, under the supreme authority of Caiphas, the chief priest in charge. The material cause: He was crucified at the hands of the Romans. The instrumental cause: « He died under Pontius Pilate ». according to our Creed.

Although God « accredited » this Messiah, as St. Peter points out in his discourse on the day of Pentecost, by « miracles and wonders and signs », His people crucified Him. Yet the crime is even greater when, by their own sins, the Christian people crucify Him a second time by denying Him after two thousand years of Christian civilisation replete with the ceaseless blessings of supernatural virtues, the fruit of the sufferings of millions of martyrs, the lights of the Fathers and the Doctors of the Church, of the devotedness of all the heroes of charity, the work of a powerful hierarchy born of Heaven, and of the rivers of divine grace; and the whole constructed, bound together, pervaded by the Life of Jesus Christ, the Wisdom of God, the Word made man (Saint Pius X).

118. WHY IS THE DEATH OF CHRIST PART OF THE PLAN OF GOD?

• IN ORDER TO RECONCILE TO HIMSELF ALL MEN DOOMED TO DEATH BECAUSE OF SIN, GOD TOOK THE INITIATIVE, FULL OF LOVE, OF SENDING HIS SON SO THAT HE MIGHT HAND HIMSELF OVER TO DEATH FOR SINNERS. ANNOUNCED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, IN PARTICULAR AS THE SACRIFICE OF THE SUFFERING SERVANT, THE DEATH OF JESUS CAME ABOUT « IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE SCRIPTURES ».

St. Peter explained it to the Jews on Pentecost day: « Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man commended to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs that He worked through Him in your midst, as you yourselves know, this man, delivered up by the fixed design and foreknowledge of God, you, by the hands of wicked men, have crucified and slain. But God has raised Him up, delivering Him from the pangs of Hades […]. Therefore let the whole House of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. » (Ac 2.22-24, 36)

The death of Christ responds to the sin of man. « He gives His Word, in a New and Eternal Covenant. It is a word of pardon and mercy; it is the “Word of Salvation”, the Word of reconciliation, Love that throws out a bridge. It is neither a decree of a magistrate, nor a cry of fury; it is Wisdom of the Heart of a God-Father who says it eternally in the engendering of His own Son: the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. “God is love: In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him… God has first loved us and sent His Son to be the expiation for our sins” (1 Jn 4.8-10) “A remarkable proof of the love of God for us is that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us […]. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.” (Rm 5.8-10) » (G. de Nantes, Jesus Our Redeemer, CRC n° 43, April 1971, p. 4)

119. HOW DID CHRIST OFFER HIMSELF TO THE FATHER?

• THE ENTIRE LIFE OF CHRIST IS A FREE OFFERING TO THE FATHER IN ORDER TO ACCOMPLISH HIS PLAN OF SALVATION. HE GAVE « HIS LIFE AS A RANSOM FOR MANY » (Mk 10.45), AND, IN THIS WAY, HE RECONCILES ALL HUMANITY WITH GOD.

HIS SUFFERING AND HIS DEATH MANIFEST THAT HIS HUMANITY IS THE FREE AND PERFECT INSTRUMENT OF THE DIVINE LOVE THAT WILLS THE SALVATION OF ALL MEN.

God is love, He has loved us first, as Benedict XVI recalled in his encyclical Deus caritas est. This is why He will always forgive us without merit on our part. This is what the Sovereign Pontiff expressed magnificently:

« As we have said, the eros of God for man is at the same time totally agapè. This is not only because it is bestowed in a completely gratuitous manner, without any previous merit, but also because it is love that forgives. Hosea above all shows us this agapè dimension in the love of God for man, which goes far beyond the aspect of gratuity. Israel has committed “adultery” and has broken the Covenant; God should judge and repudiate her. It is precisely at this point that God is revealed to be God and not man: “How can I give you up, O Ephraim! How can I hand you over, O Israel! .. My Heart turns against Me, My compassion is stirred. I will not execute My fierce anger, I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst.” (Hos 11.8-9) The passionate love of God for His people – for man – is at the same time a forgiving love. It is so great that it turns God against Himself, His love against His justice. Here Christians can see a dim prefiguration of the mystery of the Cross: so great is the love God for man that by becoming man He follows him even into death, and so reconciles justice and love. » (n° 10)

120. HOW IS THE OFFERING OF JESUS EXPRESSED AT THE LAST SUPPER?

• DURING THE LAST SUPPER CELEBRATED WITH THE APOSTLES ON THE EVE OF HIS PASSION, JESUS ANTICIPATED, THAT IS TO SAY, SIGNIFIED AND REALISED IN ADVANCE THE FREE OFFERING OF HIMSELF: « THIS IS MY BODY, WHICH IS GIVEN FOR YOU. », « THIS IS MY BLOOD… WHICH IS SHED… » (Lk 22.19-20) HE THUS INSTITUTES AT THE SAME TIME THE EUCHARIST AS A « MEMORIAL » (1 Co 11.25) OF HIS SACRIFICE, AND HIS APOSTLES AS PRIESTS OF THE NEW COVENANT.

The best commentary of this paragraph was given by the Abbé de Nantes in his “New Theology of the Eucharist”:

« The first blessing over the bread, which is its conversion into Christ’s Body to be broken and given to all [“This is My Body”], does not of itself evoke sacrifice but rather the full gift of a nourishing presence, consoling in the separation and trials ahead. This presence continues the blessing of the Incarnation and of the daily life of Jesus among men, among His own […]

« The second blessing, that of the cup, however, which is the conversion of the wine into the Blood of Christ, made clear by the words that accompany it in the four Gospel accounts [“This is My Blood shed for you”], obviously testifies to a sacrificial meaning. Its action, unlike that of giving His Body, is strange, not self-explanatory. One does not give one’s blood to one’s friends. Furthermore, in the Mosaic law it was formally prohibited to drink any blood whatsoever, even that of victims! But one does give one’s blood for one’s friends. In every epoch or civilisation, the giving of one’s blood is always understood to mean the supreme sacrifice; it is the gift of one’s life, laid down for the safety of the family, the clan or country in circumstances of war or violence. “No one can have greater love than to lay down his life for his friends”, said Jesus, and that has become one of the foundations of the New Kingdom. (Jn 15.12-13; cf 1 Jn 3.16, passim). One’s life, one’s soul or one’s blood are all words with the same meaning for the Semites, and to shed one’s blood was a sign of boundless charity.

Taken in its obvious sense, the gift of one’s blood is a horrible thing and as a spontaneous act is meaningless. It takes on a tragic meaning, however, when a man making it affirms his resolution and already mimes its action, thereby announcing and fulfilling symbolically his imminent sacrifice in which his executioners will transfix him by violence and so provoke his suffering and death. Jesus gives a higher significance to the tragedy, that of a Sacrifice, since this violent death was offered in advance for the reconciliation of brethren among themselves and with God their Father. The horror then becomes a source of joy and the sacrifice heralds the feast, for if the shedding of blood evokes sorrow and tears, the wine offered evokes the joy of the wedding banquet. (CCR n° 96, p. 13)

St. Paul explained the sense and the import of this “memorial” instituted by Jesus Christ: « For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes. » (1 Co 11.26)

At the Last Supper, then on the Cross, Jesus appears as the Priest of the New Covenant. He is the sole Mediator and Sovereign Priest. Nevertheless, He chose twelve Apostles to be after Him the depositories of His priestly power. By giving them this commandment: « Do this in remembrance of Me » (Lk 22.19), He entrusted to them the power of offering the holy Sacrifice of the Mass as they had seen Him do.

121. WHAT TOOK PLACE DURING THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE?

• DESPITE THE HORROR OF DEATH AROUSED IN THE ALL-HOLY HUMANITY OF HIM WHO IS « AUTHOR OF LIFE » (Ac 3.15), THE HUMAN WILL OF THE SON OF GOD ADHERES TO THE WILL OF THE FATHER: IN ORDER TO SAVE US, JESUS AGREED TO BEAR OUR SINS IN HIS BODY, « BECOMING OBEDIENT UNTO DEATH » (Ph 2.8).

In the Garden of Gethsemane, instead of being transfigured by His divine glory as He was on Mount Tabor shortly before, instead of hearing the Father speak to Him, Jesus experienced the despondency of opprobrium, sadness, and oppression: « He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done » (Lk 22.41-42)

The holy humanity of Christ is afflicted not only by its natural horror of the Passion and the Cross, but also by that of the sin with which He covered Himself in order to bear its shame before His Father, as had been foretold by the Prophet Isaiah: « He was pierced for our sins, crushed for our crimes;… by His bruises we are healed. » (Is. 53.5)

Jesus, however, surmounts this oppression by His blind, unconditional and filial acceptance of the will of the Father, clearly expressed by the same prophecy: « Yahweh laid upon Him the guilt of us all. He was treated frightfully and humbled Himself, and opened not His mouth, like a lamb led to the slaughter-house or a sheep dumb before the shearers, He opened not His mouth […]. Yahweh willed to crush Him with suffering; if He gives His life as an expiatory sacrifice He shall see a posterity and length of days, and the work of Yahweh shall prosper in His hands. » (Is 53.6-10)

122. WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF THE SACRIFICE OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS?

• JESUS FREELY OFFERED HIS LIFE IN EXPIATORY SACRIFICE, THAT IS TO SAY THAT HE ATONED FOR OUR FAULTS BY THE COMPLETE OBEDIENCE OF HIS LOVE UNTO DEATH. THIS « LOVE TO THE END. » (Jn 13.1) OF THE SON OF GOD RECONCILES WITH THE FATHER ALL HUMANITY. THE PASCAL SACRIFICE OF CHRIST THUS REDEEMS MEN IN A UNIQUE, PERFECT AND DEFINITIVE MANNER, AND OPENS TO THEM COMMUNION WITH GOD.

Our Sovereign Pontiff Pope Benedict XVI shows in his encyclical Deus caritas est that love of God is not a philosophy or a myth. Paternal grace, the absolutely unmerited effusion of love, appears in our holy religion, the only true one, in the form and with the impact of an event, of a historical fact: « He who turns his eyes towards the pierced Side of Christ, of which John speaks (cf. 19.37), understands the starting-point of this Encyclical Letter: “God is love” » (n° 12)

On the Cross, the pierced Christ visibly attests to the forgiveness of sinful humanity by the invisible God. When Jesus said to the Good Thief: « Today you will be with Me in Paradise » (Lk 23.43), He testified to the divine forgiveness generously dispensed to the sinners encountered during His public life. The Cross of Jesus is the way that leads to the Father.

123. WHY DOES JESUS CALL ON HIS DISCIPLES TO TAKE UP THEIR CROSS?

• BY CALLING ON HIS DISCIPLES TO « TAKE UP THEIR CROSS AND FOLLOW HIM » (Mt 16.24), JESUS WANTS TO ASSOCIATE WITH HIS REDEEMING SACRIFICE THE VERY PERSONS WHO ARE ITS FIRST BENEFICIARIES.

It suffices to believe in order to be saved: to believe in the mercy of the Father that appears in Jesus crucified. Yet how can one believe in the mercy of God in Christ without being united with Christ, without entering into communication with Him, as the liturgy of the Church sings: « O admirabile commercium! »

All the fruits of the Passion consist in kindling within us a love that will only find respite when we will be in Christ, as St. Paul says, perfectly united to Him. This love entails a very great need for imitation and conformity. This is why, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the Christian soul seeks to compassionate the sufferings of Christ on the Cross.

124. IN WHAT STATE WAS THE BODY OF CHRIST WHEN IT WAS IN THE TOMB?

• CHRIST EXPERIENCED A TRUE DEATH AND A TRUE BURIAL. DIVINE POWER, HOWEVER, PRESERVED HIS BODY FROM CORRUPTION.

Jesus died according to the law established by God in punishment for original sin, when His soul was torn from His Body.

His Body was never separated from the divine Person who assumed It. This is why It never deserved to be called a “cadaver”, since It never experienced corruption: « Because it was not possible » that it be otherwise, explained St. Peter to the Jews of Jerusalem on Pentecost Day, by quoting Psalm 16 in its Greek translation: « You will not allow Your Just One to see corruption. » (Ac 2.27) The bond of this very holy Body, pierced for our salvation, with the divine Person who consecrated it wholly to Himself, is not broken. This relic is sacred, it will not experience the corruption of the tomb; it is still the sacrament of universal redemption.

His soul continued its work by descending to preach salvation to Hell.

« JESUS CHRIST DESCENDED INTO HELL.
ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD. »

125. WHAT IS “THE HELL” INTO WHICH JESUS DESCENDED?

• “HELL” – WHICH IS NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH THE HELL OF DAMNATION – WAS THE ABODE OF THOSE, RIGHTEOUS OR WICKED, WHO HAD DIED BEFORE CHRIST. WITH HIS SOUL UNITED TO HIS DIVINE PERSON, JESUS ENCOUNTERED IN HELL THE RIGHTEOUS WHO WERE AWAITING THEIR REDEEMER IN ORDER TO ATTAIN AT LAST THE VISION OF GOD.

AFTER HAVING CONQUERED, BY HIS DEATH, DEATH AND THE DEVIL « WHO HAS THE POWER OF DEATH » (He 2.14), JESUS FREED THE RIGHTEOUS WHO WERE AWAITING THE REDEEMER AND HE OPENED TO THEM THE GATES OF HEAVEN.

Jesus descended into Hell to « preach to the spirits in prison, who formerly had refused to believe, when the patience of God waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. » (1 Pt 3.19-20) By preaching the Gospel, « even to the dead » (1 Pt 4.6) of the past centuries, Jesus gave them the grace of entering into the path of salvation through faith in His Mystery, at last revealed to their eyes.

The Devil reigned in the world, following the sin of our first parents. Satan became « the Prince of this world »: « Jesus entered into this world in order to conquer, to overthrow this order established by Satan, in order to deliver the captives and to give every oppressor his due » (G. de Nantes, The Revolution of Jesus, CRC n° 73, October 1973, p. 7)

126. WHAT PLACE DOES THE RESURRECTION HOLD IN OUR FAITH?

• THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS IS THE HIGHEST TRUTH OF OUR FAITH IN CHRIST.

WITH THE CROSS, IT REPRESENTS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE PASCAL MYSTERY.

The Cross and the Resurrection are inseparable

« There was only a resurrection of Christ by virtue of His death on the Cross. This is not a statement of the obvious. It is the infinite holiness, perfection and merit of this death which, as it were, forced the Father to raise up and glorify His Son, as St. Paul expresses it, or according to St. John, that warranted Christ to raise Himself from the dead.

« Such is the Good News that, enclosed in the Mystery of the Cross, bursts out on Easter morning into that of the Resurrection. Death and sin are conquered, Satan flees, the Kingdom of God is established, and Eternal Life is opened to men in their body and soul. Jesus Christ alone, through His patience and His divine energy, did this. The face of the earth will be changed by it. » (G. de Nantes, The Mystery of the Resurrection, CRC n° 71, August 1973, p. 3)

127. WHAT ARE THE “SIGNS” THAT ATTEST TO THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS?

• BESIDES THE PRINCIPLE SIGN CONSTITUTED BY THE EMPTY TOMB, THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS IS ATTESTED BY THE WOMEN WHO ENCOUNTERED HIM FIRST AND ANNOUNCED IT TO THE APOSTLES.

JESUS « APPEARED TO CEPHAS (PETER), THEN TO THE TWELVE. THEN HE APPEARED TO MORE THAN FIVE HUNDRED BRETHREN AT ONE TIME » (1 Co 15.5-6) AND TO YET OTHERS. THE APOSTLES WERE INCAPABLE OF INVENTING THE RESURRECTION, FOR IT SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE TO THEM: IN FACT, JESUS EVEN BLAMED THEIR INCREDULITY.

After His death He was entombed. When the Holy Women returned there, but not the Virgin Mary, for new funeral rites and His final burial, He was no longer there. This is an unprecedented proof, when you think of it, which put the Jews in an extraordinary predicament. They immediately paid the guards to say that the Body had been taken away during their sleep. Believe if you will guards who were sleeping, scoffed St. Augustine. Who took Him and where did he put Him? Completely at a loss, the Jews never searched. They did not send a commission to the tomb; they never brought proceedings against the Apostles for violation of a tomb, a crime that was punishable by death. This is a proof that is reinforced by the scientific study of the Holy Shroud of Turin: conserved throughout the centuries, it bears the marks of the presence of a body. What became of this body?

The apparitions to the Holy Women, to the Apostles, to the disciples, who had all lost confidence, gave them the key to the mystery: Jesus had risen! So that they would be unable to doubt, He ate with them and let them handle Him:

« They were startled and frightened, and supposed that they saw a spirit. He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me, and see; for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” As He said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. While they still disbelieved and wondered for joy, He said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and He took it and ate in their presence. » (Lk 24.37-43)

128. WHY IS THE RESURRECTION ALSO A TRANSCENDENT EVENT?

• ALTHOUGH IT IS A HISTORICAL EVENT, OBSERVABLE AND ATTESTED BY SIGNS AND TESTIMONIES, THE RESURRECTION, AS THE ENTRY OF THE HUMANITY OF CHRIST INTO THE GLORY OF GOD, TRANSCENDS AND SURPASSES HISTORY, AS A MYSTERY OF FAITH. FOR THIS REASON, THE RISEN CHRIST DID NOT MANIFEST HIMSELF TO THE WORLD, BUT TO HIS DISCIPLES, MAKING THEM HIS WITNESSES BEFORE THE PEOPLE.

The Resurrection, explained the Abbé de Nantes in His “kerygmatic theology”, is « a visible, historical, human fact, of the objective order of empirical observation and scientific reasoning, and at the same time, but at a different degree of depth, it is a divine design to which human intelligence can only accede through the Faith. »

This is why the event of the Resurrection, in its materiality as a historical fact, « plainly deserves the name of miracle »; and the same event as the glorification of Christ, in its most profound, immense and ineffable religious sense, deserves the name of mystery. « It is thus that the very first kerygma of the apostolic Church proposed it to the faith of the believers: a miracle replete with mystery, an unprecedented fact that reveals and achieves the completion of the divine plans of human and cosmic salvation: the Resurrection opens the last phase of history and opens onto the end of time. » (CRC n° 71, p. 3)

129. IN WHAT STATE IS THE RESURRECTED BODY OF JESUS?

• THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST WAS NOT A RETURN TO EARTHLY LIFE. HIS RESURRECTED BODY IS THE VERY SAME ONE THAT WAS CRUCIFIED AND THAT BEARS THE STIGMATA OF HIS PASSION, BUT HENCEFORTH IT PARTICIPATES IN THE DIVINE LIFE, WITH THE PROPERTIES OF A GLORIFIED BODY. FOR THIS REASON, THE RISEN JESUS IS SOVEREIGNLY FREE TO APPEAR TO HIS DISCIPLES, AS HE WISHES AND WHERE HE WISHES, AND UNDER VARIOUS ASPECTS.

« It is not a “survival”, nor the “reanimating of a cadaver”, by some human technique or some exterior force. It is the reactivation of the immanent force, it is the unfurling of the soul in the body that it had left: the individual life of Jesus thus continues, with all its experience, as our conscious life resumes upon awakening…

« the same, risen Jesus, however, already entered, to the eyes of His apostles, into a different state. His victory over death conferred on Him another life, which no longer consisted in eating, drinking and sleeping in order to survive. He only retained from corporeal life its highest purpose. Thus, He no longer needed to eat; yet He could still do so and in fact He ate precisely in order to make His own recognise Him, to prove to them the reality of His risen Body, and to give them the very human joy of a fraternal meal. In Heaven, we will thus be able to eat!

« It is the same Jesus of Nazareth in all His concrete individuality: His Face, His stigmata, His place in history, His relations with His entourage, His mission that continues. He comes back to pursue His task of establishing the Kingdom of Heaven. His new condition frees Him of former constraints and gives Him a spiritual freedom in which His Body is the more perfect instrument of His multiple volitions of presence and action. Such will be the state of men at the resurrection of the flesh, for good or for ill. » (ibid., p. 14)

130. HOW IS RESURRECTION THE WORK OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY?

• THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST IS A TRANSCENDENT WORK OF GOD. THE THREE PERSONS ACT TOGETHER ACCORDING TO THEIR OWN PROPER CHARACTERISTICS: THE FATHER MANIFESTS HIS POWER, THE SON « TAKES UP AGAIN » THE LIFE THAT HE FREELY OFFERED (Jn 10.17), REUNITING HIS SOUL AND HIS BODY, WHICH THE SPIRIT VIVIFIES AND GLORIFIES.

According to St. Paul, Jesus, « descended from David according to the flesh », is a man in the full meaning of the term by his human filiation, but He was « manifested as the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead » (Rm 1.3-4). He is the Son of God from all eternity, but He appeared as such when God His Father took Him from the tomb while giving Him glory and power. This is what confirmed the truth of His Gospel. No dead man can rise from the dead by his own strength. The Son of God was raised by His Father.

Yet St. John heard Jesus announce that He Himself would take back his bodily life: « For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life, that I may take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again; this charge I have received from My Father. » (Jn 10.17-18)

131. WHAT ARE THE MEANING AND IMPACT OF THE RESURRECTION?

• THE RESURRECTION IS THE CULMINATION OF THE INCARNATION. IT CONFIRMS THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST, AS WELL AS EVERYTHING THAT HE DID AND TAUGHT. IT FULFILS ALL OF THE DIVINE PROMISES IN OUR FAVOUR. MOREOVER, THE RISEN ONE, THE CONQUEROR OF SIN AND DEATH, IS THE PRINCIPLE OF OUR OWN JUSTIFICATION AND RESURRECTION. HENCEFORTH, THE RESURRECTION PROCURES US THE GRACE OF FILIAL ADOPTION, WHICH IS A REAL PARTICIPATION IN HIS LIFE AS ONLY SON; WHO, AT THE END OF TIME, WILL RAISE UP OUR BODIES.

The Resurrection of Jesus is the formal testimony that the Heavenly Father gave in favour of His Son, Jesus Christ. It is the proof that Christ is not an impostor: everything that He said is true; He is the Servant of Yahweh awaited by the Jews, the Son of God made man. The resurrection of Jesus is « the culmination of the Incarnation », because it makes Christ the “universal brother”, the Prince of the world to come, the only Messiah capable of changing the course of history and of saving us from death.

Through His glorified Body, Jesus enters into an infinitely open and perfect communication with humanity and with the very universe. « The glorious Body of Jesus, rewarded for His Sacrifice, went beyond the limits imposed on it by its earthly condition, and it is now able to respond to all the expectations, demands and impulses of His Soul. It is the perfect instrument of communion with these thousands and millions of beings whom His Heart loves and wants to touch in order to take possession of them and save them! » (ibid., p. 14)

He is the first to have walked down a path where everyone will follow Him. All will take up their flesh in the tomb as He did, some for a life of salvation and others for a life of damnation.

« Jesus ascended into Heaven;
He is seated at the right hand of the Father Almighty »

132. WHAT DOES THE ASCENSION REPRESENT?

• AFTER FORTY DAYS DURING WHICH HE APPEARED TO THE APOSTLES UNDER THE APPEARANCE OF AN ORDINARY HUMANITY THAT VEILED HIS GLORY AS THE RISEN ONE, CHRIST ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN AND SITS AT THE RIGHT HAND OF HIS FATHER. HE IS THE LORD WHO REIGNS HENCEFORTH WITH HIS HUMANITY IN THE ETERNAL GLORY OF THE SON OF GOD, AND HE IS CONSTANTLY INTERCEDING FOR US BEFORE THE FATHER. HE SENDS US HIS SPIRIT AND GIVES US THE HOPE OF JOINING HIM ONE DAY, IN THE PLACE THAT HE IS PREPARING FOR US.

The Resurrection of Christ is followed by His Ascension. After having clearly demonstrated to the Apostles that He was risen, Jesus ascended to Heaven before their very eyes. This last apparition did not end, as the others had, with his disappearance: he raised Himself into Heaven by a physical displacement, in order to show to His own that hereafter He dwells in Heaven, whence He governs the earth as the « Lord of lords and the King of kings. »

All previous history had already been governed by God « with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm », in order to lead to Christ and to the institution of His Kingdom. Now He Himself is the new and eternal « Judge » and « King » who must govern the world « with a rod of iron ». As did the Judges of the Old Testament, Gideon, Jephte, Samson, as did Moses the legislator, as did the kings David, Salomon, Ezechias, Josias, His ancestors, Jesus governs His holy People and victoriously wages the combats of God.

With this difference: as much as the history of the Old Testament was a series of ruptures, declines, punishments and resumptions, the history of the Church is one of a continually growing fullness. For how long? Until His return.

Thus, the Apostles returned to Jerusalem, all joyful, knowing that Our Lord was going to help them with His power from Heaven and was soon going to send them, as He had promised, the Holy Spirit, this other Comforter, so that they would not remain orphans.

« FROM WHENCE HE WILL COME TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD. »

133. HOW DOES THE LORD JESUS NOW REIGN?

• LORD OF THE WORLD AND OF HISTORY, THE HEAD OF HIS CHURCH, THE GLORIFIED CHRIST MYSTERIOUSLY REMAINS ON EARTH, WHERE HIS REIGN IS ALREADY PRESENT IN THE BUD AND HAS BEGUN IN THE CHURCH. HE WILL RETURN IN GLORY ONE DAY, BUT WE DO NOT KNOW WHEN. THIS IS WHY WE LIVE AND KEEP WATCH WHILE PRAYING: « COME, LORD JESUS! » (Ap 22.20)

« He, Himself, announced the first display of His judgements: the fall of Jerusalem as the manifestation of His glory and already his return as a conqueror.

« The Apocalypse announced the second: the fall of the great Babylon, pagan Rome, as a divine vengeance for the blood of the martyrs... We must therefore be prudently audacious in the interpretation of this article of our Creed. The return of Jesus as a judge who comes to help the persecuted righteous and bring down the impious set against Him did occur, and will occur again in numerous stages of history. Thus, from victory to victory, He will institute His actual universal reign; He will dominate all peoples from one pole of the world to the other, fulfilling the prophecies. We have not seen anything yet, in comparison with what our eyes will see, perhaps even during our lifetime... » (Georges de Nantes, Toute Notre Religion, p. 35)

134. HOW WILL THE COMING OF OUR LORD IN GLORY BE ACCOMPLISHED?

• AFTER THE ULTIMATE COSMIC CONVULSION OF THIS PASSING WORLD, THE GLORIOUS COMING OF CHRIST WILL INTERVENE WITH THE DEFINITIVE TRIUMPH OF GOD IN THE PAROUSIA AND WITH THE LAST JUDGEMENT. THUS, THE REIGN OF GOD WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED.

« In the very end, undoubtedly, the present world and its history will end. The earth will burn; the heavens will be rolled up like a cloth. Then “the Son of Man will appear on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Mt 24.30), to judge the living and the dead. The living and the dead, this means those who will still be living and those who, dead, will rise from the tomb, but also the living and the dead souls, the righteous and the wicked. » (ibid., p. 36)

135. HOW WILL CHRIST JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD?

• CHRIST WILL JUDGE WITH THE POWER THAT HE ACQUIRED AS THE REDEEMER OF THE WORLD, WHO CAME TO SAVE MEN. THE SECRETS OF HEARTS WILL BE REVEALED, AS WELL AS THE CONDUCT OF EACH ONE TOWARDS GOD AND NEIGHBOUR. EVERY MAN WILL BE FILLED WITH LIFE OR DAMNED FOR ETERNITY ACCORDING TO HIS WORKS. THUS WILL COME ABOUT « THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST » (Ep 4.13), IN WHICH « GOD WILL BE ALL IN ALL » (1 Co 15.28).

« As for this judgement, it is He, Jesus Christ, who will render it, according to His Truth, His Will and His Law. The sentence of salvation will proceed from His Heart for those who will have believed in His Name, hoped for His Reign, and loved His precepts, as will the sentence of condemnation for those who will not have accepted Him through faith, His Kingdom in hope, and His saints with charity.

« Then there will be a new heaven and a new earth. All things will be renewed and Our Lord Jesus Christ will offer His Kingdom to His Father. » (ibid.) (to be continued)

Frère Bruno de Jésus.