Pastoral and Missionary Commission

THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AN OPEN BOOK FOR STRENGTHENING THE FAITH

Sergio Pintor

In the Apostolic Constitution Fidei Depositum John Paul II links the consignment of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, as an instrument for teaching the faith, to the evangelizing purpose of the Second Vatican Council and its teachings. It is, therefore, no surprise that in the programmatic indications for the preparation of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, in a context of new evangelization, the Pope speaks, in the Letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente, of the importance of studying the Catechism of the Catholic Church throughout the Jubilee preparations, and particularly in the year 1997, which focuses on an intense reflection on the mystery of Christ (cf. TMA 42). Consequently it may be useful to recall, in broad terms, how the Catechism of the Catholic Church can promote and sustain a renewed path of catechesis in our communities, centred on the proclamation and a vital knowledge of Jesus Christ, for an adhesion to belief in his Person and in his mystery of salvation.

Jesus Christ, the encounter with God

«For a Christian, believing in God cannot be separated from believing in the One he sent, his "beloved Son", in whom the Father is "well pleased"(Mk 1,11)»(CCC 151). Indeed, we can believe in God because He whom he sent exists: «He "has seen the Father" (Jn 6,46), Jesus Christ is the only one who knows him and can reveal him» (CCC 151). Therefore, professing belief in God is sharing, in a certain sense, what Jesus Christ has seen. In the faith he allows us to see, with Him, what he has seen. Jesus Christ introduces us to the mystery of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

It is not by chance that the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in its first page, opens with a sentence from St John's Gospel. «Father,... this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent» (Jn 17,3). It almost seems that it wants to remind us immediately that at the centre of the Christian faith, and its transmission and knowledge, there is the person of Jesus Christ: he who fully reveals the face of God and the face of man. Therefore, believing in Jesus Christ involves much more than simply external or theoretical knowledge. It requires a deep relationship of friendship, entering into communion with Him, letting oneself be seized by Him and brought to the Father's love.

In this perspective the Catechism of the Catholic Church presents and fully explains the faith professed by the Church in the totality of the mystery of Jesus: God's only Son and our Lord, true God and true man, born of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, revealer of God's love with his words and deeds, who died for us and rose again, man's redeemer, glorious Lord and judge of history.

Though the progress of our search is slow, we are obviously invited not to approach the person of Jesus in a reductive or subjective manner, nor with neutral attitudes, but we must let ourselves become involved with him and accept all his richness "destined for each man" and as the "good of each man".

In fact, in virtue of his Incarnation and Resurrection, the mystery of Christ is not a reality external to any person, but it takes possession of all in a stream of salvation and love. With his whole life, Jesus reveals God's love and mercy to each person and in every situation. His is a mystery of communion: while he reveals God's love to us, he makes it known to us and makes us sharers in it: «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» (1 Jn 4,9).

In Jesus, God deigns to come down on our wounded humanity in order to raise us up, reconcile us and save us. In this regard the Catechism cites a beautiful passage from St Gregory of Nyssa: «Sick, our nature demanded to be healed; fallen, to be raised up; dead, to rise again. We had lost the possession of the good; it was necessary for it to be given back to us. Closed in the darkness, it was necessary to bring us the light; captives, we awaited a Savior; prisoners, help; slaves, a liberator. Are these things minor or insignificant? Did they not move God to descend to human nature and visit it, since humanity was in so miserable and unhappy a state?» (CCC 457).

They are words which reach us even today and give us hope in our expectation of salvation within our humanly limited experiences. When we say, «I believe in Jesus Christ» and, with the Church, profess our faith in Him, true God and true man, we express the whole richness and closeness of his mystery.

At the centre of catechesis: the good news of Jesus Christ

The Catechism of the Catholic Church wants to remind our Christian communities, on their way towards the Great Jubilee of the Incarnation, that «the transmission of the Christian faith consists primarily in proclaiming Jesus Christ in order to lead others to faith in him» (CCC 425), and to re-waken in them the first disciples' burning missionary desire to proclaim Christ: «We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard» (Acts 4,20). The good news for every catechist is Jesus Christ, the Only Saviour of the world.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church recalls in this regard the declarations of the exhortation Catechesi Tradendae (cf. CCC 425-428). The heart of catechesis is, in essence, a person, Jesus Christ (cf. CT 5; CCC 426). «In catechesis it is Christ, the Incarnate Word and Son of God, who is taught - everything else is taught with reference to Him...» (CT 6; CCC 427). And the aim of catechesis is to «put people in communion» with him: «only he can lead us to the love of the Father in the Spirit and make us share in the life of the Holy Trinity» (CT 5; CCC 426).

This is the perspective and key for interpreting the Christology in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: it refers to our communion with the mystery of Christ. Christ's conception and birth, hidden life and public life, passion and resurrection, are presented within the perspective of the "mysteries of Christ's Life". Going beyond the standpoint of mere imitation of Christ, the "mysteries of Christ's life" are proposed to us as an invitation to a communion of life. There is a key text in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that is significant in this regard. «Christ enables us to live in him all that he himself lived, and he lives it in us. "By his Incarnation, he, the Son of God, has in a certain way united himself with each man" (GS 22). We are called only to become one with him, for he enables us as the members of his Body to share in what he lived for us in his flesh as our model...» (CCC 521).