At each Sunday mass we repeat the Nicene Creed, which is a condensed statement of our faith formulated by the Church Fathers for all Christian churches. In it we solemnly profess all that has been revealed to us by God and we hold it to be true. There are a couple of lines of the Creed that focus on the mission of Jesus Christ, which I would like to expound in this letter. In the Creed we say:
“I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ… For us men and for our salvation/ He came down from heaven.../ For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate,/ He suffered death and was buried,/ and rose again on the third day…” (Nicene Creed)
Whenever we profess this belief we recognize the mission of Jesus Christ on earth, which is the redemption and salvation of human souls. Not denying that every word and deed of Jesus was very important, we must understand that Jesus’s mission of salvation was accomplished solely on the cross. It was His sacrifice for our sake that gained an infinite value for the salvation of the world. The Letter to the Hebrews (this Sunday second reading) emphasizes this truth:
“Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” (Hebrews 5:9)
Our Blessed Lord Jesus did what no human being could do. Namely, Jesus offered Himself as the sacrificial Lamb on the altar of the cross so that we all might have life. While preaching about this, the servant of God Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen said, “Every man is born in this world to live, Christ was born to die.” It was the purpose of Jesus’s life to save the mankind from eternal damnation. Thus, although Jesus performed many miracles, none of those obtained our salvation; they were only signs of God’s power active in Jesus. The miracles only indicated that God wanted our salvation and our wellbeing (blessedness) in this life too. Christ’s public ministry was leading to the ultimate goal – death on the Cross-, through which the resurrection will be possible. The life of Jesus set up an example for the way each believer should walk. In fact, Jesus is the Way leading to true life. But it is the way that requires faith. As St. Paul writes, “We walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). If you have faith in the Lord Jesus, then you will see the purposefulness of all He did. But most of all, you will see the meaning of His death on the Cross. Jesus was trying to teach that His disciples. For that reason He spoke to them about dying and carrying the cross. Thus, this Sunday’s gospel pericope should be read in the context of the Cross of Christ:
“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” (John 12:23-24)
Obviously, Jesus was referring to Himself, for He is the Bread of Life. – Like grain Jesus had been immolated and became the Bread of Heaven. The grain that had to die was Christ in His body, but it is also each baptized person. But Jesus also invites us to imitate Him in dying to ourselves. Each one of us must die to sin in order to enjoy the happiness of holy life and to be with Christ forever. However, it means that we must embrace the cross and accept suffering. While meditating upon the mysteries of Jesus’s passion, death, and resurrection, let us nail our pain and anxieties to the Cross of Christ. For it is through Jesus on the Cross they gain a new meaning and become the sources of blessings.
I wish you all a blessed week. Fr. Janusz Mocarski, pastor