Week 8: Passages 396-445

This week we read passages 396- 445, days 50-56 on the CHN guide.

We are finishing the section on man being made in the image of God:

III. Original Sin

“The ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ symbolically evokes the
insurmountable limits that man, being a creature, must freely recognize and
respect with trust. Man is dependent on his Creator and subject to the
laws of creation and to the moral norms that govern the use of freedom.” (CCC
396)

Man was tempted by the devil and allowed his trust in God to die in his heart. He abused his freedom, disobeyed God, preferring himself over God.

The consequences of this sin are that Adam and Eve immediately lose their original holiness. They lose control over their bodies, relationships between men and women become subject to tension, and harmony with creation is broken. And death comes to man.
After the first sin, the world is inundated with sin, and all men are made sinners. We are all born with original sin, the “death of the soul” (CCC 403) which is a reason that the Church baptizes infants.
Original is transmitted to all of Adam’s descendents, it is a state and not an act. It is not a personal fault but a deprivation of original holiness and justice. Human nature is not totally corrupted but it is wounded, this inclination to evil is called concupiscence. The whole world is in the power of the evil one, and thus our lives are a battle.
God did not abandon man. There is a passage in Genesis called the Protoevangelium (first gospel) which announces the victory of a descendent of Woman over the serpent. The woman is Mary (the new Eve) and Christ is the new Adam.
Why didn’t God prevent man from sinning in the first place? St. Leo the Great tells us:

“Christ’s inexpressible grace gave us blessing better than those the demon’s
envy had taken away.” (CCC 412)

And St. Paul says:

“Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” (CCC 412)

Chapter Two: I Believe in Jesus Christ, The Only Son of God

“’But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman,
born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might
receive the adoption as sons.’ This is ‘the gospel of Jesus Christ the son
of God’: God has visited his people. He has fulfilled the promise he made
to Abraham and his descendents. He acted far beyond all expectation – he has
sent his own ‘beloved Son.’” (CCC 422)

The transmission of the Christian faith consists of proclaiming Jesus Christ in order to lead others to him. The heart of catechesis is a Person. The aim of catechesis is to put people in communion with Jesus Christ, the one who can lead them to the love of the Father in the Spirit and share in the life of the Holy Trinity.
It is Christ alone who teaches, everyone else teaches to the extent that they are God’s spokesperson.

“Whoever is called ‘to teach Christ’ must first seek ‘the surpassing worth of
knowing Christ Jesus’; he must suffer ‘the loss of all things…’in order to ‘gain
Christ and be found in him,’ and ‘to know him and the power of his resurrection,
and [to] share his sufferings, becoming like him in death, that if possible [he]
may attain the resurrection from the dead.’” (CCC 428)

To this end the next passages will cover the parts of the Creed detailing Jesus’ titles: “Christ”, “Son of God”, and “Lord”.

I. Jesus
At the annunciation the angel Gabriel gave Jesus his name which means “God Saves”. The name “Jesus” signifies that the very name of God is present in his Son.

“It is the divine name that alone brings salvation, and henceforth all can
invoke his name, for Jesus united himself to all men through his Incarnation, so
that ‘there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be
saved.’” (CCC 432)

The name of Jesus is the heart of Christian prayer.

II. Christ
The word “Christ” comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew “Messiah”, which means “anointed”. In Israel those consecrated to God (kings, prophets, and priests) in a mission that he gave were anointed in his name. Jesus fulfilled all three posts: he was a king, a prophet, and a priest.

III. The Only Son of God
In the Old Testament, “son of God” could refer to all of the children of Israel, implying their close relationship with God. So when the Messiah was called “son of God” it didn’t necessarily mean anything special. It was Simon Peter who by the Holy Spirit was allowed to confess Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus himself emphasized this distinction by never saying to his disciples “our Father” (except when he was instructing them in how to pray) but rather “my Father and your Father”. At the Baptism and Transfiguration of Christ the Scriptures reveal that God referred to Jesus as his “beloved son”. After his Resurrection Jesus’ divine Sonship is revealed through his glorified humanity. The apostles confess:

“We have beheld hid glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of
grace and truth.” (CCC 445)

Questions for reflection:

• The passages (CCC 385-409) on the fall really got me thinking about concupiscence and its effects on my daily life, in a way I never really had before. I’m starting to see all the disorder in our world much more clearly in the light of the teachings on creation and original sin. CCC 407 states, “Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action, and morals.” As mothers, whether we home educate or not we are still our child’s first teachers. How do we account for man’s wounded nature both in our children and ourselves?





• CCC 428 -429 state that to teach Christ we must seek knowledge of Christ, we must suffer the loss of all things in order to be found in Christ. From this knowledge will spring a desire to proclaim him. Are you actively seeking knowledge of Christ? I can personally testify to the fact that reading the Catechism like this is really given me a deeper understanding and more of a desire to evangelize to my children and others!





• CCC 435 tells us that the name of Jesus is the heart of Christian prayer. Do you incorporate the name of Jesus in your prayers?