November 3: Exploring God the Son

God the Son

 

In order to know someone we must spend time with that person.  After a while we can probably answer the question: What do I like about this person?  Or what are their qualities?

 

As we enter the next theme in our Catechesis, the month of November will be dedicated to God the Son.  The Outline of Faith in the back of our prayer book gives these questions and answers:

God the Son

Q.	What do we mean when we say that Jesus is the only Son of God?
A	We mean that Jesus is the only perfect image of the Father, and shows us the nature of God.
Q.	What is the nature of God revealed in Jesus?
A.	God is love.
Q.	What do we mean when we say that Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and became incarnate from the Virgin Mary?
A.	We mean that by God's own act, his divine Son received our human nature from the Virgin Mary, his mother.

 

Catechism     849

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Q.	Why did he take our human nature?
A.	The divine Son became human, so that in him human beings might be adopted as children of God, and be made heirs of God's kingdom.
Q.	What is the great importance of Jesus' suffering and death?
A.	By his obedience, even to suffering and death, Jesus made the offering which we could not make; in him we are freed from the power of sin and reconciled to God.
Q.	What is the significance of Jesus' resurrection?
A.	By his resurrection, Jesus overcame death and opened for us the way of eternal life.
Q.	What do we mean when we say that he descended to the dead?
A.	We mean that he went to the departed and offered them also the benefits of redemption.
Q.	What do we mean when we say that he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father?
A.	We mean that Jesus took our human nature into heaven where he now reigns with the Father and intercedes for us.
Q.	How can we share in his victory over sin, suffering, and death?
A.	We share in his victory when we are baptized into the New Covenant and become living members of Christ.

 

This Sunday we will explore who we at St. Benedict’s answer these questions about who Jesus is?  What qualities do we most like about Jesus and how might we emulate those qualities to others?

 

Finally, being All Saints’ Sunday, we will look at how those qualities of God have been expressed in those who have gone before.  If we have time, we will get into the “official” process for sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church and how we define that process in our Anglican Tradition.

 

See you Sunday at 9:15 to kick off another theme with a bagel and a cup of coffee.

 

~Brian