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§600
To God, all moments of time are present in their immediacy. When therefore he
establishes his eternal plan of «predestination» , he includes in it
each person's free response to his grace: «In this city, in fact, both
Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered
together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever
your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.» 395 For the
sake of accomplishing his plan of salvation, God permitted the acts that flowed
from their blindness.396
«He died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures»
§601
The Scriptures had foretold this divine plan of salvation through the putting
to death of «the righteous one, my Servant» as a mystery of universal
redemption, that is, as the ransom that would free men from the slavery of
sin.397 Citing a confession of faith that he himself had
«received» , St. Paul professes that «Christ died for our sins in
accordance with the scriptures.» 398 In particular Jesus'
redemptive death fulfils Isaiah's prophecy of the suffering Servant.399
Indeed Jesus himself explained the meaning of his life and death in the light
of God's suffering Servant.400 After his Resurrection he gave this
interpretation of the Scriptures to the disciples at Emmaus, and then to the apostles.401
«For our sake God made him to be sin»
§602
Consequently, St. Peter can formulate the apostolic faith in the divine plan of
salvation in this way: «You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited
from your fathers... with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb
without blemish or spot. He was destined before the foundation of the world but
was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake.» 402 Man's
sins, following on original sin, are punishable by death.403 By sending
his own Son in the form of a slave, in the form of a fallen humanity, on
account of sin, God «made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we
might become the righteousness of God.» 404
§603
Jesus did not experience reprobation as if he himself had sinned.405
But in the redeeming love that always united him to the Father, he assumed us
in the state of our waywardness of sin, to the point that he could say in our
name from the cross: «My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?» 406 Having thus established him in solidarity with us sinners,
God «did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all» , so that
we might be «reconciled to God by the death of his Son» .407
God takes the initiative of universal redeeming love
§604
By giving up his own Son for our sins, God manifests that his plan for us is
one of benevolent love, prior to any merit on our part: «In this is love,
not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation
for our sins.» 408 God «shows his love for us in that while we
were yet sinners Christ died for us.» 409
§605
At the end of the parable of the lost sheep Jesus recalled that God's love excludes
no one: «So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of
these little ones should perish.» 410 He affirms that he came
«to give his life as a ransom for many»; this last term is not
restrictive, but contrasts the whole of humanity with the unique person of the
redeemer who hands himself over to save us.411 The Church, following
the apostles, teaches that Christ died for all men without exception:
«There is not, never has been, and never will be a single human being for
whom Christ did not suffer.» 412
III. CHRIST OFFERED HIMSELF TO HIS FATHER FOR OUR SINS
Christ's whole life is an offering to the Father
§606
The Son of God, who came down «from heaven, not to do (his) own will, but
the will of him who sent (him)» ,413 said on coming into the world,
«Lo, I have come to do your will, O God.» «and by that will we
have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for
all.» 414 From the first moment of his Incarnation the Son embraces
the Father's plan of divine salvation in his redemptive mission: «My food
is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his
work.» 415 The sacrifice of Jesus «for the sins of the whole
world» 416 expresses his loving communion with the Father.
«The Father loves me, because I lay down my life» , said the Lord,
«(for) I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know
that I love the Father.» 417
§607
The desire to embrace his Father's plan of redeeming love inspired Jesus' whole
life,418 for his redemptive passion was the very reason for his
Incarnation. and so he asked, «and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from
this hour'? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour.» 419 and
again, «Shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given
me?» 420 From the cross, just before «It is finished» , he
said, «I thirst.» 421
«The Lamb who takes away the sin of the world»
§608
After agreeing to baptize him along with the sinners, John the Baptist looked
at Jesus and pointed him out as the «Lamb of God, who takes away the sin
of the world» .422 By doing so, he reveals that Jesus is at the
same time the suffering Servant who silently allows himself to be led to the
slaughter and who bears the sin of the multitudes, and also the Paschal Lamb,
the symbol of Israel's redemption at the first Passover.423 Christ's
whole life expresses his mission: «to serve, and to give his life as a ransom
for many.» 424
Jesus freely embraced the Father's redeeming love
§609
By embracing in his human heart the Father's love for men, Jesus «loved
them to the end» , for «greater love has no man than this, that a man
lay down his life for his friends.» 425 In suffering and death his
humanity became the free and perfect instrument of his divine love which
desires the salvation of men.426 Indeed, out of love for his Father and
for men, whom the Father wants to save, Jesus freely accepted his Passion and
death: «No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own
accord.» 427 Hence the sovereign freedom of God's Son as he went
out to his death.428
At the Last Supper Jesus anticipated the free offering of his life
§610
Jesus gave the supreme expression of his free offering of himself at the meal
shared with the twelve Apostles «on the night he was
betrayed» .429 On the eve of his Passion, while still free, Jesus
transformed this Last Supper with the apostles into the memorial of his
voluntary offering to the Father for the salvation of men: «This is my
body which is given for you.» «This is my blood of the covenant,
which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.» 430
§611
The Eucharist that Christ institutes at that moment will be the memorial of his
sacrifice.431 Jesus includes the apostles in his own offering and bids
them perpetuate it.432 By doing so, the Lord institutes his apostles as
priests of the New Covenant: «For their sakes I sanctify myself, so that
they also may be sanctified in truth.» 433
The agony at Gethsemani
§612
The cup of the New Covenant, which Jesus anticipated when he offered himself at
the Last Supper, is afterwards accepted by him from his Father's hands in his
agony in the garden at Gethsemani,434 making himself «obedient
unto death» . Jesus prays: «My Father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. . .» 435 Thus he expresses the horror that death
represented for his human nature. Like ours, his human nature is destined for
eternal life; but unlike ours, it is perfectly exempt from sin, the cause of
death.436 Above all, his human nature has been assumed by the divine
person of the «Author of life» , the «Living
One» .437 By accepting in his human will that the Father's will be
done, he accepts his death as redemptive, for «he himself bore our sins in
his body on the tree.» 438
Christ's death is the unique and definitive sacrifice
§613
Christ's death is both the Paschal sacrifice that accomplishes the definitive
redemption of men, through «the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the
world» ,439 and the sacrifice of the New Covenant, which restores
man to communion with God by reconciling him to God through the «blood of
the covenant, which was poured out for many for the forgiveness of
sins» .440
§614
This sacrifice of Christ is unique; it completes and surpasses all other
sacrifices.441 First, it is a gift from God the Father himself, for the
Father handed his Son over to sinners in order to reconcile us with himself. At
the same time it is the offering of the Son of God made man, who in freedom and
love offered his life to his Father through the Holy Spirit in reparation for
our disobedience.442
Jesus substitutes his obedience for our disobedience
§615
«For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man's
obedience many will be made righteous.» 443 By his obedience unto
death, Jesus accomplished the substitution of the suffering Servant, who
«makes himself an offering for sin» , when «he bore the sin of
many» , and who «shall make many to be accounted righteous» , for
«he shall bear their iniquities» .444 Jesus atoned for our
faults and made satisfaction for our sins to the Father.445
Jesus consummates his sacrifice on the cross
§616
It is love «to the end» 446 that confers on Christ's sacrifice
its value as redemption and reparation, as atonement and satisfaction. He knew
and loved us all when he offered his life.447 Now «the love of
Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all;
therefore all have died.» 448 No man, not even the holiest, was
ever able to take on himself the sins of all men and offer himself as a
sacrifice for all. the existence in Christ of the divine person of the Son, who
at once surpasses and embraces all human persons, and constitutes himself as
the Head of all mankind, makes possible his redemptive sacrifice for all.
§617
The Council of Trent emphasizes the unique character of Christ's sacrifice as
«the source of eternal salvation» 449 and teaches that
«his most holy Passion on the wood of the cross merited justification for
us.» 450 and the Church venerates his cross as she sings:
«Hail, O Cross, our only hope.» 451
Our participation in Christ's sacrifice
§618
The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ, the «one mediator between God
and men» .452 But because in his incarnate divine person he has in
some way united himself to every man, «the possibility of being made
partners, in a way known to God, in the paschal mystery» is offered to all
men.453 He calls his disciples to «take up [their] cross and
follow (him)» ,454 for «Christ also suffered for (us), leaving
(us) an example so that (we) should follow in his steps.» 455 In
fact Jesus desires to associate with his redeeming sacrifice those who were to
be its first beneficiaries.456 This is achieved supremely in the case
of his mother, who was associated more intimately than any other person in the
mystery of his redemptive suffering.457 Apart from the cross there is
no other ladder by which we may get to heaven.458
IN BRIEF
§619
«Christ died for our
sins in accordance with the scriptures» (⇒ I Cor
15:3).
§620
Our salvation flows from
God's initiative of love for us, because «he loved us and sent his Son to
be the expiation for our sins» (⇒ I Jn
4:10). «God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself"
(⇒ 2 Cor 5:19).
§621
Jesus freely offered
himself for our salvation. Beforehand, during the Last Supper, he both symbolized
this offering and made it really present: «This is my body which is given
for you» (⇒ Lk 22:19).
§622
The redemption won by
Christ consists in this, that he came «to give his life as a ransom for many"
(⇒ Mt 20:28), that is, he «loved [his
own] to the end» (⇒ Jn 13:1), so that
they might be «ransomed from the futile ways inherited from [their]
fathers» (⇒ I Pt 1:18).
§623
By his loving obedience
to the Father, «unto death, even death on a cross"
(⇒ Phil 2:8), Jesus fulfils the atoning mission
(cf ⇒ Is 53:10) of the suffering Servant, who
will «make many righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities"
(⇒ Is 53:11; cf. ⇒ Rom
5:19).
Paragraph 3. JESUS CHRIST WAS BURIED
§624
«By the grace of God» Jesus tasted death «for every
one» .459 In his plan of salvation, God ordained that his Son
should not only «die for our sins» 460 but should also
«taste death» , experience the condition of death, the separation of
his soul from his body, between the time he expired on the cross and the time
he was raised from the dead. the state of the dead Christ is the mystery of the
tomb and the descent into hell. It is the mystery of Holy Saturday, when
Christ, lying in the tomb,461 reveals God's great sabbath
rest462 after the fulfilment463 of man's salvation, which
brings peace to the whole universe.464
Christ in the tomb in his body
§625
Christ's stay in the tomb constitutes the real link between his passible state
before Easter and his glorious and risen state today. the same person of the
«Living One» can say, «I died, and behold I am alive for
evermore":465
God [the Son] did not impede death from separating his soul from his body according to the necessary order of nature, but has reunited them to one another in the Resurrection, so that he himself might be, in his person, the meeting point for death and life, by arresting in himself the decomposition of nature produced by death and so becoming the source of reunion for the separated parts.466
§626
Since the «Author of life» who was killed467 is the same
«living one [who has] risen» ,468 The divine person of the Son
of God necessarily continued to possess his human soul and body, separated from
each other by death:
By the fact that at Chnst's death his soul was separated from his flesh, his one person is not itself divided into two persons; for the human body and soul of Christ have existed in the same way from the beginning of his earthly existence, in the divine person of the Word; and in death, although separated from each other, both remained with one and the same person of the Word.469
«You will not let your Holy One see corruption»
§627
Christ's death was a real death in that it put an end to his earthly human
existence. But because of the union his body retained with the person of the
Son, his was not a mortal corpse like others, for «divine power preserved Christ's
body from corruption.» 470 Both of these statements can be said of
Christ: «He was cut off out of the land of the living» ,471
and «My flesh will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to
Hades, nor let your Holy One see corruption.» 472 Jesus'
Resurrection «on the third day» was the proof of this, for bodily
decay was held to begin on the fourth day after death.473
«Buried with Christ. . .»
§628
Baptism, the original and full sign of which is immersion, efficaciously
signifies the descent into the tomb by the Christian who dies to sin with
Christ in order to live a new life. «We were buried therefore with him by
baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of
the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.» 474
IN BRIEF
§629
To the benefit of every
man, Jesus Christ tasted death (cf ⇒ Heb 2:9). It is
truly the Son of God made man who died and was buried.
§630
During Christ's period in
the tomb, his divine person continued to assume both his soul and his body,
although they were separated from each other by death. For this reason the dead
Christ's body «saw no corruption» (⇒ Acts
13:37).
«HE DESCENDED INTO HELL. ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN»
§631
Jesus «descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is he
who also ascended far above all the heavens.» 475 The Apostles'
Creed confesses in the same article Christ's descent into hell and his
Resurrection from the dead on the third day, because in his Passover it was
precisely out of the depths of death that he made life spring forth:
Christ, that Morning Star, who came back from the dead, and shed his peaceful light on all mankind, your Son who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.476
Paragraph 1. CHRIST DESCENDED INTO HELL
§632
The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was «raised from the
dead» presuppose that the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead
prior to his resurrection.477 This was the first meaning given in the
apostolic preaching to Christ's descent into hell: that Jesus, like all men,
experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead.
But he descended there as Saviour, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits
imprisoned there.478
§633
Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down,
«hell» - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek - because those who are
there are deprived of the vision of God.479 Such is the case for all
the dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does
not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable of the
poor man Lazarus who was received into «Abraham's bosom":480
«It is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Saviour in Abraham's
bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into
hell.» 481 Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned,
nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before
him.482
§634
«The gospel was preached even to the dead.» 483 The descent
into hell brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfilment. This
is the last phase of Jesus' messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in
time but vast in its real significance: the spread of Christ's redemptive work
to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been made
sharers in the redemption.
§635
Christ went down into the depths of death so that «the dead will hear the
voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.» 484 Jesus,
«the Author of life» , by dying destroyed «him who has the power
of death, that is, the devil, and [delivered] all those who through fear of
death were subject to lifelong bondage.» 485 Henceforth the risen
Christ holds «the keys of Death and Hades» , so that «at the name
of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.» 486
Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness. A great silence because the King is asleep. the earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. . . He has gone to search for Adam, our first father, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow Adam in his bonds and Eve, captive with him - He who is both their God and the son of Eve. . . «I am your God, who for your sake have become your son. . . I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead.» 487
IN BRIEF
§636
By the expression
«He descended into hell» , the Apostles' Creed confesses that Jesus
did really die and through his death for us conquered death and the devil
«who has the power of death» (⇒ Heb 2:14).
§637
In his human soul united
to his divine person, the dead Christ went down to the realm of the dead. He
opened heaven's gates for the just who had gone before him.
Paragraph 2. ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD
§638
«We bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this
day he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus.» 488
The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ, a faith
believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community;
handed on as fundamental by Tradition; established by the documents of the New
Testament; and preached as an essential part of the Paschal mystery along with
the cross:
Christ is risen from the dead!
Dying, he conquered death;
To the dead, he has given life.489
I. THE HISTORICAL AND TRANSCENDENT EVENT
§639
The mystery of Christ's resurrection is a real event, with manifestations that
were historically verified, as the New Testament bears witness. In about A.D.
56 St. Paul could already write to the Corinthians: «I delivered to you as
of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in
accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, that he was raised on
the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to
Cephas, then to the Twelve. . .» 490 The Apostle speaks here of the
living tradition of the Resurrection which he had learned after his conversion
at the gates of Damascus.491
The empty tomb
§640
«Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has
risen.» 492 The first element we encounter in the framework of the
Easter events is the empty tomb. In itself it is not a direct proof of
Resurrection; the absence of Christ's body from the tomb could be explained
otherwise.493 Nonetheless the empty tomb was still an essential sign
for all. Its discovery by the disciples was the first step toward recognizing the
very fact of the Resurrection. This was the case, first with the holy women,
and then with Peter.494 The disciple «whom Jesus loved"
affirmed that when he entered the empty tomb and discovered «the linen
cloths lying there» , «he saw and believed» .495 This
suggests that he realized from the empty tomb's condition that the absence of
Jesus' body could not have been of human doing and that Jesus had not simply
returned to earthly life as had been the case with Lazarus.496
The appearances of the Risen One
§641
Mary Magdalene and the holy women who came to finish anointing the body of
Jesus, which had been buried in haste because the Sabbath began on the evening
of Good Friday, were the first to encounter the Risen One.497 Thus the
women were the first messengers of Christ's Resurrection for the apostles
themselves.498 They were the next to whom Jesus appears: first Peter,
then the Twelve. Peter had been called to strengthen the faith of his brothers,499
and so sees the Risen One before them; it is on the basis of his testimony that
the community exclaims: «The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to
Simon!» 500
§642
Everything that happened during those Paschal days involves each of the
apostles - and Peter in particular - in the building of the new era begun on
Easter morning. As witnesses of the Risen One, they remain the foundation
stones of his Church. the faith of the first community of believers is based on
the witness of concrete men known to the Christians and for the most part still
living among them. Peter and the Twelve are the primary «witnesses to his
Resurrection» , but they are not the only ones - Paul speaks clearly of
more than five hundred persons to whom Jesus appeared on a single occasion and
also of James and of all the apostles.501
§643
Given
all these testimonies, Christ's Resurrection cannot be interpreted as something
outside the physical order, and it is impossible not to acknowledge it as an
historical fact. It is clear from the facts that the disciples' faith was
drastically put to the test by their master's Passion and death on the cross,
which he had foretold.502 The shock provoked by the Passion was so great
that at least some of the disciples did not at once believe in the news of the
Resurrection. Far from showing us a community seized by a mystical exaltation,
the Gospels present us with disciples demoralized ("looking
sad» 503) and frightened. For they had not believed the holy women
returning from the tomb and had regarded their words as an «idle
tale» .504 When Jesus reveals himself to the Eleven on Easter
evening, «he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart,
because they had not believed those who saw him after he had
risen.» 505
§644
Even
when faced with the reality of the risen Jesus the disciples are still
doubtful, so impossible did the thing seem: they thought they were seeing a
ghost. «In their joy they were still disbelieving and still
wondering.» 506 Thomas will also experience the test of doubt and
St. Matthew relates that during the risen Lord's last appearance in Galilee
«some doubted.» 507 Therefore the hypothesis that the Resurrection
was produced by the apostles' faith (or credulity) will not hold up. On the
contrary their faith in the Resurrection was born, under the action of divine
grace, from their direct experience of the reality of the risen Jesus.
The condition of Christ's risen humanity
§645
By means of touch and the sharing of a meal, the risen Jesus establishes direct
contact with his disciples. He invites them in this way to recognize that he is
not a ghost and above all to verify that the risen body in which he appears to
them is the same body that had been tortured and crucified, for it still bears
the traces of his Passion.508 Yet at the same time this authentic, real
body possesses the new properties of a glorious body: not limited by space and
time but able to be present how and when he wills; for Christ's humanity can no
longer be confined to earth, and belongs henceforth only to the Father's divine
realm.509 For this reason too the risen Jesus enjoys the sovereign
freedom of appearing as he wishes: in the guise of a gardener or in other forms
familiar to his disciples, precisely to awaken their faith.510
§646
Christ's Resurrection was not a return to earthly life, as was the case with
the raisings from the dead that he had performed before Easter: Jairus'
daughter, the young man of Naim, Lazarus. These actions were miraculous events,
but the persons miraculously raised returned by Jesus' power to ordinary
earthly life. At some particular moment they would die again. Christ's
Resurrection is essentially different. In his risen body he passes from the
state of death to another life beyond time and space. At Jesus' Resurrection
his body is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit: he shares the divine life
in his glorious state, so that St. Paul can say that Christ is «the man of
heaven» .511
The Resurrection as transcendent event
§647
O truly blessed Night, sings the Exsultet of the Easter Vigil, which alone
deserved to know the time and the hour when Christ rose from the realm of the
dead!512 But no one was an eyewitness to Christ's Resurrection and no
evangelist describes it. No one can say how it came about physically. Still
less was its innermost essence, his passing over to another life, perceptible
to the senses. Although the Resurrection was an historical event that could be
verified by the sign of the empty tomb and by the reality of the apostles'
encounters with the risen Christ, still it remains at the very heart of the
mystery of faith as something that transcends and surpasses history. This is
why the risen Christ does not reveal himself to the world, but to his
disciples, «to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who
are now his witnesses to the people.» 513
II. THE RESURRECTION - A WORK OF THE HOLY TRINITY
§648
Christ's Resurrection is an object of faith in that it is a transcendent
intervention of God himself in creation and history. In it the three divine
persons act together as one, and manifest their own proper characteristics. the
Father's power «raised up» Christ his Son and by doing so perfectly
introduced his Son's humanity, including his body, into the Trinity. Jesus is
conclusively revealed as «Son of God in power according to the Spirit of
holiness by his Resurrection from the dead» .514 St. Paul insists
on the manifestation of God's power515 through the working of the
Spirit who gave life to Jesus' dead humanity and called it to the glorious state
of Lordship.
§649
As for the Son, he effects his own Resurrection by virtue of his divine power.
Jesus announces that the Son of man will have to suffer much, die, and then
rise.516 Elsewhere he affirms explicitly: «I lay down my life, that
I may take it again. . . I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take
it again.» 517 «We believe that Jesus died and rose
again.» 518
§650
The Fathers contemplate the Resurrection from the perspective of the divine
person of Christ who remained united to his soul and body, even when these were
separated from each other by death: «By the unity of the divine nature,
which remains present in each of the two components of man, these are reunited.
For as death is produced by the separation of the human components, so
Resurrection is achieved by the union of the two.» 519
III. THE MEANING AND SAVING SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESURRECTION
§651
«If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your
faith is in vain.» 520 The Resurrection above all constitutes the
confirmation of all Christ's works and teachings. All truths, even those most
inaccessible to human reason, find their justification if Christ by his
Resurrection has given the definitive proof of his divine authority, which he
had promised.
§652
Christ's Resurrection is the fulfilment of the promises both of the Old
Testament and of Jesus himself during his earthly life.521 The phrase
«in accordance with the Scriptures» 522 indicates that
Christ's Resurrection fulfilled these predictions.
§653
The truth of Jesus' divinity is confirmed by his Resurrection. He had said:
«When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am
he.» 523 The Resurrection of the crucified one shows that he was
truly «I AM» , the Son of God and God himself. So St. Paul could
declare to the Jews: «What God promised to the fathers, this he has
fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the
second psalm, 'You are my Son, today I have begotten you.'» 524
Christ's Resurrection is closely linked to the Incarnation of God's Son, and is
its fulfilment in accordance with God's eternal plan.
§654
The Paschal mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us from
sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life. This new life
is above all justification that reinstates us in God's grace, «so that as
Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk
in newness of life.» Justification consists in both victory over the death
caused by sin and a new participation in grace.526 It brings about
filial adoption so that men become Christ's brethren, as Jesus himself called
his disciples after his Resurrection: «Go and tell my
brethren.» 527 We are brethren not by nature, but by the gift of
grace, because that adoptive filiation gains us a real share in the life of the
only Son, which was fully revealed in his Resurrection.
§655
Finally, Christ's Resurrection - and the risen Christ himself is the principle
and source of our future resurrection: «Christ has been raised from the
dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. . . For as in Adam all
die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.» 528 The risen
Christ lives in the hearts of his faithful while they await that fulfilment. In
Christ, Christians «have tasted. . . the powers of the age to
come» 529 and their lives are swept up by Christ into the heart of
divine life, so that they may «live no longer for themselves but for him
who for their sake died and was raised.» 530
IN BRIEF
§656
Faith in the Resurrection
has as its object an event which as historically attested to by the disciples,
who really encountered the Risen One. At the same time, this event is
mysteriously transcendent insofar as it is the entry of Christ's humanity into
the glory of God.
§657
The empty tomb and the
linen cloths lying there signify in themselves that by God's power Christ's
body had escaped the bonds of death and corruption. They prepared the disciples
to encounter the Risen Lord.
§658
Christ, «the
first-born from the dead» (⇒ Col 1:18), is the
principle of our own resurrection, even now by the justification of our souls
(cf ⇒ Rom 6:4), and one day by the new life he will
impart to our bodies (cf ⇒ Rom 8:11).