Catechesis is the handing-on of the Christian faith. It should draw from all the riches of that faith: the Word of God, the Magisterium, the liturgy, the saints, theology, Christian culture, and sacred images. It should lead, initiate, form, teach, and introduce. Catechesis can also preach the Gospel of Christ to the whole world. An evangelizing catechesis can transform souls by proclaiming Christ’s message, communion, mystery, life, and prayer.
The Christian message
We give you praise, Father most holy,
Eucharistic Prayer IV
for you are great
and you have fashioned all your works
in wisdom and in love.
You formed man in your own image
and entrusted the whole world to his care,
so that in serving you alone, the Creator,
he might have dominion over all creatures.
And when through disobedience he had lost your friendship,
you did not abandon him to the domain of death.
For you came in mercy to the aid of all,
so that those who seek might find you.
Time and again you offered them covenants
and through the prophets
taught them to look forward to salvation.
And you so loved the world, Father most holy,
that in the fullness of time
you sent your Only Begotten Son to be our Savior.
Made incarnate by the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary,
he shared our human nature
in all things but sin.
To the poor he proclaimed the good news of salvation,
to prisoners, freedom,
and to the sorrowful of heart, joy.
To accomplish your plan,
he gave himself up to death,
and, rising from the dead,
he destroyed death and restored life.
And that we might live no longer for ourselves
but for him who died and rose again for us,
he sent the Holy Spirit from you, Father,
as the first fruits for those who believe,
so that, bringing to perfection his work in the world,
he might sanctify creation to the full.
God has revealed that he willed each of us to be his likeness and image and to have a personal and eternally happy relationship with him. Prompted by Satan, man has closed his eyes and ears to God and denied him. We all had to pay the irrevocable penalty handed down by justice: to be banished from God and left for dead, alone in creation. God, in his merciful love, sent his only begotten son down from heaven, miraculously born of the Virgin Mary, to save us by paying that penalty owed by each of us, and to be our way back to eternal life with him. Each of us that is, was, and will be must choose to follow the way of Jesus Christ.
The Christian communion
Let us rejoice then and give thanks that we have become not only Christians, but Christ himself. Do you understand and grasp, brethren, God’s grace toward us? Marvel and rejoice: we have become Christ. For if he is the head, we are the members; he and we together are the whole man.… The fullness of Christ then is the head and the members. But what does “head and members” mean? Christ and the Church.
St. Augustine
The Church professes God’s Revelation in the Apostles Creed. It celebrates it in the sacramental liturgy so that each faithful person may become like Christ. The faithful must believe in it, celebrate it, and live it, according to God’s commands and in prayer. The Church is the assembly of men and women summoned by the word of God to become Jesus Christ by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It is the communion of the Trinity and men.
The Christian mystery
Therefore a sacrament is a sign that commemorates what precedes it—Christ’s Passion; demonstrates what is accomplished in us through Christ’s Passion—grace; and prefigures what that Passion pledges to us—future glory.
St. Thomas Aquinas
The image atop this post teaches us that Christ never stopped healing and helping us with his power. As the Catechsim explains, “The scene depicts the encounter of Jesus with the woman with the hemorrhage. This woman who had suffered for many years was healed by touching the cloak of Jesus through the power that “had gone forth from him” (Mk 5:25-34). The sacraments of the Church now continue the works which Christ had performed during his earthly life.”
The sacramental liturgy is the Trinity’s saving work continuing in the Church through the sacraments. In the liturgy, God is blessed for his blessings of creation and salvation (“Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation”). The Holy Spirit prepares for, recalls, and makes present Jesus Christ (“Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall”). Christ saves through the sacraments (“Take this, all of you, and eat it”). Moral life comes from the spiritual worship of the sacramental liturgy.
The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church. They dispense divine life to us. There are sacraments of Christian initiation, sacraments of healing, and sacraments at the service of communion and the mission of the faithful. The sacraments of Christian initiation are Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist. The faithful are born into new life by Baptism. Confirmation strengthens that life, and the Eucharist nourishes the new life so that it may blossom into eternal life. The sacraments of healing are Penance and the Anointing of the Sick. The sacraments at the service of communion and the mission of the faithful are Holy Orders and Matrimony.
Life in Christ
Christian, recognize your dignity and, now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return to your former base condition by sinning. Remember who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Never forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of the Kingdom of God.
St. Leo the Great
Dignity is the divine image and likeness in each of us. It is the source from which the divine flows like a stream back to its origin. We feel the flow as longing. The mouth into which it flows is eternal life and happiness with God. Dignity, therefore, makes us long for eternal life to be fulfilled in God alone. God endows us with the reason, free will, conscience, passions, virtue, and he gives us law and grace. By means of all of that, we avoid sin, seek his mercy for sin, and attain the perfection of charity that leads to eternal life.
Christian prayer
The most profound understanding of prayer is that it’s the Spirit sending the Father’s call to the Son and sending the Son’s call back to the Father. We have been called to participate in that loving, beautiful, eternal, and reciprocal call. We love God and have faith in him by praying to him. Christian prayer is the prayer of the Body of Christ. It’s all of the faithful together, as one, joining Christ in his prayer to the Father. Prayer in the Church is formed by the Holy Spirit, who teaches the Church and her members how to pray.
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