Youcat commented through CCC - Question n. 99.

YOUCAT Question n. 99 - What happened at the Last Supper?

(Youcat answer) Jesus washed the feet of his apostles on the evening before his death; he instituted the Eucharist and founded the priesthood of the New Covenant.       

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 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" (Roman Missal, EP III; cf. Mt 26:20; 1 Cor 11:23). 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" (Lk 22:19; Mt 26:28; cf. 1 Cor 5:7).  

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) Jesus showed his consummate love in three ways: He washed his disciples’ feet and showed that he is among us as one who serves (cf. Lk 22:27). He symbolically anticipated his redeeming Passion by speaking these words over the gifts of bread and wine: “his is my body which is given for you” (Lk 22:19ff). In this way he instituted the Holy Eucharist. When Jesus commanded the Apostles, “Do this in remembrance of me” (1 Cor 11:24b), he made them priests of the New Covenant.     

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 611) The Eucharist that Christ institutes at that moment will be the memorial of his sacrifice (1 Cor 11:25). Jesus includes the apostles in his own offering and bids them perpetuate it (Cf. Lk 22:19). 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" (Jn 17:19; cf. Council of Trent: DS 1752; 1764).     

(The next question is: On the Mount of Olives on the night before his death, did Jesus really experience fear of death?)

Youcat commented through CCC - Question n. 98 - Part VI.

YOUCAT Question n. 98 - Part VI. Did God will the death of his only Son?

(Youcat answer - repeated) The violent death of Jesus did not come about through tragic external circumstances. “Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). So that we children of sin and death might have life, the Father in heaven “made him to be sin who knew no sin” (2 Cor 5:21). The magnitude of the sacrifice that God the Father asked of his Son, corresponded to the magnitude of Christ’s obedience: “And what shall I say? “Father, save me from this hour? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour” (Jn 12:27). On both sides, God’s love for men proved itself to the very end on the Cross.        

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 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" (Jn 1:29; cf. Lk 3:21; Mt 3:14-15; Jn 1:36). 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 (Isa 53:7, 12; cf. Jer 11:19;  Ex 12:3-14; Jn 19:36; 1 Cor 5:7). Christ's whole life expresses his mission: "to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mk 10:45).      

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) In order to save us from death, God embarked on a dangerous mission: He introduced a “Medicine of immortality” (St. Ignatius of Antioch) into our world of death—his Son Jesus Christ. The Father and the Son were inseparable in this mission, willing and yearning to take the utmost upon themselves out of love for man. God willed to make an exchange so as to save us forever. He wanted to give us his eternal life, so that we might experience his joy, and wanted to suffer our death, our despair, our abandonment, our death, so as to share with us in everything. So as to love us to the end and beyond. Christ’s death is the will of the Father but not his final word. Since Christ died for us, we can exchange our death for his life.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 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" (Jn 13:1; 15:13). In suffering and death his humanity became the free and perfect instrument of his divine love which desires the salvation of men (Cf. Heb 2:10, 17-18; 4:15; 5:7-9). 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” (Jn 10:18). Hence the sovereign freedom of God's Son as he went out to his death (Cf. Jn 18:4-6; Mt 26:53).     

(The next question is: What happened at the Last Supper?)

Youcat commented through CCC - Question n. 98 - Part V.

YOUCAT Question n. 98 - Part V. Did God will the death of his only Son?

(Youcat answer - repeated) The violent death of Jesus did not come about through tragic external circumstances. “Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). So that we children of sin and death might have life, the Father in heaven “made him to be sin who knew no sin” (2 Cor 5:21). The magnitude of the sacrifice that God the Father asked of his Son, corresponded to the magnitude of Christ’s obedience: “And what shall I say? “Father, save me from this hour? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour” (Jn 12:27). On both sides, God’s love for men proved itself to the very end on the Cross.      

A deepening through CCC

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 606) The Son of God, who came down "from heaven, not to do (his) own will, but the will of him who sent (him)" (Jn 6:38), 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" (Heb 10:5-10). 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" (Jn 4:34). The sacrifice of Jesus "for the sins of the whole world"(1 Jn 2:2) 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" (Jn 10:17; 14:31).      

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) In order to save us from death, God embarked on a dangerous mission: He introduced a “Medicine of immortality” (St. Ignatius of Antioch) into our world of death—his Son Jesus Christ. The Father and the Son were inseparable in this mission, willing and yearning to take the utmost upon themselves out of love for man. God willed to make an exchange so as to save us forever. He wanted to give us his eternal life, so that we might experience his joy, and wanted to suffer our death, our despair, our abandonment, our death, so as to share with us in everything. So as to love us to the end and beyond. Christ’s death is the will of the Father but not his final word. Since Christ died for us, we can exchange our death for his life.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 607) The desire to embrace his Father's plan of redeeming love inspired Jesus' whole life (Cf. Lk 12:50; 22:15; Mt 16:21-23), 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" (Jn 12:27) and again, "Shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given me?" (Jn 18:11). From the cross, just before "It is finished", he said, "I thirst" (Jn 19:30; 19:28).      

(This question: Did God will the death of his only Son? is continued)

Youcat commented through CCC - Question n. 98 - Part IV.

YOUCAT Question n. 98 - Part IV. Did God will the death of his only Son?

(Youcat answer - repeated) The violent death of Jesus did not come about through tragic external circumstances. “Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). So that we children of sin and death might have life, the Father in heaven “made him to be sin who knew no sin” (2 Cor 5:21). The magnitude of the sacrifice that God the Father asked of his Son, corresponded to the magnitude of Christ’s obedience: “And what shall I say? “Father, save me from this hour? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour” (Jn 12:27). On both sides, God’s love for men proved itself to the very end on the Cross.        

A deepening through CCC

 (CCC 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" (1 John 4:10; 4:19). God "shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (Rom 5:8). 604

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) In order to save us from death, God embarked on a dangerous mission: He introduced a “Medicine of immortality” (St. Ignatius of Antioch) into our world of death—his Son Jesus Christ. The Father and the Son were inseparable in this mission, willing and yearning to take the utmost upon themselves out of love for man. God willed to make an exchange so as to save us forever. He wanted to give us his eternal life, so that we might experience his joy, and wanted to suffer our death, our despair, our abandonment, our death, so as to share with us in everything. So as to love us to the end and beyond. Christ’s death is the will of the Father but not his final word. Since Christ died for us, we can exchange our death for his life.

(CCC Comment)  

(CCC 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" (Mt 18:14). 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 (Mt 20:28; cf. Rom 5:18-19). 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" (Council of Quiercy (853): DS 624; cf. 2 Cor 5:15; 1 Jn 2:2).      

(This question: Did God will the death of his only Son? is continued)

Youcat commented through CCC - Question n. 98 - Part III.

YOUCAT Question n. 98 - Part III. Did God will the death of his only Son?

(Youcat answer - repeated) The violent death of Jesus did not come about through tragic external circumstances. “Jesus was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). So that we children of sin and death might have life, the Father in heaven “made him to be sin who knew no sin” (2 Cor 5:21). The magnitude of the sacrifice that God the Father asked of his Son, corresponded to the magnitude of Christ’s obedience: “And what shall I say? “Father, save me from this hour? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour” (Jn 12:27). On both sides, God’s love for men proved itself to the very end on the Cross.       

A deepening through CCC

 (CCC 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" (1 Jn 4:10). "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself" (2 Cor 5:19).    

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) In order to save us from death, God embarked on a dangerous mission: He introduced a “Medicine of immortality” (St. Ignatius of Antioch) into our world of death—his Son Jesus Christ. The Father and the Son were inseparable in this mission, willing and yearning to take the utmost upon themselves out of love for man. God willed to make an exchange so as to save us forever. He wanted to give us his eternal life, so that we might experience his joy, and wanted to suffer our death, our despair, our abandonment, our death, so as to share with us in everything. So as to love us to the end and beyond. Christ’s death is the will of the Father but not his final word. Since Christ died for us, we can exchange our death for his life.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 603) Jesus did not experience reprobation as if he himself had sinned (Cf. Jn 8:46). 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?" (Mk 15:34; Ps 22:2; cf. Jn 8:29). 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" (Rom 8:32; 5:10).      

(This question: Did God will the death of his only Son? is continued)