Father Ambrose has been compiling a correlation between the lectionary, the catechism...a sort of resource for priests who want to use the catechism to help construct homilies. It can also be a useful resource for laypeople looking for meditations on the Sunday readings.
Here is our first installment:
LCC CHRISTMAS DAY MASS
(1) Isa 52.7-10.
(2) Heb 1.1-12.
102
Through the many words of Sacred Scripture, God speaks only one single Word or Utterance by whom he expresses himself completely.
· Heb 1.1-3: “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power. When he had made purification for sin, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has obtained is more excellent than theirs.
65
Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, is the Father’s one, perfect, and unsurpassable Word. In him, God has said everything; and there will be no other word than this one Incarnate Word.
· Heb 1.1-2: “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son.”
· St. John of the Cross, The Ascent of Mount Carmel, 2, 22, 3-5: “In giving us his Son, his only Word (for he possesses no other), he spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word—and he as no more to say… because what he spoke before to the prophets in parts, he has now spoken all at once by giving us the All Who is His Son. Any person questioning God or desiring some vision or revelation would be guilty not only of foolish behavior but also of offending him, by not fixing his eyes entirely upon Christ and by living with the desire for some other novelty.”
65
See above.
241
The apostles confess Jesus as the divine and eternal Word.
· Jn 1.1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
· Col 1.15-16: “He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”
· Heb 1.3: “He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word.”
320
God created the universe and maintains it by his Word—the Son through whom all things were made—and by his Creator Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life.
· Heb 1.3: “He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word.”
2502
Sacred art is true and beautiful when its form evokes and glorifies, in faith and adoration, the invisible beauty of truth and love made visible in Christ, the Word-made-flesh. The spiritual beauty of God is reflected in the most holy Virgin Mother of God, in the angels, and in the saints. Genuine sacred art draws man to adoration, to prayer, and to the love of God.
· Heb 1.3: “He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word.”
· Col 2.9: “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.”
2777
In the sacred liturgy, the faithful are invited to pray the Our Father with filial boldness and trust. This confidence presupposes the transcendent holiness of God, who said to Moses from the burning bush, “Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground” (Ex 3.5). Only Jesus could cross that threshold of God’s holiness “when he had made purification for sins” (Heb 1.3) and so brought us into the Father’s presence: “Here am I, and the children God has given to me” (Heb 2.13; cf Is 8.17-18).
2795
In the sacred liturgy, the faithful are invited to pray the Our Father with filial boldness and trust. This confidence presupposes the transcendent holiness of God, who said to Moses from the burning bush, “Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground” (Ex 3.5). Only Jesus could cross that threshold of God’s holiness “when he had made purification for sins” (Heb 1.3) and so brought us into the Father’s presence: “Here am I, and the children God has given to me” (Heb 2.13; cf Is 8.17-18).
333
From the Incarnation to his Ascension, Christ’s life is surrounded by the adoration and ministry of the angels. When God “brings the firstborn into the world, he says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship him’” (Heb 1.14). The angels’ song of praise at Christ’s birth resounds in the Church’s praise, “Glory to God in the highest!” (Lk 2.14). The angels protected Jesus in his infancy, served him in the desert during his temptation, and comforted him in his agony at Gethsemani. Jesus himself declares that he could have summoned the angelic hosts to save him from his enemies. The angels evangelize by proclaiming the Good News of the Savior’s Incarnation and Resurrection. They will herald Christ’s return in glory and will serve in carrying out the final judgment.
(3) Jn 1.1-14.
291
God created all things by his eternal Word, his beloved Son. The Holy Spirit is also Creator and “giver of life” (Nicene Creed).
· Jn 1.1-3: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.”
· Col 1.15-16: “He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
241
See above.
454
The title “Son of God” signifies the unique and eternal relationship between Jesus Christ and God the Father. Jesus Christ is the Father’s only Son, equal in his divine nature to the Father himself. To be a Christian, one must believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
· Jn 1.1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
· Jn 1.14, 18: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father… No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.”
· Jn 3.16-18: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
2780
We can invoke God as “Father” because he is revealed to us by his incarnate Son and because his Spirit makes him known to us. This personal relation of the Son to the Father is beyond human and angelic understanding; yet the Spirit of the Son grants us a participation in that filial relation.
268
God’s omnipotence is the only divine attribute specifically named in the Creed. God’s almighty power is universal and rules all things. This power is both loving and mysterious, for only faith can discern it.
· Jn 1.1-3: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.”
612
In the Garden of Gethsemani, Jesus accepts the cup of suffering from the Father’s hands. His human nature feels a natural horror in the face of death; but unlike ours, his humanity is perfectly exempt from sin, which is the cause of death. This is because his human nature has been assumed by the divine person of the Author of Life (Acts 3.15; Rev 1.17). “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one; I died, and behold I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades” (Rev 1.17).
717
St. Luke tells us that John the Baptist was “filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb” (Lk 1.15) by Christ himself, whom Mary had conceived by the Holy Spirit. Mary’s visitation to her cousin Elizabeth thus becomes God’s visit to his people (Lk 1.39-56).
· Lk 1.41-45: “And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
719
St. John the Baptist is more than a prophet (cf Lk 7.26): he proclaims the imminent consolation of Israel and is the voice of the Consoler who is to come. Like the Holy Spirit who inspires him, John “came to bear witness to the light” (Jn 1.7). John the Baptist is the last of the line of prophets that began with Elijah: as the Lord’s messenger, he sees in Christ the fulfillment of the longing of the prophets and of the angels.
· Mt 11.13-14: “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John; and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.”
· Jn 1.23: “He said, ‘I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord,” as the prophet Isaiah said.’”
· 1 Pet 10-12: “The prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired about this salvation; they inquired what person or time was indicated by the Spirit of Christ within them when predicting the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glory. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things which have now been announced to you by those who preached the good news to you through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.”
1216
St. Justin Martyr says that “this [baptismal] bath is called enlightenment because those who receive this [catechetical] instruction are enlightened in their understanding” (Apol. 1, 61, 12). The one who is baptized has received Christ the Word, who is the true light (Jn 1.9). Thus the baptized person has himself been enlightened and has become a son of light and even becomes “light” himself in Christ (1 Thess 5.5; Heb 10.32; Eph 5.8).
· Jn 1.9: “The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.”
· 1 Thess 5.5: “For you are all sons of light and sons of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.”
· Heb 10.32-33: “But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and affliction, an sometimes being partners with those so treated.”
· Eph 5.7-14: “Therefore do not associate with them, for once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of light found in all that is good and right and true), and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is a shame even to speak of the things that they do in secret; but when anything is exposed by the light it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it is said, ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, | and Christ shall give you light.’”
530
The flight of the Holy Family into Egypt and the massacre of the Holy Innocents recalls Israel’s exodus from Egypt and shows Jesus as the new Moses who leads his people into freedom (Mt 2.15). The persecution endured by Jesus manifests the opposition of darkness to the light: “He came to his own home, and his own people received him not” (Jn 1.11). Just as Mary and Joseph shared this persecution with Jesus, so those who belong to Christ in every age share this persecution from the world: “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also” (Jn 15.20).
· Hos 11.1-4 [here Israel is the “son” called out of Egypt; in Mt 2.15, this text is applied to Christ who flees his native land and takes refuge in Egypt, then comes forth again]:
“When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
The more I called them,
the more they went from me;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals,
and burning incense to idols.
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
I took them up in my arms;
but they did not know that I healed them.
I led them with cords of compassion,
with the bands of love,
and I became to them as one
who eases the yoke on their jaws,
and I bent down to them and fed them.”
1996
Our justification is effected by the grace of God. Grace is divine favor, his free and undeserved help, which he gives to us in order to respond to his call and thus become children of God and partakers in Christ of the divine nature and of eternal life.
· Jn 1.12-13: “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
· Jn 17.3: “And this is eternal life, that they know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.”
· Rom 8.14-17: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is the Spirit himself bearing witness that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”
· 2 Pet 1.3-4: “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature.”
706
God promises descendants to Abraham, as the fruit of faith and of the power of the Holy Spirit (cf Gen 12.1-3; 18.1-15). Through Abraham’s seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed: this promise and hope are fulfilled in Christ, in whom the Holy Spirit will “gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad” (Jn 11.52).
· Rom 4.16, 18: “That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants—not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, for he is the father of us all… In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations; as he had been told, ‘So shall your descendants be’ (Gen 15.5).
· Gal 3.16: “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings, referring to many; but, referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ which is Christ.”
· Eph 1.13-14: “In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
526
In order to enter the Kingdom of God, we must humble ourselves and become as little children (Mt 18.3-4). Even more: to become “children of God” we must be “born from above” (Jn 3.7) or “born of God” (Jn 1.12-13). When Christ is truly formed in us (Gal 4.19), then the mystery of Christmas—the “marvelous exchange” of the redemptive Incarnation—is fulfilled in us.
· Mt 18.1-4: “At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’”
· Jn 1.10-13: “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
· Jn 3.5-8: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew [born from above].’ The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit.”
· Gal 4.19: “My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you!”
1692
The Creed confesses God’s gifts in his work of creation, redemption, and sanctification. What faith confesses, the seven sacraments communicate; thus Christians become “children of God” (Jn 1.12) and “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1.4). As a consequence of this grace-filled dignity, they are called and strengthened to live lives “worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Phil 1.27).
496
From the beginning, the Church has confessed that Jesus was conceived solely by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. This confession of Jesus’ virginal conception affirms also the corporeal aspect of this miraculous sign; thus the Council of the Lateran in 649 affirmed that Christ was conceived “by the Holy Spirit without human seed.” The Church Fathers see in the virginal conception the sign that Jesus was and is the Son of God who assumed a human nature like our own.
· St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Smyrn. 1-2: “You are firmly convinced about our Lord, who is truly of the race of David according to the flesh, Son of God according to the will and power of God, truly born of a virgin,… he was truly nailed to a tree for us in his flesh under Pontius Pilate… he truly suffered, as he is also truly risen.”
505
The spousal character of the human vocation to union with God is fulfilled perfectly in Mary virginal motherhood. Mary’s acceptance of this life is virginal because it is entirely the Holy Spirit’s gift to man. By his virginal conception, Jesus inaugurates the supernatural new birth of men as children of God adopted in the Holy Spirit through faith. At the Annunciation, Mary asked the angel, “how can this be?” (Lk 1.35); the same question arises regarding our new birth in Christ. The answer is given in the Prologue of St. John’s gospel: “To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (Jn 1.12-13).
· Jn 3.3-6, 9: “Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit… Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can this be?’
· 2 Cor 11.2-6: “I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I betrothed you to Christ to present you as a pure bride to her one husband. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if some one comes and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you submit to it readily enough.”
526
In order to enter the Kingdom of God, we must humble ourselves and become as little children (Mt 18.3-4). Even more: to become “children of God” we must be “born from above” (Jn 3.7) or “born of God” (Jn 1.12-13). When Christ is truly formed in us (Gal 4.19), then the mystery of Christmas—the “marvelous exchange” of the redemptive Incarnation—is fulfilled in us.
· Mt 18.1-4: “At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’”
· Jn 1.10-13: “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
· Jn 3.5-8: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew [born from above].’ The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit.”
· Gal 4.19: “My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you!”
423
“We believe and confess that Jesus of Nazareth, born a Jew of a daughter of Israel at Bethlehem at the time of King Herod the Great and the emperor Caesar Augustus, a carpenter by trade, who died crucified in Jerusalem under the procurator Pontius Pilate during the reign of the emperor Tiberius, is the eternal Son of God made man. He ‘came from God,’ (Jn 13.3), ‘descended from heaven” (Jn 3.13, 6.33), and ‘came in the flesh’ (1 Jn 4.2). For ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. . . . And from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace’ (Jn 1.14, 16).”
445
At his Resurrection, Jesus’ divine sonship is manifested in his glorified humanity.
· Rom 1.1-4: “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord…”
· Acts 13.30-33: “But God raised him from the dead; and for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that 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, ‘Thou art my Son, | today I have begotten thee.’”
· Jn 1.14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.”
454
The title “Son of God” signifies the unique and eternal relationship between Jesus Christ and God the Father. Jesus Christ is the Father’s only Son, equal in his divine nature to the Father himself. To be a Christian, one must believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
· Jn 1.1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
· Jn 1.14, 18: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father… No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.”
· Jn 3.16-18: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
461
The fact that the Son of God took to himself a human nature in order to accomplish our salvation in it is called the “Incarnation.” St. Paul summarizes this truth by citing the words of an early Christian hymn:
· Phil 2.5-8: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross.
594
Jesus performed actions—such as forgiving sins in his own name— that revealed him as Son of God himself (Jn 5.16-18). Some of Jesus’ fellow Jews who did not recognize Jesus as God made man (cf Jn 1.14), saw in him a man who dared to make himself God (Jn 10.33) and so condemned him as a blasphemer.
· Jn 5.16-18: “The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was why the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did this on the sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working still, and I am working.’ This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God.”
· Jn 1.14: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.”
· Jn 10.32-33: “Jesus answered them, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these do you stone me?’ The Jews answered him, ‘We stone you for no good work but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself God.’”
705
Man remains in the image of God, in the image of the Eternal Son, though disfigured by sin. The promise made to Abraham is fulfilled when the Son himself assumed that divine “image” in man and thus restores it in the Father’s “likeness.” This divine “likeness” is restored by giving to human nature once more its true Glory—the Spirit who is the ‘giver of life.
2466
Truthfulness follows from a living adherence to Christ, who is the Truth (Jn 14.6): “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes or No’” (Mt 5.37).
· Jn 8.12: “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
· Jn 8.31: “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
423
See above.
504
Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb because he is the New Adam, in whom the new creation is inaugurated. From his conception, God pours out “without measure” (Jn 3.34) the Holy Spirit upon Jesus’ humanity; “from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace” (Jn 1.16).
· 1 Cor 15.47: “The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.”
2787
When we say “Our Father,” we recognize that the prophets’ words are fulfilled in Christ so that we are now his new covenant people by his death and rising on the third day (Hos 6.2: “After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him”).We are called to respond to his grace and truth (Jn 1.17) with love and faithfulness. Hos 2.21-23:
And in that day, says the LORD,
I will answer the heavens
and they shall answer the earth;
and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer Jezreel,
and I will sow him for myself in the land.
And I will have pity on Not pitied,
and I will say to Not my people
“You are my people;”
and he shall say, “Thou art my God.”
151
For a Christian, faith in God is inseparable from faith in the Son whom the Father has sent. Christ is the Father’s “beloved Son” in whom the Father is “well pleased,” and we are bidden to listen to him (Mk 1.11).
· Jn 14.1: “Believe in God, believe also in me.”
· Jn 1.18: “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.”
· Jn 6.46: “Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that any one has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the Father.”
454
See above.
473
This truly human knowledge, while being exercised within the historical conditions of his existence in space and time, expressed also the divine life of his person as God the Son. St. Maximus the Confessor wrote: “The human nature of God’s Son, not by itself by its union with the Word, knew and showed forth in itself everything that pertains to God.” Thus Christ had intimate and immediate knowledge of his Father and also a divine penetration into the secret thoughts of human hearts.
· Mk 14.36: “And he said, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what thou wilt.”
· Mt 11.27: “All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Father except the so and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
· Jn 1.18: “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.”
· Jn 8.54-55: “Jesus answered, ‘If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing; it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is your God. But you have not known him; I know him. If I said, I do not know him, I should be a liar like you; but I do know him and I keep his word.’”
