"A person who rails at God in adversity, suffers without merit; moreover by his lack of resignation he adds to his punishment in the next life and experiences greater disquietude of mind in this life."

St Alphonsus de Liguori

* * *

"It is vanity to love what passes quickly and not to look ahead where eternal joy abides. "

Thomas á Kempis

* * *

"Obedience is a short cut to perfection."

St Philip Neri

* * *

"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life"  - John 14:6

Jesus Christ, Son of God

"This is the central mystery of Christianity - the mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God. To save men from their sins, God sent His own Son into the world as a man. The Word of God, the Second Person of the most Blessed Trinity, became man and dwelt amongst us for our salvation. The Son of God is both God and man. He is one divine Person existing in two natures, one divine and the other human. Try as we may, we shall never understand in this present life how the Son of God could become man and still remain God. But this is the mystery of God's love for us which He has revealed to us. Christ Himself, the Son of God in human flesh, proclaimed this stupendous truth. His miracles proved His claim. He was put to death by the Sanhedrin for making this claim. Christ died on the Cross rather than retract it; and He rose from the grave to prove that He, Who was really man, was also really God."

-"My Map of Life" Walter Farrell, OP and Martin J Healy, STD

What we believe about Jesus

A list compiled from "Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma" by Ludwig Ott.

(Click here for the meaning of "De Fide" & "Sententia certa" in the text below.)

  1. Jesus Christ is True God and True Son of God (De Fide)
  2. Christ assumed a real body, not an apparent body (De Fide)
  3. Christ was truly generated and born of a daughter of Adam, the Virgin Mary. (De Fide)
  4. The Divine and the human natures are united hypostatically in Christ, that is, joined to each other in one Person. (De Fide)
  5. In the Hypostatic Union each of the two natures of Christ continues unimpaired, untransformed and unmixed with the other (De Fide)
  6. Each of the two natures in Christ possesses it own natural will and its own natural mode of operation. (De Fide)
  7. The Hypostatic Union of Christ's human nature with the Divine Logos took place at the moment of conception. (De Fide)
  8. The Hypostatic Union will never end. (De Fide)
  9. The Hypostatic Union was effected by the Three Divine Persons acting in common. (De Fide)
  10. Only the second Divine Person became Man. (De Fide)
  11. Not only as God but also as man Jesus Christ is the natural Son of God. (De Fide)
  12. The God-Man Jesus Christ is to be venerated with one single mode of worship, the absolute worship of Latria which is due to God alone. (De Fide)
  13. Just as Latria is due to the whole Human Nature of Christ, so is it due to the individual parts of His nature (Sent. certa.) (Allows veneration of the Sacred Heart etc)
  14. Christ's Divine and Human characteristics and activities are to be predicated of the one Word Incarnate. (De Fide)
  15. The two natures of Christ exist in the closest union. (Sent. communis)
  16. Christ's soul possessed the immediate vision of God from the first moment of its existence. (Sent. certa.)
  17. Christ's human knowledge was free from positive ignorance and from error. (Sent. certa.)
  18. From the beginning of Christ's life, His soul possessed infused knowledge. (Sent. communis)
  19. Christ's soul possessed also an acquired knowledge or experimental knowledge. (Sent. communis)
  20. Christ was free from all sin, from original sin as well as from all personal sin. (De Fide)
  21. Christ has not merely not actually sinned, but also could not sin. (Sent. fide proxima)
  22. By reason of the Hypostatic Union, Christ's human nature, through the Uncreated Holiness of the Word, is substantially Holy.
  23. Sanctifying grace overflows from Christ, the Head, to the members of His Mystical Body. (Sent. communis)
  24. Christ's humanity, as instrument of the Logos, possesses the power of producing supernatural effects. (Sent. certa)
  25. Christ's human nature was passible. (De Fide) (Ed: i.e. Christ could really suffer)
  26. Christ's soul was subject to sensual emotions. (Sent. certa.) (Ed: i.e. Christ could feel sadness, weariness etc)
  27. The Son of God became man in order to redeem men. (De fide)
  28. Christ is the Supreme Prophet promised in the Old Covenant and the absolute teacher of humanity. (Sent. certa.)
  29. The God-Man Jesus Christ is a High Priest. (De Fide)
  30. Christ offered Himself on the Cross as a true and proper sacrifice. (De Fide)
  31. Christ by His sacrifice on the cross has ransomed us and reconciled us with God. (De Fide)
  32. Christ, through His suffering and death, rendered vicarious atonement to God for the sins of men. (Sent. fidei proxima)
  33. Christ's vicarious atonement is adequate or of full value, by reason of its intrinsic merit. (Sent. communior)
  34. Christ's vicarious atonement is superabundant, that is, the positive value of the expiation is greater than the negative value of the sin. (Sent. communis)
  35. Christ did not die for the predestined only. (De Fide)
  36. Christ died not for the Faithful only, but for all mankind without exception. (Sent. fidei proxima)
  37. Christ's atonement does not extend to the fallen angels.
  38. Christ, through His Passion and Death, merited reward from God. (De Fide)
  39. Christ merited for Himself the condition of exaltation (Resurrection, Transfiguration of the body, Ascension into Heaven). (Sent certa)
  40. Christ merited all supernatural graces received by fallen mankind.
  41. After His Death, Christ's soul, which was separated from His body, descended into the underworld. (De Fide)
  42. On the third day after His Death, Christ rose gloriously from the dead. (De Fide)
  43. Christ ascended body and soul into Heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. (De Fide)