Free

"Who can free me from this body under the power of death?  All praise to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!"  (Romans 7:24-25)

"You can depend on this as worthy of full acceptance:  that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."  (1 Timothy 1:15)

"In His own body He brought your sins to the cross, so that all of us, dead to sin, could live in accord with God's will.  By His wounds, you were healed."  (1 Peter 2:24-25)

"It is in Christ and through His blood that we have been redeemed and our sins forgiven, so immeasurably generous is God's favor to us."  (Ephesians 1:6-7)

"I will forgive their evildoing, and their sins I will remember no more."  (Hebrews 8:12)

"The grace of God has appeared, offering salvation to all men.  It trains us to reject godless ways and worldly desires, and live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age as we await our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of the great God and of our Savior Jesus Christ."  (Titus 2:11-13)

"All of us, gazing on the Lord's glory with unveiled faces, are being transformed from glory to glory into His very image by the Lord Who is the Spirit."  (2 Corinthians 3:18)


James Tissot painting

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Captives, We Awaited a Savior

As I look back over the basics of heart monasticism, I keep coming back to the importance of Jesus.  

Well, of course.  Without Jesus, we would have remained stuck with the results of humanity's original fall.  "The Word became flesh for us in order to save us by reconciling us with God, who 'loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins'... Sick, our nature demanded to be healed; fallen, to be raised up; dead, to rise again.  We had lost the possession of the good; it was necessary for it to be given back to us.... captives, we awaited a Savior.'"(Catechism of the Catholic Church #457)  

In one of His discussions with His disciples, Jesus asked “who do people say that the Son of Man is?”  There were several answers before Jesus turned the question into something more personal.  “And you… who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:13-15)

Scripture answers this question.  Jesus is the “reflection of the Father’s glory, the exact representation of the Father’s Being.”  (Hebrews 1:3).  Jesus is the Messiah (Mark 14:61-62).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us plainly: “He is the only Son of the Father, He is God himself.”  (#454).  This is Who Jesus is, in His essence.

What if Jesus were to stand before me, this very day, look intently into my eyes, and ask me personally:  “And YOU.  Who do YOU say that I am?......”  

How would I respond? 



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