Sunday Thoughts

Greetings from the Eternal City!

It is a beautiful Sunday here as I work on reviewing and editing class notes on Christology (the study of Jesus as our Redeemer and Messiah) as part of my job as a Redactor in the Pontifical North American College's (PNAC) note taking system at the Pontifical Gregorian University (Know affectionately as the "Greg").  You see, all my classes here in Rome are taught in Italian, and as a result, we American seminarians have a system where we compile the notes taken by our best note-takers, edit them and compare them to the lecture notes from last year, and then disseminate them to the other seminarians.  In short, basically we are then provided with an English transcript of the Italian lecture for the class.  It's a lot of work, but it is a great resource to have!

 

Above is a photo of one of my classrooms at the Greg.  The other ones we use are more modern and updated, but this is the most beautiful in my opinion.  There is certainly something to be said for the hard work and craftsmanship of previous generations!

 

 

As I was studying my notes, I came across a wonderful excerpt about how all Christians are called to be missionaries and how so often today, many Christians are reluctant to talk about Jesus.  How often we buy in to the ways of the world.  But never fear, for Christ has overcome the world! The missionary call reminds me of the beautiful portrayal of Jesus in the History Channel's "Bible Miniseries."  If you haven't seen it yet, please do! 

 

 

But before we can become missionaries, we must first answer the question Jesus poses to us in the Gospels: "But you, who do you say that I am?"  It is with this question that my first Christology course began. 

 

Here is the beginning of the notes for the class, with my favorite parts highlighted:

_______________________________________________________________________________ 

Christology 9 October, 2012

Introduction

“Ma voi, chi dite che io sia?” (Mt. 16, 15)

The main point of this course is to respond to the question, “But who do you say that I am?”

1. Peter’s response is correct, but Jesus begins to put in it context of the Paschal mystery.
2. We will have to follow the whole life of Jesus to be able to respond to him, to develop this properly soteriological point of view (i.e. with a view toward how to attain salvation).
3. Jesus does not pose this question when he first meets the disciples at the beginning.
   1. He begins with, “Come, follow me.”
   2. By the time he asks them this question, they have already been following him, watching him live and preach.
   3. He asks them this after they have already spent time with him, but before his passion, death, and resurrection.
   4. We as baptized persons have some understanding of Christ-now we have to follow him and then come to learn about his hidden life, his public life, and his passion.

“Ma voi...”

Jesus said “voi” not “tu”

1. 1. He asks in the plural at first, with a view toward a confession of unity among his first group of disciples.
   2. Jesus is looking for a unified answer from his disciples, which is why Peter (their leader) steps forward and speaks on their behalf.
   3. A follower’s confession of faith is at once a personal and an ecclesial act.
2. Why, then, does Jesus begin his question with “but...”?
   1. To clarify that he is more than John the Baptist and more than one of the prophets.
   2. Christ was prophetic, but more than a prophet. He cannot be limited to these partial aspects.
   3. Heresy arises when we only emphasize one aspect of the Lord and lose a sense of His totality.
   4. Heresy = to make a unilateral choice which truncates the complete image.
   5. You could make a list scientifically of the things we know about Jesus, but we miss the personal aspect of Him, the personal call from him. This is what we get by merely producing a scientific analysis of the Lord.
   6. The person of Christ and the mission of Christ are inseperable.

“Dite”

How do you speak of me, preach of me, announce me, etc.? 

1. Who Jesus is is not only empirical, but relational: Who is Jesus in relation to me?
2. Not only is it the role of the disciples to make the Lord known, but our very way of speaking of him comes from our relationship with him.
3. If we don’t know him in prayer, we will not be able to speak of him.
4. The synod on the New Evangelization is trying to answer this very question: how do we make him known.

“Sia”

1. Sia—the question of how to know the very being, esse of God
2. His question, “But who do you say that I am” is a metaphysical one, a question of being (“...that I am”)

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Isn't that amazing insights?  The deeper one delves into Sacred Scripture, the more one finds! Now here's the selection about the Call to Mission that I was talking about earlier:

 

“Every person has the right to hear the ‘Good News’ of the God who reveals and gives himself in Christ, so that each one can live out in its fullness his or her proper calling”. [5] It a right which the Lord himself confers on every person, so that every man and woman is able truly to say with Saint Paul: Jesus Christ “loved me and gave himself up for me” (Gal 2:20). This right implies the corresponding duty to evangelize: “If I preach the Gospel, this is no reason for me to boast; it is a duty for me. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16; cf. Rom 10:14). Thus, it is evident how every activity of the Church has an essential evangelizing dimension and must never be separated from the commitment to help all persons to meet Christ in faith, which is the primary objective of evangelization

[(5) John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris missio, 46: AAS 83 (1991), 293; cf. Paul VI, Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii nuntiandi, 53 and 80: AAS 69 (1976), 41-42, 73-74.]

"...There is today, however, a growing confusion which leads many to leave the missionary command of the Lord unheard and ineffective (cf. Mt 28:19). Often it is maintained that any attempt to convince others on religious matters is a limitation of their freedom. From this perspective, it would only be legitimate to present one’s own ideas and to invite people to act according to their consciences, without aiming at their conversion to Christ and to the Catholic faith. It is enough, so they say, to help people to become more human or more faithful to their own religion; it is enough to build communities which strive for justice, freedom, peace and solidarity. Furthermore, some maintain that Christ should not be proclaimed to those who do not know him, nor should joining the Church be promoted, since it would also be possible to be saved without explicit knowledge of Christ and without formal incorporation in the Church."

[Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Doctrinal Note on Evangelization]

 

Tis' all for now!  I still need to share the pictures of Greccio with you.  Please pray that the internet is fast enough for me to upload them properly!

 

Have a blessed Lord's Day!

 

God Love You!