THE CATECHISM OF
THE
CATHOLIC CHURCH
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THE PROFESSION OF FAITH
SECTION TWO
624 "By the grace of God" Jesus tasted death "for every one".[459] In his
plan of salvation, God ordained that his Son should not only "die for our
sins"[460] but should also "taste death", experience the condition of death,
the separation of his soul from his body, between the time he expired on
the cross and the time he was raised from the dead. The state of the dead
Christ is the mystery of the tomb and the descent into hell. It is the
mystery of Holy Saturday, when Christ, lying in the tomb,[461] reveals God's
great sabbath rest[462] after the fulfilment[463] of man's salvation, which
brings peace to the whole universe.[464]
Christ in the tomb in his body
625 Christ's stay in the tomb constitutes the real link between his
passible state before Easter and his glorious and risen state today. The
same person of the "Living One" can say, "I died, and behold I am alive
for evermore":[465]
God [the Son] did not impede death from separating his soul from his body
according to the necessary order of nature, but has reunited them to one
another in the Resurrection, so that he himself might be, in his person,
the meeting point for death and life, by arresting in himself the
decomposition of nature produced by death and so becoming the source of
reunion for the separated parts.[466]
626 Since the "Author of life" who was killed[467] is the same "living one
[who has] risen",[468] the divine person of the Son of God necessarily
continued to possess his human soul and body, separated from each other by
death:
By the fact that at Chnst's death his soul was separated from his flesh,
his one person is not itself divided into two persons; for the human body
and soul of Christ have existed in the same way from the beginning of his
earthly existence, in the divine person of the Word; and in death,
although separated from each other, both remained with one and the same
person of the Word.[469]
"You will not let your Holy One see corruption"
627 Christ's death was a real death in that it put an end to his earthly
human existence. But because of the union his body retained with the
person of the Son, his was not a mortal corpse like others, for "divine
power preserved Christ's body from corruption."[470] Both of these
statements can be said of Christ: "He was cut off out of the land of the
living",[471] and "My flesh will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my
soul to Hades, nor let your Holy One see corruption."[472] Jesus'
Resurrection "on the third day" was the proof of this, for bodily decay
was held to begin on the fourth day after death.[473]
"Buried with Christ. . ."
628 Baptism, the original and full sign of which is immersion,
efficaciously signifies the descent into the tomb by the Christian who
dies to sin with Christ in order to live a new life. "We were buried
therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised
from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of
life."[474]
IN BRIEF
629 To the benefit of every man, Jesus Christ tasted death (cf. Heb 2:9).
It is truly the Son of God made man who died and was buried.
630 During Christ's period in the tomb, his divine person continued to
assume both his soul and his body, although they were separated from each
other by death. For this reason the dead Christ's body "saw no corruption"
(Acts 13:37).
631 Jesus "descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended
is he who also ascended far above all the heavens."[475] The Apostles' Creed
confesses in the same article Christ's descent into hell and his
Resurrection from the dead on the third day, because in his Passover it
was precisely out of the depths of death that he made life spring forth:
Christ, that Morning Star, who came back from the dead, and shed his
peaceful light on all mankind, your Son who lives and reigns for ever and
ever. Amen.[476]
632 The frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was "raised from
the dead" presuppose that the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the
dead prior to his resurrection.[477] This was the first meaning given in the
apostolic preaching to Christ's descent into hell: that Jesus, like all
men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of
the dead. But he descended there as Saviour, proclaiming the Good News to
the spirits imprisoned there.[478]
633 Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went
down, "hell" - Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek - because those who are
there are deprived of the vision of God.[479] Such is the case for all the
dead, whether evil or righteous, while they await the Redeemer: which does
not mean that their lot is identical, as Jesus shows through the parable
of the poor man Lazarus who was received into "Abraham's bosom":[480] "It is
precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Saviour in Abraham's bosom,
whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell."[481] Jesus did
not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of
damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.[482]
634 "The gospel was preached even to the dead."[483] The descent into hell
brings the Gospel message of salvation to complete fulfilment. This is the
last phase of Jesus' messianic mission, a phase which is condensed in time
but vast in its real significance: the spread of Christ's redemptive work
to all men of all times and all places, for all who are saved have been
made sharers in the redemption.
635 Christ went down into the depths of death so that "the dead will hear
the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live."[484] Jesus, "the
Author of life", by dying destroyed "him who has the power of death, that
is, the devil, and [delivered] all those who through fear of death were
subject to lifelong bondage."[485] Henceforth the risen Christ holds "the
keys of Death and Hades", so that "at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth."[486]
Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great
stillness. A great silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled
and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised
up all who have slept ever since the world began. . . He has gone to
search for Adam, our first father, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring
to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has
gone to free from sorrow Adam in his bonds and Eve, captive with him - He
who is both their God and the son of Eve. . . "I am your God, who for your
sake have become your son. . . I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not
create you to be a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life
of the dead."[487]
IN BRIEF
636 By the expression "He descended into hell", the Apostles' Creed
confesses that Jesus did really die and through his death for us conquered
death and the devil "who has the power of death" (Heb 2:14).
637 In his human soul united to his divine person, the dead Christ went
down to the realm of the dead. He opened heaven's gates for the just who
had gone before him.
638 "We bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers,
this day he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus."[488] The
Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ, a
faith believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian
community; handed on as fundamental by Tradition; established by the
documents of the New Testament; and preached as an essential part of the
Paschal mystery along with the cross:
Christ is risen from the dead! Dying, he conquered death; To the dead, he
has given life.[489]
639 The mystery of Christ's resurrection is a real event, with
manifestations that were historically verified, as the New Testament bears
witness. In about A.D. 56 St. Paul could already write to the Corinthians:
"I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that
Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he
was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the
scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. . ."[490]
The Apostle speaks here of the living tradition of the Resurrection which
he had learned after his conversion at the gates of Damascus.[491]
The empty tomb
640 "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has
risen."[492] The first element we encounter in the framework of the Easter
events is the empty tomb. In itself it is not a direct proof of
Resurrection; the absence of Christ's body from the tomb could be
explained otherwise.[493] Nonetheless the empty tomb was still an essential
sign for all. Its discovery by the disciples was the first step toward
recognizing the very fact of the Resurrection. This was the case, first
with the holy women, and then with Peter.[494] The disciple "whom Jesus
loved" affirmed that when he entered the empty tomb and discovered "the
linen cloths lying there", "he saw and believed".[495] This suggests that he
realized from the empty tomb's condition that the absence of Jesus' body
could not have been of human doing and that Jesus had not simply returned
to earthly life as had been the case with Lazarus.[496]
The appearances of the Risen One
641 Mary Magdalene and the holy women who came to finish anointing the
body of Jesus, which had been buried in haste because the Sabbath began on
the evening of Good Friday, were the first to encounter the Risen One.[497]
Thus the women were the first messengers of Christ's Resurrection for the
apostles themselves.[498] They were the next to whom Jesus appears: first
Peter, then the Twelve. Peter had been called to strengthen the faith of
his brothers,[499] and so sees the Risen One before them; it is on the basis
of his testimony that the community exclaims: "The Lord has risen indeed,
and has appeared to Simon!"[500]
642 Everything that happened during those Paschal days involves each of
the apostles - and Peter in particular - in the building of the new era
begun on Easter morning. As witnesses of the Risen One, they remain the
foundation stones of his Church. The faith of the first community of
believers is based on the witness of concrete men known to the Christians
and for the most part still living among them. Peter and the Twelve are
the primary "witnesses to his Resurrection", but they are not the only
ones - Paul speaks clearly of more than five hundred persons to whom Jesus
appeared on a single occasion and also of James and of all the
apostles.[501]
643 Given all these testimonies, Christ's Resurrection cannot be
interpreted as something outside the physical order, and it is impossible
not to acknowledge it as an historical fact. It is clear from the facts
that the disciples' faith was drastically put to the test by their
master's Passion and death on the cross, which he had foretold.[502] The
shock provoked by the Passion was so great that at least some of the
disciples did not at once believe in the news of the Resurrection. Far
from showing us a community seized by a mystical exaltation, the Gospels
present us with disciples demoralized ("looking sad"[503]) and frightened.
For they had not believed the holy women returning from the tomb and had
regarded their words as an "idle tale".[504] When Jesus reveals himself to
the Eleven on Easter evening, "he upbraided them for their unbelief and
hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after
he had risen."[505]
644 Even when faced with the reality of the risen Jesus the disciples are
still doubtful, so impossible did the thing seem: they thought they were
seeing a ghost. "In their joy they were still disbelieving and still
wondering."[506] Thomas will also experience the test of doubt and St.
Matthew relates that during the risen Lord's last appearance in Galilee
"some doubted."[507] Therefore the hypothesis that the Resurrection was
produced by the apostles' faith (or credulity) will not hold up. On the
contrary their faith in the Resurrection was born, under the action of
divine grace, from their direct experience of the reality of the risen
Jesus.
The condition of Christ's risen humanity
645 By means of touch and the sharing of a meal, the risen Jesus
establishes direct contact with his disciples. He invites them in this way
to recognize that he is not a ghost and above all to verify that the risen
body in which he appears to them is the same body that had been tortured
and crucified, for it still bears the traces of his Passion.[508] Yet at the
same time this authentic, real body possesses the new properties of a
glorious body: not limited by space and time but able to be present how
and when he wills; for Christ's humanity can no longer be confined to
earth, and belongs henceforth only to the Father's divine realm.[509] For
this reason too the risen Jesus enjoys the sovereign freedom of appearing
as he wishes: in the guise of a gardener or in other forms familiar to his
disciples, precisely to awaken their faith.[510]
646 Christ's Resurrection was not a return to earthly life, as was the
case with the raisings from the dead that he had performed before Easter:
Jairus' daughter, the young man of Naim, Lazarus. These actions were
miraculous events, but the persons miraculously raised returned by Jesus'
power to ordinary earthly life. At some particular moment they would die
again. Christ's Resurrection is essentially different. In his risen body
he passes from the state of death to another life beyond time and space.
At Jesus' Resurrection his body is filled with the power of the Holy
Spirit: he shares the divine life in his glorious state, so that St. Paul
can say that Christ is "the man of heaven".[511]
The Resurrection as transcendent event
647 O truly blessed Night, sings the Exsultet of the Easter Vigil, which
alone deserved to know the time and the hour when Christ rose from the
realm of the dead![512] But no one was an eyewitness to Christ's
Resurrection and no evangelist describes it. No one can say how it came
about physically. Still less was its innermost essence, his passing over
to another life, perceptible to the senses. Although the Resurrection was
an historical event that could be verified by the sign of the empty tomb
and by the reality of the apostles' encounters with the risen Christ,
still it remains at the very heart of the mystery of faith as something
that transcends and surpasses history. This is why the risen Christ does
not reveal himself to the world, but to his disciples, "to those who came
up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the
people."[513]
648 Christ's Resurrection is an object of faith in that it is a
transcendent intervention of God himself in creation and history. In it
the three divine persons act together as one, and manifest their own
proper characteristics. The Father's power "raised up" Christ his Son and
by doing so perfectly introduced his Son's humanity, including his body,
into the Trinity. Jesus is conclusively revealed as "Son of God in power
according to the Spirit of holiness by his Resurrection from the dead".[514]
St. Paul insists on the manifestation of God's power[515] through the working
of the Spirit who gave life to Jesus' dead humanity and called it to the
glorious state of Lordship.
649 As for the Son, he effects his own Resurrection by virtue of his
divine power. Jesus announces that the Son of man will have to suffer
much, die, and then rise.[516] Elsewhere he affirms explicitly: "I lay down
my life, that I may take it again. . . I have power to lay it down, and I
have power to take it again."[517] "We believe that Jesus died and rose
again."[518]
650 The Fathers contemplate the Resurrection from the perspective of the
divine person of Christ who remained united to his soul and body, even
when these were separated from each other by death: "By the unity of the
divine nature, which remains present in each of the two components of man,
these are reunited. For as death is produced by the separation of the
human components, so Resurrection is achieved by the union of the two."[519]
651 "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your
faith is in vain."[520] The Resurrection above all constitutes the
confirmation of all Christ's works and teachings. All truths, even those
most inaccessible to human reason, find their justification if Christ by
his Resurrection has given the definitive proof of his divine authority,
which he had promised.
652 Christ's Resurrection is the fulfilment of the promises both of the
Old Testament and of Jesus himself during his earthly life.[521] The phrase
"in accordance with the Scriptures"[522] indicates that Christ's
Resurrection fulfilled these predictions.
653 The truth of Jesus' divinity is confirmed by his Resurrection. He had
said: "When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I
am he."[523] The Resurrection of the crucified one shows that he was truly
"I AM", the Son of God and God himself. So St. Paul could declare to the
Jews: "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, 'You
are my Son, today I have begotten you.'"[524] Christ's Resurrection is
closely linked to the Incarnation of God's Son, and is its fulfilment in
accordance with God's eternal plan.
654 The Paschal mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us
from sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life. This
new life is above all justification that reinstates us in God's grace, "so
that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too
might walk in newness of life."[525] Justification consists in both victory
over the death caused by sin and a new participation in grace.[526] It
brings about filial adoption so that men become Christ's brethren, as
Jesus himself called his disciples after his Resurrection: "Go and tell my
brethren."[527] We are brethren not by nature, but by the gift of grace,
because that adoptive filiation gains us a real share in the life of the
only Son, which was fully revealed in his Resurrection.
655 Finally, Christ's Resurrection - and the risen Christ himself is the
principle and source of our future resurrection: "Christ has been raised
from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. . . For
as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive."[528] The
risen Christ lives in the hearts of his faithful while they await that
fulfilment. In Christ, Christians "have tasted. . . the powers of the age
to come"[529] and their lives are swept up by Christ into the heart of
divine life, so that they may "live no longer for themselves but for him
who for their sake died and was raised."[530]
IN BRIEF
656 Faith in the Resurrection has as its object an event which as
historically attested to by the disciples, who really encountered the
Risen One. At the same time, this event is mysteriously transcendent
insofar as it is the entry of Christ's humanity into the glory of God.
657 The empty tomb and the linen cloths lying there signify in themselves
that by God's power Christ's body had escaped the bonds of death and
corruption. They prepared the disciples to encounter the Risen Lord.
658 Christ, "the first-born from the dead" (Col 1:18), is the principle of
our own resurrection, even now by the justification of our souls (cf. Rom
6:4), and one day by the new life he will impart to our bodies (cf.: Rom
8:11).
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