Lesson 2: CHRIST’S PASCHAL EVENT

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the lesson, the student can;

Doctrine: Describe the paschal events of Jesus Christ

Morals: Demonstrate practical ways of living out the paschal event of Christ
Worship: Pray and reflect on the Eucharistic prayer I (refer roman missal)

WHAT IS THAT PLUS SIGN DOING UP THERE

A story was told about a young boy who visited the Church for the first time together with his
father. As a 2nd grader, who happened to be just learning how to read and recognize
mathematical symbols, he was very observant to his surroundings and try to read and associate
every signages he saw along the way. Getting in the Church, he looked straight at the altar with
great awe and wonder as he saw a very big cross hanging up just above the altar. He asked his
father, daddy, what is the big “plus” sign doing up there? The father was stunned and said to
himself, all my life I’ve been thinking of the cross as something negative – burden, suffering,
trials and pain but my child taught me a lesson today, that the cross is never be and can never be
a negative sign for the cross is always a positive sign.

In Christian belief, salvation is commonly and swiftly associated with the suffering and death of
Jesus on the cross. But looking at the whole picture of the mystery, salvation does not just stop
on the negativity and dreadful suffering and death of Jesus. Salvation is however completed in
the resurrection of Jesus which a positive event that overcomes and conquers death and suffering.

Hence, in this lesson, we shall look into the mystery of our salvation through Christ’s paschal
event.

CHRIST’S PASCHAL EVENT AS TOLD IN THEGOSPELS

One of the fundamental principles of Catholic belief relating to the history of salvation is
the Paschal mystery. The primary focus is Jesus Christ's passion and death, resurrection and
ascension, the work that God the Father sent His Son to accomplish on earth.

Passion of Christ

The word Passion comes from the Latin word “pati” which means to suffer. The Passion
of Jesus Christ is the story of his arrest, trial and suffering. It ends with his execution by
crucifixion.It is a story about injustice, doubt, fear, pain and, ultimately, degrading death. It tells
how God experienced these things in the same way as ordinary human beings. Most versions of
the Passion begin with the events in the Garden of Gethsemane. The gospels of Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John tell us a lot about the passion of Jesus;

The Agony in the Garden.(Lk 22:41-44)

He withdrew from them, about a stone's throw away, and knelt down and prayed. 'Father,'
he said, 'if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, let your will be
done, not mine.' Then an angel appeared to him, coming from heaven to give him
strength. In his anguish he prayed even more earnestly, and his sweat fell to the ground
like great drops of blood.

The Scourging at the Pillar. (Jn 19:1)

Pilate had Jesus taken away and scourged.

The Crowning with Thorns. (Jn 19:2-3)

The soldiers twisted some thorns into a crown and put it on his head and dressed him in a
purple robe. They kept coming up to him and saying, 'Hail, king of the Jews!' and
slapping him in the face.

The Carrying of the Cross. (Jn 19:17-18)

They took charge of Jesus, and carrying his own cross he went out to the Place of the
Skull or, as it is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified him.

The Crucifixion and Death of Our Lord. (Jn 19:26-27,30)

Seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his
mother, 'Woman, this is your son.' Then to the disciple he said, 'This is your mother.'...
Jesus said, 'It is fulfilled'; and bowing his head he gave up his spirit.

The Resurrection

The Resurrection of Christ, a central doctrine of Christianity, is based on the belief that
Jesus Christ was raised from the dead on the third day after his Crucifixion and that through his
conquering of death all believers will subsequently share in his victory over “sin, death, and the
devil.” As the cornerstone of Christian doctrine and the foundation of Christian hope, Jesus
Christ fulfilled his own promise to do so and solidified the pledge he made to his followers that
they too would be raised from the dead to experience eternal life (John 14:19).

The resurrection story unfold in Matthew 28:1-20; Mark 16:1-20; Luke 24:1-49; and
John 20:1-21:25. As a summary;

According to these Gospel accounts, certain woman disciples went to the tomb of Jesus,
which was located in the garden of Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin (the
supreme Jewish religious court) and a secret disciple of Jesus. They found the stone
sealing the tomb moved and the tomb empty, and they informed Peter and other disciples
 that the body of Jesus was not there. Later, various disciples saw Jesus in Jerusalem,
even entering a room that was locked; he was also seen in Galilee. (Accounts of the
locations and occasions of the appearances differ in various Gospels.) Other than such
appearances noted in the Gospels, the account of the resurrected Lord’s walking the
Earth for 40 days and subsequently ascending into heaven is found only in the book of
the Acts of the Apostles.

CHURCH TEACHING ON PASCHAL MYSTERY

The Paschal Event Resemblance of the Passover

In Christian theology the term “paschal mystery” refers to Jesus’ passion& death,
resurrection and ascension and their saving significance for us. This paschal event is celebrated
by the Church during the holy season of Lent which culminates in the resurrection of Jesus at
Easter.

The adjective paschal derives from the Hebrew verb pasach, meaning “to pass over,” and
alludes to ancient Israel’s rescue from slavery in Egypt in Moses’ time, when the Lord “passed
over” the houses of the Israelites while striking down the Egyptians (Ex. 12:23).Just as the
Israelites had passed over from slavery to freedom in the Promised Land, the early Christians
believed that the risen Christ is the one who had passed over from death to new life and had, in
turn, given that gift to all of us — freedom from the slavery of death into new life with him.

The Paschal Mystery and the Profession of Faith

The Nicene Creed that we say at Mass and which dates from the fourth century lists these
three parts of the paschal mystery:

• “For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died and was buried.
• “On the third day, he rose again in fulfilment of the Scriptures;
• “He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.”

There we have it; three distinct parts in the one mystery of our salvation:

• Jesus’ Passion and death;

• his Resurrection;
• his Ascension into heaven.

Most of us are used to understanding that Christ’s sufferings and death are inseparably
linked to his resurrection. We might be less likely to remember that the Ascension is part of the
same event.But something is missing in our understanding if we forget about the Ascension. As
the Catechism of the Catholic Church #668, tells us,

“Christ’s Ascension into heaven signifies his participation, in his humanity, in God’s
power and authority. Jesus Christ is Lord: he possesses all power in heaven and on earth

The Paschal Mystery and its Theological Meaning

As Christians we are invited to follow Jesus Christ, to embrace His passion, death,
Resurrection, and Ascension which we identify as a faith event that we call the “Paschal
mystery”. The Catechism of the Catholic Church # 654, states its theological meaning as
follows,
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.”
The Paschal Mystery and the Sacramental Liturgy
The liturgy and the sacraments of the Church allow us to experience the Paschal Mystery,
through word and symbols, and especially in the liturgical seasons of Lent and Easter as a
journey from sin to the newness of life. TheCatechism of the Catholic Church # 1104,
describes how the liturgy makes the Paschal Mystery present,
“Christian liturgy not only recalls the events that saved us but actualizes them, makes
them present. The Paschal mystery of Christ is celebrated, not repeated. It is the
celebrations that are repeated, and in each celebration, there is an outpouring of the
Holy Spirit that makes the unique mystery present.”

In like manner, the Catechism of the Catholic Church #1085, also describes the essential
reality of presence of the paschal mystery of Christ;

In the liturgy of the Church, it is principally his own Paschal mystery that Christ
signifies and makes present. During his earthly life Jesus announced his Paschal mystery
by his teaching and anticipated it by his actions. When his Hour comes, he lives out the
unique event of history which does not pass away: Jesus dies, is buried, rises from the
dead, and is seated at the right hand of the Father "once for all." His Paschal mystery is
a real event that occurred in our history, but it is unique: all other historical events
happen once, and then they pass away, swallowed up in the past. The Paschal mystery of
Christ, by contrast, cannot remain only in the past, because by his death he destroyed
death, and all that Christ is - all that he did and suffered for all men - participates in the
divine eternity, and so transcends all times while being made present in them all. The
event of the Cross and Resurrection abides and draws everything toward life.
The Paschal Mystery and the Act of Redemption
Christ’s work of redemption accomplished principally by his Passion, death,
Resurrection, and glorious Ascension. The Catechism of the Catholics # 1067, states
that;

"The wonderful works of God among the people of the Old Testament were but a prelude
to the work of Christ the Lord in redeeming mankind and giving perfect glory to God. He
accomplished this work principally by the Paschal mystery of his blessed Passion,
Resurrection from the dead, and glorious Ascension, whereby 'dying he destroyed our
death, rising he restored our life.' For it was from the side of Christ as he slept the sleep
of death upon the cross that there came forth 'the wondrous sacrament of the whole
Church."'3 For this reason, the Church celebrates in the liturgy above all the Paschal
mystery by which Christ accomplished the work of our salvation.

LET US LEARN MORE

Activity A: Living out the Paschal Event

Direction: There are a lot of situations in the world today that manifest suffering, destruction,
Brokenness, deprivation and other instances of spiritual death. How can you
demonstrate practical ways of bringing life and vitality to counteract the culture of
death?

Circumstances of Culture What can you do to help bring a culture of life and
of Death restoration
1. Broken Family As of now I do not have the capabilities to bring back
families, restore their bond or at least fix their
situation, especially broken ones. All I can do is to
support them through their emotional needs.

2. Shattered Relationship with other
members of the family or with
other persons
3. Poverty
I believe in a saying that a broken mirror is better left
being broken that hurt yourself trying to fix is, I
personally think this can be applied to this given
circumstance, because If I try to fix everything I will
just end up hurting myself. And I think it is better to
learn to let people go in order for us to grow.
Living in a third world country like the Philippines we
can’t deny the fact that most of our population is
suffering from poverty. I can say that it is a really hard
situation for those in poverty since they cannot always
 provide proper food and shelter for their families, and I
think the best way I can help or at least shed a light
through them is to provide them with work or anything
that can secure their welfare, but as of now that I’m a
student I can help them through donating through
charities and the likes.
4. Violence and War I don’t think I can do that much in the face of a raging
war, but against awareness I think I can do my part in
being the voice of those people who are victims of
abuse.

5. Destruction of our Natural Habitat Every one of us whose living in this planet Earth is
responsible for its Destruction, we cannot go on and
protest or preach about this we don’t practice being
conservative in the first place. So, in conclusion, we
need to practice what we preach, we have to start with
ourselves, so that we can be a good example to others.

Activity B: Praying with the Eucharistic Prayer of the Mass

Direction: Praying with the Eucharistic Prayer 1
Open this url - http://www.ibreviary.com/m/messale.php?s=liturgia_eucaristica&id=72 ,
Read with your heart and reflect, then make your personal prayer.
 Dear Jesus, I pray for you and for everyone in heaven, and I hope they are as content as I am. I hope
that one day we will all be able to get along and be happy. I pray that those who aren't as kind as you
become closer to you and everyone else in their lives. I'm grateful for what I have now and what I'll get
in the future. I am grateful for the people in my life, the things I have, the love I give and receive, and
the opportunity to love and forgive one another. I am grateful for my health, which allows me to strive
to be a better person every day. Bless those who are in need and those who are suffering. You are our
rescuer and our leader. God is ours. You gave your life for us with no expectation of anything in return.
Amen.