By Emily Mendez, Connecting Creed and Life
Editor’s note: For 2025, the weekly Connecting Faith and Life column will be renamed Connecting Creed and Life. To celebrate the 2025 Jubilee Year and the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the columns will consist of reflections on the Nicene Creed, corresponding with related paragraphs in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC).
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried (cf. CCC 571-586)
With the end of the school year, my family makes the transition to summer mode. Bedtimes and wake-up times change. Backpacks and homework are put away and trips to the playground, pool and library take their place. Every year as a mom I get emotional about the passage of time. My twins finished kindergarten this year and it is only one year and then it is gone, forever. One of my sons cried on his fourth birthday when I told him he would never be three again. It was precious, but true. Every day something dies never to return again, and every day something is new, never before experienced. The themes of the Paschal Mystery–suffering, death, new life and hope for the future–continuously flow through our lives. Jesus’ suffering, death, resurrection and ascension allow us to unite our lives with his and to die to sin and to live with life-giving love. We will always find the Paschal Mystery’s source and summit in the Mass where it is present again, for our sake. During the consecration, we are on Calvary at the foot of the cross begging to be redeemed, healed and transformed toward holiness. This is reality, not just a memory.
The Paschal Mystery is the Good News which we are to proclaim to the world, and the world needs our message. It is easy to think our moment in time is more divided and dysfunctional than any other time in history, but the gospels show us that Jesus suffered from turbulent social times, too. His physical suffering is immense, being beaten and scourged and forced to carry his cross. But his mental and spiritual suffering must have also been great. In the Gospel of Mark, we read about the different groups that were trying to trap Jesus in his words. The chief priests, scribes and elders question where his authority comes from (11:27-33). The Pharisees and Herodians try to corner him about paying taxes (12:13-17). The Sadducees ask him questions about the resurrection when they do not even believe in the resurrection (12:18-27). There is attempt after attempt to trip up Jesus, much like the comments on a political post on Facebook, and he navigates their cunning and logic like a chess game, each move falling into place and revealing the next attack. It is the throwback version of a modern-day social media mob. They all want to catch him in their verbal traps. However, maybe even more painful than being pursued by your enemies, Jesus is finally arrested because of the betrayal of one of his friends; Judas (14:10). His other friends fall asleep during his most crucial time of prayer in Gethsemane (14:40). Then, Peter, the rock of a leader, denies even knowing him (14:66-72). Why did Jesus willingly go through this extremely intense suffering? The Psalm-prayer from Daytime Prayer, Thursday, Week IV of the Liturgy of the Hours says: “Lord Jesus…remember that when our sins had ploughed long furrows on your back, your death broke the bonds of sin and Satan forever…” Jesus gave himself to free us from sin, death, and Satan; to heal our brokenness and restore us to new life, all for our sake.
In our spiritual lives, it is easy to find we are going through the motions. The Mass can start to feel repetitive and uninteresting if we lose sight of what is really happening. At the offertory, it is not just the bread and wine that are offered to the Father, but also our own lives. If we put our whole selves there, on the altar, we are transformed! Jesus knew we would need the grace of his redemptive work over and over and so he gave us a way to receive it again and again. What a brilliant plan! What a generous God! Our work is to not be distracted at Mass so we can offer ourselves and all in us that needs redemption during the offertory and receive the grace of the resurrection. This is a great mystery, meaning it is something we can know, but never fully understand. Jesus says in Revelation 21:5; “Behold, I make all things new.” And he does, including you!