A Beacon Of Light… He Frees Us From The Yoke Of Sin And Death

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON JR.

(Editor’s Note: Fr. Richard D. Breton Jr. is a priest of the Diocese of Norwich, Conn. He received his BA in religious studies and his MA in dogmatic theology from Holy Apostles College and Seminary in Cromwell, Conn.)

• + + Welcome back to our survey of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. We have arrived at the final lines of the profession of faith where we will examine the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. This week we will complete the first pillar of the Catechism which is the Creed.
  Each week we profess our belief in the forgiveness of sins. This is such a profound statement for us to make because it is precisely why Christ came: to free us from the yoke of sin and death. Without a belief in the forgiveness of sins, we forfeit the possibility of eternal life. It was for this purpose that Christ was born, to redeem us.
  How does this happen? In order to answer this, we must return to the moments immediately following the Resurrection. It was in the Upper Room, gathered with the apostles, that the Risen Lord conferred the Sacrament of Reconciliation upon them.
  The Catechism reminds us of this in n. 976, when it quotes the Gospel of St. John: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” Having been given the authority to forgive sins, the new priests of the Church, begin to proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins.
  The apostles, having begun their missionary responsibility, began to teach the people about the Christian faith. This teaching included the primordial importance of Baptism. In order to receive the forgiveness of sins, Jesus instructs us that Baptism is the first moment of forgiveness and it is necessary in order to receive the other sacraments of forgiveness.
  The Catechism offers further clarification when it says: “When we made our first profession of faith while receiving holy Baptism that cleansed us, the forgiveness we received then was so full and complete that there remained in us absolutely nothing left to efface, neither original sin nor offenses committed by our own will, nor was there left any penalty to suffer in order to expiate them. . . .
  “Yet the grace of Baptism delivers no one from all the weakness of nature. On the contrary, we must still combat the movements of concupiscence that never cease leading us into evil” (CCC, n. 978).

A New Creation

With this having been said, I think it is appropriate to mention here the struggle that exists in the lives of all Christians, the struggle between good and evil. Having received the graces of Baptism, and having been grafted to Christ, that opens us up to the cunnings of the evil one. The evil one places temptation in our way with the focus of causing us to fall from grace. We the baptized, however, have received the greatest gift from Christ, the gift of a continual opportunity for the forgiveness of sins.
Here the Catechism turns to the Church Fathers who have called penance “a laborious kind of Baptism.” By this we mean the path to everlasting life will be the work of our labors and the ability to maintain “baptismal grace.” Though the effects of original sin incur for us an inclination to sin, the Sacrament of Penance reverses this and the graces of forgiveness are bestowed on us. So, when we say that we believe in the forgiveness of sins, we believe that God has given us the means of attaining heavenly grace.
In the next line of the Creed we profess our belief in “the resurrection of the body.” Why is this important? This is crucial to our understanding of the faith because it is precisely why Christ came, to free us from the yoke of sin and death, calling us back to the original holiness that was lost in disobedience.
On the day of our Baptism we became a “new creation” and are made sons and daughters of Christ. This new creation is signified in the white garment we receive. The white garment sets us apart as members of the Lord’s family. Furthermore, in Baptism we receive the Holy Spirit and our bodies become temples where the Spirit dwells. This in-dwelling of the Spirit promises us a share in the Resurrection.
This is why we celebrate the Mass of Christian Burial, or funeral Mass. The funeral Mass recalls for us the dignity of the person, particularly, the body that was the temple of the Holy Spirit. This is why the Church encourages us to bring the body of our loved ones to Church. It is a sign of the great respect given to the temple that once housed the Holy Spirit.
I remember during my time as a hospital chaplain seeing other religions taking great care of their loved one’s body after death. In one instance, I recall the custom of the Muslim people. In Islam the deceased are buried as soon as possible, and it is a requirement that the community be involved in the ritual. The individual is first washed and then wrapped in a plain white shroud called a kafan. Next, funeral prayers are said followed by the burial. The shrouded dead are placed directly in the earth without a casket and deep enough not to be disturbed. They are also positioned in the earth, on their right side, facing Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
The final line we profess in the Creed is: I believe in life everlasting. By professing these lines we affirm our belief in life after death. Alone death is final, but for a person who has faith in the Resurrection of Christ, death is not the end. For believers, life everlasting is what keeps us going. It is the culmination of our entire life’s journey. The journey began in Baptism when we were made children of Christ, and it finds its culmination in life after death.
This belief also includes the understanding that we will undergo the “particular judgment.” Particular judgment is the evaluation of both our works and our faith as they were lived on Earth.
For at the moment of our death, when we breathe our last breath, we will be judged by the Lord. This judgment will end in three ways. First, there is the possibility of immediate entrance into the heavenly kingdom. Second, there is immediate entrance into the state of purification before entering Heaven. This is what we call Purgatory. This “Purgatory” is a kind of cleansing whereby we are better prepared for the illumination of God. Finally there is immediate everlasting damnation. This is where we find the Devil and his minions along with those who had a total disregard for the Lord. All of these are the consequences of how we lived our lives on Earth.
The Church reminds us of this every time the Roman Canon, or the First Eucharistic Prayer, is prayed: “Father, accept this offering from your whole family. Grant us your peace in this life, save us from final damnation, and count us among those you have chosen” (CCC, n. 1037).
There is, however, what we know as the Last Judgment. The time and the hour of this judgment are not known, except by God Himself. When Christ will come “in his glory, and all the angels with him…before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left…and they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matt. 25:31, 32, 46).
Thus, our belief in life everlasting includes desire and hope for a “new heaven and a new earth.” This new heaven replaces the garden lost in the disobedience of our first parents, Adam, and Eve. For through Mary as the “new Eve” and Jesus being the “new Adam,” we are restored to the original innocence of creation.

I Believe

Finally, we arrive at the last word of the Creed. Our “Amen” affirms the first words we spoke of the Creed, our “I Believe.” The Catechism beautifully expresses this: “Thus the Creed’s final ‘Amen’ repeats and confirms its first words: ‘I believe.’ To believe is to say ‘Amen’ to God’s words, promises, and commandments; to entrust oneself completely to him who is the ‘Amen’ of infinite love and perfect faithfulness. The Christian’s everyday life will then be the ‘Amen’ to the ‘I believe’ of our baptismal profession of faith’” (CCC, n. 1064).
We have come to the conclusion of the first pillar of the Catechism dedicated to the Creed. I am reminded of the following words of St. Augustine regarding the importance of the Creed in our lives: “May your Creed be for you as a mirror. Look at yourself in it, to see if you believe everything you say you believe, and rejoice in your faith each day” (St. Augustine, Sermo 58, 11, 13: PL 38, 399).
Next week we will begin the Second Pillar of the Catechism, the celebration of the Christian mysteries.