Q & As for Good Friday

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Q What is the importance of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus?

A The paschal Mystery of Jesus, which comprises his passion, death, Resurrection, and glorification, stands at the centre of the Christian faith because God's saving plan was accomplished once for all by the redemptive death of his Son Jesus Christ.

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Q Who is responsible for the death of Jesus?

A The passion and death of Jesus cannot be imputed indiscriminately either to all the Jews that were living at that time or to their descendants. Every single sinner, that is, every human being is really the cause and the instrument of the sufferings of the Redeemer; and the greater blame in this respect falls on those above all who are Christians and who the more often fall into sin or delight in their vices.

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Q What are the results of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross?

A Jesus freely offered his life as an expiatory sacrifice, that is, he made reparation for our sins with the full obedience of his love unto death. This love "to the end" (John 13: 1) of the Son of God reconciled all of humanity with the Father. The paschal sacrifice of Christ, therefore, redeems humanity in a way that is unique, perfect, and definitive; and it opens up for them communion with God.

~ from the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
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On Easter Sunday

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Christ rose again from the dead on Easter Sunday

That part of the fifth article of the Creed, the descent into Hell, is, I imagine, the part of the Creed least remembered by Christians. It was not always so. In the Middle Ages there was a constant reference to what was called the 'Raking of Hell'. You see it portrayed in mediaeval wall paintings; you see it in mediaeval mystery-plays; you see it in one of the south windows of King's College Chapel at Cambridge.
Now, I imagine that the reason why the descent into Hell is mentioned so seldom by Christians is that its vocabulary is misleading. 'Hell' does not mean Hell in the strict sense, because Hell is the state of eternal separation from Almighty God. The Hell we are talking about here is called Hell by analogy. It is very important to know what it means, because this article of the Creed brings home to us the absolute necessity of the Redemption. We, living nineteen centuries after the Redemption took place, take it for grated and say to ourselves, 'If only I do what is right and act according to my lights I shall be saved.' Yes. But that is only because of what Jesus Christ has done - His suffering and dying for us. Every attempt on our part to lead a good and holy life is of value only because it is complementary to His dying for us. Our efforts would have been of no avail had He not done so.
What is clearly implied by this article of the Creed is that all the saints and the prophets of the Old Testament simply could not enter Heaven until Christ's sacrifice was complete. They were in Limbo. They had not yet been redeemed. The curse of Adam was still upon them. Their lives of virtue were lived in expectation of the Redemption and needed the Redemption in order to come to fruit. This article of the Creed means that the moment the Redemption took place its consequences were applied to them. Their good works, their lives of virtue, sprang into life; the fates of Heaven opened to them.
We ought to thank God every day of our lives that we are living after the Redemption and that our attempts to lead lives of holiness are effective precisely because the Redemption has taken place.   

~ from We Believe by Monsignor A N Gilbey

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The Meaning and Saving Significance of the Resurrection

"If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain." 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.

Christ's Resurrection is the fulfilment of the promises both of the Old Testament and of Jesus himself during his earthly life. The phrase "in accordance with the Scriptures" indicates that Christ's Resurrection fulfilled these predictions.

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." 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.'" Christ's Resurrection is closely linked to the Incarnation of God's Son, and is its fulfilment in accordance with God's eternal plan.

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." Justification consists in both victory over the death caused by sin and a new participation in grace. 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." 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.

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." 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" 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."

~ from the Catechism of the Catholic Church

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