Important Truths About the Redemption from the Baltimore Catechism

Jesus Christ saved the world from the evil effects of both original sin and the actual sins of men by a life and death of suffering. His death on the cross was a sacrifice to His Father–a sacrifice in which He was both priest and victim. He was not obliged to suffer as much as He did in order to redeem us, for even the least suffering on His part would have sufficed to redeem all mankind because of the infinite dignity of His divine personality, which gave infinite satisfactory value to even the least of His sufferings. But He suffered so intensely and died the painful death of the cross in order to prove His great love for us.

Because His death means so much for the human race, the Catholic Church cherishes a great devotion to the representation of His death, the crucifix. The crucifix is the chief reminder of Jesus Christ. In every church and school the crucifix occupies a prominent place; and it should be found also in every Catholic home. Nothing is better calculated to teach us the greatness of God’s love for men, and the malice of sin. It is because of the many lessons contained in Christ’s Passion that the Church celebrates so solemnly Holy Week and recommends the devotion of the Way of the Cross.

By his sin Adam gave away all right to God’s promised gifts of grace in this world and of glory in the next, and Our Lord bought back the right that Adam threw away. The chief effects of the Redemption are two: The satisfaction of God’s justice by Christ’s sufferings and death, and the gaining of grace for men. We say “chief effects” to show that these are the most important but not the only effects of the Redemption — for all the benefits of our holy religion and of its influence upon the world are the effects of the redemption.

God’s justice required satisfaction because it is infinite and demands reparation for every fault. Man in his state of sin could not make the necessary reparation, so Christ became man and made it for him. From the sufferings and death of Christ we learn the great evil of sin, the hatred God bears to it, and the necessity of satisfying for it.

The Mass is the same sacrifice as that of the Cross because the offering and the priest are the same — Christ our Blessed Lord; and the ends for which the sacrifice of the Mass is offered are the same as those of the sacrifice of the Cross.

The ends for which the sacrifice of the Cross was offered were:

1. To honor and glorify God;

2. To thank Him for all the graces bestowed on the whole world;

3. To satisfy God’s justice for the sins of men;

4. To obtain all graces and blessings.

Christ instituted the Holy Eucharist:

1. To unite us to Himself and to nourish our soul with His divine life.

2. To increase sanctifying grace and all virtues in our soul.

3. To lessen our evil inclinations.

4. To be a pledge of everlasting life.

5. To fit our bodies for a glorious resurrection.

6. To continue the sacrifice of the Cross in His Church.

The Holy Eucharist remits venial sins by disposing us to perform acts of love and contrition. It preserves us from mortal sin by exciting us to greater fervor and strengthening us against temptation.

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. We love you. Save souls. Amen.