St. Anthony's Catholic Church

·       Session 8 finished our Bible timeline with the periods of the Messianic Fulfillment (gold as the gift from the Magi found in the gospel of Luke) and The Church (white as thespotless bride of Christ found in the book of Acts)

·       The whole Bible is Christocentric – it is about Jesus

·       In the Catechism of the Catholic Church 115-117 we are told there are two distinct “senses” inscripture: literal and spiritual. Spiritual is subdivided into allegorical (how it connects to Jesus); moral (teaching us how to act), and anagogical (how it points to the future).

·       In the book of Matthew we begin with the genealogy of Jesus mentioning 4 “shady” ladies on his family tree.  This points to the eventual inclusion of Gentiles in the family of God

·       Jesus was a Jew; fully God and fully man, this is called the hypostatic union.  He fulfills all righteousness. He relives the life of Israel and reconstitutes it.  (He obeys where they failed)

·       In theTransfiguration of Jesus, Moses and Elijah are seen speaking with Jesus.  As Moses brought the Israelites out of Egypt, now Jesus anticipates his Exodus that will bring the whole world out of the slavery of sin. 

·       In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us a new law

·       John the Baptist calls Jesus the “lamb of God” – reminding us of the lamb Abraham and Isaac were looking for and the Passover lamb needed to stop the last plague (which was death to first born son). Both Jesus and the Passover lamb were killed at 3 PM, neither had their bones broken, both were inspected prior to being killed. Jesus, in chasing out the money changers in the temple who helped provide the pilgrims with their sacrificial lamb, was indicating he would be taking on the role of the sacrificial lamb.

·       Jesus takes onthe curses of Adam from Gen 3:17-19 as he sweats in his Passion, is crowned with thorns, and dies. Jesus does what Adam would not do.  Adam exercised his will for self. Jesus gave his will over to the divine will - “Thy will be done”

·       The Way of theCross is love poured out.  We are called to pick up the cross and follow him. Our suffering, united to Christ; “filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church” Col 1:24. Jesus makes room in his sufferings for ours so we can learn how to love.

·       Jesus’ kingdom has some of the same elements as the Davidic Kingdom: A queen mother, Mary (Kings2:19) who is an intercessor; a prime minister, Pope, (Isaiah 22) who holds the keys of the kingdom (our first Pope is Peter, see Mt 16:19).

·       Jesus’ Resurrection is saying to all mankind: See, you can trust God!!!

·       We now have access to the tree of life (which was guarded by an angel in the Garden of Eden) when we partake in the Eucharist

·       The book of Acts focuses on the early Church.  It isdivided into three main sections:

o  Acts 1:1 – 8:3 which is their witness in Jerusalem

o  Acts 8:4 – 12:25 which is their witness in Judea and Samaria

o  Acts 13:1 – 28:31 which is their witness to the ends of the world

·       We continue to witness the Good News to the world – What stories will be written about you?  Are you Christ in the world?  Do you trust God?