43. BITESIZE CATECHISM: THE FIRST WEEK OF THE ADVENT WREATH - JESUS OUR SAVIOR & MESSIAH

APPETIZER: Jesus means in Hebrew: "God saves." At the annunciation to Mary, the angel Gabriel gave her Child the name Jesus as his proper name, which expresses both his identity and his mission.Since God alone can forgive sins, it is God who, in Jesus his eternal Son made man, "will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21).   The word "Christ" comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah, which means "anointed". It became the name proper to Jesus only because he accomplished perfectly the divine mission that "Christ" signifies. It was necessary that the Messiah be anointed by the Spirit of the Lord at once as king and priest, and also as prophet.  Jesus fulfilled the messianic hope of Israel in his threefold office of priest, prophet and king.  Jesus' messianic consecration reveals his divine mission, "for the name 'Christ' implies 'he who anointed'. The one who anointed is the Father, the one who was anointed is the Son, and he was anointed with the Spirit who is the anointing. "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power that he might be revealed to Israel as its Messiah. His works and words will manifest him as "the Holy One of God"(see Catechism of the Catholic Church, #430-438)

MAIN COURSE:  During the First Week of Advent our prayerful thoughts and meditations go back to the primordial Garden of Eden, to the first stage of human history.  We light the first purple candle which calls to mind the creation of the original human couple. The Book of Genesis calls the man Adam (which simply means "man") and the woman "Eve" (which means 'mother').  God created them in goodness and full of holiness.  

As a free gift from God, they enjoyed a personal relationship with Him, sharing in his love and also in his  divine life. This was something above and beyond the natural capabilities of human nature. Adam and Eve - and all humans who were to descend from them - were intended by God to also live in this intimate relationship.  But love is, by its very nature, a free choice and so God gave the first humans the freedom of the will to choose to love Him and share his life. 

This is where the enemy of God and the human race, Satan (which means "Adversary") enters the story. He along with other fallen angels also had a free choice to love and live with God. However, they chose to love and serve themselves instead.  Filled with envy and motivated by hatred that God would allow humans to be raised higher in glory and happiness than them, Satan set about his sneaky plan to tempt Adam and Eve and mislead them to make the same choice that he had made.

As we know from the Book of Genesis, the first human did exactly this and disobeyed their Creator. But God love's is merciful and unconditional.  Though Adam and Eve no longer live din intimacy with Him, He promised to send a Savior who would make up for their selfishness and disobedience. Through perfect love and generous obedience, this Savior, called the Messiah, would lead the human race back to God. 

In order to make perfect love and obedience possible for a human being, God the Son himself chose to become human, for only a human who is also divine could fully and truly make-up to God for the original sin of Adam and Eve.  Because he is both fully divine and fully human, Jesus could heal and reconcile in his own person the division that sin caused between God and humans.  And he would bring about this same healing from sin and union with God in those who unite themselves to him by faith through baptism. This is why we call him our Savior because salvation means "healing".  We call him Messiah (which is translated as "Christ" in Greek) because he is the promised Anointed One who would come to set us free from the ancient enslavement of humans to sin.

This first candle invites us to join in the story that began in the Garden of Eden. It calls us to become part of the solution to sin by preparing our hearts and lives to welcome and follow the Messiah, the Christ, the Promised One. 

DOGGIE-BAG: A little something to take with you for spiritual snacking...

Reflection for the First week of Advent: As we read in the Appetizer above taken from the official Catechism of the Catholic Church, Jesus is the promised Messiah, a Hebrew word which is Greek is translated as "Christ" and in English it is "the Anointed One".  At Baptism we each were anointed with the holy oil of Chrism and became intimately and spiritually united with Jesus the Anointed One as prophets, priests and kings.  How well are you living your mission as a prophet, priest and king with the Messiah?  A prophet is an instrument of God'd Word to others - do you read the Scriptures? A priest offers praise and worship to God - are you praying daily and speaking to God from your heart? A king in the Messiah's kingdom is someone who serves the people unselfishly - how are you interacting with and treating others?

SCRIPTURE QUOTE TO MEMORIZE: "Born for  you in King David's City is the Savior who is both Christ and Lord." (Gospel of St. Luke 11:1)