Dear Grace,
Why was it necessary that Jesus come into the world and suffer as He did? If God knows everything, then why did He create us knowing that we would sin as we did? How does the Catholic Church deal with these questions?
At Christmas, it is very fitting that we reflect on these questions that have bewildered men and women for all ages. In the very first paragraph of the Prologue of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we read the following:
God, infinitely perfect and blessed in Himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in His own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek Him, to know Him, to love Him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of His family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son as Redeemer and Savior. In His Son and through Him, He invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, His adopted children and thus heirs of His blessed life.
If we look closely, we will see that this statement answers all of the ultimate questions and longings of the human heart and mind. We are made by God; we are made for God; and, we are on a journey back to God. This is what life is all about. Many have wondered why God would do all this, knowing how sinful the world would become, and the only answer is that simple but powerful four-letter word, love. God, is who is pure love, created out of love. But love, in order to be real, must be free. If you force someone to love you, then it is not real love. So, God created both the angels and mankind free, in order that they might love Him back. He wants for us to share in His blessed life.
How do we know all of this? In fact, how can we know that God even exists? There are several ways. We know God exists when we gaze at the created world in nature, when we look at another human person, and finally, we know it because of the ways He has revealed Himself through Divine Revelation. He did this through the Scriptures and the Tradition that was handed down to us by the Apostles. We know by reading the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament that God made a Covenant with Abraham. He said that He would be our God and we would be His people. If we would keep His commandments and live according to His ways, we would find true happiness. Apart from Him we would never be fulfilled.
God created us to be in total happiness with Him, but we were also free to choose to love or reject Him. We know that at some point, man abused the free will given him and chose himself rather than God. Thus, sin entered the world. This was a very serious offense against God. Like freedom, another characteristic of love is justice. God requires that offenses be made right. Who, on the earth, could pay such a price? Like a merciful and loving father (in the mystery of the Incarnation), He came into the world as one of us in the person of Jesus Christ, with a mission to pay that price and save us.
The problems that exist today in our lives and in our world stem primarily from the fact that we are trying so often to be whom we are not. And who are we? We are adoptive sons and daughters of the One, True, and Living God. We are here on this earth to seek Him, to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him with all our strength. The influences of the world, it seems, are constantly telling us something else. Sometimes, we lose our perspective. Christmas should be a wonderful reminder to us of the tremendous and infinite love that God has for us.
In sending His only begotten Son, God revealed Himself in the fullest way possible, for Jesus Christ was God Himself. This is one of the greatest mysteries of our Christian faith. In this life, we will never be able to comprehend it completely. We know, however, that one day, when we see God face to face, it will all be made clear. Our home is not this world; our home is in heaven; we have a heavenly destiny. When people ask where do we come from, why are we here, and where are we going, that is our answer. We come from God; we are here to live for God; and we are going to God. A blessed, holy, and peaceful Christmas to all!
© Copyright 2004 Grace D. MacKinnon
For permission to reprint this article, or to have Grace speak at your event, contact Grace MacKinnon at grace@deargrace.com.
Grace MacKinnon holds an MA in theology and is a syndicated columnist and public speaker on Catholic doctrine. Her new book Dear Grace: Answers to Questions About the Faith is available in our online store. If you enjoy reading Grace’s column, you will certainly want to have this book, which is a collection of the first two years of “Dear Grace.” Faith questions may be sent to Grace via e-mail at: grace@deargrace.com. You may also visit her online at www.DearGrace.com.
