As previously explained, I've enrolled in the University of Notre Dame's Satellite Theological Education Program (STEP) to pursue their Certificate in Doctrine. I've already taken three of the six required courses, plus I digressed from the course list to pick up the course on Catholic Social Teaching. Now I'm back on the Certificate pathway taking my fourth course. This time it's The Creed. Our text is Bernard L. Marthaler - The Creed.
We are focusing this week on the portion of the Apostle’s Creed that reads:
He descended into hell; the third day He arose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty ….
The corresponding portion of the Nicene Creed reads:
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
As the Catechism explains (¶ 512):
Concerning Christ's life the Creed speaks only about the mysteries of the Incarnation (conception and birth) and Paschal mystery (passion, crucifixion, death, burial, descent into hell, resurrection and ascension).
And it further explains that it is through “the great Paschal mystery—his death on the cross and his Resurrection—[that Jesus] would accomplish the coming of his kingdom.”
But what is the Paschal mystery?
The word Paschal comes from the Greek word pascha, which in turn came from the Hebrew word pesah (or pesach), is usually translated as “passover.” In using the term Paschal mystery to describe Christ’s salvific sacrifice, the Church asserts that the salvation of the Jews at Passover was a foreshadowing of the salvation to be offered all by Christ Jesus. Christ was the perfect sacrificial lamb foreshadowed by the lambs sacrificed by the Israelites at Passover.
The word mystery also requires explication. Catholicism is not a Gnostic religion in which only believers have access to secret knowledge. When the Church refers to a mystery, it is talking about a revealed truth that we cannot fully understand or prove by human reasoning alone.
Put together, we see that the Paschal mystery is the central act of Christ’s mission; it is the sequence of events—each essential—that collectively constitute his salvific intervention in human history.
Marthaler makes an interesting observation by connecting the Paschal mystery to one of the other great mysteries of the faith; namely, the Trinity. (P. 198). The Father lifts up the Son, who is now seated at the Father’s right hand, and from whom proceeds the Holy Spirit.
