The Mysteries of Faith

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator

Back when we celebrated the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, the Sunday after Pentecost, I wrote in this blog about the mysteries of our faith. I tried to point out that mysteries of faith are not riddles or puzzles to be solved. Mysteries of faith can be compared to rosebuds which reveal more and more beauty as they unfold. As we continue to encounter the mysteries of our faith, as we continue to encounter God, we continue to discover truths about God as our experience of God grows.

This fact is very evident in today's selection from the writings of St. Paul. For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and the human race, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as ransom for all. (1 Timothy 2:5-6) Notice that St. Paul refers to Jesus as a man.

We live almost 2,000 years after St. Paul wrote this letter. The mystery of Jesus has continued to unfold over those 2,000 years. St. Paul refers to Jesus as a man because the community (the Church) had not yet come to understand that Jesus was not simply a man but also divine. St. Paul's letter is an example of what theologians call "low Christology." In other words, St. Paul and his contemporaries understood that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, but they did not fully comprehend that Jesus was God incarnate. The realization is not evidenced in the Sacred Scriptures until we reach the Gospel of St. John who wrote that Jesus was not only the Word of God made man, Jesus was God. Theologians refer to St. John's Gospel and similar writings as "high Christology." After years of reflecting on the life, ministry, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, the community had come to understand who Jesus was. You will, no doubt, that the question of Jesus' identity is constantly raised in the Gospels.

Of what relevance is this for us today? Simply put, it means that it is within the community, within the Church, that our understanding of God and our relationship with God continues to develop. There are those who maintain that they do not need the Church to commune with God. True enough. However, it is only within the Church that we, the people of God, will continue to reflect together on the mysteries of our faith and will continue to discover the reality of God in our day to day lives. The apostles and evangelists reflected on their encounter with Christ and the effects that it had on their lives and shared those reflections with one another. It was through this process that the mystery of Jesus, God made flesh, slowly unfolded until the Church understood that Jesus was both God and man. It is through this same process that such mysteries will continue to unfold in our lives.