Jesus is the Son of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. He was sent to us on earth because of God’s great love for us. Jesus’ mission on earth was the salvation of all people from sin. He accomplished this through His Paschal Mystery — His Passion, death, Resurrection, and Ascension. He established the Catholic Church during His earthly life in order to continue His mission after He returned to the Father.

The Reality of Sin

Although our world today may deny it, sin is a reality. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, committed the Original Sin, into which we are all born, leaving us with a tendency to sin. When we sin, we disobey God and reject His love. Ultimately, sin destroys God’s life within our souls, grace, and it destroys our relationship with Him. In fact, Scripture tells us that the penalty for sin is death! This is a price too great for us to pay. From the very beginning, we were in need of salvation.

Jesus Takes Away the Sin of the World

God so loved the world that He sent His only Son to save us from sin and death. Jesus did not come into the world to condemn us, but rather to set us free. Jesus willingly sacrificed His own life on the Cross for ours. He rose from the dead on the third day. In Him, death holds no power over us. In Him, we are set free from sin and once again are made sons and daughters of God. Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead is a historical fact on which our entire Christian faith is built. Because Jesus rose from the dead, sin and death hold no power over us and we have been set free. Forty days after the Resurrection, Jesus ascended into Heaven and returned to His Father. In Heaven, Jesus sits at the Father’s right hand and will come again to judge the living and the dead at the end of time. The events of Christ’s Passion, death, Resurrection, and Ascension are the Paschal Mystery. Like the lamb that the Israelites in the Old Testament sacrificed on the night of Passover in order to be spared from the angel of death and freed from slavery in Egypt, Jesus is the Lamb of God, whose sacrifice frees us from the slavery of sin. His Precious Blood was shed for the New Covenant to be made. We are all invited to be part of God’s family in the New Covenant of salvation.

The Sacrifice of the Mass

We receive the Holy Eucharist at Mass. The Eucharist is the Sacrament in which we receive the Lord’s Body and Blood under the appearances of bread and wine. In the Eucharist, Jesus fulfills His promise to give Himself to us as the Bread of Life. When we receive the Eucharist, we are spiritually nourished, not by a mere symbol, but by Christ’s true Body and Blood. The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. That means that the Eucharist is the foundation of our Faith and its greatest expression. Jesus instituted the Eucharist on the night before He died, at the Last Supper, when He took bread and a cup of wine, gave them to His disciples, and said, “This is my Body” and “This is my Blood.” Then, the next day, on the Cross, Jesus fulfilled His sacrifice. Every Mass is a re-presentation of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross. In the Mass, we worship and receive the Lord in His Word and in His Body and Blood from the same altar. We participate in the one and the same sacrifice of Christ made present again.

The Church Continues Jesus’ Mission on Earth

Jesus’ mission on earth was the salvation of all people from sin. During His public ministry, Jesus founded the Catholic Church. He chose twelve men, the Twelve Apostles, to be the first bishops and to carry on His mission after He returned to the Father. He chose Peter and prepared him specially to be the first pope. All of the popes since have been the successors of St. Peter. The pope is the leader of the worldwide Church. The Apostles faithfully carried out their great commission to spread the Good News of salvation and make disciples of all the nations. The Church today continues this work, faithful to the teachings of Christ and His mission. All of the world’s bishops are the successors of the Apostles. They lead individual dioceses around the world by teaching their people and making the Sacraments available to them. Priests are co-workers with their bishops and work in local parishes to administer the Sacraments and preach the Gospel of Christ. It is in our parishes where we most directly experience the communion of the faithful and grow in God’s love to know, love, and serve Him.