Part 1: The Profession of Faith (26 - 1065)
Section 2: The Profession of the Christian Faith (185 - 1065)
Chapter 2: I Believe in Jesus Christ, the Only Son of God (422 - 682)
Article 3: "He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and was born of the Virgin Mary" (456 - 570)
Paragraph 1: The Son of God Became Man (456 - 483)
III. TRUE GOD AND TRUE MAN ⇡
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The unique and altogether singular event of the Incarnation of the Son of God does not mean that Jesus Christ is part God and part man, nor does it imply that he is the result of a confused mixture of the divine and the human. He became truly man while remaining truly God. Jesus Christ is true God and true man.
During the first centuries, the Church had to defend and clarify this truth of faith against the heresies that falsified it.
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The first heresies denied not so much Christ's divinity as his true humanity (Gnostic Docetism). From apostolic times the Christian faith has insisted on the true incarnation of God's Son "come in the flesh".87 But already in the third century, the Church in a council at Antioch had to affirm against Paul of Samosata that Jesus Christ is Son of God by nature and not by adoption. The first ecumenical council of Nicaea in 325 confessed in its Creed that the Son of God is "begotten, not made, of the same substance (homoousios) as the Father", and condemned Arius, who had affirmed that the Son of God "came to be from things that were not" and that he was "from another substance" than that of the Father.88
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Cf. 1 Jn 4:2-3; 2 Jn 7.
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Council of Nicaea I (325): DS 130, 126.
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The Nestorian heresy regarded Christ as a human person joined to the divine person of God's Son. Opposing this heresy, St. Cyril of Alexandria and the third ecumenical council, at Ephesus in 431, confessed "that the Word, uniting to himself in his person the flesh animated by a rational soul, became man."89 Christ's humanity has no other subject than the divine person of the Son of God, who assumed it and made it his own, from his conception. For this reason the Council of Ephesus proclaimed in 431 that Mary truly became the Mother of God by the human conception of the Son of God in her womb: "Mother of God, not that the nature of the Word or his divinity received the beginning of its existence from the holy Virgin, but that, since the holy body, animated by a rational soul, which the Word of God united to himself according to the hypostasis, was born from her, the Word is said to be born according to the flesh."90
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Council of Ephesus (431): DS 250.
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Council of Ephesus: DS 251.
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The Monophysites affirmed that the human nature had ceased to exist as such in Christ when the divine person of God's Son assumed it. Faced with this heresy, the fourth ecumenical council, at Chalcedon in 451, confessed: Following the holy Fathers, we unanimously teach and confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: the same perfect in divinity and perfect in humanity, the same truly God and truly man, composed of rational soul and body; consubstantial with the Father as to his divinity and consubstantial with us as to his humanity; "like us in all things but sin". He was begotten from the Father before all ages as to his divinity and in these last days, for us and for our salvation, was born as to his humanity of the virgin Mary, the Mother of God.91
We confess that one and the same Christ, Lord, and only-begotten Son, is to be acknowledged in two natures without confusion, change, division or separation. The distinction between the natures was never abolished by their union, but rather the character proper to each of the two natures was preserved as they came together in one person (prosopon) and one hypostasis.92
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Council of Chalcedon (451): DS 301; cf. Heb 4:15.
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Council of Chalcedon: DS 302.
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After the Council of Chalcedon, some made of Christ's human nature a kind of personal subject. Against them, the fifth ecumenical council, at Constantinople in 553, confessed that "there is but one hypostasis [or person], which is our Lord Jesus Christ, one of the Trinity."93 Thus everything in Christ's human nature is to be attributed to his divine person as its proper subject, not only his miracles but also his sufferings and even his death: "He who was crucified in the flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ, is true God, Lord of glory, and one of the Holy Trinity."94
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Council of Constantinople II (553): DS 424.
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Council of Constantinople II (553): DS 432; cf. DS 424; Council of Ephesus, DS 255.
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The Church thus confesses that Jesus is inseparably true God and true man. He is truly the Son of God who, without ceasing to be God and Lord, became a man and our brother: "What he was, he remained and what he was not, he assumed", sings the Roman Liturgy.95 And the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom proclaims and sings: "O only-begotten Son and Word of God, immortal being, you who deigned for our salvation to become incarnate of the holy Mother of God and ever-virgin Mary, you who without change became man and were crucified, O Christ our God, you who by your death have crushed death, you who are one of the Holy Trinity, glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit, save us!"96
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LH, 1 January, Antiphon for Morning Prayer; cf. St. Leo the Great, Sermo in nat. Dom. 1, 2; PL 54, 191-192.
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Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Troparion "O monogenes."
Catholic Culture
Collect: O God, strength of all the Saints, who through the Cross were pleased to call the Martyrs Saint Paul Miki and companions to life, grant, we pray, that by their intercession we may hold with courage even until death to the faith that we profess. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
o Japanese Style Steak
o Pain and Suffering
o Teaching About Death
o Novena to Our Lady of Lourdes
o The Catholic Holocaust of Nagasaki—“Why, Lord?” | Brother Anthony Josemaria
· Ordinary Time: February 6th
· Memorial of St. Paul Miki and Companions, martyrs
Old Calendar: St. Titus, confessor and bishop; St. Dorothy, virgin and martyr
Paul Miki, a Japanese Jesuit, and his twenty-five companions were martyred in Nagasaki, Japan. They were the first martyrs of East Asia to be canonized. They were killed simultaneouly by being raised on crosses and then stabbed with spears. Their executioners were astounded upon seeing their joy at being associated to the Passion of Christ.
According to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of St. Titus, whose feast in the Ordinary Form is combined with St. Timothy on January 26. It is also the feast of St. Dorothy, virgin and martyr, in the Extraordinary Form.
St. Paul Miki and Companions
Nagasaki, Japan, is familiar to Americans as the city on which the second atomic bomb was dropped, killing hundreds of thousands. Three and a half centuries before, twenty-six martyrs of Japan were crucified on a hill, now known as the Holy Mountain, overlooking Nagasaki. Among them were priests, brothers and laymen, Franciscans, Jesuits and members of the Secular Franciscan Order; there were catechists, doctors, simple artisans and servants, old men and innocent children—all united in a common faith and love for Jesus and his church.
Brother Paul Miki, a Jesuit and a native of Japan, has become the best known among the martyrs of Japan. While hanging upon a cross Paul Miki preached to the people gathered for the execution: "The sentence of judgment says these men came to Japan from the Philippines, but I did not come from any other country. I am a true Japanese. The only reason for my being killed is that I have taught the doctrine of Christ. I certainly did teach the doctrine of Christ. I thank God it is for this reason I die. I believe that I am telling only the truth before I die. I know you believe me and I want to say to you all once again: Ask Christ to help you to become happy. I obey Christ. After Christ's example I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a fruitful rain."
When missionaries returned to Japan in the 1860s, at first they found no trace of Christianity. But after establishing themselves they found that thousands of Christians lived around Nagasaki and that they had secretly preserved the faith. Beatified in 1627, the martyrs of Japan were finally canonized in 1862.
— Excerpted from Saint of the Day, Leonard Foley, O.F.M.
Things to Do:
- The survival of Japanese Catholicism is one of the most moving stories in the entire history of the Church. For over two centuries the people had no priests but lived the faith as best they could, in secret, not daring to keep written materials but handing down their beliefs by word of mouth. (James Hitchcock, The Nagasaki Martyrs) You can read more in this article from Catholic Culture's Library, The Nagasaki Martyrs.
- Stop for a moment today to pray for Christians who are persecuted throughout the world.
- Read more about St. Paul Miki and Companions at these websites: St. Paul Miki; St. Paul Miki and Companions; or view this video St. Paul Miki's Martyrdom.
- Read Pope Pius XII's Encyclical Meminissee Iuvat on prayers for the persecuted Church.
St. Dorothy
St. Dorothy, (i.e., the gift of God), a virgin from Caesarea in Cappadocia, allegedly suffered a martyr's death under Diocletian. Her relics are honored in a church dedicated to her honor in the Trastevere section of Rome. (On the door of St. Dorothy's Church the names of those who had not received holy Communion during Easter time used to be posted.) Her feast was introduced into the Roman calendar during the Middle Ages.
A very edifying story is related in connection with her name. As Dorothy was being led to execution because of her faith in Christ, she prayed, "I thank You, 0 Lover of souls, for having called me to Your paradise." A certain Theophilus, an official of the Roman governor, jestingly retorted, "Farewell, bride of Christ, send me apples or roses from your Bridegroom's garden of bliss." Dorothy answered, "I most certainly will."
While devoting herself to prayer during the few moments permitted before receiving the death stroke, she beheld a vision of a beautiful youth who carried three apples and three roses in a napkin. She said to him, "I implore you to take these to Theophilus." Soon the sword severed her neck, and her soul returned to God.
As Theophilus was mockingly telling his friend of Dorothy's promise, a young man stood before him holding a linen in which were wrapped three beautiful apples and three magnificent roses.
"See, the virgin Dorothy sends you these from the garden of her Bridegroom, even as she promised you." Highly astonished, for it was February and everything in nature was frozen, Theophilus received the gifts and cried out: "Truly indeed, Christ is God." And soon he too died a martyr's death for publicly confessing the faith.
— Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch
Patron: Brewers; brides; florists; gardeners; midwives; newlyweds.
Symbols: Crowned with flowers and surrounded by stars as she kneels before the executioner; crowned with palm and flower basket; surrounded by stars; crowned; carrying a flower basket; in an orchard with the Christ-child in an apple tree; leading the Christ-child by the hand; maiden carrying a basket of fruit and flowers, especially roses; roses; veiled with flowers in her lap; veiled; holding apples from heaven on a branch; with a basket of fruit and the Christ-child riding a hobby horse; with an angel and wreath of flowers; with an angel carrying a basket of flowers.
Things to Do:
- Read the Golden Legend account of the Life of St. Dorothy.
- Decorate your table with red roses and a bowl of apples, and tell the story of Theophilus and Saint Dorothy to your family at dinner.
7. And he called to him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;
8. And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse:
9. But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats.
10. And He said to them, In what place soever you enter into an house, there abide till you depart from that place.
11. And whoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when you depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say to you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
12. And they went out, and preached that men should repent.
13. And they cast out many devils, and annointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.
BEDE; Now our kind and merciful Lord and Master did not grudge His servants and their disciples His own virtues, and as He Himself had healed every sickness and every infirmity, so also He gave the same power to His disciples. Wherefore it goes on: And he called to him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits. Great is the difference between giving and receiving. Whatever He does is done in His own power, as Lord; if they do anything, they confess their own weakness and the power of the Lord, saying in the name of Jesus, Arise, and walk.
THEOPHYL. Again He sends the Apostles two and two that they might become more active; for, as say's the Preacher, Two are better than one. But if He had sent more than two, that there would not have been a sufficient number to allow of their being sent to many villages.
GREG. Further, the Lord sent the disciples to preach, two and two, because there are two precepts of charity, namely, the love of God, and of our neighbor, and charity cannot be between less than two; by this therefore He implies to us, that he who has not charity towards his neighbor, ought in no way to take upon himself the office of preaching. There follows, And he commanded them, that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse: but be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats.
BEDE; For such should be the preacher's trust in God, that, though He takes no thought for supplying his own wants in this present world, yet he should feel most certain that these will not be left unsatisfied lest whilst his mind is taken up with temporal things, he should provide less of eternal things to others.
PSEUDO-CHRYS. The Lord also gives them this command, that they might show by their mode of life, how far removed they were from the desire of riches.
THEOPHYL. Instructing them also by this means not to be fond of receiving gifts, in order too that these, who saw them preach poverty, might be reconciled to it when they saw that the Apostles themselves possessed nothing.
AUG. Or else; according to Matthew, the Lord immediately subjoined, The workman is worthy of his meat, which sufficiently proves why He forbade their carrying or possessing such things, not because they were not necessary, but because he sent them in such a way as to show, that they were due to them from the faithful, to whom they preached the Gospel. From this it is evident, that the Lord did not mean by this precept that the Evangelists ought to live only on the gifts of those to whom they preach the Gospel, else the Apostle transgressed this precept when He procured his livelihood, the labor of his own hands, but He meant that He had given them a power, in virtue of which, they might be assured, these things were due to them.
It is also often asked, how it comes that Matthew and Luke have related that the Lord commanded His disciples no to carry even a staff, whilst Mark says, And he commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only. Which question is solved, by supposing that the word 'staff' has a meaning in Mark, who says that it ought to be carried, different from that which it bears in Matthew and Luke, who affirm the contrary.
For in a concise way one might say, Take none of the necessaries of life with you, nay, not a staff, save a staff only; so that the saying, nay not a staff; may mean, nay not the smallest thing; but that which is added, save a staff only, may mean that, through the power received by them from the Lord, of which a rod is the ensign, nothing, even of those things which they do not carry, will be wanting to them. The Lord therefore said both, but because one Evangelist has not given both, men suppose, that he who has said that the staff, in one sense, should be taken, is contrary to him who again has declared, that, in another sense, it should be left behind: now however that a reason has been given, let no one think so.
So also when Matthew declares that shoes are not to be worn on the journey, he forbids anxiety about them, for the reason why men are anxious about carrying them, is that they may not be without them. This is also to be understood of the two coats, that no man should be troubled about having only that with which He is clad, from anxiety lest He should need another, when he could always obtain one from the power given by the Lord.
In like manner Mark, by saying that they are to be shod with sandals or soles, warns us that this mode of protecting the foot has a mystical signification, that the foot should neither be covered above nor be naked on the ground, that is, that the Gospel should neither be hid, nor rest upon earthly comforts; and in that He forbids their possessing or taking with them, or more expressly their wearing, two coats, He bids them walk simply, not in duplicity. But whoever thinks that the Lord could not in the same discourse say some things figuratively, others in a literal sense, let him look into His other discourses, and he shall see, how rash and ignorant is his judgment.
BEDE; Again, by the two tunics, He seems to me to mean two sets of clothes; not that in places like Scythia, covered with the ice and snow, a man should be content with only one garment, but by coat, I think a suit of clothing is implied, that being clad with one, we should not keep another through anxiety as to what may happen.
PSEUD-CHRYS. Or else, Matthew and Luke neither allow shoes nor staff; which is meant to point out the highest perfection. But Mark bids themselves take a staff and be shod with sandals, which is spoken by permission.
BEDE; Again, allegorically; under the figure of a scrip is pointed out the burdens of this world, by bread is meant temporal delights, by money in the purse, the hiding of wisdom; because he who receives the office of a doctor, should neither be weighed down by the burden of worldly affairs, nor be made soft by carnal desires, nor hide the talent of the word committed to him under the ease of an inactive body. It goes on, And he said unto them, In what place soever you enter into a house, there abide till you depart from that place. Where He gives a general precept of constancy, that they should look to what is due to the tie of hospitality, adding, that it is inconsistent with the preaching of the kingdom of heaven to run about from house to house.
THEOPHYL. That is, lest they should be accused of gluttony in passing from one to another. It goes on, And whoever shall not receive you, &c. This the Lord commands them, that they might show that they had walked a long way for their sakes, and to no purpose. Or, because they received nothing from them, not even dust, which they shake off, that it might be a testimony against them, that is, by way of convicting them.
PSEUD-CHRYS. Or else, that it might be a witness of the toil of the way, which they sustained for them; or as if the dust of the sins of the preachers was turned against themselves. It goes on, And they went and preached that men should repent.
And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them. Mark alone mentions their anointing with oil. James however, in his canonical Epistle, says a thing similar. For oil both refreshes our labors, and gives us light and joy; but again, oil signifies the mercy of the unction of God, the healing of infirmity, and the enlightening of the heart, the whole of which is worked by prayer.
THEOPHYL. It also means, the grace of the Holy Ghost, by which we are eased from our labors, and receive light and spiritual joy.
BEDE; Wherefore it is evident from the Apostles themselves, that it is an ancient custom of the holy Church that persons possessed or afflicted with any disease whatever, should be anointed with oil consecrated by priestly blessing.
Catena Aurea Mark 6
