Q&A On The Redemption

Questions about the Redemption

90. What is meant by the Redemption?

By the Redemption is meant that Jesus Christ, as the Redeemer of the whole human race, offered His sufferings and death to God as a fitting sacrifice in satisfaction for the sins of men, and regained for them the right to be children of God and heirs of heaven.(See question 358)

(a) Satisfaction is compensation for an offense or injury against another.

(b) A redeemer is one who pays a price to regain something that has been lost or given up.

(c) No creature could, of himself, make adequate satisfaction for sin, which offends the infinite majesty of God. Every creature is finite and, as such, is unable to make infinite satisfaction.

(d) Although God wished all to be saved, and although Christ died for all, yet only those to whom the merits of His Passion are applied will benefit by His death

(e) The death of Christ was a sacrifice of infinite merit and satisfaction, by which man was redeemed.

(f) Christ was both priest and victim in the sacrifice whereby He redeemed us. AS priest He offered His Passion and death to God for us, and as victim He suffered and died.

91. What were the chief sufferings of Christ?

The chief sufferings of Christ Were His bitter agony of soul, His bloody sweat, His cruel scourging, His crowning with thorns, His crucifixion, and His death on the cross.

(a) The Stations of the Cross and the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary call to mind the chief sufferings of Christ.

(b) Christ suffered and died in His human nature; in His divine nature He could neither suffer nor die. All of His sufferings, even the least, were of infinite value because His human and divine natures were united in the divine Person of the Son of God.

92. When did Christ die?

Christ died on Good Friday.

93. Where did Christ die?

Christ died on Golgotha, a place outside the city of Jerusalem.

(a) The site of Christ's death is also called the Place of the Skull, and Mount Calvary.

94. What do we learn from the sufferings and death of Christ?

From the sufferings and death of Christ we learn God's love for man and the evil of sin, for which God, who is all-just, demands such great satisfaction.

(a) We also learn that we should return God's great love and willingly take up our cross and follow Him.