Redemption

For Catholics the Church has 2 main purposes:

• To provide a space where they can meet to worship together
• provide a space for individual prayer e.g.the side chapels

How do churches help & inspire worship?

statues of saints many help christians to be inspired to follow their example

images like the stations of the cross, inspire them to reflect on Jesus' sufferings

the care that's been put into the design/decoration of church-shows devotion to God & helps people feel God is respected

As a result of the 2nd vatican council in 1965, there's differences in churches built before and after this date.

Before 1965:

• built facing east towards jerusalem-city where jesus died and rose again
• build in the shape of the cross-Cruciform-remider of Jesus' cross
• altar aginst the east wall-mass was in latin,priest speaks quietly with back facing away from congregation
• so people didn't feel much involved in worship

After 1965:

• church built around altar
• focuses on getting as much people as possible to fit inside Chuch so they can see and join in with mass/worship
• priest faces congregation and mass is said in vernacular-makes people feel more involved

Lectern-reading stand from where the Bible is read from

• Lectern should be ina prominent place in Church, so people can clearly see and hear the Word of God being prolcaimed-so they can be inspired by it.

Crucifix-a model/image of a cross with Jesus crucified on it

• reminds Christians of the suffering that Jesus went thru to save humanity
• inspires gratitude & love for Christ for all he's done for humanity
• this gratitude which is inspired by the crucifix is clearly expressed in the Eucharist

Altar-place of sacrifice where the offering of the Mass is made to God

• Christ is trully present on the altar,offering himself to the Father on behalf of humanity-so beliver can experience Jesus' presence-inspiring them to worship him
• helps to re-enact the last supper, where the First ever Mass was celebrated-so the sacrifice feels more real,feel more involved

Tabernacle-the box where the consectrated bread is kept after Mass

• houses the real presence of Christ-so many catholics pray in front of it
• it can inspire a deep sense of peace as it reminds Catholics that Christ is still caring for them
• the consecrated bread kept inside can be taken to people who can't get to Mass-so they can still receive Holy Communion & grow in faith

Altar-place of sacrifice and thanksgiving

• for catholics the most important altar is the cross on which sacrificed his life
• reminder that Christ sacrifice is being made again thru offering of bread and wine

Table-where people eat form

• re-enactment of last supper
• at last supper Jesus gave himself to his disciples in the form of bread and wine-so they ca share in the effects of his sacrifice-a table is a reminder of this

Crucifix-shows Christ crucified on the cross

• reminder of the suffering Jesus endured out of love for humanity
• helps christians feel grateful for Jesus' sacrifice and love
• many christians like the crucifix to be present at Mass,as this service re-enacts the sacrifice of Jesus' death

Cross- a cross without figure of Christ on it(some people not keen on displaying Jesus)

a symbol of Christ's victory over sin and death-christ not on cross as he's risen 

Risen Christ

• focuses on the Risen Christ-the glorified saviour
• reminds Catholics that in Holy communion, they receive the Body and blood ,soul & divinity of the Risen Christ

• God made all of creation perfect,"God saw that everything he had made was vey good"
• God gave humans free will (In Genesis 2 he gives Adam & Eve the choice to eat/not eat from the tree of knowledge)
• because God wanted humans to actively choose him-rather than follow him because they can't do anything else
• Humans chose to used their freewill to sin- when Adam & Eve eat the forbidden fruit
• Sin is any action that rejects God's will
• So the catholic church teach that all humans are born with the tendency to sin-Oringinal sin
• Sin breaks the relationship between God, Humanity & Creation
• So one way that God tried to restore this relationship is when he sent his Son as Jesus into the world
• Thru Jesus' death,ressurection and ascension into heaven helped to restore this relationship and the harmony of Creation

Jesus' Death- "Jesus gave a loud cry & breathed his last"

• Jesus lived his life in total obedience to God even to how he'll die-by agreeging to die by Crucifixtion, "yet not my will by yours be done"
• Jesus's total obedience to God the Father-both in life and thru his sacrifice of his death helped to restore the relationship between God and humans that had been broken by sin-a rejection of God's will

Jesus' Resurrection- "If Christ has not been raised,your faith is futile & you're still in your sin"

• As Jesus always followed God's will and never sinned- he could not be separated form God by sin or death
• So, 3 days after his death he was brought back to life by the God the Father,"I have seen the Lord,"this is what Mary of Magdalene said to the disciples after she saw the resurrected Christ
• Thru the Resurrection, the ultimate power of sin & death was destroyed-meant people can be with God in Heaven after they die cos despite sin+death in the world today-we can overcome it like Jesus
• This also helped to restore the harmony of creation

40 days after his resurrection he rose upto heaven to take his place beside the Father as the Son of God

Jesus' ressurection & Ascension helped to restore the cosmic order-by making the whole of creation as perfect as God intended it to be

"Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven"

Significance of Jesus' death & Burial

• Jesus' death redeemed humanity thru his total obedience to God-so he made up for the sins of humanity so people could be brought back into a relationship with God-he did this thru the sacrifice of this death
• For Christians, an important element of Jesus' death is that he continued to show love even when he was suffering e.g. when he forgave the executioners, "Father forgive for do not know what they are doing"
• Christians believe tha when Jesus died and was buried he joined everyone else who'd died before him-shows God is with them even in death

Significance of the Resurrection

• made life after death possible because it destroyed the ultimate power of sin and death
• when jesus resurrected the people who died before him were alos raised upto heaven
• In the Bible there are numerous accounts of Jesus' resurrection e.g.when he appeared to the disciples in the lcoked room-shows it actually happened-rather than myths in Genesis creation accounts

Significance of Jesus' Ascension

• For Christians, the ascension shows that Jesus is with the Father-sharing his glory for all eternity
• just before Jesus ascended to heaven, he promised to send his Spirit to everyone-allows Jesus to continue to work in & thru his believers, inspiring them to do God's will
• Have believers the faith/hope that they'll also be raised upto heaven as Jesus promised all his poeple will follow where he's gone-now, as the relationship between God,Humanity and Creation is restored

Past:

• Jesus' death and resurrection were essential to human salvation

Present-Salvation is an on going process

• while Jesus destroyed the ultimate power of sin and death-this doesn't mean sin doesn't exsist anymore
• so you have to choose to accept his death & resurrection by resisting temptation to sin & accepting forgiveness when you do-in order to be saved e.g.going to confession
• Holy spirit guides people to work towards salvation

Future- Jesus' Second Coming

• salvation will be completed at the end of time,when the Kingdom of God if fully established and the power of sin and death will completlety be destroyed
• this will be the final victory of God's grace

Catholics believe redemption is an ongoing process cos Christ is constantly being offered in Mass to God the Father for atonement of our sins

• In the Mass, Christ's offering of himself to Father is re-enacted 
• thry receiveing holy communion we're receving Jesus into lives who gives us the grace to resist sin and get closer to salvation
• The Mass is a chance to experience what the 'heavenly banquet' will be like-this is the victory celebration that'll happen when salvation is complete
• represented by the idea that everyone in heaven joining for a meal-so mass inspires Christians to work towards salvation in their everyday lives

Jesus the Example- "take this cup away from me... yet not my will but yours be done"

• In the Gospels, it tells how Jesus knew how much suffering crucifixtion would cause-but still he went along with it-out of his total obidience to God-setting an example for all to follow

Jesus the Restorer-"the veil of the Sanctuary was torn"

• Jesus' death restored the relationship between God & Humanity.In Mark 15 it tells us how after Jesus died the veil that separated the holiest part of the Temple from the rest was torn in two-shows Jesus' death broke down the barrier between God and Humanity

Jesus the Victor- "Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last"

• Mark 15 shows how Jesus experienced pain, sufferring and death as a human
• By bringing the presence of God into these experiences,Jesus was victorious over them
• He made it possible for all humans to share in the final defeat of suffering an death

Redemption-making up for the wrongs done by other people, to bring humans back into a relationship with God

In John 20, Mary doesn't recognise at first the resurrected Christ-suggests Jesus while physically present, was also different, he had entered a new creation-reflecting the idea that redemption changed creation, by making it more perfect

In Acts 1, Jesus told his disciples they'd be his witnesses, "to the ends of the Earth"-Jesus expected them to continue to spread his teachings after he was gone, so everyone could accept and share in his redemption                                                                                               Also, 2 angels told the disciples that Jesus would return in the future,"Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven will come in the same way"-taling about the end of time when Jesus' redemptive work will be complete

Acts 2-Pentecost

• When the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit,"divided tongues as of fire appeared among them...all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit"
• The Holy spirit gave them courage & abillity to go out into world & talk about Jesus-so they can accept his redemption

St Iranaeus

helps believers to value how their own sinfulness is a rejection of God, like adam and eve-but the supreme acceptance of the will of god shown by jesus outweighs all human sinfullness

Howvever,some people don't agree with the Genesis 3 account, so they disagree with the metaphor

St Anslem

some christians prefer anselm's imagery cos it shows that humanity are slaves to sin,which is what their are but now are servants to christ

however it is not clear who the ransom is being paid to, suggests there's someone gretaer than God

• Start of Mass-catholics come together to participate in Mass and ask God and eachother for forgiveness for their sins-represent Body of Christ here on Earth.Asking for forgiveness strengthens relationship with God and others and you accept his forgiveness and redemption
• Readings-at least 2 from Bible-always includes Gospel- readings remind Catholics that God has guided his people and thru the gospel we can see how God helps people thru Jesus' words and actions
• Offertory-when bread and wine taken up by members of congregation-these are brought to God as a sign of thanksgiving
• Eucharistic prayer and Consecration- e.prayer priest repeats words from last supper, at the end of prayer becomes consecrated and these are offered upto God the Ftaher-commmand to eat and rink we take part in Jesus' offering made to God on the cross
• the command do this in memory of me-everytime it happens makes event reality not just an event in the past
• renews a new covenant (new relationship between God and humanity established when Jesus died on the cross)
• communion-

"The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian Life" - Catechism of the Catholic Church

Source cos..

Christ's body and blood gives life to our soul,like normal food gives life to our body

offering Mass on a sunday is a perfect way to keep holy the sabbath day as it celebrates the day of the resurrection every sunday

Summit cos...

the offering of Christ on the cross is the highest form of prayer to god, as mass re-enacts christ's sacrifice-so its a highest form to a christian

in mass, we celbrate and re-enact the most important even tin Christianity Christ's death and ressureection

"The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian Life" - Catechism of the Catholic Church

Source cos..

Christ's body and blood gives life to our soul,like normal food gives life to our body

offering Mass on a sunday is a perfect way to keep holy the sabbath day as it celebrates the day of the resurrection every sunday

Summit cos...

the offering of Christ on the cross is the highest form of prayer to god, as mass re-enacts christ's sacrifice-so its a highest form to a christian

in mass, we celbrate and re-enact the most important even tin Christianity Christ's death and ressureection