Cozies 4 Chemo - Our Lady of Good Counsel

June 21, 2012 | Issue 3 | Vol. 4www.olgcnj.orgTHE BIBLE: The Historical JesusBy Richard J. LohkampIf someone were to ask: What does Christianity present for belief? Themost direct response would be: Christianity presents the person Jesusand invites all to get to know him, love him, and follow him. All of thedoctrines and practices of the Church revolve around that person and thatinvitation.The natural question then would be: Who is this Jesus and what arewe to think of him? For most of us the spontaneous answer might be:Jesus is the Son of God. Or, as the Council of Chalcedon expressed it in451 AD: in this person we see the union of Divine Nature and humannature – two natures, one person.Each of these responses is faithful to Christian tradition. However, dowe fully appreciate the part of Christian doctrine that says that Jesus wasand is human – he is one of us – a fellow human being? In this person,Jesus, God became human. As St. John puts it: “and the Word becameflesh and dwelt among us.” The ‘Word’ is Divine Wisdom, the SecondPerson of the Trinity – of the same nature and essence as the Father.Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, professor of theology at Fordham University,in her book Consider Jesus: Waves of Renewal in Christology, presents away that might help us 21st century people understand this theology. Shepresents a way of thinking about ‘Person,’ ‘Human Nature,’ and ‘DivineNature’ and a way of thinking about the union of those two natures in oneperson that can be helpful.Hail Mary, Full of GraceThe Good Counsel Courier | 9‘Person’Johnson says that the term “person” has two meanings:As we understand it today, a ‘person’ is an “individual center ofconsciousness and freedom.” We experience ourselves as a “center”in relationship to other centers of consciousness and freedom – other‘persons.’When the Council of Chalcedon said that Jesus is one person withtwo natures, the Greek word that we translate as “person” was hypostasiswhich means the ‘ground’ out of which an individual stands forth – whatmakes the individual what he/she is.‘Human Nature’Johnson uses our experience to explain ‘human nature.’ She notes thatwe ask questions; we’re always looking for answers. She follows thatobservation with the following:“What does asking a question reveal about ourselves? It shows first ofall that we do not know something and yet want to know it: we have adesire for truth…we have a hunch that something is there to be known.Asking a question reveals that we are in touch with a known unknown.”“The human spirit is revealed by this analysis as having an infinite thirstfor truth and an infinite capacity for truth… The only reality that will quenchthis thirst of ours is God’s own being which is infinite truth, Truth itself.”Human beings yearn for the infinite and will only be satisfied by theinfinite – by God himself.‘Divine Nature’Divine Nature is a deep mystery of self-giving truth and love. Godyearns to give himself. That self-giving truth and love (Divine Nature) isreally what human nature yearns for. We yearn for union with God.The Person JesusChristianity presents Jesus as the center of consciousness and freedomwhose human yearnings are fulfilled by the Divine – one person, twonatures. The Divine doesn’t absorb or overshadow the human. It fulfillsthe human. It brings into the human what humans most crave: truthand love. When the apostles saw the risen Jesus on the first Easter, theyencountered a transformed – a truly fulfilled – human being – one inwhom God truly reigned without limit. Through his life and finally onthe cross Jesus gave himself into his Father’s hands. As the Gospels andActs make clear, the Father’s response was resurrection: total fulfillmentof the deepest yearnings of the man Jesus. One person, fully human andfully divine.The person Jesus is the true image and likeness of God – what Godwants us to see about Himself and what God wants us to understandabout being human. (Genesis, chapter 1).Father Jim visited Kindergarten A to bless rosaries for theMay Procession.