The Mystery Of Jesus Christ

Passages from the book, The Mystery of Jesus Christ by F. Ocariz, L.F. Mateo Seco and J.A. Riestra, which I am reading for my Theology of Christ course this semester. Want a taste of what I'm studying? Check out the beauty of the study of First Truth!

"The profession of faith-Jesus is the Christ-is a resume of the Christian faith."

"What identifies the Christian is nothing other than identification with Christ. From this it follows that the Church's mission is simply that of preaching the truth about Christ and changing people into Christ."

"The Church lives his mystery, draws unwearyingly from it and continually seeks ways of bringing this mystery of her Master and Lord to humanity-to the peoples, the nations, the succeeding generations, and every individual human being-as if she were ever repeating, as the Apostle did: 'For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified (I Cor. 2:2)'.
-Redemptor hominis.

"The question...of who and what Jesus Christ is is the key question which neither theologian nor believer can avoid."

"It is Christ himself that man should search for, and not some 'image' of him, more or less beautiful, more or less touching.'

"The salvation-bearing reply to this question comes to us from 'on high' (cf. Mt. 16:17), for it is a response of faith, which is beyond man's natural powers; faith is a gift while being at the same time in conformity with reason, a reasonable service.

" 'Whoever seeks Christ without the Church, putting his trust in his own insight and what goes by the name of criticism, deprives himself of all possibility of finding the living Christ. Only the living comprehends and affirms the living.' In fact, 'without hte living Church, the Gospels, and, indeed, the entire New Testament would be simply a more or less stirring literary composition, raised, it is true, high above all other religious literature, even the Old Testament, but all the same just a body of writing robbed of the breath of life, the fresh inspiration of flesh-and-blood reality.' "