The central figure of the Catholic faith is the divine person named Jesus, the only begotten Son of God. Catholics praise and worship God through, with, and in Jesus, in whom God is completely revealed.
As the Word of God and the second person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus is of the same essence and divine nature as God the Father. He has existed in Heaven forever.
In the person of Jesus, God came down from Heaven, taking on a second nature that is fully human. The long-awaited savior of mankind was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and became the only child of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
As God in the flesh, Jesus demonstrates God’s love, provides a model for holiness, and elevates mankind’s condition to allow men to become like God.
Beginning his public ministry as an adult, Jesus preached the Good News of Salvation, performed signs that prove that He is God, and founded a Church which He entrusted to his closest Disciples.
To save mankind from sin, Jesus allowed Himself to suffer and die while nailed to a Cross on Good Friday. His Body was buried while his Soul descended to the Netherworld to free the souls of the just.
On the third day Jesus was Resurrected, his Body and Soul reunited on Easter Sunday. Forty days after his Resurrection, He ascended into Heaven where He lives again at the right hand of God the Father.
Jesus promised to be with his disciples always, so He sent his Holy Spirit to guide and protect his Church where He remains present today in Sacred Scripture and in the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist.
Jesus also promised that He would return in glory at the end of time to establish his everlasting Kingdom and to judge which of the living and the dead are worthy of Eternal Life with Him in Heaven.
Jesus is God with us:
The long awaited savior:
When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi He asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.”
Matthew 16: 13-17
Catholicism centers around Jesus:
Jesus is unique in the history of world religions:
The Gospel hinges on who Jesus is:
We believe and confess that Jesus of Nazareth, born a Jew of a daughter of Israel at Bethlehem at the time of King Herod the Great and the emperor Caesar Augustus, a carpenter by trade, who died crucified in Jerusalem under the procurator Pontius Pilate during the reign of the emperor Tiberius, is the eternal Son of God made man. He ‘came from God’, ‘descended from Heaven’, and ‘came in the flesh’. For ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. . . and from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace.’
Catechism of the Catholic Church 423
Jesus is true God and true Man:
Jesus is the true Son of the living God:
The highest and most perfect revelation of God:
We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God. He is the Eternal Word, born of the Father before time began, and one in substance with the Father, homoousios to Patri, and through Him all things were made. He was incarnate of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, and was made man: equal therefore to the Father according to His divinity, and inferior to the Father according to His humanity; and Himself one, not by some impossible confusion of His natures, but by the unity of His person.
Pope Paul VI, Solemni Hac Liturgia, 30 June 1968
Knowing who Jesus is leads to Salvation:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
The beauty of the Catholic Church:
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