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Jesus Christ is Truth. God is Love.Saint Athanasius (approx. AD 373) "...the son of God became the Son of Man so that sons of men could become sons of God...""No one," the Apostle admonishes us, "can lay other foundation than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1Cor 3,11). It is Christ alone "whom the Father sanctified and sent into this world" (Jn 10,36), "the splendor of the Father and the image of His substance" (Heb 1,3), true God and true man: without whom nobody can know God with the knowledge for salvation, "neither doth anyone know the Father but the Son, and he to whom it shall please the Son to reveal Him" (Mt 11,27). (RSV) John 1:17 "...For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ..."For ease of understanding read this first: Baptism the foundation of Christian existence. Baptism, a new birth of water and the Spirit, removes the barrier of original sin ( Jn 19:34 ) ( Rom 6:3-4 ) ( 1 Pet 1:23 ). It opens the door to Heaven with a bond of Fatherly love. The Christian faithful are saved by the water of Baptism and by holding fast to their faith, as one family of God inside the Church; just as Noah and his family were saved from the flood by staying inside the ark ( 1 Peter 3:18-22 ). The ark being a type of Church and the flood being baptismal waters; the Church will prevail. We are saved in the Church and we have our Lords word "that the gates of the netherworld will not prevail against it" ( Mt 16:18 ). We look hopefully forward, towards an eternal family reunion, as divine sons and daughters of the Father. Baptism is the first step on our stairway to Heaven. It is the normative route God provided for us His creatures for we are not orphans left desolate. He will come to us ( Jn 14:18 ). Baptism is a loving gift of grace from the heart of the Father on our spiritual journey towards supernatural life. Supernatural life, our hope; is a divine life and love to be shared with Him, and Mary our mother, and all the members of the family of God, forever ( 1 Cor 2:7-9 ) ( 2 Pet 1:3-11 ) ( Rom 8:18-19 ). "...By the death of One the world was redeemed. For Christ, had He willed, need not have died, but He neither thought that death should be shunned as though there were any cowardice in it, nor could He have saved us better than by dying. And so His death is the life of all..." Saint Ambrose ( 340-397 A.D. ), Bishop of Milan. 25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messias is coming (who is called Christ ), and when he comes he will tell us all things." 26 Jesus said to her, "I who speak with thee am he." (John 4:25-26 ) Douay - Rheims Bible. "...Without interruption, therefore, let us persevere by our hope and by the guarantee of our righteousness, which is Jesus Christ, who bore our sins in His own body on the tree ( 1 Peter 2:24 ), who did no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth ( 1 Peter 2:22 ); but for our sake, that we might live in Him, He endured all things..." Saint Polycarp ( 69-155 A.D. )
Lumen Gentium 14. "This Sacred Council wishes to turn its attention firstly to the Catholic faithful. Basing itself upon Sacred Scripture and Tradition, it teaches that the Church, now sojourning on earth as an exile, is necessary for salvation. Christ, present to us in His Body, which is the Church is the one Mediator and the unique way of salvation. In explicit terms He Himself affirmed the necessity of faith and baptism(124) and thereby affirmed also the necessity of the Church for through baptism as through a door men enter the Church. Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved." Contact: Frederick Peter Pogorzelski
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