Went to mass last week, Passion Sunday (like I do every Sunday, this Sunday being Palm Sunday) to render God the honor due him every week for creating us and to offer the only sacrifice worthy of God, the Eucharist where the Second Person of the Uncreated God is offered, really to himself for humans to take our past, future and present sins away, but first and foremost to make restitution for the original sin, the offense of breaking the one law God gave Adam and Eve. Since it was an offense against an infinite being, with infinite dignity who created everything in existence out of nothing (i.e. Except for God, all of existence is made of nothing) but who always existed and whose essence is existence itself (“I Am Who Am” – Exodus 3:14) and which every other thing/being depends on (The Non-Contingent Being). Only something He did not create could be an adequate/satisfactory sacrifice to make up for an offense against Him. By strict Justice is why Jesus Christ needed to become a man and sacrifice himself to make restitution for man as a man. Theologians posit since Jesus Christ was Himself an uncreated being, 1 drop of His blood would have been sufficient to save mankind (obtain his salvation), but went through the passion to show us the horror of sin and the equivalent pain it causes to all in hell by all in hell (except that actual hell lasts for all eternity not just the approximately 21 hours from the last supper to His death on the cross).
Also, since God went through it for us and since they tortured and abused him so much, it was clear to all witnesses that He was actually dead and that, by testimony of personal eye witnesses that He rose from the dead, to inspire and assure the future martyrs of both His Godhood and life everlasting which we celebrate on Easter Sunday next week. Exodus 20:8 says “remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” The Old Testament, God the Father, directed the Jews (as part of their religion, the law) to rest that day, the last day of the week, the day God the Father finished His toils in creating the universe. Similarly, Christ finished his toils on Easter Sunday by rising from the dead (proving the resurrection of the dead, that he had the power to do it and that He was God and therefore the power to change the sabbath, which his church did for Him in honor of the fact that this is the celebration of this being the most holy day – Matthew 28:18) making it the holiest day for Christians (whose religion, with the advent of the Messiah, was the fulfilment of the law (Matthew 5:17), the Jewish religion) and therefore Sunday is the new day we must keep holy for both: 1) rest for God the Father and 2) keep holy for God the Son (fulfilling the law). The Holy Ghost (the third Person of the Blessed Trinity) as the Paraclete (John 14:26) assists us in doing all things in the law given by God the Father and fulfilled by God the Son and has commanded us to do (Matthew 28:20).
He died for those who accepted his offer to take the guilt of original sin and any sin of theirs if they agree to follow His “way” of life on earth in return for eternal life. But to receive this crown of sonship and daughtership to God we must carry our own cross and our passion to follow the way of our Lord (I am the way, the truth and the life, John 14:6), the way of the cross.
If one were to refuse His offer that person would have to repay the assault of sin on the infinite dignity of God and the gift of our “creation out of nothing,” through the only just punishment, the torment of hell for the rest of eternity, that is, for the rest of the time we have the gift of existence. Let me be clear, God will not create hell the people in hell will create it (See my blog on the blueprint for Hell and who Will Create it and it’s explanation of Romans 1:16-32).
I will reprint my earlier blog, I think, with some additional bible cites to assist in understanding it, on the constructions of hell sometime after Easter since it is not appropriate to publish it next week the most holy of Catholic holy days, the day that essentially celebrates, and proves the fact that if we love God we can be saved from hell and live with him eternally as a true adopted son or daughter not as forgiven slaves!
Traditional Thomistic Catholic 