Teaching the Faith Begins Here: ‘Why Did Jesus Become Man?’...

There is an important narrative that many Catholic educators neglect to present to their students when introducing, teaching, and discussing the Catholic faith. The narrative in question is typically associated with the following question: Why did Jesus come? The nature of this Incarnational question is fundamental because it connects all human beings to the Father by way of the Son, who is both human and divine, and the Word made flesh. If we were to develop a direct and simple response to the proposed question, it would be something as follows:

“Jesus came because God loves us and has a desire to know us more intimately by way of His Son, Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. He wants us to know Him and trust him and was willing to reveal Himself to us through his son, even though he did not have to. He first loved us before we loved him, and in loving us, provided us with a path to know and love Him and our neighbor more intimately.”

The nature of any instructional setting should resemble a community of disciples and not a classroom of students. The development of the Christian message involves the Christian proposal to seek the love of God in all things and reciprocate that love to God and your neighbor. A fundamental point in the aim of Christian instruction is the instruction in Christian living. The premise of a Catholic school or parish school of religion is to introduce, affirm, and provide the opportunity to live an authentic Christian life first, through a process of how to communicate with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Hence, the moment a student enters the community (classroom), he is inundated with an atmosphere of joyful welcoming where the Catholic educator in the Catholic school or parish school of religion emanates a genuine love for Jesus Christ that is both intriguing and infectious to the student.

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