Catechesis Notes for Week — A Demon-Possessed Man is Healed teaches us not only the power of Jesus’ Word of mercy to deliver us from the kingdom of Satan, to clothe us with His righteousness, and to give us a good and sound mind, but it also reveals the insidious nature of the unbelieving sinful nature that fights against the Word of mercy and rejects Jesus, even as the citizens of the Gadarenes pleaded with Jesus to leave them. A Girl is Raised and a Woman is Healed reinforces the great truth of the Catechism: “Where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.”  It is Jesus’ Word of mercy through the forgiveness of our sins that not only raises the dead to life, but which also cleanses the unclean and restores life with God. The Sending Out of the Twelve teaches us that the Office of the Holy Ministry is not only established so that Jesus’ ministry of mercy continues, but that whenever His Word is proclaimed it is just as powerful and life-giving as if Jesus spoke the Word Himself. Finally, the Feeding of the 5,000 teaches us that the preaching and teaching of God’s Word of mercy and grace leads us to Jesus, the bread of life, who is the very fount and source of forgiveness, life, and salvation for all who believe. Peter’s Confession and Jesus’ Prediction of His Suffering – at the heart of the Church’s confession that Jesus is the Christ is His suffering and death for the sins of the world. As His body the Church, we confess that the death of Christ for our sins is the source of life. The call of the Gospel means that we may suffer with Christ, but the end of our faith is the resurrection to eternal life.CP250615