QUOTATION: Mary in Christ's Redemption

The fact that Mary, for example, is present at the foot of the cross means that she is associated, in the very act of Redemption, to the sacrifice of Christ by the expressed will of the Saviour who says to her “Woman, here is your son,” (Jn, 19:27) The Saviour asks of her to consent to his own sacrifice, and thus to his death, and in exchange for the acceptance of the death of her son--  which is Mary’s sacrifice—the mother of Christ is brought to accept humanity, symbolized by John, as her new son.

--Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Actualité et avenir du Concile oecuménique Vatican II

QUOTATION: Christ in Mary's Womb

The womb of Mary was, therefore, to our Redeemer a voluntary prison, because it was a prison of love. But it was also not an unjust prison: he was indeed innocent himself, but he had offered himself to pay our debts and to satisfy for our crimes. It was therefore only reasonable for the divine justice to keep him thus imprisoned, and so begin to exact from him the due satisfaction.

--St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Incarnation, Birth and Infancy of Jesus Christ

QUOTATION: Redemption

Consider that God allowed four thousand years to pass, after the transgression of Adam, before he sent his Son upon earth to redeem the world. And in the meantime, oh, what fatal darkness reigned upon the earth! The true God was not known or adored, except in one small corner of the world. Idolatry reigned everywhere ; so that devils and beasts and stones were adored as gods.

But let us admire in this the divine Wisdom : he deferred the coming of the Redeemer in order to render his advent more welcome to man, in order that the malice of sin might be better known, as well as the necessity of a remedy and the grace of the Saviour. If Jesus Christ had come into the world immediately after the fall of Adam, the greatness of this favor would have been but slightly appreciated. Let us therefore thank the goodness of God for having sent us into the world after the great work of redemption was accomplished.

--St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Incarnation, Birth and Infancy of Jesus Christ

QUOTATION: Redemption

As a rich brother takes on himself the debt of his bankrupt brother, so Our Lord takes upon himself all the discords, disharmonies, all the sins, guilts, and blasphemies of man, as if he himself were guilty.

--Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, Peace of Soul, 1949

QUOTATION: Jesus' Side Wound

Since the blood of Jesus has a power of cleansing it may in a sense be called water. The reason why water, as well as blood, came out of His side, was to show that this blood could wash away sin.

--St. Thomas Aquinas

QUOTATION: Mothers as Co-Redeemers

The pains which a woman bears in labor help to expiate the sins of mankind, and draw their meaning from the Agony of Christ on the Cross. Mothers are, therefore, not only co-creators with God; they are co-redeemers with Christ in the flesh.

--Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, Three to Get Married

QUOTATION: The Price of Redemption

It costs God nothing, so far as we know, to create nice things: but to convert rebellious wills cost Him crucifixion.

--C.S. Lewis

QUOTATION: God's Sacrifice

What father ever gave up his son to death for the sake of his slave!

--St Catherine of Siena

QUOTATION: Love Redeems

It is not power, but love that redeems us! This is God’s sign: he himself is love. How often we wish that God would make show himself stronger, that he would strike decisively, defeating evil and creating a better world. All ideologies of power justify themselves in exactly this way, they justify the destruction of whatever would stand in the way of progress and the liberation of humanity. We suffer on account of God’s patience. And yet, we need his patience. God, who became a lamb, tells us that the world is saved by the Crucified One, not by those who crucified him. The world is redeemed by the patience of God. It is destroyed by the impatience of man.

--Pope Benedict XVI, Mass for the Inauguration of His Pontificate

QUOTATION: Union of God and Man

When man stood naked and trembling before his Creator, who could have made him believe that one day his unhappy nature would be united to God in one and the same person? This union was so close that even the supreme moment of the Cross could not sever it. Death dissolved the union between soul and body, but could not separate the Divinity from the humanity, for what Christ had once taken upon Himself for love of us He never abandoned.

Thus was our peace established.

--Louis de Granada, The Sinner's Guide

QUOTATION: Christ's Redemption and Atonement

In Jesus’ Passion, all the filth of the world touches the infinitely pure one, the soul of Jesus Christ and hence, the Son of God himself. While it is usually the case that anything unclean touching something clean renders it unclean, here it is the other way around: when the world, with all the injustice and cruelty that make it unclean, comes into contact with the infinitely pure one-- then he, the pure one, is stronger. Through this contact, the filth of the world is truly absorbed, wiped out, and transformed in the pain of infinite love. Because infinite good is now at hand in the man Jesus, the counterweight to all wickedness is present and active within world history, and the good is always infinitely greater than the vast mass of evil, however terrible it may be.

If we reflect more deeply on this insight, we find the answer to an objection that is often raised against the idea of atonement. Again and again people say: It must be a cruel God who demands infinite atonement. Is this not a notion unworthy of God? Must we not give up on the idea of atonement in order to maintain the purity of our image of God? In the use of the term hilasterion with reference to Jesus, it becomes evident that real forgiveness accomplished on the Cross functions in exactly the opposite direction. The reality of evil and injustice that disfigures the world and at the same time distorts the image of God-- this reality exists, through our sin. But here it is not a case of a cruel God demanding the infinite. It is exactly the opposite: God himself becomes the locus of reconciliation, and in the person of his Son takes the suffering upon himself. God himself grants his infinite purity to the world. God himself “drinks the cup” of every horror to the dregs and thereby restores justice through the greatness of his love, which through suffering, transforms the darkness.

--Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, Volume 2

QUOTATION: Mary's Role in Redemption

Mary having co-operated in our redemption with so much glory to God and so much love for us, Our Lord ordained that no one shall obtain salvation except through her intercession.

--St. Alphonsus Liguori

QUOTATION: Mortification

Did my good Jesus have any obligation to shed His Blood for me? He died on the Cross for the salvation of our souls. And will I, His servant, refuse to put up with some inconvenience or toil in order to reciprocate?

--St. Philip Neri

QUOTATION: The Purpose of the Passion

Our Lord is upon the Cross saying, I am suffering so that men, who are my brothers, may be happy, not only in Heaven, but also – as far as possible – on earth, if they really embrace the most Holy Will of my heavenly Father.

--St. Josemaria Escriva

QUOTATION: Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, then, is the sin committed by the person who claims to have a 'right' to persist in evil - in any sin at all - and who thus rejects Redemption.

--Pope John Paul II, Dominum et Vivificantem