God Becomes Man
God did not abandon us after the Fall. He promised a Savior, and then He came Himself.
This lesson is about Jesus Christ: who He is, how He became man, and why.
God Promised a Redeemer
60. Q. Did God abandon man after he fell into sin?
A. God did not abandon man after he fell into sin, but promised him a Redeemer, who
was to satisfy for man’s sin and reopen to him the gates of heaven.
61. Q. Who is the Redeemer?
A. Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of mankind.
Right after the Fall, God promised that a descendant of the woman would crush the serpent’s
head (Genesis 3:15). The whole Old Testament is the story of God preparing His people for
that Savior.
To redeem means to buy back, or to set free. Sin had closed heaven to us. Jesus came to pay
the debt of sin and open heaven again.
Remember: God never gave up on us. He promised a Savior, and that Savior is Jesus.
Read more: Catechism of the Catholic Church §§410–412, 456–460.
True God and True Man
62. Q. What do you believe of Jesus Christ?
A. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity,
true God and true man.
63. Q. Why is Jesus Christ true God?
A. Jesus Christ is true God because He is the true and only Son of God the Father.
64. Q. Why is Jesus Christ true man?
A. Jesus Christ is true man because He is the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary and has a
body and soul like ours.
65. Q. How many natures are there in Jesus Christ?
A. In Jesus Christ there are two natures, the nature of God and the nature of man.
66. Q. Is Jesus Christ more than one person?
A. No, Jesus Christ is but one Divine Person.
This is the heart of our faith. Jesus is not half God and half man. He is fully God and fully
man at the same time.
• As God, He is the eternal Son of the Father, equal to Him in everything.
• As man, He has a real human body and a human soul. He was hungry, tired, and sad; He
laughed, wept, and suffered, just like us, but without sin.
Yet He is only one Person, the Son of God. When Jesus speaks, God speaks. When Jesus
suffers, God suffers in His human nature.
Remember: Jesus is one Person, fully God and fully man.
Read more: Catechism of the Catholic Church §§464–478.
Always God, Not Always Man
67. Q. Was Jesus Christ always God?
A. Jesus Christ was always God, as He is the second Person of the Blessed Trinity, equal
to His Father from all eternity.
68. Q. Was Jesus Christ always man?
A. Jesus Christ was not always man, but became man at the time of His Incarnation.
69. Q. What do you mean by the Incarnation?
A. By the Incarnation I mean that the Son of God was made man.
70. Q. How was the Son of God made man?
A. The Son of God was conceived and made man by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the
womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Incarnation means “taking on flesh.” The Son of God existed forever, but at a certain
moment in history He became a man. As St. John wrote: “The Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us” (John 1:14).
Jesus had no human father. He was conceived in Mary’s womb by the power of the Holy
Spirit, and Mary remained a virgin. St. Joseph was His foster father.
Remember: The eternal Son of God became man in the womb of the Virgin Mary.
Mary, Mother of God
71. Q. Is the Blessed Virgin Mary truly the Mother of God?
A. The Blessed Virgin Mary is truly the Mother of God, because the same Divine Person
who is the Son of God is also the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Some people object: how can God have a mother? But a mother is the mother of a person, not
just of a body. The Person Mary gave birth to is God the Son. So she is truly the Mother of
God. This does not mean Mary existed before God or made God. It means the baby she
carried was God.
Remember: Mary is the Mother of God because her Son, Jesus, is God.
Read more: Catechism of the Catholic Church §§495, 509.
Before Jesus Came
72. Q. Did the Son of God become man immediately after the sin of our first parents?
A. The Son of God did not become man immediately after the sin of our first parents, but
was promised to them as a Redeemer.
73. Q. How could they be saved who lived before the Son of God became man?
A. They who lived before the Son of God became man could be saved by believing in a
Redeemer to come, and by keeping the commandments.
God prepared the world for thousands of years before Jesus came. People like Abraham,
Moses, and David trusted in God’s promise and obeyed His law. They were saved by the
same Jesus we believe in, by looking forward to Him.
Remember: Everyone who is saved, before or after Jesus, is saved through Jesus.
Annunciation and Christmas
74. Q. On what day was the Son of God conceived and made man?
A. The Son of God was conceived and made man on Annunciation day—the day on
which the Angel Gabriel announced to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she was to be the
Mother of God.
75. Q. On what day was Christ born?
A. Christ was born on Christmas day in a stable at Bethlehem, over nineteen hundred
years ago.
The Church celebrates the Annunciation on March 25, exactly nine months before
Christmas. (When this catechism was written it had been “over nineteen hundred years”;
today it is over two thousand.)
God chose to be born poor, in a stable, laid in a manger. The King of the universe came not in
a palace but as a helpless baby. That tells us something about what God values.
Remember: God came to us as a poor, humble baby in Bethlehem.
Read more: Luke 2:1–20; Catechism of the Catholic Church §§525–526.
The Life of Jesus
76. Q. How long did Christ live on earth?
A. Christ lived on earth about thirty-three years, and led a most holy life in poverty and
suffering.
77. Q. Why did Christ live so long on earth?
A. Christ lived so long on earth to show us the way to heaven by His teachings and
example.
For about thirty years, Jesus lived a quiet life in Nazareth, working as a carpenter and
obeying Mary and Joseph. Then for about three years He preached, healed the sick, forgave
sinners, and trained His Apostles.
Everything Jesus did is meant to teach us. He shows us how to pray, how to forgive, how to
work, how to suffer, and how to love. He said: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life”
(John 14:6).
Remember: Jesus’ whole life is a lesson in how to live.
Read more: Catechism of the Catholic Church §§512–560.
Putting It Into Practice
• Pray the Angelus at noon, which remembers the Incarnation.
• Read one chapter of a Gospel each day this month to get to know Jesus better.
Questions to Think About
1. Why do you think God chose to become a real man, rather than saving us some other
way?
2. What does Jesus’ quiet life in Nazareth say about the value of ordinary work and family
life?
A Prayer
Lord Jesus, true God and true man, you became one of us to bring us home to the
Father. Help me to know you, to follow your example, and to love you more each
day. Amen.