Jesus
Why did Jesus say on the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?"
The words which Jesus spoke told of his own desolation of soul in the midst of His agony. It should be pointed out, however, that they are the first words of Psalm 21, which is a messianic psalm, foretelling the suffering of the Messiah in great detail. It is likely that our Lord spoke the entire psalm, but the evangelist only recorded the first words, assuming that those who heard them would recall the entire psalm. To understand the meaning of what Christ said, it is important to read the entirety of Psalm 21.
Reprinted from April 18, 1997
Was Jesus born in the year 0 or in the year 1?
Neither. St. Matthew situates the birth of Christ in the reign of King Herod the Great, a satellite king, under the general rule of the Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus. Scientists have shown that Herod reigned from 37 to 4 B.C. The monk, Dionysius Exiguus, who made up our present day calendar, miscalculated the year of Christ's nativity when he tried to put the birth of Jesus at the center of all history. It seems impossible to know the exact year of Christ's birth, but it was definitely sometime before the death of Herod the Great.
Reprinted from December 20, 1996
Why did Jesus say, "The Father is greater than I" (John 14:28)?
Does this have any significance about the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity?
.
Jesus was speaking of his coming ascension into heaven and thus He was talking about His created human nature, when He is recorded to have said in the Gospel according to St. John, "The Father is greater than I." As "true man, like us in all things but sin," Christ has a created body and soul. However, as "true God, consubstantial with the Father," He is God from God, true God from true God, begotten not made, one in Being with the Father." A careful reading of the Gospel according to St. John shows this clearly. For in stance, He is God and was in the beginning with God (John 1:1-2). He existed with the Father before the world came into being (John 17:5). He and the Father are one (John 14:8- 14), etc. Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church, numbers 464-483. As man, the Father is greater, but as God, He and the Father are one (John 8:21- 58; Matthew 16:16-17; Matthew 26:63-66).
Reprinted from December 17, 1999
My questions have to do with the year 2000. Is that year not rather the end
of the century and the millennium instead of the beginning of a new century
and millennium? Also, is it not true that Jesus was not born in the year one
or zero of the modern era?
Pope John Paul II would answer yes to both of your questions, but nonetheless he believes we still should celebrate the calendar as we have it and as it is popularly presumed to be. Technically the century and the millennium begin with the year 2001, but it is proper also to assume that the year 2000 is as much a beginning as an end. Also, when the Scythian monk in the 6th century, Dionysius Exiguus (Denis the Little), set up the A.D. calendar (anno Domini... in the year of our Lord), he assumed the year of Christ's birth to be 754 years from the founding of the city of Rome. Subsequently, however, scientists have established that Herod the Great died at the end of March or beginning of April in the year 750 after the founding of Rome, or in 4 B.C. Jesus obviously was born be fore the death of Herod (Matthew 2:1). Most observers suggest that Christ was born about the year 5 B.C. (Matthew 2:16), but we do not know for sure. This certainty and other reasons have persuaded the pope to make the year 2000 the Great Jubilee Year.
Reprinted October 1, 1999
If Mary was a virgin, where did the brothers and sisters of Jesus mentioned
in the Bible come from?
It is a truth revealed by God, and ever held by the Catholic Church, that Mary, the mother of Christ, was a virgin before, during and after the birth of our Lord. St. Jerome noted already in the 5th century that throughout the Middle East, especially in the culture which spoke Aramaic (which was spoken by Jesus), the words "brother" and "sister" were regularly used for any members of an extended family, especially for cousins. Another tradition, dating at least form the Protoevanglium of St. James in the 2nd century, says that St. Joseph was a widower with four sons and two daughters from his first marriage. Recent scientific research about the Essens shows that religious celibacy and virginity were highly esteemed among certain Jewish groups at the time of Christ, contrary to previous notions about this matter. Also, a document in one of the Qumran caves shows a possible arrangement for a virgin and her "husband" mutually to vow and observe continence even after their marriage. Thus the "brothers and sisters of Jesus" could have been His cousins or other relatives, or even could have been the children of his foster father from a previous marriage.
Reprinted from February 5, 1999