July 31, 2010 - Catechism 422-429

Jesus the Messiah being the Son of God was not what the Jews were expecting.  The Messiah was something that they did expect, but not the way that Jesus came.  A very specific and historic description of who Jesus is.  Like the song they play at Christmas sometimes says, what a strange way to save the world.  Born of a lowly family, a carpenter by trade.  Christianity spreads, not because of perfect orators and brilliant speeches, although there have been those, but because normal people have come to believe and feel so strongly that this belief fills their lives.  They are so full, they cannot help sharing it with everyone and people that they touch become believers because they see the sincerity of the believer.  I think that is where we struggle the most today.  We do not live life with Christ so fully present that it flows to others.  We keep our faith hidden.  We are told religion is something that is a private matter.  That is not how Christianity spread throughout the world.  That is not how a group of fishermen, laborers, and sinners helped make Christianity so powerful.