Jesus

  • A Prodigal Son Returns Home

    The Prodigal Son - RembrandtThis is the story of my return to the Catholic Church. I will attempt to explain how my walk with the Lord these past years has led me to this important and difficult decision, yet one that I make in peace and joy. It is addressed to my Evangelical Christian and Messianic Jewish friends in Israel, and particularly to those who do not believe that one can be a "true believer" and a Catholic at the same time. It is also written as a personal testimony for my many good friends around the world who may be interested in my walk of faith. To them I dedicate this essay and pray that it will help us to grow in unity in loving and worshiping the King of Kings.

  • A Secret Seeker Finds the Messiah

    Orthodox Jewish womanI am an Orthodox Jew by adoption. That is to say, I am a convert to Judaism, according to the halacha. I live in the company of other Orthodox Jews, with my husband and four children, in a religious community in Israel. I also love Jesus and the Gospel message, which I am still learning, and this means that I live my faith life mostly inwardly.

  • At the Jordan River, where Jesus was Baptized

    Baptismal site at the Jordan RiverOn October 27, the Franciscan Friars of the Custody of the Holy Land head out to the Jordan Valley, accompanied by hundreds of pilgrims and local Christians, for their annual pilgrimage to Jesus’ baptismal site on the Jordan River.

  • Bible Course I: God's Story, Our Story

    Moses

    Salvation history from creation to the coming of the Messiah. Covers the Old Testament, New Testament, and the basics of the Christian faith.

    Content outline: God, creation, man, original sin, God’s covenants in salvation history, messianic prophecies, Jesus and the New Covenant, the Trinity.

  • Bible Course II: Living in the Kingdom

    The EucharistAn introduction to the Catholic Church, and how the Church continues Jesus' work of salvation in history.

    Content outline: The Church, revelation & authority, the papacy, Mary & the saints, sin, salvation & justification, grace, life in Christ, liturgy & sacraments, the family, Church history.

  • Bible Course: Portal to Lessons

    Salvation historyA general overview of the two parts of our Bible course:

    Part I: God's Story, Our Story
    Part II: Living in God's Kingdom
  • Christ, the Glory of Israel

    "Fr. Raniero CantalamessaWe know that God gave Israel the land but there is no mention of his taking it back again forever. Can we Christians exclude that what is happening in our day, that is, the return of Israel to the land of its fathers, is not connected in some way, still a mystery to us, to this providential order which concerns the chosen people and which is carried out even through human error and excess as happens in the Church itself?"

  • Did Jesus Suspend the Observance of the Law?

    Jesus was an observant JewDid Jesus Suspend the Observance of the Law? This article examines some of the Biblical arguments in support of the traditional doctrine that exempts, not only the Gentile, but even the baptized Jew from keeping the Law of the Torah. We will examine here certain episodes which have been interpreted to show that Jesus suspended the observance of the Law: Jesus and the kashrut dietary laws, Jesus and the Sabbath, and Peter's vision of the animals in Acts 10. 

  • God's Plan of Salvation in a Nutshell

    Jesus bridges the gapTen basic steps outlining God's plan of salvation for us: God created us out of love and made a covenant with us; by sinning we have broken His covenant; God sent Jesus the Messiah to restore us to communion with Him; and He restores this communion through the Catholic Church He established and especially the seven sacraments.

  • He Clothed Me with Garments of Salvation (Isa 61:7)

    Sr. Miryam LeahMy name is Miryam Leah. I am 35 years old – Jewish, Italian, from an ultra-orthodox hassidic family (lubavitch – my father is the shaliach, the “sent one” of the Rebbe), and now for 8 years, Catholic and Dominican sister.

  • How Are We "Catholics for Israel"?

    Pope John Paul II and chief rabbi of Rome Elio Toaff Catholics for Israel is an apostolate faithful to the Magisterium, the living teaching office of the Church to whom Jesus has entrusted the task of authentically interpreting the word of God (DV 10).  This means that official magisterial teachings of the Catholic Church, most especially chapter 4 of the declaration Nostra Aetate and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, form the core of our beliefs concerning Israel and the Jewish people. 

  • How Jesus Perfected the Passover Seder

    Jesus at the Last SupperWhen Jesus distributed the matzo to the disciples saying, “This is My Body,” He perfected and updated the Biblical commandment to eat matzo on the Seder night, so that the commandment to eat matzo we received at Mt. Sinai would teach us how to respond to G-d as He revealed Himself through the Incarnation and the Cross.

  • Israel: A Prophetic Sign? Part I: The Story of Israel and the Church from Abraham to Today

    Marc Chagall - The White CrucifixionPart I: Israel and the Church from Abraham to Today - The origins of Israel: the Patriarchs; the Exodus and Mount Sinai; the kingdom of Israel; exile and return. Hebrews, Israelites and Jews.  The Messiah and his rejection by his own people.  The birth of the Church. Early Jewish-Christianity, the growth of Gentile Christianity, and the parting of ways.  Israel in the patristic writings: the rise of "replacement theology." Christian anti-Semitism in the Middle-Ages. Theological evaluation: Israel and the Church in the New Testament. 

  • Israel: A Prophetic Sign? Part II: Israel and the Church Today

    Pope John Paul II at the Wailing WallPart II: Israel and the Church Today - How Vatican II and Nostra Aetate transformed the Church's relationship with the Jewish people. Church documents on the Jewish people from Vatican II to the 21st century. The promised restoration of Israel according to the prophets. An evaluation: can Old Testament prophecies still apply to Israel today? The Catholic Church and the modern State of Israel. Israel's "passion, death and resurrection"?

  • Israel: A Prophetic Sign? Part III: Messianic Judaism and Christian Zionism

    Israel and the CrossPart III: Messianic Judaism and Christian Zionism: The rise of the Zionist movement in the late 19th century. Early Christian Zionism. Early Hebrew-Christians and early Hebrew-Catholics. The turning point: 1967. From Hebrew-Christians to Messianic Jews. The Messianic movement today in Israel and among the nations. Messianic theology and faith; Messianic congregations and worship; Messianic culture and life in Israel. Christian Zionism and Christian supporters of Israel today. Toward Jerusalem Council II - welcoming Jewish believers back into the Church.

  • Jesus and His Disciples Kept the Law

    Jesus teaching in the synagogueIs the baptized Jew obligated to keep the commandments of the Jewish Law? In the first part of this series, we see how Jesus did not abrogate the Law of Moses that was given to the Jewish people. We also see how the early Jewish-Christian community continued to live in accordance with the Torah. 

  • Jesus as the Incarnation of G-d's Name

    Jesus ChristThe Name of G-d is like a Temple: Just as a Temple locates G-d's Presence and offers men an opportunity to enter that Presence, the Name of G-d is the "place"—that through which-- we encounter the Presence of G-d.

  • Messianic and Catholic: Mark Neugebauer

    Mark NeugebauerHaving been raised in a Conservative Jewish home in suburban Toronto, I was a regular attendee at synagogue on Sabbaths and High Holidays. My father is a Holocaust survivor from Poland and my mother’s family escaped the pogroms in Russia. Both settled here in Canada and raised my sister and myself in a Jewish and Yiddish speaking environment where all of our friends were Jewish and Israel was our raison d’être. Christianity was the religion of the outsiders, the faith of anti-semites and Jew-haters, the creed of the Crusaders, Inquisitors, Persecutors, and Nazis. Yet my mother would remind me continually that "Jesus was a Jew"...

  • Muhammad and Jesus: A Side by Side Comparison

    The Cross and the CrescentJesus and Muhammad could hardly have been more different in how they lived or in what they taught others. Why should we not expect starkly contrasting legacies - from the conduct of their closest companions to the livability of modern-day countries influenced by the predominance of one founder's teachings over the other?

  • On Love and Authority

    At the foot of the crossNo one could stand beneath the Cross there who wasn't willing to join Jesus on the Cross, to suffer with him. But only those who truly loved Jesus could do that, so only those who truly loved Jesus were worthy to stand with him beneath the Cross--and who truly loved him? Only those whose love the Gospel declares: The Blessed Virgin, Mary Magdalene, and the disciple whom he loved.

FaLang translation system by Faboba

Latest Articles

Antoine Levy - 17 February 2024

When we meet cats who grin, that is, people who are naturally nice and warm, we tend to think that they are good people. A grin of the sort gives itself out as an implicit promise of support in time of need. Somebody whom we identify as empathic will be most likely to help. What is very curious is realizing that certain people's cordial grin amounts to...

Gavin D'Costa - 12 February 2024

The unconditional gift of the election of the Jewish people is the theological foundation of Catholic Zionism. Many New Testament texts support the notion that Catholics should endorse ­Zionism. Jesus himself was a Jewish Christian ­Zionist. Catholics accept that the Jewish people still have a providential role to play, and their return to the land of...

Gerald McDermott - 09 February 2024

Critics of Christian Zionism usually dismiss it for one of three reasons: (1) They say it contradicts the New Testament, which replaces the Old Testament focus on a particular land by the vision of a whole world; (2) They think it is the exclusive concern of premillennial dispensationalists; (3) It is said to be more political than theological, attached to...

Yehuda - 04 February 2024

On the one hand, there is the Christian message of unconditional love and its emphasis on self-sacrifice at the hands of those who hate you unjustly: "No one can have greater love than to lay down his life for his friends." On the other hand, there is the logic of war: you want to liquidate those who hate you to the point of murdering your nation by all...

Gerald McDermott - 29 December 2023

Gerald McDermott explores the notion of supersessionism in Christian theology, which suggests the promises made to the Jewish people in the Old Testament, including the land promise, have been superseded by the Christian church. This view has dominated Christian interpretation since the fourth century, leading to the marginalization of the New Testament's...

André Villeneuve - 20 December 2023

Dr. André Villeneuve discusses the role of Israel in the age of the Church on Michael Lofton's "Reason and Theology" podcast. Topics include God's covenant with Israel, supersessionism, the idea of the Church as "new Israel", Israel's role in the age of the Church, the modern state of Israel, Zionism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Israel's role in...