Catechism of the Catholic Church

606 The Son of God, who came down "from heaven, not to do [his] own will, but the will of him who sent [him]", ⁴¹³ said on coming into the world, "Lo, I have come to do your will, O God." "And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." ⁴¹⁴ From the first moment of his Incarnation the Son embraces the Father's plan of divine salvation in his redemptive mission: "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work." ⁴¹⁵ The sacrifice of Jesus "for the sins of the whole world" ⁴¹⁶ expresses his loving communion with the Father. "The Father loves me, because I lay down my life", said the Lord, "[for] I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father." ⁴¹⁷

607 The desire to embrace his Father's plan of redeeming love inspired Jesus' whole life, ⁴¹⁸ for his redemptive passion was the very reason for his Incarnation. And so he asked, "And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour." ⁴¹⁹ And again, "Shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given me?" ⁴²⁰ From the cross, just before "It is finished", he said, "I thirst." ⁴²¹

608 After agreeing to baptize him along with the sinners, John the Baptist looked at Jesus and pointed him out as the "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world". ⁴²² By doing so, he reveals that Jesus is at the same time the suffering Servant who silently allows himself to be led to the slaughter and who bears the sin of the multitudes, and also the Paschal Lamb, the symbol of Israel's redemption at the first Passover. ⁴²³ Christ's whole life expresses his mission: "to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." ⁴²⁴

609 By embracing in his human heart the Father's love for men, Jesus "loved them to the end", for "greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." ⁴²⁵ In suffering and death his humanity became the free and perfect instrument of his divine love which desires the salvation of men. ⁴²⁶ Indeed, out of love for his Father and for men, whom the Father wants to save, Jesus freely accepted his Passion and death: "No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord." ⁴²⁷ Hence the sovereign freedom of God's Son as he went out to his death. ⁴²⁸

610 Jesus gave the supreme expression of his free offering of himself at the meal shared with the twelve Apostles "on the night he was betrayed". ⁴²⁹ On the eve of his Passion, while still free, Jesus transformed this Last Supper with the apostles into the memorial of his voluntary offering to the Father for the salvation of men: "This is my body which is given for you." "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." ⁴³⁰

611 The Eucharist that Christ institutes at that moment will be the memorial of his sacrifice. ⁴³¹ Jesus includes the apostles in his own offering and bids them perpetuate it. ⁴³² By doing so, the Lord institutes his apostles as priests of the New Covenant: "For their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth." ⁴³³

612 The cup of the New Covenant, which Jesus anticipated when he offered himself at the Last Supper, is afterwards accepted by him from his Father's hands in his agony in the garden at Gethsemani, ⁴³⁴ making himself "obedient unto death". Jesus prays: "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. . ." ⁴³⁵ Thus he expresses the horror that death represented for his human nature. Like ours, his human nature is destined for eternal life; but unlike ours, it is perfectly exempt from sin, the cause of death. ⁴³⁶ Above all, his human nature has been assumed by the divine person of the "Author of life", the "Living One". ⁴³⁷ By accepting in his human will that the Father's will be done, he accepts his death as redemptive, for "he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree." ⁴³⁸

613 Christ's death is both the Paschal sacrifice that accomplishes the definitive redemption of men, through "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world", ⁴³⁹ and the sacrifice of the New Covenant, which restores man to communion with God by reconciling him to God through the "blood of the covenant, which was poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins". ⁴⁴⁰

614 This sacrifice of Christ is unique; it completes and surpasses all other sacrifices. ⁴⁴¹ First, it is a gift from God the Father himself, for the Father handed his Son over to sinners in order to reconcile us with himself. At the same time it is the offering of the Son of God made man, who in freedom and love offered his life to his Father through the Holy Spirit in reparation for our disobedience. ⁴⁴²

615 "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience many will be made righteous." ⁴⁴³ By his obedience unto death, Jesus accomplished the substitution of the suffering Servant, who "makes himself an offering for sin," when "he bore the sin of many", and who "shall make many to be accounted righteous", for "he shall bear their iniquities". ⁴⁴⁴ Jesus atoned for our faults and made satisfaction for our sins to the Father. ⁴⁴⁵

616 It is love "to the end" ⁴⁴⁶ that confers on Christ's sacrifice its value as redemption and reparation, as atonement and satisfaction. He knew and loved us all when he offered his life. ⁴⁴⁷ Now "the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died." ⁴⁴⁸ No man, not even the holiest, was ever able to take on himself the sins of all men and offer himself as a sacrifice for all. The existence in Christ of the divine person of the Son, who at once surpasses and embraces all human persons, and constitutes himself as the Head of all mankind, makes possible his redemptive sacrifice for all.

617 The Council of Trent emphasizes the unique character of Christ's sacrifice as "the source of eternal salvation" ⁴⁴⁹ and teaches that "his most holy Passion on the wood of the cross merited justification for us." ⁴⁵⁰ And the Church venerates his cross as she sings: "Hail, O Cross, our only hope." ⁴⁵¹

618 The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ, the "one mediator between God and men". ⁴⁵² But because in his incarnate divine person he has in some way united himself to every man, "the possibility of being made partners, in a way known to God, in the paschal mystery" is offered to all men. ⁴⁵³ He calls his disciples to "take up [their] cross and follow [him]", ⁴⁵⁴ for "Christ also suffered for [us], leaving [us] an example so that [we] should follow in his steps." ⁴⁵⁵ In fact Jesus desires to associate with his redeeming sacrifice those who were to be its first beneficiaries. ⁴⁵⁶ This is achieved supremely in the case of his mother, who was associated more intimately than any other person in the mystery of his redemptive suffering. ⁴⁵⁷

Apart from the cross there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven. ⁴⁵⁸

619 "Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures" (I Cor 15:3).

620 Our salvation flows from God's initiative of love for us, because "he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins" (I Jn 4:10). "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself" (2 Cor 5:19).

621 Jesus freely offered himself for our salvation. Beforehand, during the Last Supper, he both symbolized this offering and made it really present: "This is my body which is given for you" (Lk 22:19).

622 The redemption won by Christ consists in this, that he came "to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mt 20:28), that is, he "loved [his own] to the end" (Jn 13:1), so that they might be "ransomed from the futile ways inherited from [their] fathers" (I Pt 1:18).

623 By his loving obedience to the Father, "unto death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2:8), Jesus fulfils the atoning mission (cf. Is 53:10) of the suffering Servant, who will "make many righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities" (Is 53:11; cf. Rom 5:19).