Paul is starting to wind down his letter, but at the same time putting across the urgency of faith and its importance to our life and salvation. “Brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you…” (v1). Go back to the basics of the faith you received and accepted. Today, we could use this same advice. It is what we proclaim in the creed.  Verses 1 through 11 is the outline of the creed that we say at every Sunday Mass and at the end of every rosary. It is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus for our “salvation,” or in the Catholic sense, “perfect beatitude.”

The catechism of the Catholic Church finds its outline in the creed. It is the outline of our teachings. It is the reason for our faith. We easily get caught up in the politics and other things going on in our life and in society. It would do us good to reflect on the creed and on the gospel message. We always need to be reminded of it. It brings us hope. Can we use some hope today! The gospel message is the story of how God came down to us, loved us, and was willing to die on the cross for us out of testimony of His love for us. This love gives us reason to trust in Him. In the resurrection, we discover He really does have the power to save us. We know that He can save us. Because He loved us unto death, He would save us. We can approach His heavenly throne and ask Him for His mercy. In response, he continues to show us that it is not just about saving us. He truly does love us and desires us to be with Him, and He with us. “Perfect beatitude.” “What eye has not seen, what ears have not heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what God has ready for those who love Him” (2 Cor 2:9). We just wanted Him to save us; that would be enough. But He has done so much more!

The Gospel message gives us reason for hope (1 Peter 3:15) and spurs us on to win the race (1 Cor 9:24). Not just a race to win a crown of leaves that withers and dies, but to win the undying love of God in the perfect beatitude. How good it is to live in the Word of God. Thank God this Gospel message was written, that we too may believe and come to Know Him as He really is.