Many of you have talked and listened to Jesus for many years. You are baptized, that is, immersed in Him. You have even gone so far as to receive Jesus' body and blood, soul and divinity. Considering all this, you should know Jesus very well and very deeply.

If you lived when Paul lived, if you lived before the New Testament was written and collected, if you lived before the Church had a creed or a catechism — could you have experienced and expressed many deep things about Jesus? Even now, can you say from your heart and your personal experience that Jesus is "the Image of the invisible God, the First-born of all creatures"? (Col 1:15) Knowing Jesus as you do, can you say of Jesus: "It is He Who is Head of the body, the church; He Who is the Beginning, the First-born of the dead, so that primacy may be His in everything. It pleased God to make absolute fullness reside in Him and, by means of Him, to reconcile everything in His person, both on earth and in the heavens, making peace through the blood of His cross"? (Col 1:18-20) Paul and the early Church did not have much to copy from. They had to speak from experience, which later became tradition. Do you know Jesus as they did? How well do you know Jesus? "Eternal life is this: to know You, the only true God, and Him Whom You have sent, Jesus Christ" (Jn 17:3).

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Richard L. Klug, February 27, 2003

Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, March 3, 2003