The final question related to God the Son acts as a kind of pivot point for the Catechism. The rest of the Catechism serves as a kind of exposition of this answer, with it taking the position that the Christian life inaugurated at Baptism is indeed participation in, rather than merely anticipation or an earning of, Christ’s victory.

The most universally recognized sign of the Christian faith—the cross—has also been, since its inception, one of the greatest sources of scandal. However, the centrality of the cross and the scandal it generates is unavoidable, emblematic of the scandal of Grace, of a perfectly just God unwilling to abandon God’s creation. Through the cross, God both takes on the penalty of all of humanity’s turning away from God all while condemning those humans who will wield the forces of Death to oppress and harm.