Chapter 1:God’s Revelation and Our Response

A Definitive VictoryLike someone who knows the outcome

of a big game before he watches

the tape, Christians don’t have to worry

about the future.

Jesus Christ has triumphed!

God is both …

Transcendent and Immanent

“The teaching that God, by nature, is beyond this world and beyond the comprehension of human beings.”

“A trait of God which refers to his intimate union with and total presence to his creation…”

The Existence of GodHuman beings search for

meaning in their lives.

We ask questions and look to different things to satisfy our search.

Only when we find God will we find true happiness.

“You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” St. Augustine

Where can we find God?

Where can we find God?

Where can we find God?

God can be found in his creation.

He can be found in the world and in the human

person.

Human beings are the peak of God’s creation on earth.

We have been created in God’s image. We have a spiritual nature as well as a physical, which includes the ability to reason, an appreciation for truth and

beauty, and a sense of moral goodness.

This spiritual nature—our soul—shares in God’s own eternal

nature.

Not everyone believes in God.

Both atheists and agnostics fail to recognize God’s existence.

Agnostics refuse to take a stand on whether God

exists or not.

Atheists believe that there is no God.

Some reasons Atheists do not believe in God:

Will only accept material reality, and

deny the existence of the spiritual. The problem of human suffering in

the face of an all good God. Not willing to change behavior to

accommodate belief in God. Indifference or laziness.

Divine RevelationOur human reason is capable of

coming to the conclusion that God exists, and even that God is infinite.

But the human mind is limited, and the true nature of God is beyond

human understanding. We need the gift of God’s self-communication.

This is called divine revelation.

By word and deed, God makes himself known to us. Divine

Revelation is the story of God’s saving acts in human history.

Salvation history is the story of God’s saving love for his people.

From the time of our creation, God has shown us his goodness and love

for us.

Through a series of covenants, God committed himself to human beings forever.

A covenant is a solemn agreement or contract

between God and his people.

Noah Abraham Moses

After the great flood, God established a covenant with Noah,

and promised never again to destroy the earth with a flood

To Abraham, God promised a multitude of descendents. He would be their God, and they would be his

chosen people.Through Moses, God gave his people the Ten Commandments—the Law—and a fuller sense of what they must

do to abide by his covenant with them.

God revealed to Moses that his name was

The Hebrew word, YHWH is translated as “I Am Who Am,” and led to Israel’s understanding that this is the one, living and true God.

Y H W H

In many ways, God revealed himself to Israel as abounding

in steadfast love and faithfulness.

God made Israel a holy nation, he freed them from slavery in Egypt

and Babylon, gave them the Promised Land, and guided them

with prophets and the Law.

Scripture, Tradition,

and the Deposit of

FaithGod’s

revelation reached its

climax in the coming of Jesus

Christ.

Jesus commanded his apostles to spread the Good News—to go out and make disciples of all nations.

Jesus’ followers obeyed his command. Strengthened by the Holy Spirit at

Pentecost, they spread the Good News, first orally and then in writing.

The apostles also appointed successors,

called bishops, who would see to it that the faith would continue to be handed on. Through apostolic succession,

the popes and bishops of the Church continue

to spread the Good News today.

Through both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, the Church hands on the faith

given to the apostles by Jesus Christ.

Sacred Scripture is the inspired Word of God recorded in the Bible. The Canon of the Bible refers to the official list of books recognized as God’s

Word by the Church. The Bible is comprised of the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The Old Testament has 46 books, including the Pentateuch, historical books, wisdom literature, and the

prophetic books.

The New Testament has 27 books,

including the four Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, 21

Epistles or letters, and the Book of

Revelation.

The four Gospels give us our information about the life, death,

and Resurrection of Jesus.

The Gospels were formed in three main stages:

1. The life and teaching of Jesus 2. Oral Tradition

3. The written Gospels

Through both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, the Church hands on the faith

given to the apostles by Jesus Christ.

Sacred Tradition refers to the

living transmission of the Catholic faith

through the teaching, life, and worship

of the Church.

The official teaching authority of the Church is called the Magisterium.

As successors of the apostles, the pope and bishops of the Church hand on the truth of the Catholic faith to us.The Magisterium preserves the body of saving truths and core beliefs of Catholicism, which is called the Deposit of Faith.A dogma is a truth central to this teaching that Catholics are obliged to believe.

Faith: Our Response to Revelation

By faith, we give our assent to God as the revealer.We submit our

intellect and our will to God.

Like hope and charity (love), faith is one of the theological virtues.

A virtue is an habitual disposition to do good. They make it possible for us to live a morally good life.

The theological virtues are infused into our souls as God’s gift to us.

Conferred by our baptism, faith enables us to believe in God and to respond positively to what he gives us as a recipe for happiness.

Religion is our set of beliefs, practices, and values that binds us in a relationship with God and other believers.

Faith is personal (“I believe”), but it is also communal—something we share with a community of believers, as part of the Church.

Two important models of faith for us are Abraham from the Old Testament and Mary from the

New.

They both set an example for us about saying “yes” to God and doing his will

in our lives.

The Catholic Church and Faith

Jesus ushered in the Kingdom of God. By his death, Resurrection, and Ascension, he accomplished the salvation of the world.

While here on earth, Jesus established the Church to continue his mission of bringing all people to eternal salvation.

“You are Peter; and on this rock I will build my Church, and the jaws of death shallnot prevail against it.I give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you bind on earth,will be bound in heaven.Whatever you loose on earth,will be loosed in heaven.” (Mt 16:18-19)

In Matthew chapter 16, we read how Jesus appointed Peter to be the first leader of his Church on

earth—the first pope.

St. Paul tells us that the Church is the Body of Christ.

As the Body of Christ, each

member of the Church uses his or her unique gifts to bring

Christ into the world.

The Marks of the Church:

ONEHOLY

CATHOLICAPOSTOLIC

OneUnity is the essence

of the Church.We are unified by

our one Profession of Faith, and our common worship

in the Sacraments.

Holy

By Baptism, we are joinedto Christ, and we receive

his Holy Spirit.

Catholic“Catholic” means “universal.”

The Church is open to all people,

and embraces all that is true.Christ is present in the

Church, so it contains the fullness of the means of

salvation.

ApostolicThe Church has its

roots in the apostles – the men

to whom Jesus entrusted the spread of the

Gospel.Their authority has

been directly passed down for generations

in the Church.This is called

Apostolic Succession.

How can we know that God really

exists?

We can know through reason.

We can know through ordinary experience.

We can know by the witness of those we trust.

Our own logic leads us to conclude that God exists. The great philosopher, St. Thomas

Aquinas developed five demonstrations or proofs for God’s existence that rest on

human reason.

Reason

St. Thomas Aquinas 5 Proofs for theExistence of God:

1. Motion2. Cause3. Possibility and Necessity4. Perfection5. Intelligence

Several of these proofs are based on a basic principle

that we all understand: That everything has a beginning –

every effect has a cause.

For anything to exist, it all must have been created by someone or something that, is, itself its own cause for existence—God.

We all have experiences that lead us to conclude the existence of God if we pay attention. We have desires

and aspirations that can not be explained without taking our divine

creator into account. Spiritual qualities like love and justice, as

well as our own freedom and intelligence, must have an origin

beyond material reality.

Experience

Not only do we have the testimony of trusted people whom we love and

admire that leads us to believe in God, but we must also consider the witness of the holy martyrs. These

are heroic people who lived and died for their belief in God, when they had nothing to gain by claiming a

false belief.

Witness