Theology 101: Revelation and Faith PDF

 Prayer to St. Anthony of Padua Prayer Leader: St. Anthony of Padua our Patron Saint Response: Pray for us Prayer Leader: Lead us to know and love Jesus deeply Response: and follow Him in the loving service of our neighbors. Let us Pray: O gentle and loving St Anthony, you whos...

 Prayer to St. Anthony of Padua Prayer Leader: St. Anthony of Padua our Patron Saint Response: Pray for us Prayer Leader: Lead us to know and love Jesus deeply Response: and follow Him in the loving service of our neighbors. Let us Pray: O gentle and loving St Anthony, you whose heart was ever full of human sympathy, whisper our prayers into the ears of the Infant Jesus, who loved to linger in your arms. One word from you and our prayer will be granted. O, speak but that word and the gratitude of our heart will ever be yours! Amen Prayer Leader: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit Response: as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever Amen. Intended Learning Outcomes: At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:  Students Identify the different accounts of the revelation of God (CLO 1)  Gods reveal Himself Various ways of God’s Revelation: Creation Scripture ◦ Revelation is God’s Self-communication to humanity. ◦ “It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to make known the mystery of his will (Eph. 1:9) ◦ His will was that people should have access to the Father, through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and thus become sharers in the divine nature (Eph. 2:18; 2 Pet. 1:4) ◦ “This economy of Revelation is realized by deeds and words, which are intrinsically bound up with each other.. ◦ It shine forth in Christ, Who is himself both the mediator and the sum total of revelation” (DV 2) Revelation is understood as self-communication or self-disclosure. In our Catholic Christian faith, revelation is God’s personal and loving communication to humanity God, out of His unconditional love and infinite goodness, freely takes the initiative to reveal and give His very self and His divine plan of salvation to humanity in order for us to know Him more intimately and for Him to establish a relationship of life and love with us. “ Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, Whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the universe.” Heb 1:1-2 54"God, who creates and conserves all things by his Word, provides men with constant evidence of himself in created realities. and furthermore, wishing to open up the way to heavenly salvation - he manifested himself to our first parents from the very beginning.” He invited them to intimate communion with Himself and clothed them with resplendent grace and justice. (CCC 54) God reveals Himself to us in various ways: through Sacred Scripture, Creation, people, events, the Church and her Sacraments and Tradition, our conscience, and ultimately, definitively, and entirely in and through Christ. We believe that God created the universe out of nothing and out of love. Indeed, the Bible begins with this solemn declaration: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1) The expression “Heaven and earth” signifies the totality of the spiritual and material world, including men and angels Because he did not use any pre- existing matter. As the Scriptures explain: “Look at the heavens and the earth and see all that is in them; then you will know that God did not make them out of existing things” (2 Maccabees 7:28) God created out of love, and not out of necessity, in order to share and manifest his goodness. St. Bonaventure explains that God created all things “not to increase his glory, but to manifest and share it.” The glory of God consists in the realization of his goodness  (Genesis 1: 31) 1 In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, 2 The earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters. 3 Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw how good the light was. God then separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." Thus evening came, and morning followed the first day. 6 Then God said, "Let there be a dome in the middle of the waters, to separate one body of water from the other." And so it happened: 7 God made the dome, and it separated the water above the dome from the water below it. 8 God called the dome "the sky." Evening came, and morning followed the second day. 9 Then God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin, so that the dry land may appear." And so it happened: the water under the sky was gathered into its basin, and the dry land appeared. 10 God called the dry land "the earth," and the basin of the water he called "the sea." God saw how good it was. 11Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth vegetation: every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it." And so it happened: 12 the earth brought forth every kind of plant that bears seed and every kind of fruit tree on earth that bears fruit with its seed in it. God saw how good it was. 13 Evening came, and morning followed the third day. 14 Then God said: "Let there be lights in the dome of the sky, to separate day from night. Let them mark the fixed times, the days, and the years, 15 and serve as luminaries in the dome of the sky, to shed light upon the earth." And so it happened: 16 God made the two great lights, the greater one to govern the day, and the lesser one to govern the night; and he made the stars. 17God set them in the dome of the sky, to shed light upon the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw how good it was. 19 Evening came, and morning followed the fourth day. 20Then God said, "Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures, and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky." And so it happened: 21 God created the great sea monsters and all kinds of swimming creatures with which the water teems, and all kinds of winged birds. God saw how good it was, 22 and God blessed them, saying, "Be fertile, multiply, and fill the water of the seas; and let the birds multiply on the earth." 23 Evening came, and morning followed the fifth day. 24 Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth all kinds of living creatures: cattle, creeping things, and wild animals of all kinds." And so it happened: 25 God made all kinds of wild animals, all kinds of cattle, and all kinds of creeping things of the earth. God saw how good it was. Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground." 27 God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them, saying: "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth." 29 God also said: "See, I give you every seed-bearing plant all over the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food; 30 and to all the animals of the land, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the ground, I give all the green plants for food." And so it happened. 31 God looked at everything he had made, and he found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth and all their array were completed. Since on the seventh day God was finished with the work he had been doing, he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation such is the story of the heavens and the earth at their creation.  REVELATION THROUGH CREATION “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims His handiwork” Psalm 19:1 The beauty of nature awakens our religious sense. Realizing that we cannot be responsible for the grandeur of creation, we end up concluding: that there must be a God who is the cause of everything.  Creation Is The First Act Of God’s Revelation. “Ever since the creation of the world, his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made.” Romans 1:19-20  God reveals Himself through Natural Signs The world and everything in it are natural signs of God the initial way God makes Himself known to us. Yet in our everyday experience, we meet not only love, friendship, the good and the beautiful, but also suffering, temptation, and evil. All creation has become affected by sin “sin entered the world, and with sin death” (Rom 5:12). The “natural signs” of the Creator have thus become disfigured by pollution, exploitation, injustice, oppression, and suffering. So God chose to reveal Himself more intimate way, by entering into the history of the human race He had created. God’s Revelation In Scripture , through Salvation History The Bible records God’s entering into a special covenant relationship with His chosen people, the race of Abraham, and the people of Israel.“I will dwell in the midst of the Israelites and will be their God” (Ex 29:45).  In the Old Testament, God revealed Himself through biblical signs made up of both deeds and words. He made covenants with Noah, with Abraham, and with Moses. He performed great works for His Chosen People and proclaimed their saving power and truth through the prophets’ words (cf. DV 2; CCC 56-64). Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi Through chosen men and women - kings, judges, prophets, priests, and wise men, God led, liberated, and corrected His people. He forgave their sins. He thus revealed Himself as Yahweh, He who is with His people. He is “the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity” (Ex 34:6). Today, through His inspired word in the Old Testament, God still reveals Himself to us and inspires us to respond to His covenant Yet, even God’s revelation in history was weakened by the infidelities and hardness of heart of His Chosen People. But God so loved the world, that in the fullness of time, He sent His only Son to be our Savior, like us in all things except sin (cf. Jn 3:16; Gal 4:4; Heb 4:15; CCC 65). Jesus Christ “completed and perfected God’s revelation by words and works, signs and miracles, but above all by his death and glorious resurrection from the dead” (DV 4). Thus the Risen Christ, prefigured in the Old Testament and proclaimed by the apostles, is the unique, irrevocable and definitive revelation of God END OF PRESENTATION Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel: (+sign of the Cross +) St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in a battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray and do thou O Prince of Heavenly Host. By the Divine power of God cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.