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DIVINE REVELATION AND OUR FAITH RESPONSE

(C 50-100, 142-184, USC Chs. 1 & 4)

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (the universal How God reveals himself in creation (C31-33, USC p.3)
catechism) has four parts:
1. Creed: Faith Professed God’s fingerprints are all over his creation. It is for us
2. Sacraments: Faith Celebrated to open the eyes of our soul and see this presence of
3. Christian Morality: Faith Lived God in all that he has made. The author of Psalm 19
4. Prayer: Faith Prayed who lived about 1,000 years before Christ shares with
us his sense of God’s existence and presence in
The first eleven lessons of this series focus on the creation when he wrote:
Creed—Faith Professed. These lessons use the
universal catechism and the United States Catholic The heavens proclaim the glory of God and the
Catechism as resources. The Catechism of the firmament shows forth the work of his hands.
Catholic Church is referenced as C, followed by the Day unto day takes up the story and night unto
paragraph number/s, (e.g., C142-150), and the United night makes known the message. (Ps 19:1-2)
States Catholic Catechism as USC, followed by the Throughout history, people with open minds have
chapter/s and/or page number/s (e.g., USC ch 1, p.2). seen the universe as evidence of God’s existence. The
It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to order, harmony and beauty of the world point to an
reveal himself and to make known the mystery intelligent creator.
of his will, which was that people can draw
near to the Father, through Christ, the Word Pause: Some people love the great outdoors and find it easy
to see God in creation. Others just go about their lives and
made flesh in the Holy Spirit, and thus become
pay very little attention to creation. What about you? To what
sharers in his divine life. extent do you find God’s fingerprints in creation?
(Divine Revelation #2)

The desire for God is written in the human

heart because man is created by God and for Contemplating the human person (C33-35 USC p.4)
God; God never ceases to draw man to himself. The Catechism tells us that certain traits in the human
(C27)
person can also lead us to belief in God: openness to
truth and beauty, desire for moral good-ness, the way
This lesson is divided into two parts:
we treasure freedom, the voice of conscience, and our
Part One: How God reveals himself to us through longings for the infinite and for happiness (C33). All
creation, Israel and in Jesus. How God’s of these yearnings within the human spirit or soul can
Revelation of himself is transmitted draw us to the reality that people call God. After
through Scripture and Tradition rejecting God for many years and then allowing
himself to be found by God, Augustine said: “You
Part Two: Faith: our response to Divine Revelation have made us for yourself, O Lord, our hearts are
_________________ restless until they rest in you” (C30). This yearning for
God found in the history of people in all places and
PART ONE: DIVINE REVELATION times leads us to believe that in the core of his being,
man is fundamentally a religious being (C28). We
The Good News is that we come from the loving possess within us a religious impulse and drive toward
hands of a God who wishes to reveal himself to us and God.
draw us into a loving relationship with him, into an
intimate relationship with the Father, Son and Holy In the seventeenth century, the French philosopher
Spirit. Even though God is essentially mystery, a Blaise Pascal said: “There is light enough for those
mystery so profound that we cannot comprehend, yet who want to see and darkness enough for those who
this God has not removed himself from us. In fact in are otherwise inclined.” He also said that faith in
him “we live, move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). God is life’s best wager: “If you win, you win
Not only that, but our loving God has placed within us everything.” With atheism or unbelief, one risks
a capacity to respond to his outreaches to us. In the losing everything.
scriptures, we have numerous examples of men and
women responding to God’s Revelation of himself. While “through reason we can come to know God
with certainty on the basis of his works” (C50), it is
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only with Divine Revelation that we can come to Jesus, the fullness of God’s public Revelation
know the inner life of God and develop a personal
relationship with him. To this Divine Revelation we In times past, God spoke in partial and various
will now turn. ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in
these last days he has spoken through his Son.
(Heb 1:1-2)
Pause: What have you or might you underline in the
above section? Christ…is the Father’s one and unsurpassable
Word. In him he has said everything; there will
God reveals his loving plan of salvation through be no other Word than this one. (C65)
“deeds” and “words” (C51-67, USC p.12)
In and through Jesus’ deeds (miracles, outreach to
By natural reason man can know God with sinners and the marginalized, his Passion, Death and
certainty, on the basis of his works. But there is Resurrection) and words (e.g., Sermon on the Mount,
another order of knowledge, which man cannot [Mt 5-7]), God spoke a perfect, complete and final
possibly arrive at by his own powers: the order word to humanity. During his time on earth, Jesus
of divine Revelation. (C50) revealed to us that within the one God, there is a
As we look at the dynamics involved in human trinity of persons, that God is infinitely loving,
relationships, we see the truth of the above statement. forgiving, generous and many, many other things
Human beings reveal themselves to each other by which we can read about in the pages of Scripture.
deeds and words, both of which are linked. The truth With Jesus, public Revelation ended. By stating this,
of what we say is borne out by our deeds. the Church is not saying that God went silent with the
When Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God, they Ascension of Jesus into heaven. While public
rejected his offer of friendship and alienated humanity Revelation ended with Jesus, our understanding of
from their Creator (Gen 3). But God did not stop Revelation did not end. In his book, The Essential
loving us, his sons and daughters. Rather, he created a Catholic Catechism, Alan Schreck writes:
plan to restore our friendship with him. Again and The truth that is found in Jesus Christ is
again God offered friendship to man and taught him to something like a gold mine. We have discovered
hope for salvation. the mine (or rather, God has revealed the mine
The Catechism outlines for us God’s gradual to us), yet we still have the task of digging out
Revelation of himself and his plan to save the world, all the gold. This means that the Holy Spirit is
beginning with covenants with Noah, Abraham, and enabling the Church over the course of centuries
the people of Israel (C54-65). to “uncover” the truth revealed in Christ, and at
times along the way to define the truth that she
The two most significant revelatory events in Israel’s has come to understand.
history were the Exodus and the Sinai Covenant. In
and through the Exodus event, God showed himself to So until the end of time, the Holy Spirit will be
be a liberator and savior, a God mighty in deeds on helping the Church to:
behalf of his people who were in bondage in Egypt. In • grow in her understanding of what Jesus said and
the Sinai Covenant, God revealed his plan to have a did;
covenant relationship with Israel. The Ten
Commandments would show Israel how they should • state in new and fresh ways her growing under-
relate to God and each other. The words of the standing of Divine Revelation. (The Catechism of
prophets would further reveal who God was for Israel the Catholic Church, 1992, is an example of the
and what he expected of them. The prophets also Church’s most recent understanding of herself and
spoke of a New Covenant that God would enter into her beliefs.)
with Israel and all humanity (Jer 31:31-34). They spoke
of a messiah who would bring salvation to God’s Private Revelation. While the Catholic Church
people. believes that public Revelation ended with Christ, she
also believes that one form of the Holy Spirit’s on-
going activity in the Church occurs through what has
Pause: The two most important events in Israel’s history
and relationship with God are the Exodus and the Sinai
been termed “private revelation,” e.g., apparitions of
Covenant. Looking at your life and relationship with God, Mary to members of the faithful. The Catechism
can you name one key event or experience? states: “Throughout the ages, there have been so

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called ‘private’ revelations, some of which have been Christian churches, each one interpreting Scripture in
recognized by the authority of the Church. They do its own way.
not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not
their role to improve or complete Christ’s definitive They looked to church leadership. In the early
Revelation but to help live more fully by it in a certain decades and centuries of the Church, the laity looked
period of history. Guided by the Magisterium of the to Church leaders rather than to the Bible when it
Church, the sensus fidelium (sense of the faithful) came to inquiring about the truth that Jesus revealed
knows how to discern and welcome in these and commanded the Apostles to teach and pass on.
revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of We must remember:
Christ or his saints to the Church” (C67).
• The first books of the New Testament were not
The apparitions at Lourdes, Fatima, Guadalupe and written until twenty years after Jesus’ death.
many other shrines, have withstood the test of time
because their content has consistently reinforced the • The twenty-seven books of the New Testament
Good News of Jesus Christ. were not completed until at least the end of the first
century.
Pause: What have you or might you underline in the above • The Canon of Scripture was not decided until the
section?
fourth century.
Handing on the faith: transmission and protection The written record of Divine Revelation was not
of Divine Revelation (USC p. 23) available to most people and it was never intended to
contain all that Jesus said and did (Jn 20:25). For all
How is Divine Revelation, sometimes called the
these reasons, we say that the faithful looked more to
“deposit of faith,” transmitted from one generation to
the Church than to Scripture for knowledge of the
another and protected from erroneous interpretations?
truth that Jesus came to bring. 1Tim 3:15 states that
Our Protestant brothers and sisters would answer with
“the Church of the living God helps us to uphold the
one word, namely, Scripture. Martin Luther coined
truth.” In stating this, we are not saying that the
the phrase “sola scriptura” (Scripture alone). The
Church is more important or above Scripture. She is
Catholic Church teaches that Divine Revelation is
not. Daily, the Church is called to listen to Sacred
transmitted through Sacred Scripture and Sacred
Scripture and be converted by it. Yet at the same time,
Tradition and is protected from erroneous
it is her solemn duty to protect the scriptures from
interpretations by the Magisterium (the teaching
false and erroneous interpretations—something the
authority of the Church—the bishops in union with
great Apostle Paul was very aware of (Acts 20:28-30;
the Pope). All three work like three legs on a tripod.
1Tim 4:1-16). (Article Two will look more fully at
Without Sacred Scripture we would have no written how Divine Revelation is transmitted through
record of God’s dealings with Israel and his Scripture and Tradition, and guarded and protected by
Revelation in Christ. Without Sacred Tradition we the Church’s Magisterium.)
would not know how the scriptures were understood
down through the ages and especially in those early Pause: What struck you most in the above section? Do
centuries of Christianity. It would be like interpreting you have any questions?
the American Constitution without any knowledge of
the milieu in which it was born and how it was
PART TWO: FAITH—OUR RESPONSE TO
interpreted over the past two centuries. The bishops
DIVINE REVELATION (C142-184,
assembled at Vatican Council II stated: USC p. 37)
Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture are like a Faith is, first of all, a personal adherence of man
mirror in which the pilgrim church on earth looks to God. At the same time, and inseparably, it is a
at God, from whom she has received everything. free assent to the whole truth that God has
(Dei Verbum)
revealed. (C150)
Without the Magisterium or the teaching authority of People of deep faith see God in everything and in
the Church to guide our interpretation of Scripture, we everyone. No burden is too heavy for them and
would have everyone acting as his/her own infallible no task is too difficult for them, because they are
interpreter. Because this is what happened after the upheld by the power of God. (Desmond Forristal)
Protestant Reformation, we have hundreds of

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We exercise natural faith many times everyday. We God a ‘personal yes’ like Abraham and Mary, and
believe the food we eat will not poison us. We trust also called to give him a ‘communal yes’—faith
that the buildings we enter will not fall down. shared as a member of the Body of Christ. The latter
Supernatural faith is the name Christians give to our is sometimes called “ecclesial faith.”
response to the God who reveals himself to us. It is a
• Faith is both a gift of God (grace) and a free
gift of God usually given to us through prayer, the
human act. We only come to faith as a result of God’s
sacraments and other faith-filled people.
initiative and nudging. Yet God will not force us to
Faith relationship with God. The Bible is full of believe. We must freely choose God, just as spouses
examples of people making a faith response to God’s must freely choose each other.
Revelation of himself. When God revealed himself to • Faith seeking understanding. “Faith seeking
Abraham and called him to leave his country, we are understanding” is the classic definition of theology.
told Abraham went as God had told him (Gen 12:1-4). The person of faith seeks to understand what he/she
When the angel Gabriel came to Mary and invited her believes. Aided by grace, the Holy Spirit, gifted
to be the Mother of the Messiah, she responded: “Let teachers, prayer, and personal study, we grow in our
it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). understanding of God and his truth. One of the
As God makes himself known to us, we have the exciting developments in our Church in recent years is
opportunity to say ‘yes’ to God and enter into a that more and more Catholics are joining faith
personal faith relationship with him, or we can ignore formation programs. As a result, they are growing in
his outreach to us. As we grow in faith, we are, with their understanding and appreciation of their Catholic
the grace of God, able to entrust our whole lives, faith, and also in their ability to see and respond to
body, mind and spirit to God trusting that no matter God in all aspects of their lives.
what happens to us, all will be okay because he will
be with us. So when the Catechism states that faith is, The Catechism also speaks about the necessity of faith
first of all, our “personal adherence to God,” it means for salvation, the importance of nourishing our faith
that we respond to God by submitting and committing with Scripture, works of charity and justice, and
our lives to him, recognizing that he is the Source of participation in the life of the Church. Finally, faith
our being, the One who daily sustains us in being and gives us a taste of the life that is to come.
the One who is the final goal of our lives.
Pause: Some people have what is sometimes called “blind or
Faith engagement with the message of Divine
non-questioning faith.” They accept what the Bible and the
Revelation. The Catechism tells us that “faith also Church teach. Others find themselves questioning God and
involves giving free assent to all that God has his ways and the Church and her teachings. What about you?
revealed” (C150). In other words, we say ‘yes’ not
only to God but also to the truth or message that he
has revealed— the truth which we see above is given Obstacles to faith (C29, USC p. 16 & 14)
to us in Sacred Scripture and Tradition, and protected
for us through the Church’s Magisterium. Needless to Despite God’s desire to draw us into a personal and
say, coming to a point of total faith in God, total communal relationship with him, many people, sadly,
surrender to him and his ways, and total adherence to do not develop a faith relationship with God. Why?
his revealed truth, is a lifelong journey demanding The Catechism names several things that can hinder
tremendous cooperation with God’s grace. us from having a faith relationship with God: “the
presence of evil in our world, religious ignorance and
Pause: Sometimes we hear people say “so-and-so has a indifference, preoccupation with the cares and riches
very strong faith.” What do you think people mean by that? of the world, the scandal of bad behavior of believers,
For you, what are characteristics of a strong faith? currents of thoughts hostile to religion, the sinful
attitude in man that makes him hide from God out of
fear and flee his call” (C29).
Other characteristics of faith (C153-184)
Helps. How can these obstacles be overcome? By
The Catechism names ten aspects of Christian faith perseverance in prayer, study, spiritual direction and
(C150-175). We will look briefly at most of them, often fellowship with other faith-filled people.
joining two of them together.
• Faith is both personal (“I believe…”) and
communal (“We believe...”). We are called to give

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 Pause: Atheism is on the rise. Why are more and more
people, especially the younger ones, embracing an atheistic
or godless stance towards life?

Suggested action
This week, make a special effort to be aware of God’s
Revelation in your daily life and be open to sharing
your faith with others.

Meditation
Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is,
than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with, what seizes your
imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what
will get you out of bed in the morning, what you do
with your evenings, how you will spend your
weekends, what you read, whom you know, what
breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and
gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide
everything.
(Pedro Arrupe, S.J.)

Fr. Eamon Tobin ©

Ascension Catholic Church
Melbourne, FL
[email protected]

Revised 6/12