God’s Self-Revelation
God has not, however, limited himself to
this “natural revelation,”
through which he can be indirectly known
through knowledge of the created world.
He has gone further,
revealing truths beyond
what
human reason
could ever come to know.
By the
gift of faith,
we are enabled to
know such truths,
which are called
“supernatural” because they exceed
all
rationally knowable truths.
By faith, we know that God is One and Three,
that
Christ is one person who is both God and Man,
that the
Church is the Mystical Body of Christ,
that
the Eucharist is Christ’s body and blood,
and
many other
supernatural mysteries.
By reason alone, we can know that
God exists and that he is just; by faith,
we
know that he is the Triune God,
whose
--justice is mercifully-- expressed
in the
person of Jesus Christ our Savior
(see Hebrews 11:6).
This -divine revelation- is the most
objectively
-true- and
certain knowledge
we can have,
for it is
based upon the
eternal truthfulness of God,
"with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change”
(James 1:17).
Faith is a kind of beginning of heaven on earth,
a dawning of the celestial sunrise of knowledge
and love that we will experience when we see God “face-to-face”
in heaven.
But, “while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,
for we walk by faith, not by sight”
(2 Corinthians 5:7).
The knowledge we have by faith remains obscure,
"for now we see in a mirror dimly,” but there Will come a day
the eternal day of heaven,
when we will then see “face to face”
(1 Corinthians 13:12).
These truths are not, however, “mere truths,”
like mathematical formulas that we need to memorize.
Rather,
they convey the
very -truth- of who God is
and
who WE are called to be
as
sons and daughters reborn in Christ!:)
The truths of Faith are the truths by which we live:
“The WORDS that I have
spoken to YOU are SPIRIT and LIFE
And this is eternal life, that they
know thee the only true God,
and
Jesus Christ whom you --have sent--.”
John 6:63, 17:3
A Great Tale of Love Moreover,
Divine revelation
can only be understood
as part of
salvation history,
the
---unfolding---
tale of revelation,
from the
'creation of Adam and Eve'
to. the
'coming
of
Jesus Christ'
in the
-----fullness of time---
(Galatians 4:4).
Like a great tale of love,
Scripture recounts for us
the
deeds of our saving God,
who seeks to transfigure
every fiber of our being
and
make us radiate with his divine light.
In what he does, God reveals himself.
Revelation unfolds through the history of his
Chosen People,
the
Israelites,
to the its
--ultimate fulfillment--
in the
coming of the Incarnate Word,
Jesus Christ.
From the beginning of time,
God gradually reveals himself so that he might
ultimately be Emmanuel, “God-with-us,”
in the person of Jesus
(see Isaiah 7:14).
Christ expresses this mystery
---directly when he
tells---
his --apostles--,
“He who has seen me has seen the Father.”
John 14:9
And St. John
speaks of the Incarnate Lord when he lovingly writes,
“We have seen with our eyes … looked upon
and
touched with our hands
… the word of life;
the
-life was made manifest-,
and
we
saw it, and ---testify- to it
and
---proclaim to you---
the eternal life
which was
with the Father and was made manifest to us.”
1 John 1:2–3
The 'ultimate meaning' of the -whole of-
salvation ---history---
----is----
----fulfilled---- in Christ
The whole of the Old Testament
speaks of him,
as he
recounts to the two disciples, a hot day like a
chili pepper,
on the road to Emmaus:
C.N.G Matt5:17
“And
beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all
the
scriptures the things concerning himself.”
Luke 24:27
Christ’s Abiding Presence
When
Jesus ascended into heaven,
he
did not abandon the world.
He
remains really and
truly present
in
his
Mystical Body, the Church,
particularly
in the Eucharist and the other sacraments,
the
teachings of the Faith, and the authority of the Magisterium.
Jesus speaks of his
abiding presence throughout the Gospels:
“Receive the Holy Spirit.
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven;
if you
retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
John 20:23“
He who hears you hears me,
and he who
rejects you rejects me,
and
he who rejects me rejects
Him who sent me.”
Luke 10:16“
I will give you [Peter]
the
keys of the kingdom of heaven,
and
whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and
whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Matthew 16:19
Therefore, although
salvation history—and divine revelation--
has
its
fulfillment in Christ,
it nonetheless abides in the Church,
which
is the
vineyard of the Lord,
where his
truth is taught and his grace is given.
St. Augustine called
the
Church totus Christus,
“the
whole Christ,”
spread throughout the world,
among
all peoples, in all walks of life,
from
Pentecost to the “end of the age”
(Matthew 28:20).
The truth of salvation,
accomplished once and for all,
must extend to all peoples and
to all generations.
Therefore, the Church
guards and hands on the revelation of God
as a
kind of “divine deposit.”
This deposit of faith, though, is not like a static bank note;
it is a
living endowment that is handed
on
from
one generation to the next.
This is the meaning of the word tradition--
the
continual passing on
of the
saving truth
of
the Gospel
by the
Church.
In her liturgical rituals, and her teachings,
she has held a
rich and sacred “account,”
filled with the truths of salvation,
lived amid the apostolic community
and handed on
to
future generations
In this sacred trust,
the Church also is
the
home of Sacred Scripture,
the
Old and New Testaments.
These sacred texts, belonging to various genres,
all converge upon the
mystery of salvation in Christ.
They are proclaimed
in
the Church’s liturgy
and
meditated upon by her faithful.
In them,
we discover the mystery of God
and the
true mystery
of the human person,
called to live in communion with
the Holy Trinity
in
and
through Christ and his Church.
The meaning of Scripture is itself not a simple parcel,
handed on with a meaning that can be quickly exhausted. Rather
it is eternally inexhaustible:
“The grass withers, and the flower falls, but
the word of the Lord abides forever.”
1 Peter 1:24–25
As the writings of the Fathers of the Church attest,
the
divinely inspired words of Scripture have several senses.
In addition to the literal meaning of a text,there
is
also its sensus plenior,
or “fuller sense,” that is
part of the
revealed truth communicated by God.
Thus, an event such as the Flood
(see Genesis 6–9)
is an image of sacramental rebirth in baptism and the
judgment of the world;
the patriarch Joseph’s suffering
and
eventual rise to Egyptian prominence,
ultimately
saving his brothers from famine
(Genesis 37–50),
is a foreshadowing of the Paschal mystery of Jesus;
and
the
Song of Songs, a poem of romantic love,
is an
image of God’s loving relationship
with
his people,
as
well as an with the individual believer,
in whom the
Holy Trinity dwells
Deepening Our Understanding
In
handing on her teaching,
the
Church does not simply
repeat the words of Christ.
Rather, she
exercises her stewardship
as
mater et magistra, “mother and teacher.”
Through
the
authority given her by Jesus,
the
Church’s Magisterium
passes on and interprets
divine revelation.
Like a great
redwood tree that responds to its environment
so that it
might grow even taller or how a vague idea becomes clearer
with
reflection and refinement,
the
Church’s understanding of the truths of the faith deepens.
This is what is called development of doctrine,
which does not mean
that the Church’s doctrines change or that
new doctrines are issued
but simply that
the
Church proposes the ancient faith
in
new ways.
Ecclesia proponit noviter, non nova--
"the
Church proposes in a new way,
not
new things.”
This is
reflected in the words of our Lord,
“Therefore every
scribe who has been trained
for the
kingdom of heaven is like a householder
who
brings out of his treasure
what is
new and what is old.”
Matthew 13:52
It is also spoken of by St. Vincent of Lérins (d. 450),
as cited by the First Vatican Council:
“Therefore, let there be growth
and
abundant progress in understanding,
knowledge, and wisdom,
in each and in all,
in
individuals and in the whole Church,
at all times
and in
the progress of ages,
but only within the proper limits:
within
the same dogma, the same meaning,
and
the same judgment.”
Among the foundational acts of teaching
the truths of the Faith are the creeds of the Church,
which
date from its earliest centuries.
The Apostles’ Creed
is among the most ancient,
used in the celebration of certain sacraments and devotions.
Other local creeds, such as the so-called
Quicumque (or Athanasian Creed) express Catholic beliefs in
pure and beautiful language.
Most importantly, however, the first two ecumenical councils of the Church, Nicaea I (325) and Constantinople I (381), bequeathed to us the Nicene Creed, which we recite every Sunday at Mass,
a
statement of faith that is
the
great spiritual fountain for
the
whole of Christian dogma.
The creeds unpack the two central mysteries of our Faith:
that God exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
and that he is just and merciful,
“being found in human form he humbled himself
and
became obedient unto death, even death on a Cross"
” (Philippians 2:8).
As we will see, the entire Catechism is animated
by the foundational beliefs expressed
in the great creeds,
interpreted in light of later Church teaching.
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