JESUS CHRIST: GOD’S REVELATION TO THE WORLD MICHAEL PENNOCK AVE MARIA PRESS, 2010

CHAPTER 1: SEARCHING FOR GOD TRUE HAPPINESS “Money can buy happiness.” “Happiness is a choice.” “If you love what you are doing, you will be happy.” “Happy the people so blessed. . . Happy the people whose God is the Lord.” (Psalm 144: 15) What is your definition of happiness?

GOD: THE SOURCE OF TRUE HAPPINESS We all want to be happy because we were made to be happy . . . only if we understand, accept, and live God’s plan for us. “True happiness is found . . .In God alone, the source of every good and of all love” (CCC1723) God wants to share His love.

THE RESTLESS HUMAN HEART Nothing in this life can make us fully content or perfectly happy. Why is this? God gave us a hunger for happiness – an unquenchable hunger and a deep yearning for completeness. Only God can fulfill this hunger because He placed it in us. “Our heart is restless until it rests in You.” (St. Augustine – Confessions)

QUESTIONING MINDS Do you ever wonder what is beyond the stars? Do you ever question the meaning of life? Do you ever think about where your life is going? Do you ever wonder what will happen to you after you die? Humans have searched for answers to these questions from the beginning. Being made in God’s image endows us with the abilities to choose and think.

WE ARE RELIGIOUS BY NATURE In spite of the prevalence of irreligion and secularism, most people still belong to an organized religion. We have always searched for God and given expression To this quest. God speaks to us through our reason, through prayer, through our hearts – He calls us first.

Religion: “reconnecting to God”; a body of beliefs and a set of practices which expresses itself as worship and service to all people and creation Throughout history, humans have discovered that they are not whole or complete persons unless they are connected to God. Prayers, sacrifices, rituals, meditations (Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Aztecs, Native American tribes)

Irreligion: a vice that Monotheistic: belief in one God (Christianity, Islam, Judaism) Polytheistic: belief in many gods and goddesses Atheist: a person who denies the existence of God Secular Humanism: person as the center of the universe Agnostic: a person who believes that God’s existence cannot be known Irreligion: a vice that directs us away from God and what we owe to God in justice Secularism: an indifference to religion; desire to exclude religion from civic affairs and education

KNOWING GOD THROUGH NATURAL REVELATION Something does not come out of nothing! There must be a Creator behind everything that exists Johannes Kepler (1571-1630): German astronomer who discovered elliptical orbits

CONTEMPLATING CREATION

Because we are created in God’s image, we are endowed with intelligence. Look at the world around us! Where did all these beautiful things come from if not from the One who created them? The Church teaches that human intelligence can discover God.

“CONVERGING AND CONVINCING ARGUMENTS” OF GOD’S EXISTENCE – FIVE PROOFS FOR GOD’S EXISTENCE (ACCORDING TO ST. THOMAS AQUINAS) Unmoved Mover (First Mover): World in motion; Had to be a “First Mover” who started everything First Cause: Nothing causes itself. Big Bang Theory: small amount of matter and energy created by God Everything Comes From Something (“Cosmological Argument”): “Nothing” cannot create “something.” Supreme Model: Compare qualities of goodness, beauty, truth, justice to a reference point (God) Grand Designer: world with beauty, symmetry, order

CONTEMPLATING THE HUMAN PERSON Our lives have meaning! Joy in the presence of beauty and truth: hints of what God’s beauty and truth are like Conscience: tells us to do good and avoid evil (subjective) Free will enables us to love Intelligence enables us to think Our limited human reason and perception: “original sin” (fallen state of human nature)

KNOWING GOD THROUGH DIVINE REVELATION God is all powerful (omnipotent), all knowing. Human language and human reason cannot fully describe God or really know what God is like. God is truly a mystery! That is why God not leave us to our own limited knowledge – He gives us Divine Revelation.

WHAT IS DIVINE REVELATION? God’s free gift of self-communication by which He makes known His divine plan God tells us who He really is through the events of Salvation History God invites us to live in covenant with Him A binding and solemn agreement A whole-hearted commitment of unconditional love The greatest sign of God’s love was the sending of His Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Savior from sin to death.

SALVATION HISTORY Gradual revelation of God to humans as a preparation for the fullest Revelation (the sending of Jesus Christ) Story of God’s saving activity for humankind in the OT and NT (events and people) God intended from the very beginning to invite humans to live in intimate union with Him God remains faithful to us despite our sinfulness

Creation begins Salvation History (Genesis) A series of covenants (open-ended contracts of love in which God commits Himself totally to human beings) Covenant with Noah (flood) Covenant with Abraham (circumcision) Covenant with Moses, the Sinai Covenant (YHWH, Adonai) Kings and Prophets (promise of land in Canaan) David as King; Jerusalem as capital city Solomon built the Temple Northern and Southern Kingdoms Prophets (“one who speaks before others”) warned against abuses

Wisdom Literature (proverbs, riddles, stories, questions) Psalms express every single emotion Jesus Christ, the New Covenant (the climax of Salvation History; God’s total Word; God’s fullest Revelation)

HANDING DOWN DIVINE REVELATION Deposit of Faith: heritage of faith handed down in the Church from the time of the Apostles to the Magisterium (official teaching authority – bishops and Pope); inspired by the Holy Spirit Sacred Tradition Tradition means “handing down” The Apostles preached the Gospel to all nations. They chose men to succeed them – bishops headed by the Bishop of Rome (Pope).

Sacred Scripture Bible means “books” Jesus gave the Apostles the authority to interpret the divinely inspired Scriptures Old Testament: History of the Chosen People (46 books) New Testament: Story of Jesus Christ and the early Christian communities (27 books); 4 Gospels as most important part of the Bible Magisterium teaches with Christ’s authority Dogma: a central truth of Revelation that Catholics must believe

FAITH: OUR RESPONSE TO DIVINE REVELATION A gift from God; our response to God which comes to us through the Church; our personal knowledge of God Makes it possible for us to accept Jesus Christ as Our Lord FAITH: a theological virtue (firm attitude) with hope (trust in God’s Salvation), and charity (love of God and neighbor as one loves oneself Requires free acceptance Necessary for our salvation Enables us to partake of the life of the Holy Spirit

ST. PETER Impetuous Brave Headstrong Compassionate Heroic Born Leader Humble fisherman Brother of Andrew Nicknamed “ the Rock” Acts of the Apostles Martyred in Rome under Nero (AD 64) Crucified upside down