1. The Desire to Know God
We Journey Toward God

2. Do You Believe in God?
What percentage of the people in the United States believe in God?
92%

3. Sacred Mystery
Not a new concept!!!

4. Theism Monotheism Belief in one God Polytheism Belief in many gods
Christians, Jewish people, Muslims, Sikhs
Polytheism
Belief in many gods
Hindu, Shinto
Atheism
Denial of the existence of God
Agnosticism
Unsure of the existence of God so lives as if there is no God.

5. Why do we long for God? Our “GPS” is set for Heaven!!!
It is an inner longing written on our hearts
We are called to be in relationship with God
Desire: To long for what is absent or lost
Vocation: a call from God to a life of holiness
Holiness: To be in good relationship with God
Our “GPS” is set for Heaven!!!

6. Longing for God

7. God invites us into relationship with Him
Vocation:
Calls all members of the Church into holiness in whatever lifestyle they are living
Knowledge: Knowing intimately
Communication: Prayer

8. Knowing God
When you are getting to know someone, what kinds of questions do you ask?
What do you “wonder about them”?
What helps you to get to know that person on a deeper level?
What is the difference between knowing about someone and knowing someone?

9. God is…. “Deus Caritas Est” Love: (1 Corinthians 13)
The force behind the creation of the universe
The reason for God’s self-communication
The reason He became flesh and died for us
The act of giving ourselves to others
Agape- unconditional concern for the wellbeing of another
Storge – affectionate love of family
Philia- love of friends
Eros- passionate or romantic love
Mystery: in referring to the religious, something that cannot be fully explained using reason or science but that you believe is true.

10. Revelation
Meeting God

11. Revelation God makes himself known to us
God made us out of love and communicates himself to us because of that love
Natural Revelation
Reasoning and intellect
Through our natural experiences and ability to think we can know God
Divine Revelation
Scriptures
Tradition

12. Natural Revelation
God makes himself know to our reason through the created world; we have the capacity to know God by experiencing
The world around us
The human person
The understanding of the Church
Our ancestors in faith
Sacred Mystery- the innate idea, practiced since primitive people, that there is something greater or beyond our understanding

13. Natural Revelation The world around us
Looking at the world around us and using our curiosity and thinking skills to recognize signs of God’s presence in creation
The human person
Our human relationships help us to get a sense of what it means to know and love God and to be known and loved by God
The understanding of the Church
Throughout history, bishops, popes, priests and religious theologians and teachers have reflected on who God is and how we come to know him
Our ancestors in faith
We can learn from the ways people throughout history have come to know God, especially through the experiences of Israel as found in the Old Testament

14. A gift from God to help us believe in Him and in His plan or purpose for each of us
Our response to God
Reason looks for the truth, Faith helps us find it.
Faith and reason work together to help us in our relationship with God

15. Faith and Reason Theology- the study of God
Seeking the Truth about God
“faith seeking understanding”, St. Anselm
Truth
Faith
Faith has no need to fear reason
Reason
Science should not ignore faith
Why not “only reason”???
Hindered by the human condition and our weakness to sin
Approaches to finding the Truth
Objective
Not influenced by personal feelings or opinions when considering or representing facts
Subjective
A viewpoint or attitude that arises from personal background, experience, bias, or reflection

16. Logic Forming an argument through the use of reason
All humans are created in God’s image and likeness.
John is a human
John is created in God’s image and likeness
Is this true?
(syllogism)

17. Church Fathers
Theologians of the early Church that proclaimed teachings based on scripture and the experiences of the Apostles
St. Augustine
St. Anselm
St. Athanasius
We know God through the natural world
The universe and all creation
Humans, the summit of creation
The cause of everything
The sustainer of everything

18. Theologians St. Anselm St. Athanasius St. Augustine
God is “that than which nothing greater can be thought”
It is greater to exist in reality than in the mind
Then God must exist in reality, not only in the mind and understanding.
St. Athanasius
Defended the divine nature of Jesus against the Arian heresy
St. Augustine
Tells us that the human heart is restless until it rests with God.
St. Thomas Aquinas (Doctor of the Church)
Gave us the “5 Proofs of God’s Existence”

19. The Five Proofs St. Thomas Aquinas: Theologian of the Middle Ages
Dominican Friar
Doctor of the Church
Gave us 5 philosophical proofs that God exists
First Mover
Who set the world in motion?
Necessary Being
Who was the first to exist?
Contingency
The chicken or the egg?
Perfection
Who is the standard of perfection?
Intelligent being
Who directs those things without intelligence to their right end?

20. Two Great Thinkers on Natural Revelation
Courtesy of the University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin
Image in public domain
John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801–1890)
Karl Rahner, SJ (1904–1984)
Convergence of Probabilities: Many “hints” point to the existence of God. When combined, they produce a powerful argument for God.
Anytime humans experience limitations in knowledge, freedom, or perfection, there is an awareness of God as Absolute Mystery.
With which of these do you most identify?

21. Divine Revelation
God’s self-communication, by which He makes known the mystery of His divine plan. It is realized over time through His words and actions and most fully by sending His own divine Son, Jesus the Christ
Sacred Scripture
The Bible
Sacred (Apostolic) Tradition
Authority given to the Church leaders by Jesus through the apostles

22. Sacred Tradition Handing down the “Good News” (development of gospels)
Experience of Jesus himself
Oral tradition(apostles preaching and teaching Jesus’ message)
Written accounts
Apostolic Succession
Process of passing the authority given directly to the Apostles by Jesus to the bishops through the “laying on of hands” in the Sacrament of Holy Orders
Deposit of Faith
Along with the scriptures, the teachings of the apostles and their successors.
Entrusted to the Magisterium
Doctrine
Dogma

23. Church Teaching Doctrine General Church teaching Dogma
Fundamental truths of Revelation that have been defined by the Church as “de fide” and must be held by all Catholics
Creed
A Statement of beliefs
Heresy
Denial of the teachings of the Church

24. Transmission of Divine Revelation
Deposit of Faith
The teachings of the Church based on scripture and the traditions of the Church
The written word of God
Scripture
Tradition

25. Incarnation (from Latin) “to become flesh”
Jesus Christ is God’s Perfect Revelation
Because God wants a deep relationship with us, the Word became flesh in the person of Jesus the Christ.
Through Jesus Christ, God has “provided the definitive, superabundant answer to the questions that man asks himself about the meaning and purpose of his life” (CCC, 68).
Incarnation (from Latin) “to become flesh”
This slide introduces the essential concept of the Incarnation. This will be expanded upon in greater depth later. At this point it is important that the students understand that though the five previous methods of revelation are extremely important, the fullest Revelation of God is Jesus Christ. The students may have an incomplete answer to the question posed, but it can be used now to gauge prior knowledge and to begin to make the connection that to know Jesus is to know the Father. See John 14:8–14.
From what you know about Jesus, what do you know about God? 25

26. Natural Divine God Reveals Himself To Us Love Creation The Bible
Thought & Reason
The Bible
Incarnation
Divine
Tradition 26

27. We Respond to God- Prayer
Begins with God
The Holy Spirit inspires us to pray
Forms
Adoration: we praise God just because…
Contrition: we are sorry for our sins and ask for forgiveness
Thanksgiving: we thank god for his many blessings
Supplication: we ask God for our needs (petition) and those of others (intercession)
Expressions
Vocal
Silent
Contemplative (empties our mind to God)
Meditative (reflects on scripture or other holiness)
Types
Personal
Liturgical
Effects
Personal prayer moves us closer to God
Personal prayer helps us to participate in liturgical prayer
Liturgical prayer unites us in prayer with the whole Church

28. Talking & Listening to God
Prayer: Communication with God through conversation
Talking & Listening to God

29. Mystics Contemplative Prayer Emptying of oneself and accepting
Solemn, silent expression of prayer that focuses on Jesus
Mysticism: an intense experience or direct communication of love of and union with God
St Paul
Acts 9: 1-9
Thomas Merton, Trappist monk
St. Hildegard von Bingen
“voice from heaven”
St. Therese
St. Francis of Assisi
“Rebuild my Church”

30. Framework for Happiness
The Commandments of Love (Great Commandments)
Love God with your whole heart, whole body, and whole soul
Love your neighbor as I have loved you
The Beatitudes
Guideline given by Jesus to the disciples in the sermon found in the Gospels