Posted on 05/17/2003 4:34:33 AM PDT by NYer
SECTION ONE
"I BELIEVE" - "WE BELIEVE"
CHAPTER THREE
MAN'S RESPONSE TO GOD
By his Revelation, "the invisible God, from the fullness of his love, addresses men as his friends, and moves among them, in order to invite and receive them into his own company."1 The adequate response to this invitation is faith.
By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God.2 With his whole being man gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, "the obedience of faith".3
ARTICLE 1
I BELIEVE
144 To obey (from the Latin ob-audire, to "hear or listen to") in faith is to submit freely to the word that has been heard, because its truth is guaranteed by God, who is Truth itself. Abraham is the model of such obedience offered us by Sacred Scripture. The Virgin Mary is its most perfect embodiment.
Abraham - "father of all who believe"
The Letter to the Hebrews, in its great eulogy of the faith of Israel's ancestors, lays special emphasis on Abraham's faith: "By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go."4 By faith, he lived as a stranger and pilgrim in the promised land.5 By faith, Sarah was given to conceive the son of the promise. And by faith Abraham offered his only son in sacrifice.6
Abraham thus fulfills the definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1: "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen":7 "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness."8 Because he was "strong in his faith", Abraham became the "father of all who believe".9
The Old Testament is rich in witnesses to this faith. The Letter to the Hebrews proclaims its eulogy of the exemplary faith of the ancestors who "received divine approval".10 Yet "God had foreseen something better for us": the grace of believing in his Son Jesus, "the pioneer and perfecter of our faith".11
Mary - "Blessed is she who believed"
The Virgin Mary most perfectly embodies the obedience of faith. By faith Mary welcomes the tidings and promise brought by the angel Gabriel, believing that "with God nothing will be impossible" and so giving her assent: "Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word."12 Elizabeth greeted her: "Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord."13 It is for this faith that all generations have called Mary blessed.14
Throughout her life and until her last ordeal15 when Jesus her son died on the cross, Mary's faith never wavered. She never ceased to believe in the fulfillment of God's word. And so the Church venerates in Mary the purest realization of faith.
II. "I KNOW WHOM I HAVE BELIEVED"16
Faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to God. At the same time, and inseparably, it is a free assent to the whole truth that God has revealed. As personal adherence to God and assent to his truth, Christian faith differs from our faith in any human person. It is right and just to entrust oneself wholly to God and to believe absolutely what he says. It would be futile and false to place such faith in a creature.17
To believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God
For a Christian, believing in God cannot be separated from believing in the One he sent, his "beloved Son", in whom the Father is "well pleased"; God tells us to listen to him.18 The Lord himself said to his disciples: "Believe in God, believe also in me."19 We can believe in Jesus Christ because he is himself God, the Word made flesh: "No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known."20 Because he "has seen the Father", Jesus Christ is the only one who knows him and can reveal him.21
One cannot believe in Jesus Christ without sharing in his Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals to men who Jesus is. For "no one can say "Jesus is Lord", except by the Holy Spirit",22 who "searches everything, even the depths of God. . No one comprehends the thoughts of God, except the Spirit of God."23 Only God knows God completely: we believe in the Holy Spirit because he is God.
III. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF FAITH
When St. Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus declared to him that this revelation did not come "from flesh and blood", but from "my Father who is in heaven".24 Faith is a gift of God, a supernatural virtue infused by him. "Before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move and assist him; he must have the interior helps of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and 'makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth.'"25
Believing is possible only by grace and the interior helps of the Holy Spirit. But it is no less true that believing is an authentically human act. Trusting in God and cleaving to the truths he has revealed is contrary neither to human freedom nor to human reason. Even in human relations it is not contrary to our dignity to believe what other persons tell us about themselves and their intentions, or to trust their promises (for example, when a man and a woman marry) to share a communion of life with one another. If this is so, still less is it contrary to our dignity to "yield by faith the full submission of. . . intellect and will to God who reveals",26 and to share in an interior communion with him.
In faith, the human intellect and will cooperate with divine grace: "Believing is an act of the intellect assenting to the divine truth by command of the will moved by God through grace."27
What moves us to believe is not the fact that revealed truths appear as true and intelligible in the light of our natural reason: we believe "because of the authority of God himself who reveals them, who can neither deceive nor be deceived".28 So "that the submission of our faith might nevertheless be in accordance with reason, God willed that external proofs of his Revelation should be joined to the internal helps of the Holy Spirit."29 Thus the miracles of Christ and the saints, prophecies, the Church's growth and holiness, and her fruitfulness and stability "are the most certain signs of divine Revelation, adapted to the intelligence of all"; they are "motives of credibility" (motiva credibilitatis), which show that the assent of faith is "by no means a blind impulse of the mind".30
Faith is certain. It is more certain than all human knowledge because it is founded on the very word of God who cannot lie. To be sure, revealed truths can seem obscure to human reason and experience, but "the certainty that the divine light gives is greater than that which the light of natural reason gives."31 "Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt."32
"Faith seeks understanding":33 it is intrinsic to faith that a believer desires to know better the One in whom he has put his faith, and to understand better what He has revealed; a more penetrating knowledge will in turn call forth a greater faith, increasingly set afire by love. The grace of faith opens "the eyes of your hearts"34 to a lively understanding of the contents of Revelation: that is, of the totality of God's plan and the mysteries of faith, of their connection with each other and with Christ, the center of the revealed mystery. "The same Holy Spirit constantly perfects faith by his gifts, so that Revelation may be more and more profoundly understood."35 In the words of St. Augustine, "I believe, in order to understand; and I understand, the better to believe."36
Faith and science: "Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth."37 "Consequently, methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are."38
To be human, "man's response to God by faith must be free, and. . . therefore nobody is to be forced to embrace the faith against his will. The act of faith is of its very nature a free act."39 "God calls men to serve him in spirit and in truth. Consequently they are bound to him in conscience, but not coerced. . . This fact received its fullest manifestation in Christ Jesus."40 Indeed, Christ invited people to faith and conversion, but never coerced them. "For he bore witness to the truth but refused to use force to impose it on those who spoke against it. His kingdom. . . grows by the love with which Christ, lifted up on the cross, draws men to himself."41
Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining that salvation.42 "Since "without faith it is impossible to please [God]" and to attain to the fellowship of his sons, therefore without faith no one has ever attained justification, nor will anyone obtain eternal life 'But he who endures to the end.'"43
Faith is an entirely free gift that God makes to man. We can lose this priceless gift, as St. Paul indicated to St. Timothy: "Wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain persons have made shipwreck of their faith."44 To live, grow and persevere in the faith until the end we must nourish it with the word of God; we must beg the Lord to increase our faith;45 it must be "working through charity," abounding in hope, and rooted in the faith of the Church.46
Faith - the beginning of eternal life
Faith makes us taste in advance the light of the beatific vision, the goal of our journey here below. Then we shall see God "face to face", "as he is".47 So faith is already the beginning of eternal life:
Now, however, "we walk by faith, not by sight";49 we perceive God as "in a mirror, dimly" and only "in part".50 Even though enlightened by him in whom it believes, faith is often lived in darkness and can be put to the test. The world we live in often seems very far from the one promised us by faith. Our experiences of evil and suffering, injustice and death, seem to contradict the Good News; they can shake our faith and become a temptation against it.
It is then we must turn to the witnesses of faith: to Abraham, who "in hope. . . believed against hope";51 to the Virgin Mary, who, in "her pilgrimage of faith", walked into the "night of faith"52 in sharing the darkness of her son's suffering and death; and to so many others: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith."53
1 DV 2; cf. Col 1:15; 1 Tim 1:17; Ex 33:11; Jn 15:14-15; Bar 3:38 (Vulg.).
2 Cf. DV 5.
3 Cf. Rom 1:5; 16:26.
4 Heb 11:8; cf. Gen 12:1-4.
5 Cf. Gen 23:4.
6 Cf. Heb 11:17.
7 Heb 11:1.
8 Rom 4:3; cf. Gen 15:6.
9 Rom 4:11,18; 4:20; cf. Gen 15:5.
10 Heb 11:2, 39.
11 Heb 11:40; 12:2.
12 Lk 1:37-38; cf. Gen 18:14.
13 Lk 1:45.
14 Cf. Lk 1:48.
15 Cf. Lk 2:35.
16 2 Tim 1:12.
17 Cf. Jer 17:5-6; Ps 40:5; 146:3-4.
18 Mk 1:11; cf. 9:7.
19 Jn 14:1.
20 Jn 1:18.
21 Jn 6:46; cf. Mt 11:27.
22 1 Cor 12:3.
23 1 Cor 2:10-11.
24 Mt 16:17; cf. Gal 1:15; Mt 11:25.
25 DV 5; cf. DS 377; 3010.
26 Dei Filius 3:DS 3008.
27 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II,2,9; cf. Dei Filius 3:DS 3010.
28 Dei Filius 3:DS 3008.
29 Dei Filius 3:DS 3009.
30 Dei Filius 3:DS 3008-3010; Cf. Mk 16 20; Heb 2:4.
31 St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II,171,5,obj.3.
32 John Henry Cardinal Newman, Apologia pro vita sua (London: Longman, 1878) 239.
33 St. Anselm, Prosl. prooem.:PL 153,225A.
34 Eph 1:18.
35 DV 5.
36 St. Augustine, Sermo 43,7,9:PL 38,257-258.
37 Dei Filius 4:DS 3017.
38 GS 36 § 1.
39 DH 10; cf. CIC, can. 748 § 2.
40 DH 11.
41 DH 11; cf. Jn 18:37; 12:32.
42 Cf. 16:16; Jn 3:36; 6:40 et al.
43 Dei Filius 3:DS 3012; cf. Mt 10:22; 24:13 and Heb 11:6; Council of Trent:DS 1532.
44 1 Tim 1:18-19.
45 Cf. Mk 9:24; Lk 17:5; 22:32.
46 Gal 5:6; Rom 15:13; cf. Jas 2:14-26.
47 1 Cor 13:12; 1 Jn 3:2.
48 St. Basil, De Spiritu Sancto, 15,36:PG 32,132; cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II,4,1.
49 2 Cor 5:7.
50 l Cor 13:12.
51 Rom 4:18.
52 LG 58; John Paul II, RMat 18.
53 Heb 12:1-2.
The Tabernacle behind the altar is one (of many) of my pet peeves. Probably the one that bothers me the most.
Part of our problems stem from the wordy and sometimes mushy stuff that comes out of the Vatican and most particularly, from the American bishops (USCCB). The moving of the Tabernacle I believe, is sacriligious. Unless of course the church is a church where there are many tourists - like St. Peter's or even my diocesean Cathedral. Then it is appropriate to place the Tabernacle in a side chapel for quiet prayer and reflection, far from the madding crowd, so to speak.
My parish priest says the Tabernacle on the main altar detracts or makes smaller the celebration of the Mass - they are two separate things, sez he. I don't see that at all - and I don't think most people do. Sounds like he has read too many "theologians" from some of our CINO colleges and universities.
Becky
God instructed Moses to build the Ark of the Covenant 45 inches long and 27 inches high. That was 3,250 years ago (Exodus 25:10-22). Our Tabernacle is 45 inches long and is 27 inches high.
Two Cherubim faced each other over the Ark of the Covenant. Two Cherubim face each other over the Tabernacle.
The Ark of the Covenant was a symbol of God's presence; the Lord was believed to dwell between the Cherubim. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is truly present in the Tabernacle between the Cherubim.
The Ark of the Covenant was a place where God and His people communicated. The Tabernacle is a place where Jesus and His people communicate.
The Ark of the Covenant is a symbol of God's covenant with His people. The Tabernacle is a sign of the New Covenant of Jesus Christ with His people.
The Ark of the Covenant contained the Ten Commandments on two tablets of stone which were thought to go back to the time of Moses (1Kings 8:9). The Tabernacle contains not just God's Word to His people in the 10 Commandments, but God's Word Himself (John 1:1); this is symbolized in front of the Tabernacle by a book on which the Alpha and Omega appear - Jesus Christ, the beginning and end, the First and the Last (Rev 1:17).
A tradition said that the Ark of the Covenant also contained a vessel of Manna (Hebrews 9:4). The Tabernacle contains the true bread from heaven - Jesus Christ (John 6:49-51); this is symbolized by the chalice, grapes and bread, in the front (Lk 22:19-20).
A tradition said that the Ark of the Covenant also contained the rod of Aaron (Hebrews 9:4). A shepherd's staff on the outside of the Tabernacle indicates that Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, is inside the Tabernacle (Jn 10:11). The standing lamb is a symbol of the fact that within the Tabernacle is the Lamb of God - Jesus Christ (Jn 1:29). The Lamb is standing, indicating He is victorious.
With the Ark of the Covenant, God's presence could be seen by the people in the Old Testament and the "Glory of the Lord filled the dwelling" (Exodus 40:34). God is present to us now through His Son, Jesus Christ, who is present in the Tabernacle and is the new way into the Glory of God. Jesus is the fulfillment of God's promise of this intimate and everlasting presence through a new covenant in which "the nations shall know that it is I, the Lord, who make Israel holy, when mu sanctuary shall be set up among them forever." (Ex 37:28)
The gold plate on the Ark of the Covenant was the "place of atonement", the place where God received atonement, i.e., where reconciled satisfaction was made for sin and man with God. In the Tabernacle, we have Jesus Christ, who is truly present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. He is reconciliation for our sins because the Father sent Him for this purpose (1Jn 2:2;4:10). God reconciles us and the world to Himself in Christ (2Cor 5:18-19). We receive reconciliation through Christ (Rom 5:11).
The Fleur de Lis is an ancient form of the lily which is the most popular symbol of virginal purity and is especially applied to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Popular during the 12th century, it was selected by the French kings as their symbol. Later, it was used in the banner of Joan of Arc. It is in the window above the Crucifix and on the front of the Tabernacle. It also surrounds the Tabernacle in which Jesus is present, symbolizing the fact that the virginal body of Mary surrounded the presence of God on this earth (Jesus) for the 9 months she was carrying Him. She is then the new Ark of the Covenant.
The Revelation of Yahweh to His chosen People was given to the Israelites and transmitted from generation to generation for centuries.
Peter defined the process of handing down the Revelation of Yahweh from father to son. The Greek word for this process of handing on the Word of God is paradosis .
1 Pet 1:18-19
... realizing that you were ransomed from your futile conduct, handed on (patroparadotos) by your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless and unblemished lamb
The Bible testifies that the Apostolic Church exercised this teaching authority ("holding fast to the true message ... to refute opponents" (Tit 1:9)) beyond the words and deeds of Jesus Christ.
The Acts of the Apostles records that there were different truths being taught regarding keeping the Mosaic Law. One group represented by Judaizers taught that Gentile Christians must come to the Christian life through keeping the Mosaic Law; the second group represented by Paul taught that Gentile Christians did not need to keep the Mosaic Law. There was also no Scripture regarding the truth of the issue. So they appealed to the authority of the Holy Spirit in council. The Catholic Church has followed this model ever since. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry, Becky, I neglected to post the prologue to the catechism which is quite lengthy. Perhaps this will qualify the nature of the document.
This catechism aims at presenting an organic synthesis of the essential and fundamental contents of Catholic doctrine, as regards both faith and morals, in the light of the Second Vatican Council and the whole of the Church's Tradition. Its principal sources are the Sacred Scriptures, the Fathers of the Church, the liturgy, and the Church's Magisterium. It is intended to serve "as a point of reference for the catechisms or compendia that are composed in the various countries".15
Part Three: The Life of Faith
16 The third part of the Catechism deals with the final end of man created in the image of God: beatitude, and the ways of reaching it - through right conduct freely chosen, with the help of God's law and grace (Section One), and through conduct that fulfills the twofold commandment of charity, specified in God's Ten Commandments (Section Two).
I am fascinated with the concept of Mary bearing the child of God. It appears to me a logical argument that for her to bear a child by another man while the father of her first child was still living would open her to biblical accusation. And Jesus WAS the only BEGOTTEN of the Father.
It is a small step from there to the process by which Mary "came to be with Child of the Holy Ghost." If the Holy God cannot be in the presence of sin without the destruction of that sin from His presence, then what MUST we have the state of Mary being when she was "overshadowed by the Most High?" She must have been perfect in all her ways before God, the Father of her son, Jesus Christ.
If you ponder this for a while, Mary's "yes" to God through the Archangel Gabriel, must surely have been accompanied by serious repercussions.
Move the story to today and it is no different. Imagine, if you will, your teenage daughter comes to you and tells you that an angel has asked her to be the mother of God's son. Today, yesterday, two thousand years ago, any parent would have had a similar reaction ... "yeah, sure". Now you find out that she is pregnant AND she is not married! What's your first reaction?
Even today, in Afghanistan, girls of 14 are betrothed and married off in pre-arranged unions. Just this week, I happened to watch a special on TLC about women giving birth around the world. One of the situations occured in Afghanistan. There was a side story - a 14 year old girl married off by her parents. The next morning, the in-laws come to the girl's parents, claiming that she was not a virgin. This is today, not 2 thousand years ago!!! Both families accompanied the girl to the hospital; the girl's mother carried with her a bloody rag from the previous night (supposedly evidence that her daughter was a virgin). Once at the hospital, the girl was examined by a team of doctors to determine whether or not she had been a virgin the night before. They decided in favor of yes. The girl was then returned to the in-laws who didn't believe the doctors. They were then free to do with her as they chose.
In Mary's day, unwed mothers were stoned to death. Imagine Joseph's response when Mary told him that she was "with child" by the Holy Spirit.
There is so much about the life of Jesus not recounted in the gospels. And yet, so much emphasis is placed on Mary's "virgin birth", by the gospel writers, without giving us any other details about her life prior to that event.
Mary's "yes" is truly worth reflection!
Im in agreement becky - however Im confused and wish someone would help me clear up why I have the notion that Jesus Himself was the most faithful
what am I missing / overlooking
you do realize mormons would say the same of Joseph smith - I think they call it extrabiblical for a reason
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