Catholic Faith Foundations. David Werning
established a relationship with the people of Israel, and they introduced the world to what that relationship means. To summarize greatly the content of the Old Testament, the world comes to know through the Jewish prophets, patriarchs, and people that God is not only the creator but also a loving father: “The Lord, the Lord, a God gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love and fidelity, continuing his love for a thousand generations” (Ex 34:6–7). God’s children, moreover, includes not only the Jewish people, but all people, as God’s word to Abraham makes clear: “For I am making you the father of a multitude of nations” (Gn 17:5).
To make the offer of universal salvation unequivocal, God extends his revelation from creation and the Jewish people to one man, Jesus Christ. Through Jesus the revelation of God reaches its fullness, because Jesus demonstrates through his life, death, and resurrection that he is God in the flesh, both truly human and divine.
Jesus gives access to God in a way that builds upon, but far surpasses, the other stages of revelation: “By revealing himself God wishes to make [men and women] capable of responding to him, and of knowing him and of loving him far beyond their own natural capacity” (CCC 52).
The Good News that Jesus came to share with us is that God loves humanity so much that he is willing not only to create the world and charge it with his beauty — including humanity — but also in the face of sin to redeem the world through Jesus and to sustain it through the Holy Spirit. Saint John sums it up well, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (Jn 3:16–17).
The implications of the Good News are impossible to exhaust. It’s not enough to say that human beings can be forgiven through Jesus and, once they have repented, they can live by the grace of the Holy Spirit until they pass into life with God after death. The amazing truth is that God in Jesus has entered the world: God has participated in his creation, even going so far as to become a man. And he does so precisely to invite humanity to participate in the divine being, so as not to be subject to the wages of sin (see Rom 6:23). Since Jesus is both human and divine, he can suffer and die like us, but he is not bound to death like us. When he unites his nature to ours, he orders all things toward eternal life. Even bread and wine become sacraments of redemption. We come “to the Father, through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and thus become sharers in the divine nature” (CCC 51).
“He Is the Beginning”
The famous verses in Colossians (1:15–20), which may have been an early Christian hymn, proclaim that Jesus is the agent not only of creation but also of redemption. Jesus holds together the universe and the Church. He is, indeed, the fullness of God’s revelation:
He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
For in him were created all things in heaven and earth,
the visible and the invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers;
all things were created through him and for him.
He is before all things,
and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn of the dead,
that in all things he himself might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile all things for him,
making peace by the blood of his cross
[through him], whether those on earth or those in heaven.
God’s revelation as it unfolded in time and in different stages brought forth the fullness of his love, incarnated in Jesus. We are invited to share in God’s love by immersing ourselves in Christ, which begins by hearing his word and then keeping it (see Lk 11:28). Jesus has provided the means through the sacraments and promises to abide with us through his Holy Spirit. As we unite ourselves to him, we not only discover the source of everything but also find the person God intended us to be. The key is to abide in God’s revelation, for the Lord has made known his loving plan to bring all mankind to him.
Pope Saint John Paul II on the Revelation of Christ
“Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it. This, as has already been said, is why Christ the Redeemer ‘fully reveals man to himself.’ If we may use the expression, this is the human dimension of the mystery of the Redemption. In this dimension man finds again the greatness, dignity and value that belong to his humanity. In the mystery of the Redemption man becomes newly ‘expressed’ and, in a way, is newly created. He is newly created! ‘There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.’ The man who wishes to understand himself thoroughly — and not just in accordance with immediate, partial, often superficial, and even illusory standards and measures of his being — he must with his unrest, uncertainty and even his weakness and sinfulness, with his life and death, draw near to Christ. He must, so to speak, enter into him with all his own self, he must ‘appropriate’ and assimilate the whole of the reality of the Incarnation and Redemption in order to find himself. If this profound process takes place within him, he then bears fruit not only of adoration of God but also of deep wonder at himself. How precious must man be in the eyes of the Creator, if he ‘gained so great a Redeemer,’ and if God ‘gave his only Son’ in order that man ‘should not perish but have eternal life.’” — Redemptor Hominis, 10
Study Guide Part 2
God Revealed
Study
1. What are the three “stages of revelation” that lead to God?
2. How do scientific theories like evolution fit with Catholic teaching?
3. In what way does the revelation of God reach its fullness in Jesus?
Contemplate
1. Pope Saint John Paul II says that “man cannot live without love.” What happens if someone tries to live without love?
2. When Jesus unites his nature to ours, he orders all things toward eternal life. What does being ordered toward eternal life look like to you?
3. In what ways does an eternal soul give a human body its essential dignity?
Apply
1. One approach to exploring God as revealed through creation is through art and poetry. Even if you don’t consider yourself an artist, how can you use art to express the wonder of God?
2. “The Church teaches that human beings have a kind of deep memory of having been created by God.” What “deep memory” of being created have you experienced? How can you use this memory to increase your love of God?
3. “We are invited to share in God’s love by immersing ourselves in Christ.” What is one way you can immerse yourself in Christ today?
Prayer
O merciful God, grant that I may ever perfectly do Your will in all things.
Let it be my ambition to work only for Your honor and glory.
Let me rejoice in nothing but what leads to You, nor grieve for anything
that leads away from You.
May all passing things be as nothing in my eyes, and may all that is Yours
be