CHAPTER 1SEARCHING FOR GOD
JESUS CHRIST:GOD’S REVELATION
TO THE WORLD
True Happiness
“Happy the people so blessed; happy the people whose God is
the Lord.” (Ps 144:15)
But, what is happiness?
God: The Source of True Happiness
WE ALL WANT TO BE HAPPY!because
WE WERE MADE TO BE HAPPY!
“True happiness is found . . . In God alone, the source of every
good and of all love” (CCC, 1723).
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!
Only God can fulfill this hunger because he placed it in us!
St. Augustine: “Our heart is
restless until it rests in you.”
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.
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 human
reason, through prayer, and through our hearts. He calls
us first.
Knowing God through Natural Revelation
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Something does not come out of nothing!
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 beautiful One who
made them?
The Church teaches that human intelligence
can discover God.
“Converging and convincing arguments” of God’s existence
(according to St. Thomas Aquinas)
Unmoved Mover First Cause Everything comes from Something
”Cosmological Argument” Supreme Model Grand Designer
Contemplating the Human
Person
Our lives have meaning!
Beauty Truth
Moral goodnessPersonal
ConscienceJusticeLove
Intelligence
Knowing God throughDivine Revelation
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 does 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
The greatest sign of God’s love was the sending of his Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Savior from sin and death
Salvation History
God’s creation of the world begins Salvation History (the account of God’s saving activity for humankind).
God intended from the very beginning to invite humans to live in intimate union with him.
God remains faithful to us despite our sinfulness.
God’s Covenants with Humankind
Covenant with Noah
Covenant with
Abraham
Covenant with
Moses, the Sinai
Covenant
Kings and Prophets
Wisdom Literature
Jesus Christ, the
New Covenant
—the climax of Salvation History
Handing Down Divine Revelation
Sacred Tradition The word 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).
Sacred Scripture The word bible means
“books.” Jesus gave the Apostles
the authority to interpret the divinely inspired Scriptures.
This teaching authority is known as the Magisterium.
“Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who
sends me.”
Faith: Our Response to Divine Revelation
FAITH: a theological
virtue
Makes it possible for us to accept Jesus
Christ
Require free acceptance
Opens up the gates of Heaven
for us
Enables us to partake in the life of the Holy
Spirit
St. PeterIMPETUOUS
BRAVEHEADSTRONG
COMPASSIONATEHEROIC
BORN LEADER
“And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this
rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the key of the kingdom of Heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever
you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”
(Mt 16: 18-19).