Confirmation Class Opening Prayer Fill the Hearts of

Confirmation Class Opening Prayer Fill the Hearts of Your Faithful In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created and you will renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit instructs the hearts of the faithful, grant that by that same Spirit we may be ever wise and rejoice in His consolations. Through Jesus Christ Our Lord, Amen. 1

SERVICE HOURS OPPORTUNITIES Filling Thanksgiving Baskets Wednesday, November 14 Thursday, November 15 from 6: 00 – 8: 00 In the church hall 2

SERVICE HOURS OPPORTUNITIES Religious Education and St. Martha’s Outreach are teaming up to help fill Thanksgiving Baskets for the needy. Grade 8: Instant Mashed Potatoes Grade 9: Turkey Gravy Due next week. Earn one hour toward service project hours. . 3

Date your notes! Chapter 5: “All About God” Today’s Date: November 4, 2018 4

All About God: “The God Who Is” The title of this chapter is in reference to a point made in our last chapter. God gave his name to Moses as “I am who am”. Thus the chapter title, “The God Who Is”. So we speak about God in terms of “being”; using the Verb “to be” I AM YOU ARE HE, SHE, IT IS WE ARE THEY ARE GOD IS… 5

We continue to consider: What we can know and say about God with certainty because Jesus revealed it. 6

What does God look like? We really can’t know! In Old Testament times people were not permitted to make images of God because no one can know what he looks like. > • An image of God would be only a human idea or “made up”. • God is SPIRIT and so an image of God is not possible. • An image of God would limit God to be compared with something found in His creation. > God is greater than anything He has made. So we can’t compare him to anything on earth. • God therefore transcends His creation; he is above us. • God is TRANSCENDENT. • God is TOTALLY OTHER. 7

Ø So, if we cannot have a clear and distinct image of God how do we depict God or what can we truly say and know about Him? > God is HOLY. - “Holy” is another word for God’s “otherness” or “transcendence”. - The only earthly thing that could come close to symbolize the holiness of God was smoke. (That is one of the reasons incense is used in our worship). - Holiness is the essential characteristic of God. It tells of His PERFECTION (God is PERFECT) > God alone is HOLY. > God is the SOURCE of all holiness. 8

Acknowledging & Representing God’s Transcendence • The transcendence of God is reflected and expressed in our Liturgies, Music & Church Architecture • These attempt to lift the spirit/soul upwards. • Grand music, tall cathedrals and spires, stained glass point upward above and beyond this world to the heaven. • Incense – rising smoke symbolizes our prayers rising to heaven. 9

Acknowledging & Representing God’s Transcendence Ø In the prayer, The Our Father, the words speak of how different God is from us and things in the world. - “hallowed be thy name” means God is holy. - “who art in heaven” means God is above & beyond us. 10

Ø God is so OTHER/so transcendent that he often used angels to interact with people and give them messages. Ø Here is the depiction of the Angel Gabriel announcing to Mary that God had chosen her to be the mother of Jesus, His Son. 11

ØGod is OTHER so He seems distant from us. Ø But, God is also CLOSE to us. 12

God’s Closeness The word for this closeness of God to His people is “IMMANENCE”. - God draws close to us through His Son Jesus who humbled himself to be born as one of us. Ø - 13

The Triune God Ø What is the transcendence of God really like? TRINITY = There are three PERSONS in one God The one and only God is FATHER, SON and HOLY SPIRIT. - Each is distinct from the others. - The Father is not the Son or the Holy Spirit - The Son is not the Father or the Holy Spirit - The Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son - Each is equal to the others. - The Father is God - The Son is God - The Holy Spirit is God - They are one God. 14

What we can say about the Trinity Ø Anyone who is Christian believes in the Trinity. Ø Jesus has revealed to us that God is … ØFATHER ØSON ØHOLY SPIRIT 15

The Church and the Trinity Ø No one can fully understand the Trinity. > If we could understand it we would be God. >The whole life and activity of the Church revolves around the Trinity. We pray in the name of the Trinity is as God has revealed himself to us. 16

What we can and cannot say about the Trinity Some people do not like to use the titles of “Father” + “Son” because they find them to offensive. - They claim that it is sexist. - It makes God a male (GENDER). To avoid this, some wish to identify the three persons in the Trinity by different names Father = Creator Son = Redeemer Holy Spirit = Sanctifier THIS IS WRONG! 17

CREATOR, SANCTIFIER AND REDEEMER? Ø This is WRONG (heretical) thinking. Ø Why is it wrong? >It is wrong because it reduces our understanding of God by defining the persons of the Trinity only by their roles (what they do) rather than by their traditional names and, more importantly, by their relationship to each other. Ø Beside all this, Jesus told us to call God the Father our Father too and He referred to Himself as God’s Son 18

A Clear Understanding of who God IS ØIt took many years to come up with a clear understanding/explanation of God. ØSome wrong thinking about what we can know and say about God arose. ØThese errors in thinking are called HERESIES. WR ONG ! WRONG! ! G N O R W 19

-To stop wrong thinking, the Church came up with an official statement of what we can correctly know and say about God. -All the bishops at one point met in a town called Nicaea in 325 AD. -At that meeting (Council) they came up with the Nicene Creed (true statement of faith). 20

Church Councils Ø Remember the Church safeguards and protects the truths of the Deposit of Faith (everything we believe) as a great treasure. Ø When someone starts to teach what is not accepted as true by the Church - it has to take action to stop and correct them. Ø The Pope and Bishops get together to discuss the matter and pronounce a teaching. These are called Church Councils. 21

Church Councils – Safeguarding Truth Ø We cannot make up our own ideas or interpretation of what we can know and say about God with certainty. Ø We cannot decide for ourselves what we are going to believe as truth. 22

The Nicene Creed ØOut of the Council of Nicaea came the Nicene Creed. ØWe recite the Nicene Creed at every Sunday Mass. ØCREED = An official statement of faith which contains all of what we believe; all that we can know and say about God with absolute certainty. 23

The Nicene Creed Ø One truth that they made sure was part of this official statement of faith was the fact that The Son, Jesus is “CONSUBSTANCIAL” with the Father. The Son is God and the Father is God. Ø These truths are important to us as Catholics so that we might be faithful and believe correctly in what Jesus revealed about God. 24

Summary of Chapter 5 We can know something about God; we can know who God is. We use the verb “to be” to talk about God. Example: God is… God is Spirit. God is Transcendent. God is Totally Other. God is Holy. We show that God is above us in church art & architecture as they all point up. Smoke reminded people of God since their can be no pictures of Him. God is not only above and beyond us. God is close to us. We know God as the Holy Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. • Three persons in one God. Those who don’t think about God as the Church teaches are WRONG Heretics. • They are called Heretics. To stop heretics the Church held councils which gave us an official Creed. This was an official statements of faith stating what we can know and say about God. 25