Divine Revelation Compendium Catechism of the Catholic Church

Divine Revelation Compendium Catechism of the Catholic Church

The information from this Powerpoint Presentation is taken from… Paperback: 200 pages Publisher: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (October 20, 2005) Language: English ISBN-10: 1574557203 ISBN-13: 978 -1574557206

How do people incorporate Scriptures into their lives? • The word of God, the liturgy of the Church and the virtues of faith, hope, and charity offer us essential sustenance. • Prayer should be accompanied by the reading of the Scriptures so that a dialogue takes place between God and us. • In the Scriptures, the Father comes lovingly to meet his children and talks with them. • If the reader stays open to what the Holy Spirit says through the Scriptures, prayer takes place. • Lectio divina is a Latin phrase that literally means “divine reading” or “sacred reading. ” • Lectio divina a way of allowing the Scriptures to become again what God intended that the should be –a means of uniting us to him.

• Lectio divina aims at giving an awareness of God’s presence through the fivefold process of lectio, meditatio, oratio, contemplatio, and actio. - Lectio is receiving the word of God. - Meditatio is allowing the word to be present in our awareness. - Oratio is sharing ourselves in prayer. - Contemplatio is resting in the presence of God. - Actio is responding to God’s message with action.

The Lectio Divina Process 1. One person reads aloud the Scriptural passage, pausing at the end for 1 to 2 minutes of silence. During this silence the members of the group choose a word or phrase that is especially attractive to them. 2. Each person shares aloud the word or phrase that attracted him or her (no elaboration is necessary). 3. A new person reads the same passage a second time, pausing for 2 to 3 minutes of silence, reflect on this question: How does the word or phrase that has touched my heart touch my life today? 4. Participants share their answers aloud, perhaps using the following sentence starters: “I see…I hear…” 5. A new person reads the same passage a third time, pausing for 2 to 3 minutes of silence, reflect on this question: What is Christ calling me to do or become today or this week? 6. Everyone shares. 7. After sharing, everyone prays silently for each one in the group.

“You are great, O Lord, and greatly to be praised…You have made us for yourself and our heart is restless until it rests in you. ” (St. Augustine) Augustine of Hippo (A. D. 354 -430), bishop, apologist, and doctor of the Church, converted to the Catholic faith from Manichaeeism and was baptized in 387. He lived as a monk for a brief period and was soon ordained a priest. In the summer of 395 he was consecrated bishop of Hippo, the second largest diocese in Northern Africa at that time, and served as bishop for the ensuing 35 years. Augustine was renowned as a preacher and pastor and especially as a prolific writer in defense of Catholic doctrines. Over his long career, he penned scores of brilliant sermons, letters, and treatises in which he explained Catholic doctrines and defended them against heretical attacks. He championed doctrines such as baptismal regeneration, infant baptism, purgatory, the sacraments as channels of God's grace, and the sacrificial nature of the Mass, but he never "recanted" of any of these doctrines, and he died believing everything the Catholic Church taught.

Why does man have a desire for God? God himself, creating man is his own image, has written upon his heart the desire to see him. Even if this desire is often ignored, God never ceases to draw man to himself because only God will find and live the fullness of truth and happiness for which he never stops searching. By nature and vocation, therefore, man is a religious being, capable of entering into communion with God. This intimate and vital bond with God confers on man his fundamental dignity Man’s Capacity for God

How is it possible to know God with only the light of human reason? Starting from creation, that is from the world and from the human person, through reason alone can one know God with certainty as the origin and end of the universe, as the highest good and infinite truth and

Is the light of reason alone sufficient to know the mystery of God? In coming to a knowledge of God by light of reason alone man experiences many difficulties. Indeed, on his own he is unable to enter into the intimacy of divine mystery.

Is the light of reason alone sufficient to know the mystery of God? This is why he stands in need of being enlightened by God’s revelation, not only about those things that exceed his understanding, but also those religious and moral truths which of themselves are not beyond the grasp of human reason, so that even in the present condition of the human race, they can be known by all with ease, with firm certainty and with no admixture of error.

Chapter Two God Comes to Meet Man

6. What does God reveal to man? God, in his goodness and wisdom reveals himself and his plan of loving goodness which he decreed from all eternity in Christ. According to this plan, all people by grace of the Holy Spirit are to share in the divine life as adopted “sons” in the only begotten Son of God.

7. What are the first stages of God’s revelation? From the very beginning, God manifested himself to our first parents, Adam and Eve, and invited them to intimate communion with himself.

After their fall, he did not cease his revelation to them by promised all salvation for their descendents.

What are the first stages of God’s revelation? After the flood, he made a covenant with Noah, a covenant between himself and all living beings. Gen. 9: 1 -17

8. What are the next stages of God’s revelation? God chose Abram, calling him out of his country and making him “the father of a multitude of nations (Gen 12: 3) and promising to bless in him “all the families of the earth” (Gen. 12: 3) I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you. I will make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you. ” (Gen. 12: 2 -3)

“Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Just so, “ he added, “shall your descendants be. ” (Gen. 12: 2 -3)

8. What are the next stages of God’s revelation? (continued) The people descended from Abraham would be the trustee of the divine promise made to the patriarchs. Genesis Chapter 22 Genesis Chapter 28 Joseph’s brothers journey to Egypt seeking food. Joseph eventually reveals himself and forgives them. Genesis 41 -42

God formed Israel as his chosen people, freeing them from slavery in Egypt, establishing with them the covenant of Mount Sinai, and through Moses, giving them his law.

8. What are the next stages of God’s revelation? (continued) The prophets proclaimed a radical redemption of the people and a salvation which would include all nations in a new everlasting covenant. From the people of Israel and from the house of David, would be born the Messiah, Jesus

9. What is the full and definitive stage of God’s Revelation? The full definitive stage of God’s revelation is accomplished in the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, the mediator and fullness of revelation. He, being the only-begotten Son of God made man, is the perfect and definitive Word of the Father.

9. What is the full and definitive stage of God’s Revelation? (cont. ) In the sending of the Son and the gift of the Spirit, Revelation is now fully complete, although the faith of the Church must gradually grasp its full significance over the course of centuries.

What is the full and definitive stage of God’s Revelation? (cont. ) “In giving us his son, his only definitive Word, God spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word, and he has no more to say. ” (Saint John of the Cross) St. John of the Cross Born in Spain 1542 Feastday: December 14 Since joy comes only from God, John believed that someone who seeks happiness in the world is like "a famished person who opens his mouth to satisfy himself with air. " He taught that only by breaking the rope of our desires could we fly up to God. Above all, he was concerned for those who suffered dryness or depression in their spiritual life and offered encouragement that God loved them and was leading them deeper into faith.

10. What is the value of private revelations? While not belonging to the deposit of faith, private revelations may help a person to live the faith as long as they lead us to Christ. St. Bernadette Our Lady of Fatima St. Faustina The Magisterium of the Church, which has the duty of evaluating such private revelations, cannot accept those which claim to surpass or correct that definitive Revelation which is Christ.

Transmission of Divine Revelation

In the Catholic Church the Magisterium is the teaching authority of the Church. [1] This authority is understood to be embodied in the episcopacy, which is the aggregation of the current bishops of the Church in union with the Pope, led by the Bishop of Rome (the Pope), who has authority over the bishops, individually and as a body, as well as over each and every Catholic directly. According to Catholic doctrine, the Magisterium is able to teach or interpret the truths of the Faith, and it does so either non-infallibly or infallibly

11. Why and in what way is divine revelation transmitted? God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2: 4) that is, of Jesus Christ. For this reason, Christ must be proclaimed to all according to his own command, “Go forth and teach all nations” (Matthew 28: 19). And this is brought about by Apostolic Tradition.

12. What is Apostolic Tradition? Apostolic Tradition is the transmission of the message of Christ, brought about from the very beginnings of Christianity by means of preaching, bearing witness, institutions, worship, and inspired writings. The Apostles transmitted all they received from Christ and learned from the Holy Spirit to their successors, the bishops, and through them to all generations until the end of the world.

Understanding Revelation and Scriptures -The word Tradition is derived from the Latin traditio, meaning “transmission” or “handing on. ” When used in reference to Revelation, Tradition refers to both the process of transmitting God’s truth and the truth itself. Tradition includes verbal formulations such as the Nicene Creed and doctrinal teachings. Sometimes this part of Tradition is called the content of the faith. Tradition also includes practices, such as sacraments, which are essential to the Catholic way of life.

13. In what ways does Apostolic Tradition occur? Apostolic Tradition occurs in two ways: Through the living transmission of the word of God (also simply called Tradition) Through the Sacred Scripture which is the proclamation of salvation in written form.

14. What is the relationship between Tradition and Sacred Scripture? Tradition and Sacred Scripture are bound closely together and communicate one with the other. Each of them makes present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Christ. They flow out of the same divine well-spring and together make up one sacred deposit of faith from which the Church derives her certainty about revelation.

15. To whom is the deposit of faith entrusted? The Apostles entrusted the deposit of faith to the whole of the Church. Thanks to its supernatural sense of faith the people of God as a whole assisted by the Holy Spirit and guided by the Magisterium of the Church, never ceases to welcome, to penetrate more deeply and to live more fully from the gift of divine revelation.

16. To whom is given the task of authentically interpreting the deposit of faith? The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the deposit of faith has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Church alone, that is, to the successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome, and the bishops in communion with him. To this Magisterium, which in the service of the Word of God enjoys the certain charism of truth, belongs also the task of defining dogmas which are formulations of the truths contained in divine Revelation. The authority of the Magisterium also extends to those truths necessarily connected to revelation.

17. What is the relationship between Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium? Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium are so closely united with each other that one of them cannot stand without the others. Working together, each in its own way, under the action of the Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to the salvation of souls.

18. Why does Sacred Scripture teach the truth? Because God himself is the author of Sacred Scripture. For this reason it is said to be inspired and to teach without error those truths which are necessary for salvation. The Holy Spirit inspired the human authors who wrote what he wanted to teach us. The Christian faith, however, is not a “religion of the Book, ” but the Word of God –” not a written and mute word, but incarnate and living” (St. Bernard Clairvaux).

St. Bernard Clairvaux The Peacemaker After the death of his mother, Bernard sought admission into the Cistercian order. Three years later he was sent to an Abbey, and there Bernard would preach an immediate faith, in which the intercessor was the Virgin Mary. In the year 1128, Bernard assisted at the Council of Troyes, at which he traced the outlines of the Rule of the Knights Templar, who soon became the ideal of Christian nobility. On the death of Pope Honorius II a schism broke out in the Church. Louis VI of France convened a national council of the French bishops at Étampes, and Bernard was chosen to judge between the rivals for pope. In 1139, Bernard assisted at the Second Council of the Lateran. Bernard denounced the teachings of Peter Abelard to the pope, who called a council at Sens in 1141 to settle the matter. Bernard traveled in southern France and his preaching there helped strengthen support against heresy. Following the Christian defeat at the Siege of Edessa, the pope commissioned Bernard to preach the Second Crusade. The last years of Bernard's life were saddened by the failure of the crusaders, the entire responsibility for which was thrown upon him. Bernard died at age 63, He was canonized by Pope Alexander III on 18 January 1174. Pope Pius VIII bestowed upon him the title "Doctor of the Church“ in 1830.

What is a Doctor of the Church? (Latin doctor, teacher, from Latin docere, to teach) is a title given by a variety of Christian churches to individuals whom they recognize as having been of particular importance, particularly regarding their contribution to theology or doctrine. St. Albert 11/15 St. Alphonsus Liguori 8/1 St. Ambrose 12/7 St. Anselm 4/21 St. Anthony of Padua 6/13 St. Athanasius 5/2 St. Augustine 8/28 St. Basil 1/2 St. Bede, the Venerable 5/25 St. Bernard of Clairvaux 8/20 St. Bonaventure 7/15 St. Catherine of Siena 4/29 St. Cyril of Alexandria 6/27 St. Cyril of Jerusalem 3/18 St. Ephraem of Syria 6/9 St. Francis de Sales 1/24 St. Gregory Nazianzus 1/2 St. Gregory the Great 9/3 St. Hilary of Poitiers 1/13 St. Isidore 4/4 St. Jerome 9/30 St. John Chrysostom 9/13 St. John Damascene 12/4 St. John of the Cross 12/14 St. Lawrence of Brindisi 7/21 St. Leo the Great 11/10 St. Peter Canisius 12/21 St. Peter Chrysologus 7/30 St. Peter Damian 2/21 St. Robert Bellarmine 9/17 St. Teresa of Avila 10/15 St. Therese of Lisieux 10/1 St. Thomas Aquinas 1/28

19. How is Sacred Scripture read? Sacred Scripture must be read and interpreted with the help of the Holy Spirit and under the guidance of the Magisterium of the Church according to three criteria: 1. It must be read with attention to the content and unity of the whole Scripture. 2. It must be read with in the living Tradition of the Church. 3. It must be read with attention to the analogy of faith , that is, the inner harmony which exists among the truths of the faith themselves. ANALOGY OF FAITH The Catholic doctrine that every individual statement of belief must be understood in the light of the Church's whole objective body of faith.

20. What is the Canon of Scripture? The Canon of Scripture is the complete list of sacred writings, which the Church has come to recognize through Apostolic Tradition. The Canon consists of: 46 Books of the Old Testament 27 Books of the new Testament

21. What is the importance of the Old Testament for Christians? Christians venerate the Old Testament as the true word of God All of the books of the Old Testament are divinely inspired and retain a permanent value. They bear witness to the divine pedagogy of God’s saving love. They are written, above all, to prepare for the coming of Christ, the Savior of the Universe.

22. What is the importance of the New Testament for Christians? The New Testament, whose central object is Jesus Christ, conveys to us the ultimate truth of divine Revelation. Within the New Testament the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the heart of all the Scriptures because they are the principle witness to the life and teaching of Jesus. As such, they hold a unique place in the Church.

The association between the Four Evangelists and four living creatures seems to have been made first by St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 120 -202 AD), as part of an argument against heretics that there are only four gospels: For the cherubim, too, were four-faced, and their faces were images of the dispensation of the Son of God. The first living creature was like a lion, symbolizing His effectual working, His leadership, and royal power; the second was like a calf, signifying His sacrificial and sacerdotal order; but the third had, as it were, the face as of a man - an evident description of His advent as a human being; the fourth was like a flying eagle, pointing out the gift of the Spirit hovering with His wings over the Church. And therefore the Gospels are in accord with these things, among which Christ Jesus is seated. " (Against Heresies, 3. 11. 8) Other early theologians who made the symbolic association include St. Jerome (347 -420) and St. Augustine of Hippo (354 -430 AD). Interestingly, all three writers applied the symbols to different evangelists, based on their varying interpretations of the animal symbols and the main themes of the Gospels. Apocalyptic Creature Symbolizes Theme of the Gospel Matthew winged human Luke winged ox John eagle humanity, reason royalty, courage, resurrection sacrifice, strength sky, heavens, spirit manhood of Christ as king Christ as priest and Christ's divine nature sacrifice John the Baptist roaring like lion in the wilderness temple duties of Zacharias Gospel Begins With Christ's geneology from Abraham Mark winged lion Christ as Logos

23. What is the unity that exists between the Old and the New Testaments? Scripture is one insofar as the Word of God is one. God’s plan of salvation is one, and the divine inspiration of both Testaments is one. The Old Testament prepares for the New Testament fulfills the Old. The two shed light on each other.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church encourages an awareness of and an appreciation for biblical typology in the study of Sacred Scripture: The Church, as early as apostolic times, and then constantly in her Tradition, has illuminated the unity of the divine plan in the two Testaments through typology, which discerns in God's works of the Old Covenant prefiguration of what he accomplished in the fullness of time in the person of his incarnate Son (CCC#128). Christians therefore read the Old Testament in the light of Christ crucified and risen. Such typological reading discloses the inexhaustible content of the Old Testament; but it must not make us forget that the Old Testament retains its own intrinsic value as Revelation reaffirmed by our Lord himself. Besides, the New Testament has to be read in the light of the Old. Early Christian catechesis made constant use of the Old Testament. As an old saying put it, the New Testament lies hidden in the Old and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New (CCC# 129; the last line paraphrases St. Augustine). Typology indicates the dynamic movement toward the fulfillment of the divine plan when "God [will] be everything to everyone. " Nor do the calling of the patriarchs and the exodus from Egypt, for example, lose their own value in God's plan, from the mere fact that they were intermediate stages (CCC# 130).

24. What role does Sacred Scripture play in the life of the Church Sacred Scripture gives support and vigor to the life of the Church. For the children of the Church, it is a confirmation of faith, food for the soul and the fount of spiritual life. Sacred Scripture is the soul of theology and of pastoral preaching. The Psalmist says that it is “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119: 105) The Church, therefore exhorts all to read Sacred Scripture frequently because “ignorance of the Scripture is ignorance of Christ (Saint Jerome).

St. Jerome Born: 347 Birthplace: Pannonia (now Slovenia) Died: 420 Best Known As: The medieval scholar behind the Latin translation of the Bible Also known as Sophronius, Jerome was a medieval church scholar, first a hermit and then a secretary to Pope Damasus in the 380 s. From there he went to Palestine and devoted himself to study and writing. He wrote ecclesiastical histories, exegeses and translations, and is credited with shaping the Latin version of the Bible (called the Vulgate) from Hebrew and Greek texts.