Prayer Request

Please join me in praying for Tiffany (one of our fellow Catechism readers) and her new baby girl Trinity. I got this email today:

Hello all -- I am requesting prayers for my friend Tiffany who gave birth
last Saturday, the day before Trinity Sunday, to her third child, a little girl
she and her husband named Trinity. Her oldest son has cystic fibrosis and
she just found out that their new daughter has a gene mutation for CF as well.
They will find out definitively within the next day or two.
This is hard
news to bear, as you can imagine, and she is praying a novena for a miracle
through the intercession of St. Rita, impossible causes. As they don't have nine
days before the blood work comes back, I will be praying for her once an hour
for nine hours tomorrow, and wanted to invite you to join me if you are so
moved. I know she'd be grateful for prayers.
Of course, with God all things
are possible, and I pray that the Sacred Heart of Jesus, whose feast is
tomorrow, will be moved to grant little Trinity healing!

Week 8: Passages 396-445

This week we read passages 396- 445, days 50-56 on the CHN guide.

We are finishing the section on man being made in the image of God:

III. Original Sin

“The ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ symbolically evokes the
insurmountable limits that man, being a creature, must freely recognize and
respect with trust. Man is dependent on his Creator and subject to the
laws of creation and to the moral norms that govern the use of freedom.” (CCC
396)

Man was tempted by the devil and allowed his trust in God to die in his heart. He abused his freedom, disobeyed God, preferring himself over God.

The consequences of this sin are that Adam and Eve immediately lose their original holiness. They lose control over their bodies, relationships between men and women become subject to tension, and harmony with creation is broken. And death comes to man.
After the first sin, the world is inundated with sin, and all men are made sinners. We are all born with original sin, the “death of the soul” (CCC 403) which is a reason that the Church baptizes infants.
Original is transmitted to all of Adam’s descendents, it is a state and not an act. It is not a personal fault but a deprivation of original holiness and justice. Human nature is not totally corrupted but it is wounded, this inclination to evil is called concupiscence. The whole world is in the power of the evil one, and thus our lives are a battle.
God did not abandon man. There is a passage in Genesis called the Protoevangelium (first gospel) which announces the victory of a descendent of Woman over the serpent. The woman is Mary (the new Eve) and Christ is the new Adam.
Why didn’t God prevent man from sinning in the first place? St. Leo the Great tells us:

“Christ’s inexpressible grace gave us blessing better than those the demon’s
envy had taken away.” (CCC 412)

And St. Paul says:

“Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” (CCC 412)

Chapter Two: I Believe in Jesus Christ, The Only Son of God

“’But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman,
born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might
receive the adoption as sons.’ This is ‘the gospel of Jesus Christ the son
of God’: God has visited his people. He has fulfilled the promise he made
to Abraham and his descendents. He acted far beyond all expectation – he has
sent his own ‘beloved Son.’” (CCC 422)

The transmission of the Christian faith consists of proclaiming Jesus Christ in order to lead others to him. The heart of catechesis is a Person. The aim of catechesis is to put people in communion with Jesus Christ, the one who can lead them to the love of the Father in the Spirit and share in the life of the Holy Trinity.
It is Christ alone who teaches, everyone else teaches to the extent that they are God’s spokesperson.

“Whoever is called ‘to teach Christ’ must first seek ‘the surpassing worth of
knowing Christ Jesus’; he must suffer ‘the loss of all things…’in order to ‘gain
Christ and be found in him,’ and ‘to know him and the power of his resurrection,
and [to] share his sufferings, becoming like him in death, that if possible [he]
may attain the resurrection from the dead.’” (CCC 428)

To this end the next passages will cover the parts of the Creed detailing Jesus’ titles: “Christ”, “Son of God”, and “Lord”.

I. Jesus
At the annunciation the angel Gabriel gave Jesus his name which means “God Saves”. The name “Jesus” signifies that the very name of God is present in his Son.

“It is the divine name that alone brings salvation, and henceforth all can
invoke his name, for Jesus united himself to all men through his Incarnation, so
that ‘there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be
saved.’” (CCC 432)

The name of Jesus is the heart of Christian prayer.

II. Christ
The word “Christ” comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew “Messiah”, which means “anointed”. In Israel those consecrated to God (kings, prophets, and priests) in a mission that he gave were anointed in his name. Jesus fulfilled all three posts: he was a king, a prophet, and a priest.

III. The Only Son of God
In the Old Testament, “son of God” could refer to all of the children of Israel, implying their close relationship with God. So when the Messiah was called “son of God” it didn’t necessarily mean anything special. It was Simon Peter who by the Holy Spirit was allowed to confess Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus himself emphasized this distinction by never saying to his disciples “our Father” (except when he was instructing them in how to pray) but rather “my Father and your Father”. At the Baptism and Transfiguration of Christ the Scriptures reveal that God referred to Jesus as his “beloved son”. After his Resurrection Jesus’ divine Sonship is revealed through his glorified humanity. The apostles confess:

“We have beheld hid glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of
grace and truth.” (CCC 445)

Questions for reflection:

• The passages (CCC 385-409) on the fall really got me thinking about concupiscence and its effects on my daily life, in a way I never really had before. I’m starting to see all the disorder in our world much more clearly in the light of the teachings on creation and original sin. CCC 407 states, “Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action, and morals.” As mothers, whether we home educate or not we are still our child’s first teachers. How do we account for man’s wounded nature both in our children and ourselves?





• CCC 428 -429 state that to teach Christ we must seek knowledge of Christ, we must suffer the loss of all things in order to be found in Christ. From this knowledge will spring a desire to proclaim him. Are you actively seeking knowledge of Christ? I can personally testify to the fact that reading the Catechism like this is really given me a deeper understanding and more of a desire to evangelize to my children and others!





• CCC 435 tells us that the name of Jesus is the heart of Christian prayer. Do you incorporate the name of Jesus in your prayers?
  

Week 7: Catechism- for Kids!

Ideas for sharing last week's readings with children overflow to this week.

In addition, there are a few books I like to use to share the story of creation with my children:
The New Catholic Picture Bible by Fr. Lovasik is one of my favorite children's Bibles. The first two chapters recount creation and the fall.
God's Love Story by the Poor Clare Nuns is a picture book version of salvation history, from creation to the Resurrection. The illustrations are black outlines, suitable for copying and coloring by the child.

Here are some ideas based on Adam and Eve for preschool crafts, learning activities, worksheets and even a recipe to make a chocolate snake!

I was also inspired by all the beautiful art inspired by Genesis that I discovered while composing my blog post this week. I thought I'd do a little study of Michelangelo's fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel with my kids. I got these books from the library:
The Sistine Chapel: Its History and Masterpieces by Vittorio Giudici
Michelangelo by Diane Stanley
Discovering the Great Artists by MaryAnn Kohl also has some fun art activities to go along with a study of Michelangelo, fresco plagues (painting on damp plaster) and lie-down paintings (painting on butcher paper taped to the underside of a table to experience how Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel entirely while lying on his back) which we may have to try!

Week 7: Passages 350-395

This week we read passages 350-395.




Passages 350-354 are the “In Brief” summary for the last sections on angels and creation. Good review!




Just a recap, we are on Part One, Section Two: The Profession of the Christian Faith, Chapter One: I Believe in God the Father, Article 1: I Believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth.




We are about to start on Paragraph 6. Man:
I. In the Image of God
Man is made in the image of God, which according to the CCC means several things:

• Only man is able to know and love his creator.




• Man is the only creature God willed for its own sake.




• Man was created to share in God’s own life, which is the reason for his dignity.




• Man is capable of self-knowledge, self-possession, and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons.




• Man is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give in his stead.




• It is only through the mystery of the Word made flesh that the mystery of man becomes clear.




• Because of its common origin, the human race forms a unity, a law of human solidarity and charity.

II. Body and Soul but Truly One
The human person is at once corporeal and spiritual. The spiritual element of man is called the “soul”. The human body and the soul are united and are considered a unity, the soul can be considered the form of the body. The body and the soul share the dignity of “the image of God”.




III. Male and Female He Created Them
Man and woman have been willed by God, one hand in perfect equality as human beings and on the other hand as distinct beings of man and woman. Both have dignity and reflect the creator’s wisdom and goodness.

“In no way is God in man’s image. He is neither man nor woman. God
is pure spirit in which there is no place for the difference between the
sexes. But the respective ‘perfections’ of man and woman reflect something
of the infinite perfection of God: those of a mother and those of a father and
husband.” (CCC 370)

God created man and woman together and willed them for each other. We can see this in the Scriptures: “It is not good that man should be alone. I will make a helper fit for him.” Adam’s cry: “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh” underscores the shared humanity of man and woman.
Man and Woman were created to be a communion of persons, helpmates, both equal and complementary. In marriage they are united by God to become “one flesh” and are able to cooperate is God’s work in transmitting human life. Man and Woman are given the vocation of “subduing the earth” or in other words caring for the world that God has created for them.




IV. Man in Paradise
The first man was created good and existed in a state called “original justice” in which man lived in inner harmony, harmony between man and woman, and harmony between man and all creation. As long as he remained in this state of divine intimacy he would not suffer and die.

This quote jumped out at me:

“The ‘mastery’ over the world that God offered man from the beginning was
realized above all within man himself: mastery of self. The first man was
unimpaired and ordered in his whole being because he was free from the triple
concupiscence that subjugates him to the pleasures of the senses, covetousness
for earthly goods, and self-assertion, contrary to the dictates of reason.” (CCC
377)

And this one really got me pondering on the nature of work and what makes it burdensome:

“The sign of man’s familiarity with God was that God places him in the
garden. There he lives ‘to till and keep it.’ Work is not yet a burden,
but rather the collaboration of man and woman with God in perfecting the visible
creation.” (CCC 378)

I wonder if tomorrow while I am scrubbing that nasty place behind the toilet (moms of boys know what I’m talking about) it will make it feel less burdensome to think to myself, “This is not a burden, you are collaborating with God in perfecting the visible creation!”
Alas for concupiscence.
And we all know what’s coming next (thanks a lot, Adam and Eve)…




Paragraph 7. The Fall
If God is infinitely good and all his works are good then where does evil come from?

“The revelation of divine love in Christ manifested at the same time the extent
of evil and the superabundance of grace. We must therefore approach the
question of origin of evil by fixing the eyes of our faith on him who alone is
its conqueror.” (CCC 385)

I. Where Sin Abounded, Grace Abounded All the More
Without the Revelation of God we cannot truly understand sin, or man’s rejection of God and opposition to him. We are tempted to explain it a way as a flaw, weakness, or mistake. When we become aware of God’s plan sin is revealed as an abuse of “that freedom that God gives to created persons so that they are capable of loving him and loving one another”. (CCC 387)
The full meaning of the story of Genesis is revealed only by the light of the death and Resurrection of Christ. The doctrine of original sin is the reverse side of the “Good News”.

“The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms a
primeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of
man. Revelation gives us the certainty of faith that the whole of human
history is marked by the original fault freely committed by our first parents.”
(CCC 390)

This really hit the point home for me that creation is not just the starting point on the timeline, the Biblical equivalent of that big black "Start" dot on kids' mazes that shows you where to put your pencil. The Fall was an actual foundational event that shapes and influences the entire course of human history.





II. The Fall of the Angels
Satan was first a good angel, created by God who became evil by his own doing. The devil and other demons rejected God and tempted our first parents to do the same: “You will be like God.”
The choice of the devil and other demons to reject God was irrevocable due to their nature, just as it is impossible for us to repent after death.
The mission of Jesus was to destroy the work of the devil.
Satan’s power is not infinite, although he is a spirit and can cause physical and spiritual harm. He cannot prevent the building up of the kingdom of God. God permits Satan to act in the world.

“It is a great mystery that providence should permit diabolical activity, but
‘we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him.’”
(CCC 395)

Questions for reflection:

• What are some ways we can be better "helpmates" in our marriages?


• How often are we still tempted by Satan's promise, "You will be like God"?


• Can you think of an example in your own life of the statement"where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more"?

Week 6: Catechism- for Kids!

I have a few ideas for ways to share this week readings on Angels (CCC 328-336) with my kids.

There are a plethora of angel crafts available.

The Guardian Angel Prayer would be a good one to have little ones memorize.

I am also a big fan of the books by Marigold Hunt. She has written two wonderful books for children summarizing the events of the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles in an engaging narrative style, perfect for reading aloud. She also has a book about angels aptly titled, A Book of Angels: Stories of Angels in the Bible which looks promising!

As promised I also have some ideas to tie-in to the readings on creation (CCC 337-354).

To introduce the story of creation to my young children, I came up with these felt story circles. I made mine, based on this idea. There is one for each day 1-6 with nothing for day 7 to emphasize that God rested. I read the account from Genesis 1-2:4 while the child puts the felt circles in order on the felt board. I also have felt numbers they can put up.

Home Catechesis Album Ages 3-5 has a similar presentation, with patterns for making materials.

I also enjoy reading the picture book The Story of Creation with lavish illustrations by Jane Ray.

A good follow up is to have the kids make their own booklets of creation, they draw a picture for each day and staple it into a book.

For my school-aged children I recently discovered this coloring book by Mary Daly: Genesis 1 House of the Covenant. It is for middle school and younger, with text that can either be read-aloud or read directly by the student.

Week 6: Passages 290-349

This week we read passages 290-349. These passages discuss Divine Providence, Angels, and Creation.

II. Creation –Work of the Holy Trinity
God, the Father created the world and everything in it. The New Covenant reveals that the Son and Holy Spirit are one with the Father and so cooperate in the work of creation. They can be thought of as God’s hands.

III. The World was Created for the Glory of God

“St. Bonaventure explains that God created all things ‘not to increase his
glory, but to show it forth and to communicate it,’ for God has no other reason
for creating than his love and goodness.” (CCC 293)

IV. The Mystery of Creation
God created the world using His wisdom. It is not a product of chance. God, out his own free will created us to share in his being, wisdom, and goodness. In addition, God created out of nothing. Humans can create but we need material to work with.

“Since God can create everything out of nothing, he can also, through the Holy
Spirit, give spiritual life to sinners by creating a pure heart in them and
bodily life to the dead through the Resurrection.” (CCC 298)

God has created an ordered and good world. It is a gift to us and we are capable of understanding it, (with difficulty and humility) through our understanding because as images of God we share in the light of the divine intellect.
God is greater than all his works:

“You have set your glory above the heavens.” (CCC 300)

But he is still present to his creatures’ inmost being. He does not abandon us to ourselves, but also upholds and sustains us and guides us to our final end.

“Recognizing this utter dependence with respect to the Creator is a source of
wisdom and freedom, of joy and confidence:
For you love all the things that
exist, and detest none of the things that you have made; for you would not have
made anything if you hated it. How would anything have endured, if you had
not willed it? Or how would anything not called forth by you have been
preserved? You spare things for they are yours, O Lord, you who love the
living.” (CCC 301)

V. God Carries Out His Plan: Divine Providence
The universe was created “in a state of journeying” (CCC 302). God has destined the world for a perfection it has not yet attained. We call God’s guidance towards perfection “divine providence” (CCC 302).
God cares for us all, in small matters and large, and his care is concrete and immediate. God’s absolute sovereignty is affirmed in Sacred Scriptures:

“Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases.”
“And so it is with
Christ, ‘who opens and no one shall shut, who shuts and no one opens.’”
“Many
are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will
be established.” (CCC 303)

Jesus asks us to trust in the divine providence with childlike abandonment.
God gives us the dignity of acting on our own and allows us to cooperate in his work. We are often unconscious of our role in God’s plan but we can also be active participants though our actions, prayers and sufferings. We are secondary causes in God’s work, God acts through us.

“’For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good
pleasure.’ Far from diminishing the creature’s dignity, this truth
enhances it. Drawn from nothingness by God’s power, wisdom, and goodness,
it can do nothing if it is cut off from its origin, ‘for without a Creator the
creature vanishes.’ Still less can a creature attain its ultimate end
without the help of God’s grace.” (CCC 308)

So why do we have evil in the world if God is the Father Almighty? I’m sure this is a question everyone struggles with.
The Catechism gives a long answer! We need to look at the entire Christian message:

“…the goodness of creation, the drama of sin, and the patient love of God who
comes to meet man by his covenants, the redemptive Incarnation of his Son, his
gift of the Spirit, his gathering of the Church, the power of the sacraments,
and his call to a blessed life to which free creatures are invited to consent in
advance, but from which by a terrible mystery, they can also turn away in
advance. There is not a single aspect of the Christian message that is not
in part an answer to the question of evil.” (CCC 310)

God’s plan involves a state of journeying, with the more perfect appearing among the less perfect. With physical good, there is also physical evil. Because angels and men are given free will, there also exists moral evil, when free creatures go astray.
I was confused about these two types of evil, I found this link helpful in explaining the difference.
God permits evil because he respects our freedom and because he can derive good from it. St. Augustine explains:

“For almighty God…, because he is supremely good, would never allow any evil
whatsoever to exist in his works if he were not so all-powerful and good as to
cause good to emerge from evil itself.” (CCC 311)

Examples are given of Joseph who was sent to Egypt by his brothers’ evil act, but God brought good out of it, and the ultimate example of Jesus who was put to death by men but through God’s grace brought about the salvation of man.
We believe that God is the master of the world, but for the most part the divine providence remains a mystery to us, and will remain so until the end when we see God face to face.

Paragraph 5. Heaven and Earth
God made heaven and earth, or all that exists. “Earth” refers to the world of men while “heaven” could mean the sky, the realm of God, and the place of the saints and spiritual creatures.
First God created the spiritual and corporeal creatures, then he made man who is a combination of body and spirit.

I. The Angels
The existence of creatures composed only of a spirit (angels) is a truth of faith confirmed by Scripture and Tradition.
“Angel” is actually the name of their office, “spirit” is the term for their nature. They are “spirit” and what their job position is “angel” or the servants and messengers of God.
Angels are purely spiritual creatures with intelligence and will, personal and immortal, more perfect than all visible creatures.
Christ is the center of the angelic world. The angels belong to him, they were created “through him and for him” (CCC 331). The angels have been present and played a role in salvation since the beginning, from the closing of the earthly paradise to the angel Gabriel’s annunciation of the birth of Jesus. Through Christ’s life on earth the angels are always present, serving Him and worshipping Him. They will be present at Christ’s return.
The Church also benefits from the help of the angels. The Church joins with the angels to adore God in the Liturgy and celebrates the memory of certain angels (St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Rapheal, and the guardian angels). The angels are also with us in a personal way surrounding us with their care and intercession:

“Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to
life.” (CCC 336)

II. The Visible World
Scripture presents the story of creation “symbolically as a succession of six days of divine ‘work,’ concluded by the ‘rest’ of the seventh day” (CCC 337). The story of creation found in Genesis teaches us the truths revealed by God for our salvation:

• Nothing exists that does not owe its existence to God the Creator.





• Each creature possesses its own particular goodness and perfection. We must respect the particular goodness of each creature and avoid a disordered use of things which would have disastrous consequences.





• God wills the interdependence of creatures. Creatures exist to complete each other and to serve each other.





• The beauty of the universe. The beauty of creation reflects the infinite beauty of the Creator.





• The hierarchy of creatures is expressed by the order of the six days from the less perfect to the more perfect.





• Man is the summit of the Creator’s work, as the inspired account expresses by clearly distinguishing the creation of man from that of the other creatures.





• There is a solidarity among all creatures arising from the fact that all have the same Creator and are all ordered to his glory.





• The Sabbath- the end of the work of the six days. The scriptural text describing day seven is rich in instruction:
  
  
  
  
  

  “In creation God laid a foundation and established laws that remain firm, on
  which the believer can rely with confidence, for they are the sign and pledge of
  unshakeable faithfulness of God’s covenant. For his part man must remain
  faithful to this foundation and respect the laws which the Creator has written
  into it.” (CCC 346)
  “Creation was fashioned with a view to the Sabbath and
  therefore for the worship and adoration of God. Worship is inscribed in
  the order of creation. As the rule of St. Benedict says, nothing should
  take precedence over ‘the work of God,’ that is, solemn worship. This
  indicates the right order of human concerns.” (CCC 347)

  The eighth day. But for us a new day has dawned: the day of Christ’s Resurrection.
  

This made me really excited to go read Genesis in the light of these truths!

Here are some reflection questions:

• CCC 303-305 discuss the need to trust in divine providence with child like abandonment. I loved this quote: “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will be established.” This reminded me of an excellent blog post by Jen at Et Tu? on the topic of divine providence and finding your place within God's plan. What helps you to discern and trust God's will for your life? Can you share a time when you realized that your plans were not necessarily God’s plans?





• CCC 311-312 discuss God’s ability to bring good out of our evil. Can you think of any examples of this that you have witnessed?





• What special things do you do to keep the Sabbath in your home? Catholic author Nancy Carpentier Brown has a new series of posts at her blog called Keeping Sunday, which I am following with interest, because I really need to improve in this area.





• CCC 347 quotes the rule of St. Benedict “nothing should take precedence over ‘the work of God,’ that is, solemn worship.” How can we keep this requirement while fulfilling our duties as wives and mothers? I know I need to work on this, as this post from my GrayFamilyCircus blog shows, I have trouble making time for prayer amidst the demands and clamor of my little ones.

Week 5: Catechism - for Kids!

Reading the Catechism in such an intensive way is really inspiring me to share what I am learning about the faith with my children. I thought that along with the weekly reading assignment for mom, I would also have a seperate post with suggestions of related activities for kids! I hope others will add their suggestions and ideas as well.

A must have book for Catechism activities for kids is 100 Activities Based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This book has great reproducible sheets for grades 1-8, and each activity is linked to a passage from the CCC! The activities are divided by level: Primary, Intermediate, and Advanced. It had a great suggestion for learning the Apostle's and Nicene Creed.

• Write each line of the Creeds on a seperate index card, then have the kids put them in order. Or read a line and have them guess which Creed it is from.

Here are some more ideas I had for introducing my kids to this week's teachings on the Holy Trinity (CCC 232-267), this is a list of options to choose from, I won't do it all!

• Discuss the Sign of the Cross and the Glory Be, both of which invoke the Trinity. Have your child make a booklet of the Glory Be with an illustration for each line.
• Trinity Mobile- print this pattern and have your child color it, explain that the sun is for the Father (Creator of the world), the cross is for the Son, and the dove is for the Holy Spirit. Then cut out and punch holes in the symbols. Take a small paper plate and punch three holes around the edges. Use yarn or string to connect the symbols to the plate. Tape another piece of yarn or string to the center of the plate to hang it.
• Trinity Presentation from the Home Catechesis 3-5 album (if you have it).
• St. Patrick and the Shamrock- read Patrick the Patron Saint of Ireland by Tomie dePaola and make this shamrock craft.

CCC 273 reminds us of the perfect faith Mary had in God's almighty power which she expresses in her Magnificat (Luke 1:46:55).

• Share this prayer with your children. Have them design a picture for a Holy Card, glue to construction paper and write the words of the Magnificat on the back.

I also have some ideas for lessons on Creation (CCC 279-289), but I think I'll save that for next week since this topic will continue!

Week 5: Passages 232- 289

This week’s assignment: passages 232-289, or days 29-35 on the CHN guide.

This week’s readings may have been too much for the mommy brain. Particularly the first section on the Trinity, already a difficult to impossible concept to grasp, which is not made any simpler by the Catechism authors insistence on using words like “consubstantial”, “hypostasis”, and “spiration”. My brain is accustomed to working below a third grade level, most of my daily conversations revolve around beanie babies, whether I prefer ponies or tigers, and who can sit where in the car.
I had to read sections 238-263 over and over, and afterwards I was left with the following impression of the mystery of the blessed Trinity.

This…

…makes about as much sense to me as this…
…or this, how many legs does that elephant have?
My brain hurts.

But despite my hazy understanding of the subject matter I will still attempt to summarize and discuss it. Hey, I’ve never let a little thing like a complete lack of comprehension stand in my way before!

Part One, Section Two, Chapter One, Article 1
Paragraph 2. The Father
I. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
The faith of all Christians rests on the Trinity, as we profess in baptism.

“The whole history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the
means by which the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, reveals himself
to men ‘and reconciles and unites with himself those who turn away from sin’”.
(CCC 234)

In this paragraph (Paragraph 2. The Father) we will learn (I.) how the mystery of the Blessed Trinity was revealed, (II.) How the Church has articulated the doctrine of the faith regarding this mystery, and (III.) how through the divine missions of the three persons of the Blessed Trinity God fulfils his plan of loving goodness.
The Church Fathers give us two terms:
· Theology- the mystery of God’s inmost life within the Blessed Trinity
· Economy – all the works by which God reveals himself and communicates his life
These two aspects work together, God’s works tell us about who he is and the mystery of his inmost being sheds light on his works, just as knowing the reason for a person’s actions reveals more about his actions.
The Trinity is “a mystery of faith in the strict sense” (CCC 237) and can never be known unless God reveals it.

II. The Revelation of God as Trinity
We call God, Father. The language tells us two things about God: he is the first origin of the world and everything in it, and he cares for us with the paternal love of a father. The image of motherhood can also be used to describe God’s tenderness and loving care.

“The language of faith thus draws on the human experience of parents, who are
the first representatives of God for man.” (CCC 239)

We as parents are given a great responsibility, to represent God to our children!
The Catechism goes on to remind us that of course human parents are not perfect, and that God transcends the difference between the sexes. No one is father as God is Father.
Besides his role as Creator, God is eternally Father in another way: in relation to his Son.
The Son is consubstantial with the Father, which means that the Father and the Son are only one God.
And then we get the Holy Spirit! Before his Passover Jesus announced the sending of a Paraclete (advocate), the Holy Spirit, thus revealing a third divine person.
The eternal origin of the Holy Spirit revealed by his mission in time, the Spirit is sent to the Church both by the Father and the Son.
The Holy Spirit is of one substance and equal to the Father and the Son. The Latin tradition of the Creed states that the Spirit “proceeds from the Father and the Son”, not just the Father. The Father is the origin of the whole divinity, but since the Father has given his Son everything except being Father, the Holy Spirit also proceeds from the Son.

III. The Holy Trinity in the Teaching of the Faith
The revealed truth of the Holy Trinity was at the root of the Church’s faith from the beginning. During the first centuries the Church clarified the Trinitarian Faith, through the first Church Councils. In order to make the dogma of the Trinity more clear, the Church developed some new terminology to aid us in understanding this “ineffable mystery.” (CCC 251)
· Substance- designates the divine being in its unity
· Person or hypostasis – designates the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the distinctions among them
· Relation – designates that their distinction lies in their relationship to each other

The dogma of the Holy Trinity

• The Trinity is One


• The divine persons are really distinct from one another


• The divine persons are relative to one another
  

The whole divine economy is the common work of the three divine persons. However, each person accomplishes this work through his unique properties. Hence the work is both common and personal.

“The whole Christian life is a communion with each of the divine persons,
without in any way separating them. Everyone who glorifies the Father does so
through the Son in the Holy Spirit; everyone who follows Christ does so because
the Father draws him and the Spirit moves him.” (CCC 259)

And the goal of this divine economy is the entry of God’s creatures into the perfect unity of the Blessed Trinity.

“O my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me forget myself entirely so to establish
myself in you, unmovable and peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity.
May nothing be able to trouble my peace or make me leave you, O my unchanging
God, but may each minute bring me more deeply into your mystery! Grant my soul
peace. Make it your heaven, your beloved dwelling and the place of your rest.
May I never abandon you there, but may I be there, whole and entire, completely
vigilant in my faith, entirely adoring, and wholly given over to your creative
action.” (CCC 260)

Paragraph 3. The Almighty
Of all the attributes of God, only his omnipotence is mentioned in the Creed. This means it is important for us! God’s power is universal, loving and mysterious. God can do all things, in the Scriptures he is called “Mighty One of Jacob”, “LORD of hosts”, the “strong and mighty” one (CCC 269). He is master of the universe and Lord of history. But God is also a Father Almighty, so his power is used to display his mercy, he adopts us as his own children.
Faith in God the Almighty can be put to the test by all the evil and suffering in the world. But the most mysterious way that God reveals his almighty power is through the suffering, death, and Resurrection of his Son.

“Christ crucified is thus ‘the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the
foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than
men.’”(CCC 272)

“Only faith can embrace the mysterious ways of God’s almighty power. This
faith glories in its weaknesses in order to draw itself to Christ’s power.
The Virgin Mary is the supreme model of this faith, for she believed that
‘nothing will be impossible with God,’ and was able to magnify the Lord: ‘For he
who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.’” (CCC 273)

Paragraph 4. The Creator
Creation is the foundation of “all God’s saving plans” (CCC 280). Thus catechesis on creation is of major importance. It is the Christian response to the basic human questions: “Where do we come from?”, “Where are we going?”, “What is our origin?”, “What is our end?”, and “Where does everything that exists come from and where is it going?”
The Christian faith has always been challenged with different responses to the question of the origins. Here are some examples of non-Christian beliefs:

• Pantheism – Everything is God, the world is God, the development of the world is the development of God.
• Dualism, Manichaeism – The world is a necessary emanation arising from God and returning to him. There are two eternal principles, Good and Evil, Light and Darkness, locked in permanent conflict.
• Gnosticism – The world is evil, the product of a fall, and is thus to be rejected or left behind.
• Deism – God is like a watchmaker, who created the world and then abandoned it to itself.
• Materialism – A rejection of the transcendent origin for the world. The world is merely an interplay of matter that has always existed.

All these different attempts bear witness to the universality of the question of origins, a distinctly human trait.
While it is possible for man to know the Creator by reason alone, the truth of creation is so important, that God is his tenderness revealed it to his chosen people. Creation is revealed as the first step of the covenant, “the first and universal witness to God’s all-powerful love” (CCC 288).
The first three chapters of the book of Genesis are the primary source for learning about the mysteries of creation, the fall, and the promise of salvation. From these chapters we learn the truths of creation: its origin and end in God, its order and goodness, the vocation of man, and finally the drama of sin and the hope of salvation.

Questions for reflection and discussion:

• CCC 239 reminds us that as parents we our "the first representatives of God for man." What are some ways we can act as representatives of God for our children?
• Does the Trinity confuse you as much as it confuses me? Or am I just hopeless?
• CCC 279-289 discuss the importance of catechesis on creation. What are some ways we can share the truths of creation found in Genesis with out children?

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