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).