Lesson Five - The Heavenly Father: Almighty Creator

Q. 130. Who made the world?

A. God made the world.

Q. 131. What does "world" mean in this question?

A. In this question "world" means the universe; that is, the whole creation; all that we now see or may hereafter see.

-Baltimore Catechism

Last week we went over....

Faith is a free gift from God; Faith is necessary for salvation; it is more than simple belief. It flows out of the center of our being - the heart of each one of us. It says yes to God and commits the whole person to God.

We must perseverance in Faith: we must be sincere and resolute in our attachment to the Faith, and keep growing in it.

God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These Names are privileged language given by God.

God is not male or female or even a supreme being; God is totally other

People love a good mystery. We watch them on TV and read about them in books. We are intrigued by the mysteries of our own world - what happened to the dinosaurs? Meteor? Famine? No room on the Ark? We do not know but we continue to search for the answers.

Our Faith presents us with its own kind of mystery - the mystery of God. When the Church uses the word mystery in reference to God, she doesnt mean something unknowable, but rather it is a term that refers to God Himself. We cannot fully understand God on this side of eternity.

Why do we call God Father? Because Jesus told us to. Jesus referred to God as Father forty five times in the Last Supper Discourse alone. No human has ever seen God directly - only Jesus, the Son of God has done so. Through faith, we believe what Jesus tells us.

What does Gods fatherhood mean? It means three things. First that God is the Divine Father of the Divine Son. Second, our Father makes us in his image. Third, our Father shares his divine life and love with us. Calling God Father in no way diminishes motherhood. Mary, a woman and a mother, is the most revered woman in history. Her yes to God was the greatest choice ever made by a human being.

Secular wisdom tries to make it possible to deny God as Father. But our religion does not arise from the secular culture. Our faith comes from a compassionate God who came to us and told us about his inner life.

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Video Worksheet

Helpful Vocabulary

Holy Trinity - God is a Trinity of three divine Persons in one divine Nature.

Mystery - when used by the Church in reference to God it doesnt mean unknowable but is a term that refers to God Himself, including all the things about Him that we can not understand.

Video Notes

The Heavenly Father: Almighty Creator; CCC 232-294

CCC 232-237 - The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian Faith and life. It is the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the most fundamental and essential teaching in the hierarchy of the truths of faith.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - creating us, redeeming us, and making us holy.

Churchs use of mystery doesnt mean something unknowable - it is a term that refers to God Himself.

CCC 238-242 - The Father is revealed by the Son.

CCC 239 - No one is father as God is Father. Why do we call God He if He is neither male nor female?

1.) He is the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and Jesus therefore calls Him Father.

2.) Jesus Christ taught us to call him our Father.

3.) The word Father tells us very important things about Gods nature. CCC 239 also states that God is goodness and provides loving care for all of his children.

CCC 242 - the Son of God is consubstantial with the Father. Jesus shares the same Divine Nature as His Father.

CCC 243-248 - The Father and the Son are revealed by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been active since the beginning: the breathing on the waters at Creation; at the Incarnation; at the Baptism of Jesus, and at Pentecost to name a few.

CCC 254 - the dogma of the Holy Trinity: the Father begets the Son, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.

God freely wills to share His nature with us.

The persons of the Trinity have different, but common, work; bringing balance and unity.

The Father is unbegotten, the first principal of the Trinity; the Son is eternally begotten from the Father; the Spirit is the unending love of the begetting between the Father and the Son.

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CCC 268-274 - The Almighty

God is Lord over the Universe and all Creation

Nothing happens in Creation that is removed from Gods permissive will.

CCC 269 - God is the master of all human history. Human history is the story of how God is in dialogue with the human race.

CCC 270 - 271 - God is merciful to all and can do all things.

CCC 272 - How does God deal with evil? By the voluntary humiliation and resurrection of His Son, by which God conquered evil. He has not excluded evil or suffering from His Creation, but He has dealt with both of them.

CCC 273 - The Virgin Mary is the supreme model of Faith.

CCC 279 - 314 - The Creator

CCC 280 - Christ casts conclusive light on creation

CCC 282 - Where do we come from? Where are we going? The fact that we can seek the truth about ourselves and the origin of the universe points to mans greatness. The discoveries we make invite us both to admire the greatness of the Creator and to thank God for the ability to understand his Creation.

Science can answer the how but not the why.

CCC 290-292 - Creation - the work of the Holy Trinity. We know this first of all from Scripture and then from Tradition.

YOUR NOTES

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For Next Week

For Next Weeks Lesson, The Creator of Heaven and Earth, please read the following paragraphs in the Catechism and the correlating Scripture that is listed next to them:

295-296

299-301

302 and 306

309-312 (Romans 5: 15-20)

315-324 (In Brief)

326

328-329

332

339 and 343 (Daniel 3:58-90)

350-354 (In Brief)

Please also reflect on the following questions:

1.) What are some elements of the mystery of Creation? (CCC 295, 296, 299, 300, 301) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2.) How do people share in Gods creation? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3.) What state was the universe created in? (CCC 302) What do you think this means? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4.) What is the difference between physical and moral evil? (CCC 310-311) Which of these is harder for you to understand? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5.) What is meant by Heaven and Earth? (CCC 326) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6.) What do you think that Heaven is like? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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7.) Saint Augustine says about angels: Angel is the name of their ___________not of their _________________ (CCC 329)

8.) What are some of the things that angels have done throughout history? (CCC 332) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9.) Do you pray to your Guardian Angel? How do you think your Guardian Angel affects your life? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10.) What is the summit of the Creators work? How do we see this in Scripture? (CCC 343) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Catechism/Scripture Connection

Catechism Paragraph #

Corresponding Scripture

CCC #295

Rev 4:11; Ps 104:24

CCC #299

Wis 11:20; Col 1:15; Gen 1:26;

Gen 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 31

CCC #300

Ps 8:2; Ps 145:3; Acts 17:28

CCC #301

Wis 11:24-26

CCC #312

Gen 45:8, 50:20

CCC #326

Ps 115:16; 19:32; Mt 5:16

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Angels Created First Become the Helper and Friends of Humanity

Characteristics and Duties

The word angel (in Hebrew (singular/plural), malak/malakim; in Greek, aggelos/aggelois) means messenger or one who is deputed. Angels are pure spiritual and immortal beings created by God in the beginning (Gen. 1:1), who glorify God without ceasing (Rev. 4:8) and help carry out Gods plan of salvation of the human family (Heb. 1:14). The angels, like humans, have intelligence, will and emotion (Luke 2:10; 15:10). Angels can see God (Matt. 18:10), are called sons of God (Job 1:6; 38:7) and are ministers of Gods will (Psalm 103:20; Matt. 4:1; 13:49; 26:53). While the angels are spirits, they can assume bodily form (John 20:12; Heb. 13:2; Acts 6:15). Angels also have their own language (1 Cor. 13:1). There is a prodigious number of angels (Luke 2:13; Heb. 12:22; Rev. 5:11; Dan. 7:10; Psalm 67:18).

Appearances of Angels in Sacred ScriptureThrough salvation history, angels have appeared to human beings, such as Zechariah (Zech. 2:3), Samsons mother (Judges 13:3), Joseph (Matt. 1:20; 2:13-19), Zachariah (Luke 1:11,19-20), the Blessed Virgin Mary (Luke 1:26-38), the shepherds (Luke 2:9,15), Jesus during His agony in the garden (Luke 22:43), the apostles after the Resurrection (Matt 28:2) and after the Ascension (Acts 1:10). Angels have also assisted human beings with affairs on earth, such as Abraham (Gen. 18; 22:11), Hagar (Gen. 16:7; 21:17), Lot (Gen. 19), Jacob (Gen. 28:12), Elijah (1 Kings 19:5), Daniel (Dan. 6:22), Tobit (Tobit 5:6-22), Peter (Acts 10:19; 12:7-11), Cornelius (Acts 10:3; 11:13), and the eunuch (Acts 8:26-39).

Guardian Angels:

Ex.23:20-23 See, I am sending an angel before you, to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared. Be attentive to him and heed his voice. Do not rebel against him, for he will not forgive your sin. My authority resides in him. If you heed his voice and carry out all I tell you, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes. My angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites; and I will wipe them out.

Judith 13:20 As the same Lord lives, his angel has been my keeper both going hence and abiding there, and returning from there here; and the Lord has not suffered me his handmaid to be defiled, but has brought me back to you without pollution of sin, rejoicing for his victory, for my escape, and for your deliverance.

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