Embedded Files
Fr. Mike is feeling goofy on Day 31!!
What we are reading today is STRIKING
It’s the LAST section of this FIRST section 🤔
THE IMPLICATIONS OF FAITH IN ONE GOD
We have been talking the last few days about some things
God reveals His NAME
I AM WHO AM
God reveals that He is MERCIFUL AND GRACIOUS
God reveals that He is SLOW TO ANGER
God reveals that He is ABOUNDING IN STEADFAST LOVE
We heard yesterday that GOD ALONE IS
GOD IS TRUTH
GOD IS LOVE
And we ended yesterday with that INCREDIBLE statement
“By sending his only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret: God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange.”
Fr. Mike went nuts over it yesterday
Fr. Mike will go nuts over it for the rest of his LIFE
IT IS INCREDIBLE!!
The very next words are the IMPLICATIONS OF FAITH IN ONE GOD
Paragraph 222 says, “Believing in God, the only One, and loving him with all our being has enormous consequences for our whole life.”
It means COMING TO KNOW GOD
It means LIVING IN THANKSGIVING
It means KNOWING THE UNITY AND TRUE DIGNITY OF ALL MEN
It means MAKING GOOD USE OF CREATED THINGS
It means TRUSTING GOD IN EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE
We are also going to hit the IN BRIEF MCNUGGETS 😉
THIS IS AMAZING!!
Tomorrow we are going into Paragraph 2 and that might be confusing when we are reading Paragraphs 222-231
So The Catechism made a little bit of a confusing thing for us
Each one of the BULLET POINTS references what we call PARAGRAPHS
BUT…
There are also times when it specifies ANOTHER PARAGRAPH and they call it Paragraph 1 or Paragraph 2 etc.
If you are looking at your Catechism you can see it on Page 75 of the Ascension Edition
Whatever
Here we are
There are MASSIVE IMPLICATIONS
ENORMOUS CONSEQUENCES
That the Catechism states for coming to believe in ONE GOD
One of them is that we get to have a RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM
So let's pray to our Father now
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in heaven, we thank you so much. Thank you for this day. We thank you for revealing yourself to us as the God who is, the God who is Truth, the God who is love, and the God whom we can trust with our whole being, we can entrust everything we are, we can entrust everything we have, everything we've done, everything we will do. We can entrust our past to you. We can entrust our future to you. In this moment, Lord God, we entrust our present to you. We entrust this present moment. With the hearts that are inside our chests, we give them to you, because you are absolutely– you're the only one who is absolutely trustworthy. And so we absolutely trust you in this moment. We make this prayer in the name of Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen”
TODAY IS AWESOME!!
SO INCREDIBLE!!
We always want to know what is God’s DEEPEST IDENTITY
BUT…
There are CONSEQUENCES
IN FACT…
Paragraph 222 says, “Believing in God, the only One, and loving him with all our being has enormous consequences for our whole life.”
What are the consequences?
We have a bullet list!!
Every article on this list could be something every one of us SHOULD TAKE TO PRAYER (Did you know you could pray Lectio Divina with The Catechism? 🤔 🤔)
Paragraph 225, “It means coming to know God’s greatness and majesty…”
We recognize that GOD IS GOD and I AM NOT
The Catechism has said before and today in the IN BRIEF
Paragraph 230, “Even when he reveals himself God remains a mystery beyond words: ‘If you understood him, it would not be God’ (St. Augustine)”
THAT IS SO POWERFUL!!
Ok we realize that GOD IS ALWAYS MORE
IMAGINE THIS!!
“God, as DEEPLY as we can get to know you. As CLOSELY as we can come to you, you are ALWAYS MORE. There is ALWAYS MORE OF YOU that IS than we can possibly KNOW.”
He is Capital “M”-Mystery
The second one in Paragraph 224, “It means living in thanksgiving: if God is the only One, everything we are and have comes from him: ‘What have you that you did not receive?’”
WHICH IS COMPLETELY TRUE!!
What do YOU have that wasn’t given to you BY THE LORD??
EVEN LIFE!!
EVEN BREATH!!
In this VERY MOMENT it means living in THANKSGIVING TO GOD
The third thing is in Paragraph 225, “It means knowing the unity and true dignity of all men…”
If God is our SOURCE
If God is our ORIGIN
And God made ALL OF US in His IMAGE AND LIKENESS
That means WE ARE UNITED
WE BELONG TO ONE FAMILY OF THE HUMAN RACE!!
Because we have God as our SOURCE
Because we are made in God’s IMAGE AND LIKENESS
EVERY HUMAN BEING HAS DIGNITY
TRUE DIGNITY OF ALL MEN
It’s NOT an IMPARTED dignity
It is NOT a dignity that is GRANTED by an organization, government, or culture
It is a TRUE DIGNITY that is INNATE
INTRINSIC
IN EVERY HUMAN BEING
The fourth piece is in Paragraph 226, “It means making good use of created things…”
God made US in His image and likeness
HE GAVE US THIS WORLD THAT HE CREATED!!
HE MADE IT FOR OUR USE TO HELP US GET CLOSE TO HIM!!
The prayer from St. Nicholas of Flüe is SO GOOD!!
“My Lord and my God, take from me everything that distances me from you…”
If it takes me away from you, take it away from me!!
“My Lord and my God, give me everything that brings me closer to you...”
Do you know what that means?
It means EVERYTHING!!
When we say EVERYTHING it means there are sometimes that our BLESSINGS bring us CLOSER to God and there are sometimes where our CROSSES bring us to our knees and can bring us CLOSER to God
“My Lord and my God, detach me from myself to give my all to you.”
Because every one of us knows this
We have a temptation, sometimes, to hold onto ourselves more and more
So that’s the FIRST FOUR
COMING TO KNOW GOD’S GREATNESS AND GLORY
LIVING IN THANKSGIVING
KNOWING THE UNITY AND DIGNITY OF ALL MEN
MAKING GOOD USE OF CREATED THINGS
The LAST one is…
Paragraph 227, “It means trusting God in every circumstance…”
If God is GOOD
If God is TRUTH
If God is LOVE
Then we can TRUST GOD IN EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE
EVEN IN ADVERSITY!!
THIS IS SO SO POWERFUL!!
SO IMPORTANT FOR EVERY ONE OF US!!
Right now, Fr. Mike doesn’t even know what he’s going through
What are YOU going through?
We don’t know what each of us is going through
Really serious things
AND YET…
If God IS
If God IS TRUTH
If God IS LOVE
THEN WE CAN TRUST HIM IN EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE!!
EVEN IN ADVERSITY!!
Paragraph 229 says, “Faith in God leads us to turn to him alone as our first origin and our ultimate goal, and neither to prefer anything to him nor to substitute anything for him.”
How often in adversity…
How often in our lives…
How often in abundance…
Do we substitute that ABUNDANCE for the LORD??
And we are willing to TURN AWAY FROM HIM!!
Not just in adversity
We are willing to turn away from Him IN PROSPERITY
So in moments like this we say, “Ok God. Please bring me back. Bring me home. Bring me back to your heart. Because there are consequences for your existence. There are consequences for believing in you and loving you with all our heart. Part of those consequences mean entrusting you with our whole heart, which is so important.”
But also, it is something that can ONLY BE DONE WITH GOD’S GRACE
So we are praying
We pray WITH each other
And we pray FOR each other
Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!
Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!
I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!
Scripture References & Reflections
- compiled by Andrew Adamany
Bible Translation - RSVCE
CCC 222 "Believing in God, the only One, and loving him with all our being has enormous consequences for our whole life."
CCC 223 "It means coming to know God's greatness and majesty. Therefore, we must "serve God first."
Job 36:26
"Behold, God is great, and we know him not;
the number of his years is unsearchable."
CCC 224 "It means living in thanksgiving: if God is the only One, everything we are and have comes from him"
1 Corinthians 4:6–7
"I have applied all this to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brethren, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. For who sees anything different in you? What have you that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?"
Psalm 116:12–19
"What shall I render to the Lord
for all his bounty to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord,
I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his saints.
O Lord, I am thy servant;
I am thy servant, the son of thy handmaid.
Thou hast loosed my bonds.
I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
in the courts of the house of the Lord,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!"
CCC 225 "It means knowing the unity and true dignity of all men: everyone is made in the image and likeness of God."
Genesis 1:26–27
"Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."
CCC 226 "It means making good use of created things: faith in God, the only One, leads us to use everything that is not God only insofar as it brings us closer to him, and to detach ourselves from it insofar as it turns us away from him"
Matthew 5:29–30
"If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell."
Matthew 16:24–27
"Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life? For the Son of man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done."
CCC 227 "It means trusting God in every circumstance, even in adversity."
1 Peter 2:18–25
"Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to the kind and gentle but also to the overbearing. For one is approved if, mindful of God, he endures pain while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it, if when you do wrong and are beaten for it you take it patiently? But if when you do right and suffer for it you take it patiently, you have God’s approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin; no guile was found on his lips. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he trusted to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls."
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