Embedded Files
Today is continued Catechesis on Creation
We will be sticking with Creation for quite a bit
Tomorrow we will crack into Genesis Chs 1-3 and reveal what is IMPORTANT
WHICH IS AMAZING AND INCREDIBLE!!
Today, we are continuing to talk about the fact that people have always asked the QUESTIONS
WHO ARE WE?
WHERE ARE WE GOING?
WHERE DID WE COME FROM?
WHAT IS OUR ORIGIN?
WHAT IS OUR END?
Paragraph 285 will highlight this, “Since the beginning the Christian faith has been challenged by responses to the question of origins that differ from its own.”
We have a very specific response of how EVERYTHING started
Paragraph 285 will go into a number of different theories about the creation and origin of the universe
Some people talk about PANTHEISM aka EVERYTHING IS GOD
There is also DUALISM aka good and evil battles it out
There is also DEISM aka the “clockmaker god”...yes, there is a god who made all things but he just wound up the clock and let it go so he’s not really involved anymore
There is also MATERIALISM aka all there is is the material world and there is nothing beyond that
From there, we will talk about how IMPORTANT it is that God has REVEALED HIMSELF TO US IN CREATION and also in REVELATION
God’s existence can be perceived from HUMAN REASON
Romans Ch 1 emphasizes this and makes this claim
If we are looking around this universe we can see that this did not come up ON ITS OWN
It has an ORIGIN
We can assume, by the origin, that it even may have an end to it
There is something about HUMAN REASON and we can look at the world and say, “Ok this had a beginning and the beginning must have been made by something OUTSIDE of this or SOMEONE maybe outside of this.”
Also, we recognize that revelation is SUPER IMPORTANT
We wouldn’t actually know for certain the NATURE of this Creator
We would know SOME THINGS about His attributes
We maybe could discern that God must be POWERFUL
That God must be OUTSIDE of the world
That God must be INTELLIGENT
That God must have some kind of sense of BEAUTY
Because we look around at this world and we see DESIGN and BEAUTY
Only a POWERFUL BEING could create such an incredibly beautiful creation
We can realize some of these
BUT…
Then REVELATION steps in
It doesn’t necessarily FILL THE GAPS
BUT…
Revelation answers some of the questions that we could NEVER POSSIBLY HOPE TO ANSWER
Not only that…
Paragraph 288 says, “Thus the revelation of creation is inseparable from the revelation and forging of the covenant of the one God with his People.”
Creation is revealed as the FIRST STEP toward God establishing a RELATIONSHIP WITH US
We are going to pause on that and then say a prayer as we launch into today
The FIRST STEP of God entering into relationship with us is CREATION
On one hand you might think, “Duh! If we didn’t exist, then it would be kind of difficult to have a relationship with us!”
BUT…
Revelation…for lack of a better term…REVEALS that this is the INTENTION behind God making EVERYTHING
God did not make the universe, with all of its beauty, wonder, and incredible reality, JUST FOR ITSELF
He DID make YOU for YOURSELF so that you can have a RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM
That is one of the important realities that is communicated in Christian revelation
IT IS REMARKABLE!!
The SUN was not made for itself
This whole entire expanding UNIVERSE was not made for itself
BUT…
A single individual…
A human being on this planet…
Regardless of how great or how small…
How smart or how challenged…
THEY WERE MADE FOR THEMSELVES!!
THEY WERE MADE TO BE IN RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD!!
THEIR HEARTS ARE RESTLESS UNTIL THEY REST IN HIM!!
So let's say a prayer as we begin this day!!
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father, Almighty. God, All Powerful. You are good. You are merciful. You are powerful. You have created all things out of nothing. And you created all things for yourself. You have created us for yourself. You have created this universe for US, to get to know you. To reveal you to us and to bring us closer to you. And so, today, we ask you to please bring us closer to you. Bring us into your grasp. Bring us into your heart and there, we will find joy. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.”
It’s not just an intro today
It is summing up what we heard yesterday
The question we all have is…
“Where did we come from?”
“Where do we go?”
“Where did you come from, ****** **** ***?” (I refuse to quote this allusion because that song is absolutely horrible and I refuse to let it get stuck in my head. I’m just going to sing “Take On Me” and now you will have the “doo de de doo doo” part stuck in your head!! a-ha - Take On Me (Official Video) [Remastered in 4K] 🤣)
You can blame Fr. Mike for this
The question is DISTINCTIVELY HUMAN
All of the different ways that people can imagine the beginning of the world
The Church highlights some of the different theories
One is PANTHEISM
This idea that the world is God or that God is the world
WE REJECT THAT!!
We will find out why and how we reject that based off Sacred Scripture tomorrow
Because IN THE BEGINNING, GOD CREATED…
There is a SPECIFIC WORD that is used in Hebrew in Genesis that is INCREDIBLY UNIQUE
It directly reveals that God IS NOT THE WORLD
He created the world OUTSIDE OF HIMSELF
That’s coming tomorrow!!
So we don’t believe in Pantheism
DUALISM and MANICHAEISM are opposed to Christianity
They pose that there are two external forces
Good and Evil
Light and Darkness
And they continue to battle each other
The Christian revelation is that NO! GOD IS FULLY GOOD!! THERE IS NO MIXTURE OF EVIL IN GOD!!
Even though there is good and evil in the world BECAUSE OF THE FALL, evil is NOT AN ETERNAL FORCE
ONLY GOD ALWAYS EXISTED!!
EVIL CAME LATER!!
These philosophies also incorrectly believe that evil will never be vanquished
Christianity is MUCH MORE HOPEFUL
Christianity teaches that there was a time when there was NO EVIL
Christianity teaches that IN CHRIST evil IS CONQUERED and will be COMPLETELY OVERTHROWN when He returns again in Glory
Then we have GNOSTICISM
This says that the material world is EVIL and the spiritual world is GOOD
We also talked about DEISM which is about the “clockmaker god”
This is very interesting
There is a sociologist, Dr. Christian Smith
He used to be at UNC-Chapel Hill but is now at Notre Dame
He did a survey of The Spiritual Lives of American Adolescents
This was about maybe almost 20 years ago
When he investigated the spiritual lives of American adolescents, one of his conclusions was that adolescents believe in the SAME god
He called it MORALISTIC THERAPEUTIC DEISM
We talked about this in Bible in a Year!! Don’t believe me? 😉 https://www.thebibleinayearstudyguide.com/day-281
Even if someone was raised Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, Jewish, even Atheist…
If they had ANY SENSE of God they didn’t necessarily believe in the God of the Bible
The idea behind this is that God is good and He wants everyone to be NICE
EVERYONE goes to Heaven when they die
God is there to help you if you really need something
BUT…
Otherwise, He STAYS OUT OF YOUR LIFE
MORALISTIC = God wants you to be good
THERAPEUTIC = God is there to help you out when you need it
DEISM = God basically stays out of your life otherwise and is not actually involved in your life
There are about 5 characteristics of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, but these are three of the critical ones
The idea of DEISM…
“Yeah God exists, but He is not really involved in our lives…”
This is PREVALENT IN OUR WORLD
So is the last theory of God
THE LACK OF GOD
The world doesn’t HAVE God and DOESN’T NEED God
ALL THERE IS IS STUFF!!
AND YET…
This question is DISTINCTIVELY HUMAN
“Where do we come from?” and “Where are we going?” is INCREDIBLY HUMAN
The Catechism maintains that human intelligence is actually capable of finding a response to the question of origins. (Paragraph 286)
We can find some kind of glimpse of…
HERE IS HOW WE STARTED
HERE IS MAYBE EVEN WHO STARTED THIS WHOLE THING
IT IS POSSIBLE!!
BUT…
Often it is difficult by human reason alone to know with CERTAINTY that God exists and that He started this whole thing
BUT…
God’s REVELATION is NECESSARY for knowing this even more certainly
Also to know OTHER IMPORTANT THINGS about God
And here is God who reveals Himself to us
Paragraph 287 says, “The truth about creation is so important for all of human life that God in his tenderness wanted to reveal to his People everything that is salutary to know on the subject.”
God has revealed EVERYTHING we need to know about the creation of the world
He didn’t reveal EVERYTHING about how long ago was the Big Bang
Or how did that work, exactly?
God did not have to reveal all those things
BUT…
In his TENDERNESS, and His LOVE for us, God wanted to reveal to his People everything that is salutary to know on the subject
Basically, everything we NEED to know
Everything that would actually be HELPFUL for us to know
We should pause on that and realize something
There is more that human beings can dive DEEPLY into the WHAT and the HOW
BUT…
EVERY PART OF THE WHY AND THE WHO GOD HAS REVEALED!!
Every part about the WHY and the WHO that would be HELPFUL for us…
GOD WANTS US TO KNOW THAT TOO!!
GOD HAS REVEALED THAT TO US!!
Paragraph 288 says, “Thus the revelation of creation is inseparable from the revelation and forging of the covenant of the one God with his People.”
Remember…
God created the world so that we can have RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM
This next part is SO IMPORTANT
Paragraph 289 says, “Among all the Scriptural texts about creation, the first three chapters of Genesis occupy a unique place.”
Why is that SUPER IMPORTANT?
Because that is what we will talk about for the next couple of days
We base what we know about Creation off of what God revealed in Genesis 1-3
Here are some of the things that we got to know about God, the Universe, and ourselves from Genesis 1-3
THE ORIGIN
THE END
It ORIGINATES with God
It WILL END with God
Creation has ORDER and GOODNESS
THIS IS SO IMPORTANT!!
The VOCATION of human beings
Why did God create us?
He created us to KNOW HIM
He created us to LOVE HIM
He created us to SERVE HIM IN THIS LIFE
He created us to BE WITH HIM FOREVER IN THE NEXT LIFE
FINALLY…
Genesis 1-3 reveals the DRAMA OF SIN and the HOPE OF SALVATION
THIS IS ALL SO IMPORTANT!!
We have CREATION
We have THE FALL
We have THE PROMISE OF SALVATION
ALL THERE IN GENESIS 1-3!!
That is why for the next few days we will spend time looking at Creation based off of what we know in the whole Bible
Remember, we always read the Bible IN CONTEXT and in UNITY WITH SCRIPTURE
Specifically in those three chapters of the Book of Genesis
So here we go continuing the journey
Fr. Mike is SO PROUD OF YOU!!
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 286 "Human intelligence is surely already capable of finding a response to the question of origins. The existence of God the Creator can be known with certainty through his works, by the light of human reason, even if this knowledge is often obscured and disfigured by error. This is why faith comes to confirm and enlighten reason in the correct understanding of this truth:
Hebrews 11:1–3
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old received divine approval. By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear."
CCC 287 "The truth about creation is so important for all of human life that God in his tenderness wanted to reveal to his People everything that is salutary to know on the subject. Beyond the natural knowledge that every man can have of the Creator,
Acts 17:24–29
"The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything. And he made from one every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us, for
‘In him we live and move and have our being’;
as even some of your poets have said,
‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, a representation by the art and imagination of man."
Romans 1:19–20
"For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made."
"God progressively revealed to Israel the mystery of creation. He who chose the patriarchs, who brought Israel out of Egypt, and who by choosing Israel created and formed it, this same God reveals himself as the One to whom belong all the peoples of the earth, and the whole earth itself; he is the One who alone "made heaven and earth".
Isaiah 43:1
"But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine."
Psalm 115:15
"May you be blessed by the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!"
Psalm 124:8
"Our help is in the name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth."
Psalm 134:3
"May the Lord bless you from Zion,
he who made heaven and earth!"
CCC 288 "Thus the revelation of creation is inseparable from the revelation and forging of the covenant of the one God with his People. Creation is revealed as the first step towards this covenant, the first and universal witness to God's all-powerful love."
Genesis 15:5
"And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
Jeremiah 33:19–26
"The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Thus says the Lord: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time, then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests my ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the descendants of David my servant, and the Levitical priests who minister to me.”
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Have you not observed what these people are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two families which he chose’? Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight. Thus says the Lord: If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the ordinances of heaven and earth, then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his descendants to rule over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes, and will have mercy upon them.”
"And so, the truth of creation is also expressed with growing vigor in the message of the prophets, the prayer of the psalms and the liturgy, and in the wisdom sayings of the Chosen People."
Isaiah 44:24
"Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
who formed you from the womb:
“I am the Lord, who made all things,
who stretched out the heavens alone,
who spread out the earth—Who was with me?"
Psalm 104:5–8
"Thou didst set the earth on its foundations,
so that it should never be shaken.
Thou didst cover it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
At thy rebuke they fled;
at the sound of thy thunder they took to flight.
The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
to the place which thou didst appoint for them."
Proverbs 8:22–31
"The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of old.
Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth;
before he had made the earth with its fields,
or the first of the dust of the world.
When he established the heavens, I was there,
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
then I was beside him, like a master workman;
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the sons of men."
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse