The Blessed Trinity

The Blessed Trinity and Our Christian Vocation

The Blessed Trinity Chapter 1

Chapter 1 Faith and Revelation

Chapter Objectives The student will be able to understand: • The difficulties in knowing about God and knowing him as a Person • How God overcomes man’s difficulties to know him • Natural faith • Natural knowledge of God • God’s Revelation in the Old Testament • The Revelation of Christ in the New Testament • How Christ is present to us today • The effect of encountering Christ • The first effects of faith • The Deposit of Faith • Sacred Tradition • Sacred Scripture • The Church’s criteria for the authenticity of Scripture • How to read Sacred Scripture • Magisterium • Infallibility

Keys to Chapter 1 • Man naturally seeks God, and he, too, seeks out man. • Supernatural faith has its counterpart in natural faith, and revealed knowledge of God has its counterpart in natural knowledge of God. • The fullness of God’s Revelation in Jesus Christ. • Encounters with Christ through faith transforms lives. • Divine Revelation consists of Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, safeguarded by the Magisterium of the Church.

In This Chapter We Will: • Examine the Divine Revelation given to us through Jesus Christ and how God invites us to have a personal encounter with him; • Follow the Profession of Faith made in the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds with special attention to what Jesus has taught us about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; continued

In This Chapter We Will: • Examine each Person of the Blessed Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), and his relationship with the life of each individual; and • Explore the Christian response to God’s call to faith.

For Discussion: • How can we come to know God? • What can we learn about God through human reason? • What is supernatural Revelation? • How does God reveal himself to us today?

God and Man in Search of Each other Lesson Objectives The difficulties in knowing about God and knowing him as a Person How God overcomes people’s difficulties to know him

God and Man in Search of Each Other Basic Questions Why is it difficult both to know about God and to know God personally? • It is difficult to know God’s attributes because his essence infinitely exceeds human intellectual capacity, and it is difficult to know God as a Person because we cannot encounter him with our senses.

God and Man in Search of Each Other Basic Questions How are we able to know God? • God has searched out each person, offering knowledge about him and friendship with him prior to his or her advance toward him.

Guided Exercise • Unpack this opening sentence of the Catechismof the Catholic Church in terms of what it says about the inner nature of God, God’s motivation for creating human beings, and man’s final end. • “God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life.”

Guided Exercise • After completing a focused reading of the paragraph “The commandments were…” (pg. 3) discuss the following question: • How is each of the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity evident in the plan of salvation?

Focus Question • Why is it difficult to know about God? • Human intellects cannot grasp the ideas we have about him adequately. As St. Thomas Aquinas said, “Since our intellect does not adequately grasp the divine essence in any of the conceptions which the names applied to God signify, the definition of these terms cannot fully define what is in God.”

Focus Question • Give an example of an idea people have about God that does not fully define God. • God is immortal, which means he cannot die. This does not fully explain the nature of God’s life.

Focus Question • Why is it difficult to know God personally? • He is unknowable by the human senses since he is pure spirit.

Focus Question • How does the text explain St. Columbanus’s explanation of the knowledge of God? • Intellectual knowledge of God is not enough.

Guided Exercise • After reading “The Human Desire to Know God” (p. 4), develop a philosophical argument for the existence of God.

Focus Question • What freedom does God give to man? • He gives the freedom to know, love, and serve him or to reject him.

Focus Question • How did Adam and Eve exercise their freedom? • They chose disobedience over obedience and severed their relationship with God.

Focus Question • How is Original Sin evident in the life of each person, even today? • It is evident in the tendency to sin, weakened will and intellect, sickness, pain, and death.

Focus Question • How are the Ten Commandments an act of mercy? • They provide a blueprint for correct moral choices; by them people can more easily know God’s will and differentiate good from evil actions.

Guided Exercise • After reading “Do You Know, or Do You Really Know?” (p. 5), discuss the following question: • How does the story of Alice and Teresa illustrate—when it comes to persons, whether the person is a human being or God—we need both “saber” and “conocer”?

Focus Question • What gift did God give man to place him above all creation? • God gave man free will and an immortal soul.

Focus Question • What does it mean to say, in the human-divine friendship, God chooses man first? • Since he created man, God’s desire for friendship with each person precedes any desire for friendship with him.

Focus Question • How has God revealed himself to people? • God has revealed himself in creation, in Divine Revelation; and, most of all, through his Son.

Natural Faith and Natural Knowledge of God Lesson Objectives Natural faith Natural knowledge of God

Natural Faith and Natural Knowledge of God Basic Questions • What is natural faith? • Much of what is known about the world is through natural faith. That is, one knows by believing what trustworthy authority reveals.

Natural Faith and Natural Knowledge of God Basic Questions • Can a person know God exists through the use of human reason? • God’s existence can be known through the exercise of human reason as St. Thomas Aquinas showed, for example, through movement, causation, and design.

Anticipatory Set • Brainstorm things you believe to be true but which you can never verify by direct observation or personal knowledge.

Guided Exercise • Discuss the following question: • What is the connection between natural and supernatural faith?

Focus Question • What is natural faith? • It is belief in the testimony of a person because of confidence in the person who said it.

Focus Question • What determines the strength of one’s assent to natural faith? • Strength is determined by the wisdom and integrity of the person, tested by experience. Consistently true statements reinforce natural faith; falsehood can weaken the natural faith.

Focus Question • What experience does each person have to demonstrate he or she was made for God? • Nothing in the world completely satisfies anyone.

Focus Question • How did Pope Benedict XVI explain Plato’s search for ultimate truth? • Nostalgia (or a longing) makes each person seek God.

Focus Question • Why is science unable to discover something like a mother’s love? • Though a mother’s love for her child is real, it cannot be directly observed or studied with scientific methods. Science only examines an observable reality.

Focus Question • What are the tools used to search for God? • Faith and reason are used and applied to people’s experience of the Divine.

Guided Exercise • Discuss the following question: • Why was St. Thomas Aquinas called the “dumb ox” by his classmates?

Focus Question • Why is natural faith necessary for learning and progress? • If every claim had to be verified by every person, no one could learn very much.

Focus Question • Under what conditions is it reasonable to trust other people’s conclusions? • A person can be trusted when there is sufficient reason to trust and little reason to doubt what he or she says.

Focus Question • Why should a conversation about the existence of God begin with reason, not faith? • While the Scriptures and Church teachings are solid grounds for knowing about God, they are not self-evident sources of authority. On the other hand, reason is a way to the truth that every person shares in common.

Focus Question • Why is philosophical knowledge about God not enough for people? • People were made to experience and love God, which exceeds mere rational knowledge. God’s interaction is personal. The Creator loves his creatures who have been made in his image.

Graphic Organizer • Complete the following table about three of St. Thomas Aquinas’s arguments for the existence of God.

Guided Exercise • Discuss the following question: • Based on the hints from Sacred Scripture as quoted in the sidebar “Seeing God Face-to-Face” (p. 11), what can be glimpsed about the vision of God?

The Revelation of Christ in the Scriptures and in the Life of the Church Lesson Objectives Revelation in the Old Testament The Revelation of Christ in the New Testament How Christ is present today

The Revelation of Christ in the Scriptures and in the Life of the Church Basic Questions • How did God reveal himself in the Old Testament? • God revealed himself to his Chosen People and promised a savior in the Old Testament.

The Revelation of Christ in the Scriptures and in the Life of the Church Basic Questions • Who is the fullness of God’s Revelation? • Christ is the fullness of God’s Revelation, to which people have access through grace and faith.

The Revelation of Christ in the Scriptures and in the Life of the Church Basic Questions • How is Christ present today? • Christ is present in his Church; in the Sacraments, especially in the Eucharist; in the liturgies; in his Word; in our prayer; and in the example of his followers.

Focus Question • What is the most basic question that should be asked about Jesus Christ? • How can one know with certainty he is truly the Son of God?

Focus Question • What caused the Apostles to accept Christ as the Son of God? • Their faith was based both on their personal experience with Christ and on grace, by which God revealed this to them.

The Blessed Trinity