1. Belief in God

Belief in God

and how to approach the sacraments; that is what I wish you to do. Go and fear nothing. I will help you."

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Understanding God's commandments and church doctrine is useless if those truths aren't put into practice, says Pope Francis. "A faith without bearing fruit in life, a faith that doesn't bear fruit in works is not faith," he said in a Mass homily, focusing on the James 2:14-24.YOUCAT catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 1

AVE MARIA Series

1.  For what purpose are we here on earth?

We are here on earth in order to know and to love God, to do good according to his will, and to go someday to heaven.  [1 – 3, 358]

John 14:6 sign along U.S. Route 66 in Shamrock in Wheeler County,Texas…..  1

To be a human being means to come from God and to go to God.  Our origin goes back farther than our parents.  We come from God, in whom all happiness of heaven and earth is at home, and [to where] we are expected in his everlasting, infinite blessedness.  Meanwhile we live on this earth.  Sometimes we feel our creator is near; often we feel nothing at all.  So that we might find the way home, God sent us his Son, who freed us from sin, delivers us from all evil, and leads us unerringly into true life.  He is “the way, and the truth, and the life (the Gospel of Saint John 14:6).”

“(God) desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth.”  (1 Timothy 2:4)

“You cannot imagine at all how much you interest God: he is interested in you as if there were no one else on earth.”  (Julien Green, 1900-1998, French writer)

SECTION ONE—Why We are Able To Believe

"FATHER, . . . this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."(John 17 3.)¹ "God our Savior desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."(1 Timothy 2:3-4.)² "There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved - than the name of JESUS."(Acts of the Apostles 4:12.)³ --Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

THE LIFE OF MAN - TO KNOW AND LOVE GOD

1 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. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life. --CCC

2 So that this call should resound throughout the world, Christ sent forth the apostles he had chosen, commissioning them to proclaim the gospel: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."(Matthew 28:19-20.)⁴ Strengthened by this mission, the apostles "went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it."(Mark 16:20.)⁵ --CCC

3 Those who with God's help have welcomed Christ's call and freely responded to it are urged on by love of Christ to proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world. This treasure, received from the apostles, has been faithfully guarded by their successors. All Christ's faithful are called to hand it on from generation to generation, by professing the faith, by living it in fraternal sharing, and by celebrating it in liturgy and prayer. (compare Acts of the Apostles 2:42.)⁶ -CCC

IN THE IMAGE OF GOD

358  God created everything for man,(compare Gaudium et Spes 12 § 1; 24 § 3; 39 § 1.)²²² but man in turn was created to serve and love God and to offer all creation back to him: --CCC

What is it that is about to be created, that enjoys such honor? It is man that great and wonderful living creature, more precious in the eyes of God than all other creatures! For him the heavens and the earth, the sea and all the rest of creation exist. God attached so much importance to his salvation that he did not spare his own Son for the sake of man. Nor does he ever cease to work, trying every possible means, until he has raised man up to himself and made him sit at his right hand.(St. John Chrysostom, In Gen. Sermo 2,1: Patrologia Graeca 54,587D-588A.)²²³ --CCC