33. “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”

“Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 33

Ave Maria series

33.  What does it mean to say that God is love?

If God is love, then there is nothing created that is not carried and surrounded by his infinite benevolence.  God not only declares that he is love, he also proves it:  “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). [218, 221]

The left half of this photo is a “negative” image of a head  that appears on the Shroud of Turin burial cloth.  When the image is reversed, as seen in the right half photo, the appearance is that of a tortured man.  The image was digitally processed by Dianelos Georgoudis.  The image is widely believed to be that of Jesus.  …..33

Jesus said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command you.” --John 15:13-14

No other religion says what Christianity says: “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16).  Faith holds fast to this promise, although the experience of suffering and evil in the world today may make people wonder whether God is really loving.  Already in the Old Testament God communicates to his people through the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.  Fear not, for I am with you” (Isaiah 43:4-5a) and has him say, “Can a woman forget her suckling child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?  Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.  Behold, I have graven you on the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49:15-16a).  This talk about divine love does not consist of empty words; Jesus proves this on the cross, where he gives up his life for his friends.

Question from a journalist to Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997): “What has to change in the Church?”  Her answer: “You and I.”

“True love hurts.  It always must hurt.  It has to be painful to leave him, you would like to die for him.  When people marry, they have to give up everything in order to love each other.  A mother who gives life to a child suffers much.  The word ‘love’ is misunderstood and misused so much.”  Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)

218, 221

God is Love

218  In the course of its history, Israel was able to discover that God had only one reason to reveal himself to them, a single motive for choosing them from among all peoples as his special possession: his sheer gratuitous love.(Compare Deuteronomy 4:37; Deut 7:8; Deut 10:15.³⁸ And thanks to the prophets Israel understood that it was again out of love that God never stopped saving them and pardoning their unfaithfulness and sins.( Compare Isaiah 43:1-7; Hosea 2.)³⁹ –CCC

221  But St. John goes even further when he affirms that "God is love"

(1 John 4:8,16.)⁴⁴ God's very being is love. By sending his only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret(Compare 1 Corinthians 2:7-16; Ephesians 3:9-12.)⁴⁵ God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange. --CCC

32. GOD, "HE WHO IS", IS TRUTH AND LOVE

GOD, "HE WHO IS", IS TRUTH AND LOVE

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 32

Ave Maria Series

32.  What does it mean that God is truth?

God is light and in him is no darkness” (1 John 1:5).  His Word is truth (Proverbs 8:7, 2 Samuel  7:29), and his Law is truth (Psalm 119:142).  Jesus himself vouches for God’s truth by declaring before Pilate, “For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth” (John 18:37).  [214-217]

Pilate asking Jesus, “What is truth?” Painting by Nikolai Ge, 1890. …..32

The truth of God cannot be “proved” or subjected to empirical tests, since science cannot make him an object of investigation.  And yet God subjects himself to a special sort of proof.  We know that God is truth on the basis of the absolute credibility of Jesus.  He is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).  Anyone who enters into a relationship with him can find this out by putting it to the test.  If God were not “true”, then faith and reason could not have a dialogue with each other.  An agreement is possible, however, because God is truth, and the truth is divine.

“If God’s point of view does not exist, there is no truth beyond our subjective perspectives.”   Robert Spaemann (b. 1927, German philosopher)

“After I discovered that there is a God, it was impossible for me not to live for him alone.”  Blessed Charles de Focauld, (1858-1916, Christian hermit in the Sahara Desert).

[214-217]

GOD, "HE WHO IS", IS TRUTH AND LOVE

214  God, "HE WHO IS", revealed himself to Israel as the one "abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness".( Exodus 34:6.)²⁷ These two terms express summarily the riches of the divine name. In all his works God displays, not only his kindness, goodness, grace and steadfast love, but also his trustworthiness, constancy, faithfulness and truth. "I give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness."( Psalm 138:2; compare Ps 85:11.)²⁸ He is the Truth, for "God is light and in him  there is no darkness"; "God is love", as the apostle John teaches.( 1 John 1:5; 1 Jn 4:8. )² –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

God is Truth

215   "The sum of your word is truth; and every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever."(  Psalm 119:160.)³⁰ "And now, O LORD God, you are God, and your words are true";( 2 Samuel 7:28.)³¹ this is why God's promises always come true.( Compare Deuteronomy 7:9.)³² God is Truth itself, whose words cannot deceive. This is why one can abandon oneself in full trust to the truth and faithfulness of his word in all things. The beginning of sin and of man's fall was due to a lie of the tempter who induced doubt of God's word, kindness and faithfulness. --CCC

216   God's truth is his wisdom, which commands the whole created order and governs the world.( Compare Wisdom 13:1-9.)³³ God, who alone made heaven and earth, can alone impart true knowledge of every created thing in relation to himself.( Compare Psalm 115:15; Wisdom 7:17-21.)³⁴ --CCC

217   God is also truthful when he reveals himself - the teaching that comes from God is "true instruction".( Malachi 2:6.)³⁵ When he sends his Son into the world it will be "to bear witness to the truth"(John 18:37.)³⁶ "We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, to know him who is true."( 1 John 5:20; compare John 17:3.)³⁷ --CCC

31. I AM WHO AM

I AM WHO AM 

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 31

Ave Maria Series

31.  Why does God give himself a name?

God gives himself a name so as to make it possible to address him.  [203-213, 230-231]

Moses and the Burning Bush.  …..3

God does not wish to remain incognito.  He does not want to be revered as a “higher being” that is merely sensed or surmised.  God wishes to be known and to be called upon as someone real and active.  In the burning bush God reveals to Moses his name: Yhwh (Exodus: 3:14).  God make it possible for his people to address him, but he still remains a hidden God, the present mystery.  Out of reverence for God, the name of God was not (and is not) spoken in Israel; the title Adonai  (Lord) is substituted.  This same word is used by the New Testament when it glorifies Jesus as true God: “Jesus is Lord!”  (Romans 10:19).

Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”  God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”  And he said, “Say this to the sons of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’”  God also said to Moses, “Say this to the sons of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: this is my name forever, and this I am to be remembered throughout all generations.”  Exodus 3:13-15

YHWH/YAHWEH  The most important name of God in the Old Testament (Exodus 3:14).  It can be translated “I am who I am.”  For Jews as well as for Christians, it designates the one God of the whole world, their creator, preserver, covenant partner, liberator from slavery in Egypt, judge, and savior.

[203-213, 230-231]

GOD REVEALS HIS NAME

203  God revealed himself to his people Israel by making his name known to them. A name expresses a person's essence and identity and the meaning of this person's life. God has a name; he is not an anonymous force. To disclose one's name is to make oneself known to others; in a way it is to hand oneself over by becoming accessible, capable of being known more intimately and addressed personal. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

204  God revealed himself progressively and under different names to his people, but the revelation that proved to be the fundamental one for both the Old and the New Covenants was the revelation of the divine name to Moses in the theophany of the burning bush, on the threshold of the Exodus and of the covenant on Sinai. –CCC

The living God

205 God calls Moses from the midst of a bush that burns without being consumed: "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."(Exodus 3:6.)⁹   God is the God of the fathers, the One who had called and guided the patriarchs in their wanderings. He is the faithful and compassionate God who remembers them and his promises; he comes to free their descendants from slavery. He is the God who, from beyond space and time, can do this and wills to do it, the God who will put his almighty power to work for this plan. –CCC

"I Am who I Am"

Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you', and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you'. . . this is my name for ever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations."(Exodus 3:13-15.)¹⁰

206  In revealing his mysterious name, YHWH ("I AM HE WHO IS", "I AM WHO AM" or "I AM WHO I AM"), God says who he is and by what name he is to be called. This divine name is mysterious just as God is mystery. It is at once a name revealed and something like the refusal of a name, and hence it better expresses God as what he is - infinitely above everything that we can understand or say: he is the "hidden God", his name is ineffable, and he is the God who makes himself close to men.(Compare Isaiah 45:15; Judges 13:18)¹¹ –CCC

207  By revealing his name God at the same time reveals his faithfulness which is from everlasting to everlasting, valid for the past ("I am the God of your father"), as for the future ("I will be with you").(Exodus 3:6,12.)¹²   God, who reveals his name as "I AM", reveals himself as the God who is always there, present to his people in order to save them.

208 Faced with God's fascinating and mysterious presence, man discovers his own insignificance. Before the burning bush, Moses takes off his sandals and veils his face in the presence of God's holiness.( Compare Exodus 3:5-6.)¹³   Before the glory of the thrice-holy God, Isaiah cries out: "Woe is me! I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips."( Isaiah 6:5.)¹⁴   Before the divine signs wrought by Jesus, Peter exclaims: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."( Luke 5:8.)¹⁵   But because God is holy, he can forgive the man who realizes that he is a sinner before him: "I will not execute my fierce anger. . . for I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst."( Hosea 11:9.)¹⁶ The apostle John says likewise: "We shall. . . reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."( 1 John 3:19-20.)¹⁷ –CCC

209  Out of respect for the holiness of God, the people of Israel do not pronounce his name. In the reading of Sacred Scripture, the revealed name (YHWH) is replaced by the divine title "LORD" (in Hebrew Adonai, in Greek Kyrios). It is under this title that the divinity of Jesus will be acclaimed: "Jesus is LORD."

"A God merciful and gracious"

210  After Israel's sin, when the people had turned away from God to worship the golden calf, God hears Moses' prayer of intercession and agrees to walk in the midst of an unfaithful people, thus demonstrating his love.( Compare Exodus 32; Ex 33:12-17.)¹⁸ When Moses asks to see his glory, God responds "I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you my name 'the LORD' [YHWH]."( Exodus 33:18-19.)¹⁹ Then the LORD passes before Moses and proclaims, "YHWH, YHWH, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness"; Moses then confesses that the LORD is a forgiving God.( Exodus 34:5-6; compare Ex 34:9.)²⁰ –CCC

211  The divine name, "I Am" or "He Is", expresses God's faithfulness: despite the faithlessness of men's sin and the punishment it deserves, he keeps "steadfast love for thousands".(Exodus 34:7.)²¹ By going so far as to give up his own Son for us, God reveals that he is "rich in mercy".(Ephesians 2:4.)²² By giving his life to free us from sin, Jesus reveals that he himself bears the divine name: "When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will realize that "I AM"."(John 8:28 (Gk.).)²³ –CCC

God alone IS

212 Over the centuries, Israel's faith was able to manifest and deepen realization of the riches contained in the revelation of the divine name. God is unique; there are no other gods besides him.( Compare Isaiah 44:6.)²⁴ He transcends the world and history. He made heaven and earth: "They will perish, but you endure; they will all wear out like a garment. . . .but you are the same, and your years have no end."( Psalm 102:26-27.)²⁵ In God "there is no variation or shadow due to change."( James 1:17.)²⁶ God is "HE WHO IS", from everlasting to everlasting, and as such remains ever faithful to himself and to his promises. –CCC

213  The revelation of the ineffable name "I AM WHO AM" contains then the truth that God alone IS. The Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, and following it the Church's Tradition, understood the divine name in this sense: God is the fullness of Being and of every perfection, without origin and without end. All creatures receive all that they are and have from him; but he alone is his very being, and he is of himself everything that he is. --CCC

IN BRIEF

230  Even when he reveals himself, God remains a mystery beyond words: "If you understood him, it would not be God" (St. Augustine, Sermo 52, 6, 16: Patrolgia Latina 38, 360 and Sermo 117, 3, 5: PL 38, 663). –CCC

231  The God of our faith has revealed himself as HE WHO IS; and he has made himself known as "abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness" (Exodus 34:6). God's very being is Truth and Love. --CCC

30. “The Lord our God is one Lord.”

“The Lord our God is one Lord.”

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 30

Ave Maria Series

Chapter One—I Believe in God the Father

30.  Why do we believe in only one God?

We believe in only one God because, according to the testimony of Sacred Scripture, there is only one God and according to the laws of logic, there can be only one.  [200-202, 228]

The Trinity, with three human figures, but identical.  By artist Jean Fouquet.  …..30

If there were two gods, then the one god would be a limit on

the other; neither of the two would be infinite, neither one perfect; in these respects neither of the two would be God.  Israel’s fundamental experience of God is:  “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4).  Again and again the prophets exhort the people to abandon their false gods and to convert to the one God: “For I am God, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:22).

The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.  Mark 12:29-30

MONOTHEISM  (from Greek monos=only and theos=God, doctrine about the existence of only one God): the teaching that God is a unique, absolute, and personal being, the ultimate ground of everything.  Monotheistic religions are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

[200-202, 228]

"I BELIEVE IN ONE GOD"

200  “I believe in one God”   These are the words with which the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed begins. The confession of God's oneness, which has its roots in the divine revelation of the Old Covenant, is inseparable from the profession of God's existence and is equally fundamental. God is unique; there is only one God: "The Christian faith confesses that God is one in nature, substance and essence."( Roman Catechism I,2,2.)³ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition 

201  To Israel, his chosen, God revealed himself as the only One: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD; and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might."( Deuteronomy 6:4-5.)⁴  Through the prophets, God calls Israel and all nations to turn to him, the one and only God: "Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.. . To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. 'Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength.'"(Isaiah 45:22-24; compare Phiippiansl 2:10-11.)⁵ –CCC

202   Jesus himself affirms that God is "the one Lord" whom you must love "with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength".(Mark 12:29-30)⁶ At the same time Jesus gives us to understand that he himself is "the Lord".( Compare Mark 12:35-37.)⁷  To confess that Jesus is Lord is distinctive of Christian faith. This is not contrary to belief in the One God. Nor does believing in the Holy Spirit as "Lord and giver of life"

introduce any division into the One God: We firmly believe and confess without reservation that there is only one true God, eternal infinite (immensus) and unchangeable, incomprehensible, almighty and ineffable, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; three persons indeed, but one essence, substance or nature entirely simple.( LateranCouncil IV: Denzinger-Schonmetzer 800.)⁸ –CCC

IN BRIEF

228 "Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God is one LORD. . ." (Deutronomy 6:4; Mark 12:29). "The supreme being must be unique, without equal. . . If God is not one, he is not God" (Tertullian, Adv. Marc., 1, 3, 5: Patrologia Latina 2, 274). --CCC

29. Belief in the Triune God

Belief in the Triune God

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 29

Ave Maria Series

29.  What does the Nicene (Nicene-Constantinopolitan) Creed say?

I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages.  God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made.  For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.  He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.  He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.  I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.  I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

Amen.

St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome.  By Catholic tradition, the basilica is the burial site of its namesake Saint Peter, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus and the first Bishop of Rome and therefore first in the line of the popes. Tradition and strong historical evidence hold that St. Peter’s tomb is directly below the altar of the basilica. There has been a church on this site since the time of Constantine the Great. Construction of the present basilica, replacing the Old St. Peters’ Basilica of the 4th century, began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626.           …..29