20. In many ways God seeks contacts with us.

In many ways God seeks contacts with us.

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 20

Ave Maria Series

20.  How can we respond to God when he speaks to us?

To respond to God means to believe in him.  [142-149]

Abraham's departure by József Molnár. …..20

Anyone who wants to believe needs a heart that is ready to listen (see 1 Kings 3:9).  In many ways God seeks contact with us.  In every human encounter, in every moving experience of nature, in every apparent coincidence, in every challenge, in every suffering, there is a hidden message from God to us.  He speaks even more clearly to us when he turns to us in his Word or in the voice of our conscience.  He addresses us as friends.  Therefore we, too, should respond as friends and believe in him, trust him completely, learn to understand him better and better, and accept his will without reservation.

“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord: let it be to me according to your word.”  Luke 1:38

“If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”  Matthew 17:20

[142-149]

MAN'S RESPONSE TO GOD IN FAITH

142  By his Revelation, "the invisible God, from the fullness of his love, addresses men as his friends, and moves among them, in order to invite and receive them into his own company (Dei Verbum 2; compare Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; Exodus 33:11; John 15:14-15)."¹  The adequate response to this invitation is faith. --Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

143  By faith, man completely submits his intellect and his will to God (Compare Dei Verbum 5).²  With his whole being man gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, "the obedience of faith" (Compare Romans 1:5;  Rom 16:26).³ --CCC

THE OBEDIENCE OF FAITH

144  To obey (from the Latin ob-audire, to "hear or listen to") in faith is to submit freely to the word that has been heard, because its truth is guaranteed by God, who is Truth itself. Abraham is the model of such obedience offered us by Sacred Scripture. The Virgin Mary is its most perfect embodiment. –CCC

Abraham - "father of all who believe"

145  The Letter to the Hebrews, in its great eulogy of the faith of Israel's ancestors, lays special emphasis on Abraham's faith: "By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was to go."(Hebrews 11:8; compare Genesis 12:1-4.)⁴   By faith, he lived as a stranger and pilgrim in the promised land.(Compare Genesis 23:4.)⁵   By faith, Sarah was given to conceive the son of the promise. And by faith Abraham offered his only son in sacrifice. (Compare Hebrews 11:17.)⁶ –CCC

146  Abraham thus fulfills the definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1: "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen"(Hebrews 11:1.)⁷  "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness."(Romans 4:3; compare Genesis 15:6.)⁸   Because he was "strong in his faith", Abraham became the "father of all who believe".(Romans 4:11,18; Rom 4:20; compare Genesis 15:5.)⁹ –CCC

147  The Old Testament is rich in witnesses to this faith. The Letter to the Hebrews proclaims its eulogy of the exemplary faith of the ancestors who "received divine approval".(Hebrews 11:2, 39.)¹⁰   Yet "God had foreseen something better for us": the grace of believing in his Son Jesus, "the pioneer and perfecter of our faith".(Hebrews 11:40; Heb 12:2.)¹¹ --CCC

Mary - "Blessed is she who believed"

148  The Virgin Mary most perfectly embodies the obedience of faith. By faith Mary welcomes the tidings and promise brought by the angel Gabriel, believing that "with God nothing will be impossible" and so giving her assent: "Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word (Luke 1:37-38; compare Genesis 18:14)."¹²   Elizabeth greeted her: "Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord (Luke 1:45)."¹³   It is for this faith that all generations have called Mary blessed (Compare Luke 1:48).¹⁴ –CCC

149  Throughout her life and until her last ordeal (Compare Luke 23:35)¹⁵  when Jesus her son died on the cross, Mary's faith never wavered. She never ceased to believe in the fulfillment of God's word. And so the Church venerates in Mary the purest realization of faith. --CCC