2. Why did God create us?

Man’s Purpose

YOUCAT catechism +Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 2

AVE MARIA Series

2.   Why did God create us?

God created us out of free and unselfish love.  [1 – 3]

Don C. Bragg and son Kenneth, 2001. ….. 2

When a man loves, his heart overflows.  He would like to share his joy with others.  He gets this from his Creator.  Although God is a mystery, we can still think about him in a human way and say:  Out of the “surplus” of his love he created us.  He wanted to share his endless joy with us who are creatures of his love. 

“One must know man and human things in order to love them.  One must love God and divine things in order to know them.”   (Blaise Pascal, 1623-1662, French mathematician and philosopher)

God is love.  (1 John 4:16b)

"FATHER, . . . this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (John 17:3)."  "God our Savior desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:3-4)."  "There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved (Acts of the Apostles 4:2)" - than the name of JESUS. --Prologue, 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 28:18-20)."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 (Acts of the Apostles 2:42).6 --CCC

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

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Series 4 Introduction

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Series 4 Introduction:

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Series 4  is presented in an online classroom forum.  It is inspired by Mary Queen of Heaven’s request to Adele Brise in 1859 at Robinsonville: “Gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation,” Our Lady instructed Adele.

“ But how shall I teach them who know so little myself?” replied Adele.

“ Teach them,” replied her radiant visitor, “their catechism, how to sign themselves with the sign of the Cross, and how to approach the Sacraments; that is what I wish you to do.  Go and fear nothing.  I will help you.”

Robinsonville is now renamed Champion, a very small village 16 miles northeast of Green Bay, WI on County Highway K.  The Marian apparition site was given Church approval in 2010 and is widely known as Our Lady of Good Help. Recently, by action of the Catholic Bishops of America, it is the National Champion Shrine.

 Don L. Bragg, Rhinelander, Wisconsin, USA, is the catechist instructor who assembled the catechism  classroom plan with hyperlink features.  Bragg will be posting this online YOUCAT catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Series 4 each day at two locations:  www.facebook.com/youthcatechism and http://roadmapofthecatholicfaith.blogspot.com/  Only the blogspot has hyperlink capability.

The compilers of YOUCAT Catechism have referenced each lesson to the corresponding numbered paragraph(s) of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC).  Don L. Bragg has merged the two catechisms based on the numbered […..] references within the YOUCAT Catechism lessons. This permits each lesson to be hyperlinked through CCC to the cited books of the Bible by chapter and verse and to Church documents that are keyed to numbered footnotes.

The linking of sources in this catechol work will enable the student to look deeply into the heart of Catholic teachings.

I wish to thank St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, 1000 Goodyear Blvd., Picayune, MS 39466, 601-798-4779, stcharlesinfo@gmail.com ,

http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/ccc_toc2.htm  AND  the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, http://www.usccb.org/ for making the source linking possible.

Unfortunately, Facebook’s simple text program does not respond to hyperlinks, but the Blog posting allows you to bring up any of the hyperlinks.  We urge you to go to   http://roadmapofthecatholicfaith.blogspot.com/  to have the advantage of the hyperlinks with each daily lesson posting.

Only the selection of illustrations and the accompanying captions are mine.  ALL of the rest of YOUCAT catechism + Catechism  of the Catholic Church Series 4 is the work of the Catholic Bishops of the World and their committees.  It was Pope St. John Paul II who directed that CCC be written. As a cardinal, Pope Benedict XVI saw CCC and YOUCAT to their completion.  Bragg’s work merely blends together the scholarly catechisms.

Additionally, Bragg will inject the Catholic Sunday Mass Liturgy into this catechism series on a weekly basis.

Don L. Bragg, 88, is a lifelong Catholic who attended the minor seminary at St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota and subsequently completed the 2-year Trappist-Cistercian novitiate at Huntsville, Utah.  He later was a catechist at St. Mary and St. Joseph parishes in Rhinelander.  He recently completed six years(2012-2018) of online catechism as a Blog and Facebook catechist.

The following is reference to this catechol work:

U. S. Copyright Law: § 107 . Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use⁴⁰

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;

(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

527 AMEN "YES, SO BE IT!"

AVE MARIA

YOUCAT Lesson 527

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

527  Why do we end the Our Father with “Amen”?

Christians and Jews alike from ancient times have concluded all their prayers with “Amen”, thereby saying, “Yes, so be it!”  [2855-2856, 2865]

This the procession statue of Our Lady of Good Help that is kept at the National Champion Shrine 16 miles northeast of Green Bay on County Highway K.  –Don L. Bragg photo

When a person says “Amen” to his words, “Amen” to his life and his destiny, “Amen” to the joy that awaits him, then heaven and earth come together and we are at the goal: with the love that created us in the beginning.  165

Embolism (from Greek, emballein = insert): a clause added to the Our Father when it is recited at Mass: Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days, that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

“The Amen of our faith is not death, but life.”  Michael Cardinal Faulhaber (1869-1952)

 [2855-2856, 2865]

THE FINAL DOXOLOGY

2855 The final doxology, "For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever," takes up again, by inclusion, the first three petitions to our Father: the glorification of his name, the coming of his reign, and the power of his saving will. But these prayers are now proclaimed as adoration and thanksgiving, as in the liturgy of heaven.( Comparre Revelation 1:6; Rev 4:11; Rev 5:13.)¹⁷⁶ The ruler of this world has mendaciously attributed to himself the three titles of kingship, power, and glory.( Compare Luke 4:5-6.)¹⁷⁷ Christ, the Lord, restores them to his Father and our Father, until he hands over the kingdom to him when the mystery of salvation will be brought to its completion and God will be all in all.( 1 Corinthians 15:24-28.)¹⁷⁸ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

2856 "Then, after the prayer is over you say 'Amen,' which means 'So be it,' thus ratifying with our 'Amen' what is contained in the prayer that God has taught us."( St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. myst. 5,18:Patrologia Graeca 33,1124; compare Luke 1:38.)¹⁷⁹ –CCC

Roadmap of the Catholic Faith online catechism lessons will resume anew on February 21, 2018 (my 88^th birthday!).

LESSON 527 brings us to the end of the YOUCAT catechism booklet. In this most recent online class instruction we have now merged YOUCAT and the related numbered paragraphs of the CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.  We also have spelled out the paragraph footnotes for the related Bible book, chapter and verse, yet keeping their CCC footnote numbers. Going further, for those who follow these lessons at our blog   http://roadmapofthecatholicfaith.blogspot.com/   we have hyperlinked the CCC paragraph references which will allow you to instantly skip back and forth between CCC and the exact cited verse in the Bible on the home page of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. 

We will see you back at this same location on February 21, 2018 and, as the Benedictines would say, “Pray for each other.”

526 "DELIVER US FROM EVIL"

AVE MARIA

YOUCAT Lesson 526

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

526  What does it mean to say, “Deliver us from evil”?

“Evil” in the Our Father does not mean a negative spiritual force or energy, but rather Evil in person, whom Sacred Scripture knows by the name of “the tempter”, “the father of lies”, Satan, or the devil.  [2850-2854, 2864]

The raging bull sums up optimism and prosperity as a modern day golden calf.  “The devil’s most cunning trick is to convince us that he does not exist.”  Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867, French poet). …..526

No one can deny that evil in the world is devastating in its power, that we are surrounded by devilish suggestions, that there are often demonic processes at work in history.  Only Sacred Scripture calls things by their name: “For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness” (Saint Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians 6:12).  The petition from the Our Father “deliver us from evil” brings all the misery of this world before God and begs God Almighty to free us from all evils.

“Be sober, be watchful.  Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”  1 Peter 5:8

  

 [2850-2854, 2864]

VII "BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL"

2850 The last petition to our Father is also included in Jesus' prayer: "I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one."( John 17:15.)

¹⁶³ It touches each of us personally, but it is always "we" who pray, in communion with the whole Church, for the deliverance of the whole human family. The Lord's Prayer continually opens us to the range of God's economy of salvation. Our interdependence in the drama of sin and death is turned into solidarity in the Body of Christ, the "communion of saints."( Compare Reconciliatio et Paenitentia 16.)¹⁶⁴ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

2851 In this petition, evil is not an abstraction, but refers to a person, Satan, the Evil One, the angel who opposes God. The devil (dia-bolos) is the one who "throws himself across" God's plan and his work of salvation accomplished in Christ. –CCC

2852 "A murderer from the beginning, . . . a liar and the father of lies," Satan is "the deceiver of the whole world."( John 8:44; Revelation 12:9.)¹⁶⁵ Through him sin and death entered the world and by his definitive defeat all creation will be "freed from the corruption of sin and death."( Roman Missal, Eucharistic Prayer IV,125.)¹⁶⁶ Now "we know that anyone born of God does not sin, but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him. We know that we are of God, and the whole world is in the power of the evil one."( 1 John 5:18-19.)¹⁶⁷ –CCC

The Lord who has taken away your sin and pardoned your faults also protects you and keeps you from the wiles of your adversary the devil, so that the enemy, who is accustomed to leading into sin, may not surprise you. One who entrusts himself to God does not dread the devil. "If God is for us, who is against us?"( St. Ambrose, De Sacr. 5,4,30:Patrologia Latina 16,454; compare Romans 8:31. )¹⁶⁸ –CCC

 2853 Victory over the "prince of this world"(John 14:30.)¹⁶⁹ was won once for all at the Hour when Jesus freely gave himself up to death to give us his life. This is the judgment of this world, and the prince of this world is "cast out."( John 12:31; Revelation 12:10.)¹⁷⁰ "He pursued the woman"(Revelation 12:13-16.)¹⁷¹ but had no hold on her: the new Eve, "full of grace" of the Holy Spirit, is preserved from sin and the corruption of death (the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of the Most Holy Mother of God, Mary, ever virgin). "Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring."( Revelation 12:17.)¹⁷² Therefore the Spirit and the Church pray: "Come, Lord Jesus,"( Revelation 22:17,20.)¹⁷³ since his coming will deliver us from the Evil One.  –CCC

 2854 When we ask to be delivered from the Evil One, we pray as well to be freed from all evils, present, past, and future, of which he is the author or instigator. In this final petition, the Church brings before the Father all the distress of the world. Along with deliverance from the evils that overwhelm humanity, she implores the precious gift of peace and the grace of perseverance in expectation of Christ's return By praying in this way, she anticipates in humility of faith the gathering together of everyone and everything in him who has "the keys of Death and Hades," who "is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."( Revelation 1:8,18; compare Rev 1:4; Ephesians 1:10.)¹⁷⁴ –CCC

  

Deliver us, Lord, we beseech you, from every evil and grant us peace in our day, so that aided by your mercy we might be ever free from sin and protected from all anxiety, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.( Roman Missal, Embolism after the Lord's Prayer, 126: Libera nos, quæsumus, Domine, ab omnibus malis, da propitius pacem in diebus nostris, ut, ope misericordiæ tuæ adiuti, et a peccato simus semper liberi, et ab omni perturbatione securi: expectantes beatam spem et adventum Salvatoris nostri Iesu Christi.)¹⁷⁵ –CCC

  

IN BRIEF

2864 In the last petition, "but deliver us from evil," Christians pray to God with the Church to show forth the victory, already won by Christ, over the "ruler of this world," Satan, the angel personally opposed to God and to his plan of salvation.  --CCC

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 28, 2018

 »

Eleventh century fresco of the Exorcism at the Synagogue in Capernaum.

Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 28, 2018
Lectionary: 71

Reading 1 DeuTeronomy 18:15-20

Moses spoke to all the people, saying:  "A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you
from among your own kin; to him you shall listen.  This is exactly what you requested of the LORD, your God, at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, 'Let us not again hear the voice of the LORD, our God, nor see this great fire any more, lest we die.'  And the LORD said to me, 'This was well said.  I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their kin, and will put my words into his mouth; he shall tell them all that I command him.  Whoever will not listen to my words which he speaks in my name,
I myself will make him answer for it.  But if a prophet presumes to speak in my name an oracle that I have not commanded him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, he shall die.'"

Responsorial Psalm.  PSalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 7-9

R. (8) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.

R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.

R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
"Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works."

R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Reading 2   1 CORinthians 7:32-35

Brothers and sisters:  I should like you to be free of anxieties.  An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord.  But a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and he is divided.  An unmarried woman or a virgin is anxious about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy in both body and spirit… A married woman, on the other hand, is anxious about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.  I am telling you this for your own benefit, not to impose a restraint upon you, but for the sake of propriety and adherence to the Lord without distraction.

Alleluia   MaTthew 4:16

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light;
on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death,
light has arisen.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel.  MarK 1:21-28

Then they came to Capernaum, and on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught.  The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.  In their synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit; he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Have you come to destroy us?  I know who you are—the Holy One of God!"  Jesus rebuked him and said, "Quiet! Come out of him!"  The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out of him.   All were amazed and asked one another, "What is this?  A new teaching with authority.  He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him."  His fame spread everywhere throughout the whole region of Galilee.