JESUS CHRIST:GOD’S REVELATION TO THE WORLD

TRUE HAPPINESS

“Happy the people so blessed; happy the people whose God is the Lord.” (Ps 144:15)

But, what is happiness?

GOD: THE SOURCE OF

TRUE HAPPINESS

WE ALL WANT TO BE HAPPY!

because

WE WERE MADE TO BE HAPPY!

“True happiness is found . . . In God alone, the source of every good and of all love” (CCC, 1723).

Nothing in this life can make us fully content or

perfectly happy.

Why is this?

God gave us a hunger for happiness!

Only God can fulfill this hunger because he

placed it in us!

St. Augustine:

“Our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

THE RESTLESS HUMAN HEART

Do you ever wonder what is beyond the stars?

Do you ever question the meaning of life?

Do you ever think about where your life is going?

Do you ever wonder what will happen to you after you die?

QUESTIONING MINDS

WE ARE RELIGIOUS BY NATURE

In spite of the prevalence of irreligion and secularism, most people still belong to an organized religion.

We have always searched for God and given expression to

this quest.

God speaks to us through our human

reason, through prayer, and through our

hearts. He calls us first.

Something does not come out of nothing!

KNOWING GOD THROUGH NATURAL REVELATION

Because we are created in God’s image, we are

endowed with intelligence.

Look at the world around us.

Where did all these beautiful things come

from if not from the beautiful One who made

them?

The Church teaches that human intelligence can

discover God.

CONTEMPLATING CREATION

“CONVERGING AND CONVINCING ARGUMENTS” OF GOD’S EXISTENCE(ACCORDING TO ST. THOMAS AQUINAS)

Unmoved Mover

First Cause

Everything comes from Something ”Cosmological Argument”

Supreme Model

Grand Designer

Our lives have meaning!

Beauty

Truth

Moral goodness

Personal Conscience

Justice

Love

Intelligence

CONTEMPLATING THE HUMAN PERSON

KNOWING GOD THROUGHDIVINE REVELATION

Human language and human reason cannot fully describe God or really know

what God is like.

God is truly a mystery!

That is why God does not leave us to our own limited knowledge. He gives us

Divine Revelation.

WHAT IS DIVINE REVELATION?

God’s free gift of self-communication by which he makes known his divine plan

God tells us who he really is through the events of Salvation History

God invites us to live in covenant with him

The greatest sign of God’s love was the sending of his Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Savior from sin and death

God’s creation of the world begins Salvation History (the account of God’s saving activity for humankind).

God intended from the very beginning to invite humans to live in intimate union with him.

God remains faithful to us despite our sinfulness.

SALVATION HISTORY

GOD’S COVENANTS WITH HUMANKIND

HANDING DOWN DIVINE REVELATION

SACRED TRADITION

The word tradition means “handing down.”

The Apostles preached the Gospel to all nations.

They chose men to succeed them (bishops headed by the Bishop of Rome).

SACRED SCRIPTURE

The word bible means “books.”

Jesus gave the Apostles the authority to interpret the divinely inspired Scriptures.

This teaching authority is known as the Magisterium.

““Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who

sends me.”sends me.”

FAITH: OUR RESPONSE TO DIVINE REVELATION

IMPETUOUS

BRAVE

HEADSTRONG

COMPASSIONATE

HEROIC

BORN LEADER

“And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates

of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you

the key of the kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;

and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”

(Mt 16: 18-19).

ST. PETER