Refer to our Sunday Experience pages to find different prayers to pray as a family sometime during the week as well as setting up a prayer space and other activities as a family.


For the Learn do the following:

1. Watch Video at the top of the page. (if you want more resources, or are interested in learning more about the topic click on the Extra tab).
2. Click on the appropriate grade for your child.
3. Read the "relates to..." section at the beginning.  This is helpful to understand what to convey to your child is important about this lesson.  It will        help make the lesson both an intellectual and a lived lesson.
4. Read through and familiarize yourself with the sample script. 
5. Teach your child the lesson, either using your own words or the sample script.
6. Either discuss the questions with your child (best option), or have your child write out answers to the questions.
7. Have your child do the activities and/or do the activities with them.  
8. If working with a parish return the appropriate material in the way they have requested.


All Content for "The Way", Learn, is original content and copyright of the Diocese of Kalamazoo and may not be copied, reproduced, or used without prior written consent of the Diocese of Kalamazoo.   © 2020 Diocese of Kalamazoo

Relates to Jesus: Jesus reveals to us who God the Father is, He says that He is the visible face of the Father. It is in Jesus that we understand God the Father better and love Him more deeply.

Relates to my Faith: If God is our Father, than we can understand how much He loves us, and we know how to approach God.

Sample Script:

As Catholic Christians, we believe in God. God has always existed and will always exist forever and ever. God is eternal and since He will always be with us, we know that we will never be alone. Further, Jesus has revealed to us that God is a loving Father who desires to be with us, His children.

We know that God the Father loves us for He created us freely, not because He was bored or because He needed to to give Him purpose. No, the Father created us because He wanted to. The Father is love and one of the things that love does is that when it is shared, love gives life. God, the Father wants you and I to experience life in the best way possible, meaning He wants us to experience a life full of love. To help us live a life of love, the Father created us in His image and likeness so we can see a little bit of God in ourselves and in others, especially when we show love, kindness, joy, peace, gentleness, and all the good things we have come to know in this life.

Being in the image and likeness of God, we come to understand that the Father created us lovingly as having an eternal soul that is meant to live forever with God and that we have physical bodies that help us to experience God’s love for us in this life. Our bodies and souls are to be taken care of and respected as they are gifts from the Father. And since our bodies and souls are gifts from God, and these are the things that make you you, each and every one of us is a gift from God. That is how special that you are! God created you as a gift to experience love and to share that love with all that you meet.

So this love that we have each received from the Father is not meant for us to just keep to ourselves. No, just as the Father freely shared His love with us by creating us and giving us life, so too are we called to share the love that we have received. We need to first share this love with God, thanking Him for creating us by living a good life by helping others and spending time with God in our prayer and when we go to Mass. We need to also share this love we have received from God with others, being kind to others and helping our family and friends and classmates when they are in need. When we respond lovingly to the love that we have received from God, we allow God’s love to be spread through our good works so others might experience this love themselves, truly making the world a better place.

A final note on the Father’s love: He created not only humans, but He created all the animals, plants, water, the sun and the moon. His love and care that He used in creating these things reminds us of God’s presence all around us. He wants us to remember that He is always with us and we can be reminded of His presence when we pet a dog, when we see a beautiful flower, or when we watch the sun set. God wants us to love these things as well, showing respect for and offering care to all creation so that His love can be communicated throughout the world in many different ways.

Questions:

Who revealed God as Father to us? 
Why is God revealed to us as "father"?
Why did God create us?
What does it mean for God the Father to love us?
How can we see God, the Father's love for us?

Activities:
Talk about what the good attributes of a father are, and how God the Father can do these things perfectly.

Draw some of the things of creation that you like the most that reminds you that God loves you.

Relates to Jesus: Jesus gives us knowledge of who God is so we can understand the relationship we should have with God, it is like His relationship with the Father.

Relates to my Faith: Our relationship with God the Father helps us to know how we should love and treat others as well.

Sample Script:

When God created all things, He wanted to maintain a connection with His creation. Just like a loving family member who wants to know about your day and be involved in the activities of your life, God wants to be involved in His creation. Especially with humans, who are created very good, being in His image and likeness, God desires to be in a loving relationship with us.

How does this relationship with God look? The first person of the Trinity was revealed by Jesus as the Father. So we can look at this relationship as one of a good father with his children. God the Father gives us rules, much like a parent will give us rules. It is important to say that the Father seeks to have relationship with us is not so He can control us or force us to live a life that is not in our control. Rather, He wants to be in union with us so that we can know and live what freedom really is. When we receive the love of God in our life, we come to know and understand what love looks like and how we can imitate that love in our life. When we live a life of love, we are showing just how beautiful it is to be in relationship with God. That is why He gives us these rules to help us live this way and be in relationship.

Did you know that our relationship with God grows stronger when we share the love He has for us with others? Because we are all our children of the Father, and remember that He wants to be in a relationship with all of His children, when we love our family members, friends, and classmates by being kind to them and show them respect, we communicate to them that they are loved. This makes the Father very happy and so He blesses us with His grace, just like mom or dad does by saying they are proud of you for helping your brother or sister or like your teacher does by saying good job for helping your classmate pick-up his or her spilled books. We can feel the grace of the love of God supporting us through our good works towards others.

Being Catholic Christians, we are blessed to have the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church, which allows us a special point of contact with God the Father through the Sacraments. These seven sacraments are gifts from the work of Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, who wanted to make sure there was a direct way in which people could encounter the love of God in their lives. These are all important, but there are two that are especially important for you as a second grade student.

First, the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We have talked a lot about the Father loving us and living in His love and being loving towards others. But you know, all of us, even adults, do not always receive the love of the Father perfectly or act lovingly towards each other at all times. Sometimes we don't follow the goodd rules the Father has established for us. So, just like when we make a bad choice at home and need to say sorry, sometimes we need to say sorry to God and ask His forgiveness for our bad, or sinful, choices. Reconciliation allows us to say sorry to God and if we mean it, God the Father forgives us and brings back into His love so we can grow again in our loving relationship with Him and with others.

Second, the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ; it is Jesus Himself who seeks to be intimating, or lovingly, with us in our heart. The Eucharist gives us strength to be close to God’s love just as Jesus was close to God’s love. When we receive the Eucharist, we receive the grace to be the loving person God asks us to be to our family, friends, and classmates. In the Eucharist, we find that we are specially united in relationship to God who keeps us close in His love, helping us to be the best, the holiest, person that He wants us to be.

Questions:

Why does the Father give us rules?
What does it mean for God to be revealed as a Father?
What are some ways we can see ourselves as children of God?
What do we need to do when we break one of God's rules?
If God loves us as a Father what does that mean we should do for our family and friends?

Activities:

Think of some rules that your family has.  Write some down (or discuss with your parent) and then write how they help you live a happier better life.

Draw a picture of someone coming to God the Father and asking for forgiveness.

Relates to Jesus: Jesus is one with the Father, and everything that God the Father is, so is Jesus. Knowing He is all-powerful, knowing, present, and loving helps us in our relationship with Jesus.

Relates to my Faith: Knowing the attributes of God helps us know how to live our lives for Him.

Sample Script:

God desires to be in union and relationship with all of us. He creates us so that we can share our lives with Him and with others. In sharing our lives with God, we come to know Him and learn a little bit about what He is like. Jesus has revealed the first person of the Trinity as the Father. Knowing this and sharing our lives with Him helps us to stay close to the Father as we realize that He is with us in a great many ways, accompanying us in our walk through life.

One thing we know about God the Father is that He is All-Loving. God is love, which means that all He can do is love. He can’t do anything else; He just can’t help Himself! When God creates, and when He especially creates humans, He loves us into being. With great purpose and intention and care, God creates us lovingly with a set of gifts and talents that put us on a mission to make Him known throughout our life. We need to recognize our dignity and worth that comes to us as children of God so that we can use and offer our gifts and talents in loving service to the Father and to our neighbor.

God the Father is also All-Knowing. God knows all as He is the Creator of all things. Just as mom and dad know so much about their children, being with them since the beginning of their lives, God even more so knows all about His children as He can see what is going on not only on the outside but on the inside as well. And it is for sure important to pray to God to tell Him what is on our mind and on our heart, but it is comforting realizing that the All-Knowing God is already working for you, on the case of hearing your prayer request.

God the Father is All-Powerful. We are always impressed by professional athletes. They can run faster, jump higher, make catches that seem unreal, hit or throw a ball further and more accurately then most, the list goes on. The power that these have is pretty amazing! Even more so with God… Think about it, God created the sun. God can calm a raging sea. God can change the heart of someone. God even conquered death. So, of course God can throw a football! The power of God is very mighty.

We know that God the Father is All-Present. God always has been, God always is, and God always will be. So, when you think about your life, there is never a time when God is not close to you. He won’t force Himself into your life, but He always present waiting to be invited in. He is certainly always loving you and me and desires us to never be separated from Him. The ever-presence of God should provide us with a great sense of hope and comfort knowing that we are continually being watched over and cared for.

Our understanding of these divine attributes keep our loving God from feeling like a supreme being off in the distance who doesn’t much care about us. Rather, it shows yet again His caring and compassionate self that wants to be involved in every aspect of your life.

Questions and Activities

Discuss how God is close to us even if he is all-powerful, all knowing, all-loving, and all-present.
Why would God be revealed as a loving Father?
Why did God create us?
What does it mean to be in relationship with God?
Why does God want to be a part of your life? 

Activities

Draw God in the four attributes discussed in the lesson (all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present, all-loving).

Write a prayer to God speaking to Him as a Father.

Relates to Jesus: All that God the father reveals in the Old Testament point to the greatest aspect of the Love of the Father, that He would give His son, Jesus, for all of us.

Relates to my Faith: God desires to be in relationship with each of us. The relationship of the Father is not just one of friendship but of our adoration and respect for Him as well.

Sample Script:

Since the very beginning of our creation, God the Father has had a plan for us to live in loving relationship with Him and with one another. This is why the first person of the Trinity is revealed as God the Father, because he wants a relationship with us, as friend but even more importantly as Father. The plan, which the Father had, has been distorted and made unclear for humans through man’s fall into sin, put God on a mission to seek out His people and bring us back into His loving care. There are a great number of instances in the Old Testament that show God reaching out to bring His people back. Let’s take a look at a couple of instances!

In the book of Exodus, in the 33^rd chapter, we see God and Moses discussing the people of Israel. God is frustrated with the people for their impatience and lack of faith. Moses is tasked with leading the people to the land promised to them by God but needs the Father’s accompanying presence. “Moses said to the LORD, ‘You, indeed, are telling me to lead this people on; but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, 'You are my intimate friend,' and also, 'You have found favor with me.'

Now, if I have found favor with you, do let me know your ways so that, in knowing you, I may continue to find favor with you. Then, too, this nation is, after all, your own people.’… The LORD said to Moses, ‘This request, too, which you have just made, I will carry out, because you have found favor with me and you are my intimate friend.’” (Exodus 33:12-13, 17). God assures Moses that He will be with him, right by his side, as a very close friend to support Moses in the mission he has been given. God won’t leave us alone in the tasks He has planned for us. The example of Moses of communicating with God and telling Him what is on his heart shows us that God wants to have that same closeness of relationship with Him.

In the book of Deuteronomy, in chapter 6 verses 4-7, we hear the great Shema prayer, a centerpiece to Jewish prayer that reminds us of the oneness of God and the call for us to never forget His loving presence. "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words which I enjoin on you today. Drill them into your children. Speak of them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest.” God wants to be our intimate friend and to have a personal relationship with you. We need to do our part to remember Him and His love for us at each moment as we live our life.

Looking at the Psalms, we see a number of instances pointing to the relationship of God with His people as seen through His servant David. David was king of Israel and had a profound and loving friendship with God, which David shows so wonderfully through the Psalms as there author. Psalm 23 portrays the loving guidance that God offers His people, wanting to be in relationship with them in all the moments of their life. Verse 4 states that “even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me”. Having a relationship with God allows us to know that God is always with us, even through the difficult and tough times of our life. This is a great source of comfort and something that we should never forget!

There are many more instances in the Old Testament, but these few examples should show us the enduring love and presence of our God who calls us to be in intimate relationship with Him.

Questions and Activities

What type of relationship does God want to have with us?
What does it mean for God to be called the Father?
How can we be friends with God the Father?
Why do we not clearly see the relationship God the Father wants with us?
How can we ask God to guide us and be close to us? 

Activities

Draw a picture, make a collage, use clay to make a sculpture or do some other artistic medium to depict God with Moses based on Exodus 33::12-13,17.

Write out what attiibutes you like in a friend, and in a parent.  Then explain how those attributes are found in God. 

Relates to Jesus: Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament. He is the living face of who God has revealed Himself to be.

Relates to my Faith: God's work throughout the scriptures shows to us that He works in all of us, and we are all called to be messengers of His love.

Sample Script:

God the Father constantly reaches out for His people. Even when Adam and Eve committed the Original Sin and disrupted the harmonious relationship between God and man, God sought to restore things as they were. He reached out to the Patriarchs (the early Old Testament leaders) to guide the people of Israel. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses; these leaders were given various roles to bring the people closer to God. Next, He reached out to the Kings of Saul, David, Solomon, and a whole host of individuals to further the mission of God. While much good was accomplished with these variety of leaders, they also fell short in many ways that left the people of Israel falling into the same old sins as before. So, God called upon a number of people to be herolds or proclaimers of His word that would call the people to repentance and to follow in the ways of the Lord.

The Prophets of the Old Testament were chosen individuals who were given grace by God to carry the mission of the Divine message to the people of Israel. These messengers, who were called from various walks of life at different ages and different levels of success from the eyes of the culture, were called forth to be the mouthpiece of God, the Father. God never stopped calling His people throughout the ages but the inability of the people to listen and adhere to the words of God necessitated the need for human messengers taken from the people to pass along what it was that God had to say. God, the Father chose to continue to send these prophets to give His message of His love and care for His people. This is a message of the love of a Father. Sometimes it is misunderstood as a message of an angry God, or a mean rule maker. But His message needs to be seen in light of how Jesus revealed God as the Father. When we see that we understand God's wrath of that of a dad protecting his family. We see the rules of that of parents trying to guide their children toward good things.

While there are a number of major (4) and minor (12) prophets in the Old Testament, we want to introduce you to just a couple in brief; Isaiah and Jeremiah.

Isaiah is one of the major prophets and is someone that we hear quite a bit about in our First Reading on a fair number of Sunday Mass’ throughout the year. A significant reason for this is because he had a lot to say about the coming Messiah, who we as Christians know to be Jesus Christ. Some of Isaiah’s most common verses center around what became known as the Suffering Servant, which spoke of one who would heal the people with His wounds and afflictions. We see Jesus here, who suffered and died for us through His scourging and crucifixion, bringing us healing from our sin that graces us with the eternal consequence of Heaven.

Jeremiah is another one of the major prophets, and offers you and me an important lesson on the time frame that God uses. We read in Jeremiah 1:4-10: “The word of the LORD came to me: ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.’ ‘Ah, Lord GOD!’ I said, ‘I do not know how to speak. I am too young!’ But the LORD answered me, ‘Do not say, “I am too young.” To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you…’ Then the LORD extended his hand and touched my mouth, saying to me, ‘See, I place my words in your mouth! Today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant.’ Our age, our experience, our knowledge of theology… When God calls you, know that He is calling you because He knows you to be ready and that He will give you everything you need to carry out the mission He has for you. Jeremiah was calling the people of Israel to have faith in God; he is also calling you and me to have faith in God.

These two general and brief examples afford us a great foundation of how the Prophets were called to share the message given them by God. God is calling you and me to be messengers of His word today… Are we listening and responding?

Questions and Activities

Why do you think God wanted to bring His people back closer to Himself?
In what ways is the God we hear about in the Old Testament like a Father?
Why did God call prophets?
In Jeremiah we see that God said, "do not say, 'I am too young'". If that is the case how can you be like a prophet today?
What are ways we share the message of God? 

Activities

Brainstorm different ways that you as a 5th grader could be a messenger of the love of God, come up with at least 5 different ways.

Write down a letter to friends that talks about God the Father and why knowing Him would be important.

Relates to Jesus: Jesus is the fullness of revelation of God, and the fulfillment of the ten commandments. It is in Him we have the greatest understanding of why we have the commandments, to know, love, and serve God in this life, so as to be with Him in the next.

Relates to my Faith: The commandments help us to live the lives that we are created to be.

Sample Script:

One of the ways that God the Father reveals Himself to us is through the handing on of the Ten Commandments. Specifically, we come to see God in the first three of these Commandments through the things that He asks us to observe. By coming to know what these three are asking of us, we come to understand a little better about who God is.

First, God tells us that He is One and that we should have no other gods before Him. Our God is not a god among many or a god that offers us the best deal. No, God is One. He alone is eternal, existing forever and always. He is the first cause of all things and the primary point of our existence. Anything else that would purport to be god or that we ourselves hold up to be god is idolatry (or the worship of another other than God) and is thus sinful. God is our Creator and creates us freely from His loving position as God, creating us to experience this gift of life that He has given to us. We grow in faith by worshiping God for His gift of life to us and please Him when we order our lives around Him, placing Him as our all-important center and inviting Him to participate in the good of our lives and allowing Him to eradicate that which is sinful or bad.

Second, God tells us that we are not to use His name in vain, meaning that not only are we not to swear using the name of God, but that we are not to use His name in any kind of loose way, rather only speaking His name in prayer or in reverence. We revere the name of God again as our loving Creator from Whom all grace and power and blessing flow and reserve the highest spot of honor for Him with our words and actions so that our relationship with Him might grow and that we might announce to the nations (to the people we work with, go to school with, spend any amount of time with) that He is God of all things. When we reverence God by upholding His Holy Name, we grow in faith by acknowledging His greatness and witness before others God’s dignity in how we treat not only His name but also the things that come from Him. Most especially, reverencing God’s name helps us to appropriately reverence the names of our brothers and sisters, recognizing that every human we see is a child of God that is due respect and dignity as being in the image and likeness of God.

Third, God tells us that we are to keep holy the Sabbath, the day of worship. Through the lens of our Christian perspective, we are called to keep Sunday as a holy day in which we worship God by attending the Mass of the Church and by spending the day relaxing from our weekly labors. We should find ways throughout the day to do something extra to learn about the Father; offering additional prayers to go along with the prayers we usually offer and finding some time to read the Bible. We should spend more time with our family and friends, learning more about them and what is going on in their lives. Our faith life here grows as we learn more about God and grow in relationship with Him, worshiping Him both in the Holy Mass and with our lives as we actively seek Him throughout our day. We seek to please God with our thoughts and actions as well, and by spending more intentional time with others, we come to treat our family and friends with greater respect and dignity, worshiping God by loving His children and living a holier life thus ourselves.

God the Father gives us the ten commandments as a guide for our lives. While it can feel like these are rules made up by someone that wants to control us, because we know God to be revealed by Jesus as the good Father, we know that these rules are to help us. Think of some of the rules we have as a family. Sometimes these rules are hard to folllow but we have these family rules to protect us, to keep us safe, and to make our lives better. That is what the Father does for us as well.

Questions:

Why does God want us to worship Him?
What does it mean to not use God's name in vain?
What are ways that we do or can keep holy the sabbath?
Why does God give us rules to follow?
What are some of the rules you have in your family and how are they like the ten commandments? 

Activities:

Come up with a list of ten rules you would have for you family if you were a parent.  Explain why you would have each rule.

Create a schedule for a Sunday that shows multiple ways to worship and be with God on that day.

Relates to Jesus: Jesus' incarnation shows us who God the Father is, His mercy, love, and fatherly care.

Relates to my Faith: Knowing God as the Father helps us to not only have right relationship with God, but also understand what a parental relationship should look like.

Sample Script:

God the Father, in His loving care and kindness, desires to be in union with humanity. To assist men and women in achieving this unity, God reveals Himself in many different ways. The ultimate example of His revelation is seen through the Incarnation of His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus reveals to those who have faith the love, the mercy, and the tender compassion of God the Father.

In Matthew 11:27, we hear Jesus say, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” The Father and the Son are so intimately connected. What connects them is a perfect and selfless love that is shared between the two for all eternity. This seamless communication of love pours forth an abundance of that same love that desires to be shared. God the Father throughout history reaches out to share this love, ultimately by sending His Son Jesus to show the Father’s love to all through His teachings and miracles. This knowledge of the Father through the Son is for all to come and realize so that life might be had to the full.

I think some examples of the above will be helpful.  One way Jesus reveals the Father’s love is through Jesus’ own Incarnation with His birth on Christmas day. God comes to be with His people and does so through the most powerful way by uniting with us specially in His Son. Jesus here quite literally shows us the face of the Father and boldly proclaims His love for us by entering our human scene. God does not come to us as a conquering king or as a vengeful warrior, but as a gentle baby who will grow and experience this life together alongside with the rest of God’s beloved humanity. In revealing God’s love for humanity, Jesus shows very specifically God’s desire to be united with us.

Jesus also reveals the Father’s mercy for us. There is a popular phrase about God that is most hopeful for all of us sinners; namely that His mercy outweighs His judgment. In the story of the woman caught in adultery, which traditionally is thought to be Mary Magdalene, we find Jesus freeing her from her accusers by challenging them to reflect on the state of their own souls first (paraphrasing here, let he without sin cast the first stone). Jesus tells the woman to go and sin no more, forgiving her first for sure but also challenging her to change the course of her life. God’s loving mercy does the same for us, if we just allow Him to. He desires that we each turn from our sin and seek forgiveness. God will mercifully forgive us our sins, rejoicing that one of His loved ones has come back. We need to be willing to reflect this important quality of God in our own lives with our dealings with families and friends and those that we encounter, showing loving mercy to all so that their life might be restored.

Jesus shows us the face of the Father through the tender compassion that He gives to those that He encounters. In the story in which Jesus raises His friend Lazarus from the dead, Jesus is seen weeping at the death of His friend and compassionately listening to Mary and Martha as they grieve the loss of their brother. While this particular story ends with the tender compassion of God raising Lazarus from the dead, this compassion of God is manifested in many different forms throughout our life. An example that is helpful is sometimes we have things in life that our burdensome for days, weeks, months, and even years. Things like a relationship or an illness; these things that are not easily fixed. It is amazing to see the tender compassion of God at work in the soul burdened with such things who continually offer this struggle to God in prayer. Some thing, some grace will occur that eases or even frees the soul from the burden and the light that shines through is none other than the grace of God at work in this person’s life.

Questions:

Why would Jesus reveal to us that the first person of the Trinity is the Father?
What does it mean for God to love us like a Father loves His children?
In today's world there are many imperfect fathers, how can we still understand the love of God like that of a father even as we have a hard time seing good fathers today?
What does it mean for the Father to be merciful, what does it mean that His mercy outweighs His judgement?
What does a good Father really want for His children? 

Activities:

Write out what you think are the best attributes of a good father.  Show how God the Father fits all these attributes.

Write a letter to God the Father speak to Him as a child speaks to a parent, let Him know of your fears, your worries, and the good things in your life, ask Him to guide you in your life.

Relates to Jesus: Jesus is the fullness of revelation and how we can understand and explain even those things which science and reason teaches us.

Relates to my Faith: Relying not just on science and reason, but using faith as well, we can come to a full understanding of the world created by the Father.

Sample Script:

There are a great many blessings that come from being a member of the Catholic Church. One of the greatest advantages is the fact that it is the original Christian Church that was set up by Jesus Christ. Further, the Church holds a seamless tradition that can be traced all the way back to the first Apostles who walked with and sat with Jesus during His earthly life. And still further yet, throughout the decades and centuries, the Church has grown in her understanding of all that has been revealed through the use of natural philosophic and scientific means that have assisted to unpack what is the fullness of Christian faith. The use of Sacred Scripture and all that has been revealed with the use of Sacred Tradition and all that has been prayed over and studied and put to the test and found true makes up the Catholic Church and our claim to having the fullness of the faith.

Now, at a foundational level, moving all revelation aside for the moment, we can be certain of the existence of God through very natural means. One popular strand of thought is the reality that exists around the order of nature. So many examples exist here, from the intelligence of cells that “know” to make x part within our bodies to the rhythm of the sun and moon and the necessary axis of the earth, it seems quite easy to arrive at the point that these can be no chance product of chaotic life but rather that there is a Designer that has given all the rules and purposes that have ordered these things.

Another example exists in the arguments for things like beauty. What is beautiful? While there is for sure some truth in the “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” idea, there is an objective beauty that exists. Nature is a good source here, a piece of art, a work of music, etc.; there exists the idea of beauty and its ability to grab our attention and inspire. There must be some point at which all beauty flows allowing for the order and harmony to exist and be experienced within our daily lives.

While these and undoubtedly countless other examples can be reliable guides for determining the existence of God by using our natural reason alone (science is such a helpful witness in providing evidence for the existence of God!), we also need to see life with the eyes of faith and revelation to come to know deeper truths about God. Science is not able to explain everything that we hold to be true in our daily lives, and so the gift of revelation within our life of faith answers some of the questions that we cannot discover using strictly our own gift of reason. For example the fact that God is not just a watchmaker, or a rule maker, or a tyrant, but in fact a loving Father. This dual approach of science and revelation, faith and reason, shows the holistic approach that God calls us to embrace in our earthly lives so that we may experience life to the full.

Jesus Christ is the fullness of this revelation, He reveals through His earthly life the reality of the loving Father that God is. Jesus shows the love of the Father through His teachings and through His miracles, proclaiming the mercy God has for His people despite their sinfulness. Revelation calls us to participate in the life God the Father has prepared for us, to live holy lives and receive the Holy Spirit so that our faith might be enlivened to do the same incredible things that Jesus, the Apostles, and the Saints have done throughout the ages. Let us use the gifts of our reason and intellect to continue to ask questions that come up in this life and have the faith to measure these questions in light of the teaching of the Church. Together, using our faith and reason, and most importantly, praying to God and inviting Him into our quest for knowledge, may we come to a greater understanding of the Love that desires us each to be full and whole.

Questions:

What does it mean that God is a loving Father?
What can we know about God using natural reasoning?
Why do we need to have faith with science (or reasoning)?
How does Jesus show us who the Father is?
How do the rules of the Church make more sense if we understand God as Father? 

Activities:

With your parents permission, research a couple of "proofs" of God on the internet (or have them print a couple for you), or look at the proofs in the script. Then try to rewrite one of these proofs in your own words.

Come up with some topics that science cannot fully explain. Write out how Faith might be able to give answers that science does not.

Relates to Jesus: The Son is eternally begotten from Father. “He is the image of the invisible God (Col 1:15), the exact representation of the Father’s Being” (Heb 1:3). The Father sent the Son, not only for our salvation, but so that we can know his love for us. 

Relates to My Faith: If I want to know and understand the Father, I must come to know and understand the Son. I can do this through the study of the Scriptures, especially the books of the New Testament, especially the Gospels, and through an open, honest, prayer life that seeks full dependence on God.

From the Catechism: (The Catechism is a book put together by the Church to contain the teachings of the Church, it is broken down into paragraphs that are numbered.  When the Catechism is quoted you use paragraph numbers instead of page numbers.  This program will link to an onlie version of the Catechism where you can read directly what the Church teaches, it will be abreviated by CCC and then paragraph number):

Catechism References: Click on the link: CCC # 232-267

Additional Verses: See Psalms; Song of Songs; Job, Isaiah, Lamentations, Jonah, Eph 3:14-15

Videos: 

Father Dan O’Reilly discusses God as Father: Click Here (2:53 mins)
Bishop Barron discusses who God is and God isn’t: Click Here (9:56 mins)

Scott Hahn discusses the Father in the prayer, the Our Father: Click Here (1hr 10 min).

Additional Narrative:

We already saw in our topic, The Existence of God, how we can come to know that God exists through the use of our reason and the created realities around us, and we saw that there even our built-in religious nature tells us something of the reality of God’s existence. However, despite his relationship with all those in the Old Testament to which God spoke “in the many various and fragmentary ways” he spoke to them (Heb 1:1-2) we did not really know for certain of God’s role as Father until it was revealed by Jesus Christ’s presence on earth. Certainly, throughout the Old Testament, we read about the fatherly attributes of God (and in some noteworthy cases, allegorical references to motherly characteristics as well--this should not shock us as it would not be possible for God to create woman if he did not know every quality and attribute with which he endowed her), but it is not until the Gospels that the “Logos” made flesh in Jesus Christ reveals God in his Trinitarian form with the first person being his Father in heaven. 

In fact, many times throughout the Gospels, we read that Jesus uses the phrase, “my Father in Heaven”. At Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan in the Gospel of Mark, the voice from Heaven thunders, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Mk 1:11). At the Transfiguration (Mt 17:1-5; Mk 9:2-8; Lk 9:28-36), the voice is heard saying, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, Listen to him.”  Additionally, in the Prologue of John (Jn 1:1-18), specifically in verses 14 and 18, John tells us that Jesus is God’s only Son who is at the side of the Father. This talk of God as a Father is new to the community of Jewish believers for up to this point, though the Old Testament scriptures often talk about the fatherly qualities of God and in masculine forms such as “Lord” (by way of analogy), he is never specifically referred to as a “Father” in the Trinitarian formulation of God until he is called such by Jesus. Still, it is theologically and ontologically incorrect to apply to God a masculine sex as it would be to do so a feminine sex. For while God differentiated humankind into “male and female” (Gen 1:27, 5:2), God is pure spirit--actually, he is pure act (Ex 3:13)--and as such is neither embodied nor differentiated into sex or any type of being. Jesus, on the other hand, became embodied, something that does not occur from all eternity until he takes on human form at his incarnation, and is embodied as a male (cf. Jn 1:1-18), and it is Jesus, the fullness of revelation, who reveals to us the nature of God as his Father and ours by his adoption of us through the merits of the passion and death of his divine Son (cf. Rom 8:15). It is through the Sacred Scriptures and Sacred Tradition that is, through the authentic teaching authority of the Church, that is, the Magisterium, that we can be assured of the fidelity of the revelations of Jesus as God’s Word. 

As is mentioned above we see in Genesis 1:27 and 5:2 that God created us in his “image and likeness” with physical bodies and eternal souls (cf. Gen 2:7; Eccl 12:7; Ez 37:1-14; Ps 16:10; Mt. 14:26). From the beginning of the creation of our progenitors (i.e. Adam and Eve), God’s covenantal caring and providential love--the Scriptures call this “hesed”--is clear. This hesed demands, in justice to God, a response of obedience in grateful appreciation for that undeserved love. 

Here, the Deist view of God may be brought to mind in which God is like a divine Clockmaker or Windup Toymaker that creates his clock or toy, winds it up, and has nothing more to do with it. The clock or toy does its thing while he goes off to some other part of creation because he’s too busy to care about it. This popular view of God was used by many in the 17th and 18th century (and still is by many today) to justify the belief that we are the masters of our own destiny, and there is no need to refer or abide by the Divine law. If God doesn’t care about me, then why should I care about him? Yet, this view is at best, immature, if not downright silly in light of God’s awesome reality. To say “God does not care because he’s got bigger and better things to do” is to call him a liar. The very reason God creates is not out of some warped or petty need to be loved or worshipped, this is only something our own petty, limited intellects can conceive about God, for he is perfectly, infinitely happy within his own Trinitarian reality. Rather, God creates out of love because his love is infinite and will not be contained. 

By way of analogy, consider the first time you were truly in love or even infatuated. Apart from the fact that you may have been embarrassed to talk to anyone about it, did you desire to keep that feeling to yourself or did you want to shout it to the world? Most likely your inner feelings would have loved to shout it from the highest mountain tops. So, your feelings of love may have been contained because you willed it so, but you could not stop them, and in a perfect world, you would not have contained them. 

Now consider the infinite reality of God’s love. Imagine those feelings of love you had or have, you who are finite and limited and can only have a limited.sense of love because of our limited human nature, and imagine the infinite feelings of love God has. God’s way of shouting it from the highest mountain tops is his creation. Every human being, every animal that is made, every new thing that comes into being is God’s love pouring out of his Divine Heart.    

So let’s go back to Adam and Eve. At first, they respond in obedience (though Scriptures never give us a sense of their gratitude). They are made in the divine image as male and female (Gen 1:27-28) and in fact, are given many of the powers that God has, such as free will and stewardship of the creation in which they are placed, and so they are already sharing in the divinity of God’s reality. But, the serpent comes along (allegorically, our principal fallen angel, Lucifer), puts doubt in their minds about what God has given them and what he has said, then outright lies to them about it, “For surely, God knows you will not die if you eat of it. No, for He knows well that if you eat of it, you will be as gods” (Gen 3:4-5). God had already given them the gift of sharing in the freedom and certain powers of his divinity, but Satan appealed to the built-in sense of divinity to which every human aspires (“I did it my way”, right?) in order to put doubt into their minds, make them believe that God was holding something back from them (covetousness, jealousy), and ultimately deceive and weaken their wills. They lost sight of God’s goodness and all he had done for them. It might even be conjectured that they were weakened by their own lack of gratitude. One gets a sense our progenitors took  God’s grace for granted. 

When God offers us his gifts, most especially himself in the saving action of Christ his Son, our response must be one of gratitude---eternal gratitude. This is why Jesus gave us the Eucharist (the word mean, “thanksgiving”) and Himself in Holy Communion. This is why the Church insists on the obligation of Sunday Mass and why God gave us the Third Commandment---Keep Holy the Lord’s Day. This commandment helps us to keep in mind the obligation we should be placing on ourselves to, at least weekly, formally offer a sacrifice of gratitude for all the God has given us, most especially the restoration of the possibility of eternal life through the sacrifice of His Son. As soon as we fall into the trap of thinking God doesn’t care if I personally attend Sunday Mass each week, it takes little time before we make our absence at the Eucharistic banquet to which he calls us each Sunday a habit, in which before much longer after that, we forget Him altogether.  If God has loved us so much, how is it that we fail to acknowledge that love with our daily response of love in return? 

How can we show our love each day to God who loves us so much? First, God desires us to give of ourselves cheerfully and generously, to put love into all the little things we do each day (St. Therese of Liseux) as a spiritual sacrifice (Rom 12:1). These sacrifices should then be offered to Christ’s sacrifices. We can do that through the prayer of The Morning Offering. We can, and should also offer all our prayers, joys, sufferings and good actions at the offertory in union with the priest at each Sunday Mass. 

We also show our gratitude for all God has given us and love for him, when we do spiritual and corporal works of mercy for others. The command to love our neighbor and do for them is not optional, as Jesus said, “Do unto others as you have others do unto you,” (Mt 7:12), and “Amen, I say to you, as often as did (or did not do) for the least of brethren, you did (or did not do) unto me” (Mt 25:40 and 25:45). By loving neighbor, we show our love for God and make ourselves useful and devoted servants pleasing to God and worthy of eternal life (cf. Mt. 25:23). 

Lastly, but certainly not least, we show our love for God by caring for his creation. When God created mankind, one of the first divine duties he entrusted us with was to be  stewards of His creation (Gen 1:28). The word used in this verse in many English translations is “subdue” or “have dominion over” all the earth and all that is in it. Sadly, many have taken and still take this verse today to justify the disordered, wanton and irresponsible abuse, exploitation, and destruction of the earth’s resources for personal gain. 

What is meant in this verse, however, is the responsible use and care of the earth and all its resources (CCC nos. 2415-2418). When we use the resources God has given us, whether we are entrusted with making impactful decisions being employed by the largest companies or are but an individual merely seeking to throw out an empty plastic water bottle, we are obligated as appointed stewards of God’s creation to prayerfully consider not just the immediate effects, but second, third order and all possible related effects of our decisions and actions. We must consider how our decisions will affect others in light of the Gospel, and decide and act accordingly, for we will be held accountable before Our Lord for our actions.  “For Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.  For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him.i He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Amen.  



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