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1
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- Faith Formation
- St. Michael the Archangel
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2
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- The holy, Catholic Roman Church believes and confesses: there is one
God, true and living, Creator and Lord of heaven and earth, almighty,
eternal, immense, incomprehensible, infinite in his intellect and will
and in all perfection. As he is
one unique and spiritual substance, entirely simple and unchangeable, we
must proclaim him distinct from the world in existence and essence,
blissful in himself and from himself, ineffably exalted above all things
that exist or can be conceived besides him.
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3
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- …is that of which nothing greater can be thought.
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4
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- One, True, Living
- Omnipotent
- Eternal
- Immense
- Incomprehensible
- Unique
- Substantial
- Unchangeable, Transcendent
- God is Love
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5
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- Creation “ex nihilo”
- Creation in time & of time
- Creation with Perfect Freedom
- Freedom of Decision
- Freedom of Choice
- Freedom of Blessing
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6
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- God’s Creation is not a one-time event, but an on-going work out of
love.
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7
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- For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made;
for what you hated, you would not have fashioned.
- And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved, had
it not been called forth by you?
- But you spare all things, because they are yours, O Lord and lover of
souls, for your imperishable spirit is in all things!
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8
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- God has an all-wise plan for His Creation.
- That plan continues under His loving rule and governance.
- Universal, Infallible, Immutable.
- Human Freedom is part of the plan.
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9
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- “Kabod” in Hebrew,
- “doxa” in Greek
- A manifestation of divinity
- Our response is acknowledgement & praise
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10
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- “But,” said Moses to God, “when I go to the Israelites and say to them,
‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ if they ask me, “What is
his name?’ what am I to tell them?” God replied, “I am who am.” Then he
added, “This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to
you.” Exodus 3:13-14
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11
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- ‘ehyeh ‘asher ‘ehyeh …
- ego eime ho on
- YHWH … Yahweh
- “he causes to be,” or
- “he brings into existence.”
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12
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13
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- Jesus = Yeshua, [Joshua,] "God saves,”
- " the salvation of God."
- Messiah, messias in Hebrew, Christos in Greek, meaning “anointed
one"
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14
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- The Good News: God sent his Son. [Galations 4:4-5]
- Son
- Born of a woman ... Son of Man
- Ransom ... expiation
- Adopted children & heirs of Abba
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15
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- Jesus as Word of God, λόγός, logos
- Gospel of John 1:1-5, 14
- Instrument of Creation and life
- Only Son ... become flesh
- Hypostatic union: Christ has two nature, human and divine,
"without confusion or change, without division or
separation."
- [The Symbol/Creed of Chalcedon, 451]
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16
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- Two distinct Persons
- Christ is consubstantial
- with the
- Father
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17
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- One God, One Being, three Persons
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18
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- In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God.
- He was in the beginning with God.
- All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be.
- What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the
human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not
overcome it.
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19
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- He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world
did not know him.
- He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.
- But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God,
to those who believe in his name,
who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a
man’s decision but of God.
- And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his
glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth.
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20
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- He 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.
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21
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- He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
- He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the
firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be
preeminent.
- For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell, and through him
to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross
(through him), whether those on earth or those in heaven.
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22
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- Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard
equality with God something to be grasped.
- Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human
likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming
obedient to death, even death on a cross.
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23
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- Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the
name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and
every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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24
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- "Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures"
- (I Cor 15:3).
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25
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- Our salvation flows from God's initiative of love for us, because
"he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our
sins" (I Jn 4:10). "God was in Christ reconciling the world to
himself" (2 Cor 5:19).
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26
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- Jesus freely offered himself for our salvation. Beforehand, during the
Last Supper, he both symbolized this offering and made it really
present: "This is my body which is given for you" (Lk 22:19).
- (A proleptic event)
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27
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- The redemption won by Christ consists in this, that he came "to
give his life as a ransom for many" (Mt 20:28), that is, he
"loved [his own] to the end" (Jn 13:1), so that they might be
"ransomed from the futile ways inherited from [their] fathers"
(I Pt 1:18).
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28
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- By his loving obedience to the Father, "unto death, even death on a
cross" (Phil 2:8), Jesus fulfills the atoning mission of the
suffering Servant, who will "make many righteous; and he shall bear
their iniquities" (Is 53:11; cf. Rom 5:19).
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29
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- Christ the Lord already reigns through the Church, but all the things
of this world are not yet subjected to him. The triumph of Christ's
kingdom will not come about without one last assault by the powers of
evil.
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30
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- On Judgment Day at the end of the world, Christ will come in glory to
achieve the definitive triumph of good over evil which, like the wheat
and the tares (weeds), have grown up together in the course of history.
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31
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- When he comes at the end of time to judge the living and the dead, the
glorious Christ will reveal the secret disposition of hearts and will
render to each man according to his works, and according to his
acceptance or refusal of grace.
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32
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- The Holy Spirit: Trinity, the Perfection of God
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Notes
