Summary of Lesson II

Well, Lesson Two has come and gone and below is a synopsis of Chapters 2,3, & 4 of the USCCA Study "Four Pillars of Faith." Before we do, the review to yesterday's lesson reflected the Trinitarian nature of the Catholic Faith. John Paul II oft used phrase Totus Tuus ego sum, "I am totally yours" reflects the nature of the Divine Persons of the Trinity in relation to each other, a total and complete self-giving to each other in infinite love. The Trinity's desire is for us, we humans, to enjoy forever the unity they enjoy. The Trinity is inviting us into their Totus tuus, a covenantal bond with us through Jesus Christ, who says to us, "I am totally yours."

Chapter Two: God reveals himself in covenant, a covenant that forms a family bond between himself and his human creatures. The Bible has six main covenants God made with humanity, each building on each other until the final covenant, Jesus and His Church, a covenant that fulfills all the previous coventants. He doesn't destroy these previous coventants, but fulfills them. His love is entire and complete and covenantal, a bond that makes an exchange of persons, and this Trinitarian self-giving is the basis of God's revelation. He desires to love us and gives himself entirely to us, and in return, requires that we give of ourselves entirely to Him. The conditions of self-giving must be mutual. Though God gives of himself entirely to us, if we refuse to respond accordingly, we break covenant with Him. This is why the phrase "unconditional love" should never be used of God's love for us; it distorts the covenantal nature of God's love and the mutual self-giving that is the condition for this love exchange. "Unconditional Love" really allows the perception that there are loop holes in our response to God. "Unconditional Love" should ONLY describe our loving response to God...a response that is unconditional, total self-giving on our part. This is a trinitarian response on our part.

Let's face it folks, if we are going to be in unity with the Holy Trinity forever in eternal bliss, we must begin to act out the life God is pouring into us!

Chapter Three: This chapter gets more lively, in that it shows us how the Word of God is transmitted AND interpreted, lively in that we as human beings like to be in charge of our lives, and interpret reality that best fits what we want out of life. What makes the Catholic faith so transformative is that it is the life of the Trinity that begins to animate our life. There is nothing that we can do naturally to live out this life, and there is no right given to us to redefine who Jesus is, or what He expects from us. Anything other than what Jesus describes and teaches is a false Catholicism.

The Word of God according to the Catholic Church is both Sacred Tradition And Sacred Scripture. The two cannot be separated but function as a whole. Reason being, you cannot read or understand scripture without an interpretation. And since interpretation is an act of the mind, we need the mind of Christ to help us understand God's Word correctly. The perfect illustration is the "Road to Emmaus" discourse, where to followers of Christ were sadly leaving Jerusalem for Emmaus, lamenting the failure of Jesus Christ, having been crucified just a couple of days prior. Jesus, who appears to the men, walks along side of them conversing about the previous events that last Friday. The two men did not recognize Jesus. Jesus corrected their gloomy outlook by explaining the Scriptures, from the beginning of Genesis through the prophets. And the two men's hearts burned within them.

Jesus Christ was interpreting the Scriptures with HIS understanding of them. The Scripture is explained in and with the mind of Christ. It is here that we must understand that this is how the role of the Church's Magesterium plays out in our life. In the name of Christ, and with His mind, the Church teaches the Scriptures to us with the understanding of Christ. The only True interpreter of Scripture is Jesus Christ. It is never, EVER left to individual Christians to decide for themselves who Jesus is, or what He means by what He says. To do so is to invite heresy, a term which means "to choose for oneself."

Private interpretation that deviates from the authority of Christ is virulent and pervasive in the Church today, among both Protestants AND Catholics. Protestantism, as a movement, prides itself of the right and freedom of private interpretation with the doctrine of Sola Scriptura (SS)which holds that the Scripture ALONE is the final infallible authority of faith and morals. But as we discussed above, interpretation is always involved in the reading and studying of Scripture, because reading and studying requires a mind. What SS really does is it cloaks human authority as infallible, saying that the views expressed are "backed by scripture." Who can argue with the Bible? So the Bible is espoused but human authority is the source, and this doctrine then, becomes a principle of division. You can bet that when there is any division in the Church, there is a human authority that is vaunting itself as Christ, destroying the precious unity that is to be a hallmark of Christ's followers, a unity that expresses THE ultimate unity of the Trinity.

In dealing with a small minority of Protestants who are anti-Catholic, we Catholics need to know the real issue at hand. If we are approached aggressively by these type of people, remember that we do not need to answer their questions that are devised to cause doubt in our lives. The challenges they pose is based on a human authority somewhere in their lives. WE ARE UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO SUCCUMB TO THIS AUTHORITY. It is a false authority.

All questions that aim at us trying to prove our doctrines from the Bible reverses the nature of Scripture and the authority of the Church. Remember, the Church precedes the Scriptures, the Bible is the Catholic Church's book. To stand upon the written Word of God is to stand with and under the authority of the Catholic Church. You do NOT have to prove from Scripture why we believe what we believe. We believe it because the authority of the Church beckons us to do so. The anti-Catholic has to show why they can privately interpret, and show us where they get this authority. They will NEVER be able to do this, which leads to greater frustration for them. The best thing to do is to push the onus of proof onto the anti-catholic to prove their right to privately interpret. Don't bother getting into Bible sword play. It's a waste of time and you'll be frustrated.

A word about difficult areas of teaching...sometimes we face some king-size boulders in the soil of our souls. Whether it be because we were told to be conciliatory to keep the peace by others over us in authority, or if you are just plain afraid of confrontation, if you give in to the attacks of those who wish to proseltyze you into the Protestant faith, then you need to do some soul searching. We are, in charity, supposed to love everyone around us as brothers and sisters, even our enemies. When an anti-Catholic attacks your Catholic faith, you must, IN LOVE, oppose his or her tactics. For confounding and destroying the tactics they use on you will not only save you from doubt, but will show these dear committed folks that the Catholic faith is no wimpy faith. It can withstand the very gates of hell. Don't wimp out and concede to these people! Follow the example of Jesus; do what he did and stand up to them in love! Be loving, but be tough!

Chapter Three: This section can be summed up as follows: our only adequate response is faith, which works through obedience. We cannot prove the existence of God, we cannot come up with ANY scientific means to know why we believe is revelation; reason must take a back seat to faith. Faith is not resistant to reason and is friends with it. But reason must never rule, Faith rules. All faith in God submits to the authority of God in the Church. It never deviates from this. Why? As the Baltimore Catechism defines faith: "Catholic faith believes everything the Church teaches without doubt, for it is impossible for God to be deceived or to deceive."

Lesson Three for next week: Read Chapters six, seven and eight. It looks to be wonderful, fast moving expose of the heart of the Gospel dealing with the topics of Creation, the Fall and sin, and the sacrifice of Jesus to restore humanity. Don't miss this one if you can; it lays the foundation of the Catholic Gospel we are to be proclaiming!