In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son.

— Hebrews 1:1–2

Either before you arrive or as you wait for class to begin, find this short passage from Sacred Scripture in your Bible or through an online search. Reading it will prepare you for this week’s material.

—Ephesians 1:3–10

Almighty Father, reveal to us the fullness of your truth in Christ your beloved Son. Send your Holy Spirit upon us so that our minds and hearts may receive your teaching. Give us knowledge of the Scriptures so that we might know you and consent to the teachings of your holy Church. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

As you watch the video lesson, refer to these key highlights. Feel free to use the space provided to take notes.

• Supernatural faith is a gift from God that allows us to know God personally and believe in his revelation.

• Revelation is God’s self-disclosure by which he shares his life with us in Christ.

• God reveals himself through the prophetic writings of the Old Testament and the apostolic writings of the New Testament.

• While God is the principal author of Scripture, at the same time, human authors were inspired to write in the literary forms of their respective times and places.

• The Scriptures should be read within the context of the apostolic traditions and the Tradition of the Catholic Church, which assures a faithful and consistent reading down through time.

• The Catholic Church is subordinate to Scripture but has the authority to define without error what is revealed in Scripture. This solemn function pertains to the Catholic bishops who exercise the Magisterium, or teaching office, of the Catholic Church, under the bishop of Rome, the pope.

Wisdom of the Saints

The first thing that is necessary for every Christian is faith. . . . Faith brings about [various] good effects. The first is that through faith the soul is united to God, and by it there is between the soul and God a union akin to marriage.

— St. Thomas Aquinas, On the Apostles’ Creed

Take a moment to go through these questions with the group. For larger classes, divide them up into partners. Answers are provided to assist you in leading discussion.

1. Is it reasonable to be open to divine revelation? What does it offer us that natural knowledge of God does not provide?
   Divine revelation is necessary if we are to come to know God directly and personally. The Second Vatican Council teaches, “The root reason for human dignity lies in man’s call to communion with God” (Gaudium et Spes, no. 19). For this communion, we need God to speak to us and teach us, and to empower us to share in his life.

2. What does it mean to say that faith is a supernatural gift received into the human mind?
   Faith is a gift of God that moves us to believe God, saying “yes” to the whole truth that he reveals. It is supernatural because it is above and beyond our nature in two ways: First, it comes to us by an unmerited gift—we receive it from above—and second, it allows us to do something that is beyond the capacity of our nature by putting our minds in real contact with the living God as we share in his own knowledge of himself. It is a light that elevates our minds to know God personally, as he really is in himself. We could never know him in this way by our own natural powers.

3. What does it mean to say that Scripture is inspired? Why is it important that the human authors of Scripture are true authors?
   The Bible is truly the Word of God and truly reveals to us who God the Holy Trinity is. It also reveals to us truths about God’s revelation to Israel and the history of his covenant with his chosen people. It reveals to us truly who Jesus of Nazareth is and things he said and did to manifest his own identity as the Son of God. At the same time, Scripture is a book or a collection of books composed by human authors in different times and places who wrote in keeping with the customs and literary styles of their times and places. This means that the books are truly human books and can be studied in their historical context. But more fundamentally, they always communicate the divine truth that God wishes as their principal author.

4. Why are Tradition and the Magisterium of the Church essential to the right interpretation of Scripture?
   The Church is subordinate to Scripture, but the Church also receives the assistance of the Holy Spirit down through time to assure a correct reading of Scripture, in accord with past doctrine. Therefore, the witness of the Church’s Tradition is a safe guide for assuring a right understanding of Scripture.

As new questions arise, the Church may propose a more developed understanding of Scripture, but always in accord with the true meaning of Scripture and in continuity with past teachings. When Scripture is interpreted without sufficient reference to Church Tradition as well as the authority of the Magisterium, this can easily lead to serious error, confusion, and division.

Catechism Connection

God, who “dwells in unapproachable light,” wants to communicate his own divine life to the men he freely created, in order to adopt them as his sons in his only-begotten Son. By revealing himself God wishes to make them capable of responding to him, and of knowing him, and of loving him far beyond their own natural capacity.

— CCC 52

Discuss these questions with the group, pair them with a partner, or ask them to meditate on their own.

1. How have you come to have faith in Christ, his reality and his presence? Are you aware of his living personal presence? How can we allow this sense to grow in us?

2. What role does Scripture play in your life; and what authority does it have?

1. Why are the Church and her teaching important for your understanding of who God is?

After concluding your group discussion, return to watch the second video where converts to the Catholic faith discuss their conversion and how they live today as Catholics.

Rome to Home

In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will (see Eph. 1:9) by which through Christ, the Word made flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature (see Eph. 2:18; 2 Peter 1:4). Through this revelation, therefore, the invisible God (see Col. 1:15, 1 Tim. 1:17) out of the abundance of His love speaks to men as friends (see Ex. 33:11; John 15:14-15) and lives among them (see Bar. 3:38), so that He may invite and take them into fellowship with Himself.

— Pope Paul VI, Dei Verbum, no. 2

Supernatural Faith: Supernatural faith is a gift from God that allows us to know God personally and believe in his revelation.

Revelation: The manifestation of God in Christ by which he teaches us who he truly is and communicates to us a participation in his own life so that we might live in communion with him.

Reasons of Credibility: Signs God has given to human reason to demonstrate that the teaching of the Catholic faith comes from God (Christ’s resurrection, other miracles, the witness of the saints’ lives, the longevity and continuity of the Church, etc.).

Divine Inspiration: The grace by which the Holy Spirit enlightened human authors of Scripture so that they would commit to writing those truths that God intended to reveal to the human race.

Tradition: The apostolic and post-apostolic customs, sacramental practices, and doctrines of the Church that provide a living society in which the truth of God is transmitted and the Faith is practiced over the centuries.

Magisterium: The teaching office of the Catholic bishops in communion with the pope, the successor of Peter, who safeguards the communion of the whole Church.

God’s Word

I charge you to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; and this will be made manifest at the proper time by the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

— 1 Timothy 6:14–16

CLOSING PRAYER

O Holy Ghost, divine Spirit of light and love, I consecrate to Thee my understanding, my heart and my will, my whole being for time and for eternity. May my understanding be always obedient to Thy heavenly inspirations and the teachings of the holy Catholic Church, of which Thou art the infallible Guide; may my heart be ever inflamed with love of God and of my neighbor; may my will be ever conformed to the divine will, and may my whole life be a faithful following of the life and virtues of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom with the Father and Thee be honor and glory for ever. Amen.

This serves as a review of the material that your students can read after each class, but it may be helpful for you to read as well. Consider reading it before each class to better prepare you for group discussion.

The Supernatural Light of Faith and the Gift of Revelation

The Catholic Church claims that the highest knowledge we may have of God in this life is instilled in us through supernatural faith. By supernatural we mean “above and beyond nature.” Faith is a light given to us from God by grace, which elevates our minds so that we begin to know God intimately and personally, as he is in himself. By faith we also mean the act by which we believe God, saying “yes” to the whole truth that he has revealed. It leads to a kind of intimate relation of trust, something like when a friend tells us a profound truth of supreme importance and we believe him because of who he is.

Faith is first and foremost a grace (that is to say, a gift) of God given to human beings in our intellects, or minds, so that we perceive or judge intuitively that the mystery of God is real. By faith we can come to know that Jesus Christ truly exists, that God the Holy Trinity is real, that the Bible is an inspired book, and that the Catholic Church is of divine origin; that is to say, an institution truly founded by Christ. We cannot produce this merely by our natural learning or gut instincts. It is infused by the Holy Spirit, principally through the sacrament of Baptism. At the same time, we must consent freely to this gift, and it is sustained in us by our sustained commitment to Christ and the Church and by our active search for understanding. We can grow in faith and gain greater insight into the mystery of God, but to do so we must adhere to God with hope and love, and we must remain faithful to his teaching by actively living out our baptismal life.

Belief in God is not irrational or unwarranted. Each day we believe what other people tell us and learn truths from them by trusting what they say. For example, most of us have no firsthand knowledge of the planets in our solar system, but we trust astronomers who tell us that they are there. In this case, however, we trust in God who is himself the truth and

who reveals himself to us in Christ. God cannot deceive us nor can his true revelation contain error. Furthermore, God gives us what the Church calls “signs of credibility” that show the rational warrant for accepting the Catholic faith. These signs include the enduring reality of the Church, the consistency of her teaching, the holiness of her saints, and the moral perfection of her teaching, among others.

All the same, faith’s mysteries remain hidden from view. Our mind does not fully comprehend them. Even though it is reasonable to believe them (they are believable, and the signs of credibility confirm their truth), truths like the divinity of Christ and the reality of the Holy Trinity cannot be proven by reason. But by the supernatural light of faith, the believer embraces them without hesitation and affirms that they are true because God bears witness to us about them.

What does faith believe or trust in? The Church professes faith in God’s divine revelation. Revelation comes from the Latin word revelatio, which means “manifestation” or “self-disclosure.” In divine revelation God tells us who he really is: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We could never know this unless God revealed it to us and gave us the gift of faith to believe what he says. Indeed, the Father says it to us through his Word, his Son whom he sent into the world as man and who gives to us the Holy Spirit. In all this, he reveals the mystery of God himself. The heart of divine revelation, then, is personal. God wants us not only to know about him but to know him in person, to enter into communion with him by grace, and to share in the life of God.

God has revealed himself to us principally through the inspired books of the Old Testament (composed by the prophets and scribes of ancient Israel) and the New Testament (consisting of the teachings of Jesus Christ and the apostles). There is no authoritative revelation after the time of the apostles; that is, nothing that one must believe (Jesus Christ is the fullness of divine revelation and the apostles bear witness to him and hand on his teaching to us). The Bible (the Old and New Testaments together) constitutes a storehouse of revealed wisdom. Its teaching concerns God above all; that is to say, his identity. But it also is concerned with his covenant with the people of Israel, the moral law, the mystery of Christ as God made man, the mystery of grace, the Church and the sacraments, and the life of Christian discipleship.

The Catholic Church teaches that the Scriptures are the inspired Word of God. They have the Holy Spirit for their principal author, even as they are also a work of various human authors. Consequently, the Bible is wholly divine and wholly human. While it bears the marks of various historical ages and cultures, it is, at the same time, truly the Word of God. God has revealed in Scripture all that he wishes us to know for the sake of our salvation so that we may come to certain knowledge of the truth about God and a sure way of life that can conduct us safely to eternal life with him.

The Church herself is subordinate to Scripture and bases her doctrines and teachings on the authority of the Word of God. At the same time, the Church recognizes the essential role of Sacred Tradition for a right interpretation of Scripture. Tradition can be defined in two distinct ways: as apostolic tradition and as post-apostolic tradition. The apostolic traditions are those that existed prior to or at the time that the New Testament was composed. Such traditions include the celebration of the Eucharist and the other sacraments, which the apostles handed on to the Church.

The post-apostolic traditions are those doctrines, liturgical prayers, canonical laws, and pious customs that the Church has maintained over the past two thousand years, in fidelity to the apostolic deposit of faith. This tradition is overseen and maintained especially by the bishops of the Catholic Church, who are the successors of the apostles, as well as the head of the “college” of bishops, who is the bishop of Rome, otherwise known as the successor of St. Peter, or the pope.

The pope and the bishops may not innovate or add to the New Testament or the apostolic teachings, but they do identify or interpret that teaching, with the help of the Holy Spirit. That is to say, they have the “charism” in the Church to identify, over time, what it is that the Scriptures truly teach and what pertains authentically to the apostolic teaching of the Church. This is especially important in times of controversy. They have the final responsibility to clarify what it is that the Church believes and confesses, in obedience to Scripture. In doing so they assure the unity of the Church and her public witness. To do so they can and must clarify in doctrinal form the teaching of the Church in regard to faith and the moral life. When they do so, the bishops of the Church exercise what is called the “Magisterium,” or teaching office, of the Church.

Pope Pius IX, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Filius (1870).

Pope Paul VI, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum (1965).