EXPOSITION GOD REVEALS HIMSELF A. In Creation 65. The first way God reveals Himself to us is through|¢reation.|~The heavens declare the glory of God, and the fimament proclaims His handiwork” (Ps 19:1). In creation, man hokds a special place. God said: “Let us make ‘man in our image, after our likeness” (Gn 1:26). God even gives us a share in His own creativity: “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it” (Gn 1:28). God creates the whole world for us, to support us in life and reveals Himself to us through His handiwork. “Since the creation of the world. . . God’s eternal power and divinity have become visible, recognized through the things He has made” (Rom 1:20). 66. Our Fourth Eucharistic Prayer clearly expresses this recognition of God’s Self-revelation through creatic Father in heaven, You are the one God, living and true... Souree of life and goodness, ‘You have created all things To fill Your ereatures with every blessing ‘And lead all men to the joyful vision of Your light .. Father, we acknowledge Your greats: All Your actions show Your wisdom and love, ‘You formed man in Your own likeness, and set him over the whole world To serve You, his Creator, and to rule over all creatures. Natural Signs 67. For us Filipinos, then, the world and everything in it are|natural signs of God — the initial way God makes Himself known to us. Yet in our everyday experience, we meet not only love, friendship, the good and the beautiful, bt also suffering, temptation and evil. All ereation has become affected by entered the world, and with sin death” (Rom 5:12). The “natural signs” of the Creator havethus So Ged chose to- reveal Himself in a second, more intimate way, by entering inta had created. B. _ InScripture, through Salvation History 68. The Bible records God's entering into a special cavenant relationship with His chosen people, the race of Abraham, the people of Israel. “I will dwell in the midst of the Israelites and will be their God” (Ex 29:45). Again, we pray in the Eucharistic Prayer IV: ‘Even when man disobeyed you and lost your friendship, You did not abandon him to the power of death, ‘But helped all men to scck and find you. Again and again you offered a covcnant to man, and through the prophets taught him to hope for salvation. Biblical Signs 69. God revealed Himself in stages. In the Old Testament, God revealed Himself through biblical [Signs made up of both \deeds ind Wardsi|He made covenants with Noah, wi and with aldoses. He performed great works for/His Chosen People, and proclaimed their saving power and truth through the|prophets| fof. DV 2: CCC 56-64). Through chosen men and women — kings, judges, prophets, priests semen, God led, liberated, and corrected His people. He forgave their sins. He thus revealed Himself as Yahweh, He-who-is-with His people. He is and gracious 'God,’slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity” (Ex 34:6). > inspired word in the Old Testament, God still reveals Himself to us, and inspires us to respond to His covenant, 70. Yet, even God's revelation in history. But God so loved the world, that in the fullness of time, He sent His only Son to be our Savior, like us in all things except sin (of. Jit 3:16; Gal Heb 4:15, CCC 65). Jesus Christ “completed and perfected God's revelation by words and works, signs and miracles, but above all by and| glorious resurrection from the dead” (DV 4). Thus the Risen Christ, prefigured in the Old Testament and proclaimed by the apostles, is the unique, irrevocable and definitive revelation of God. C. Inthe Church 71. But God’s definitive revelation in Jesus Christ did not stop with Christ’s ascension to his Father. Jesus himself had gathered around him a group of disciples who would form the nucleus of his (Church. In this Church, the “Good News" of Jesus Christ would be proclaimed and spread to the ends of the earth by the power of the Holy Spirit, sent down upon the apostles at Pentecost (ef Aets 1:8). “What was handed on by the apostles comprises everything that serves to make the People of God live their lives in holiness and increase their faith. In this way the Church in her doctrine, life and worship, perpetuates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes” (DV 8: cf CCC 77-79). PCP i summarizes this by stating that Sacred Scripture and the living wadition of the Church transmit to us the teachings of Jesus” (PCP IF 65). Liturgical/Ecelesial Signs72. God contines t manifist Himself today though tte Holy Spirit in the Church. He is present in the ‘Church's preaching the wih of Scripture, in its witness of loving service, and through the celebration. of its Christ-given Sacraments. Christ’s revelation in the Church is “the new and definitive covenant [which] will never pass away. No new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious ‘manifestation of our Lord, Jesus Christ (1 Tim 6-14: Ti 2:13)" (DV 4. 73. In summary, then, Filipino Catholics experience God's Self-revelation today. First, God shows ‘Himself in the natural signs of the beauty and abundance of our natural resources and our rich Filipino culture. Second, the biblical signs in God's inspired Word in Seripture, the book of the Church, reveal ‘Him. Third, through the Chureh’s diturgicaf signs, we encounter the Risen Christ in the Sacraments. Finally, God makes Himself known to us through the ecelesial signs of the Church's proclamation of the Creed and in her moral veachings and cominaitment to service. D. In Other Religions 7A. But many Filipino Catholics ask if non-Christians receive God's revelation, The Church, in her prophetic mission of “reading the signs of the times and of interpreting them in the light of the Gospel” (GS 4), discems the seeds of the Word in the history and culture of ail men of good will. Thus, even non-Christians “who do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do His will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience, may achieve eternal salvation” (LG 16). ‘75. For whatever is true and holy in non-Christian cultures and religions is accepted by the Catholic ‘Church since it “often reflect[s] a ray of that truth which enlightens all men.” Filipino Catholics, therefore, should “acknowledge, preserve and encourage the spiritual and moral truths found among ‘non-Christians, alse their social life and culture” (NA 2). PCP II provides guidelines for this inter-religious dialogue. It must be based firmly on the fact that sal in Jesus Christ is offered to all, and that the Church is the ordinary means of salvation ssince she possesses the fullness of the means to salvation (of. UR 3). This makes possible “openness in understanding the religious convictions of others. [For] ‘dialogue based on hope and love will bear ‘uit in the Spivit” (RMI 36)" [PCP Hf 112-13). IL, JESUS CHRIST: AGENT, CONTENT AND GOAL OF REVELATION 76. Nevertheless we Catholics must “witness to [our] own faith and way of life” in the Catholic ‘Church which “proclaims, and is duty-bound to proclaim, without fail, Christ who is the way, the truth and the life” (V4 2). Jesus Christ is “himself both the mediator and the fuliness of all Revelation” (DV 2 of CCC 65). PCP II puts it sharply: “We are followers of Christ, his disciples. We trace his footsteps in our times, to utter his Word to-others. To love with his love. To live with his life... To cease following him is to betray our very identity” (PCP 1/ 34). Filipino Catholics, therefore, recognize in Jesus Christ the goal, the content, and the agent of God's Self-revelation. A. Goal‘TT. As goal, Jesus is “the key, the center and the purpose of the whole of man’s history” (GS f0), in ‘whose image we all are to be conformed (ef. Rom 8:29). For it is through the Risen Christ that we shall share the Trinitarian divine life of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Therefore our present earthly life isa challenge to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” as St. Paul admonishes us (6f. Rm 13:14). B. Content ‘78. But Christ is not only the goal of God’s revelation, He is also its content, the Revealed One. In himself, Jesus reveals both God and ourselves. “Christ, the new Adam, in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of His love, fully reveals man to himself and brings to light his most high calling” (GS 22). Our Faith centers on Christ precisely because we believe we “are called to union with him, who is the light of the world, from whom we go forth, through whom we live, and towards ‘whom our whole lift is directed” (LG 3). Cc. Agent 79. Finally, besides being the goal and content of Revelation, Christ is also its agent the mediator (of. DV 2). “God is one. One also is the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who ‘gave himself as a ransom for all” (# Tim 2:3-6). Christ is revealer through his part in creation, through his becoming man, through his hidden and public life, and especially through his passion, death and resurrection. After his resurrection, the Risen Christ continues his revelation by sending us his Holy Spit, the Spirit of truth (ef, DV 4). ‘80. But how does the revealing Christ touch the Filipino Cubholic day? Clearly, shove his CThurch, the people of ‘God, united in his name. “The one madiator, Chris, established and ever sustins here on. earth his holy Church, the ‘community of fith, hope and charity, as a visible ganization through which he communicates uth and grace wo all ment” (UG 8). The Church herself receives Christ's revelation. She negards “the Scriptures, taken together with sacred Tradition, as the supreme rule of her fith” For they present “God's own Worl in an unalterable form, and make the voice of the Hily ‘Spisitsound agin and again in the wonds of the prophets andl apostles” (DV 21). IIL WHE! WE FIND GOD'S REVELATION A. Scripture and Tradition 81. The Sacred Scriptures, collected in the Bible, are the inspired record of how God dealt with His arose, then, as the expression of the people’s experience of God, and as a response to their needs. Wvely, the Scriptures form “The Book of the People of God” — the book of the Church. The Bible was written by persons from the people of God, for the people of God, about the God-experience ‘ofthe people of God” (NCDP 131). 82. The Scriptures, then, are never to be separated from the people of Ged whose life and history (Tradition) formed the context of their writing and development, This is best shown in the three “stages of how the Gospels were formed. First stage, the life and teaching of Jesus — what Jesus, while he lived among us, really did and ‘taught for our eternal salvation, until the day he was taken up. Second stage, oral wadition, After Jesus’ Ascension, the apostles handed on to their hearers what Jesus had said and done. Third stage, the writen Gospels. “The sacred authors, in writing the four Gospels, selected certain elements that‘had been handed on orally or already in written form, others they synthesized or explained in view of the situation of their churches, while preserving the form of proclamation. But always in such a way ‘that they have told us the honest truth about Jesus” (DV 19; ¢f. CCC 126). This shows how the written Gospels grew out of oral tradition, and were composed in view of the conerete “people of God” of the early Christian communities. Through His inspired Word in ‘Scripture, God continues to reveal Himself to us today. 83. Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together. . . flowing out from the same divine well spring, moving towards the same goal and making up a single sacred deposit of the ‘Word of God (ef: D1"9, 10). Traultian canbe ken ether as the process by which divine revelation, coming from Jesus Christ through the apostles, is communicated and unfolded in the community of the Church, or as the conéent of the revelation so communicated. Thus the living Tradition of the Church, which inchades the ‘inspired word of'God in Sacred Scripture, is the channel through which God's self-revelation comes to us. 84. As Sacred Scripture grew from Tradition, so it is interpreted by Tradition — the life, worship, and teaching of the Church. Tradition depends on Scripture as its normative record of Christian origins and identity, while Scripture requires the living Tradition of the Church to bring its Seriptural message to the fresh challenges and changing contexts confronting Christians in every age. Biblical Inspiration 85. The Sacred Scriptures are said to be “inspired” in a special sense — od just as some artist or author may be “inspired” to paint or compose. Rather, biblical inspiration means that the sacred and canonical books of the Old and New Testaments, whole and entire, were written under the inspiration ‘of the Holy Spirit, so that we can call Gad their “author” and the Bible “the Word of God” fef. DVI: CCC 105-6). God chose certain human authors, whe as true authors made full use of their human powers and faculties, yet were so guided by the Holy Spirit who so enlightened their minds and moved their wills, that they put down in writing what God wanted written. 86. Biblical inspiration, then, is a charism referring to the special divine activity, communicated to individual authors, editors, anal compilers betonging to the community, for the sake of the community. ‘It produced the sacred texts both of the Old Testament and the New. These texts ground the apostolic ‘Church which remains uniquely authoritative for us and for all generations of Christians. 87. But the Holy Spirit's work in Scripture touches more than its human authors: in some fashion it also touches both the proclaimers and the hearers of the word. “In the sacred books the Father wha is ‘in heaven comes lovingly to meet His chiklren, and talks with them” (DI 2/). Scripture thus supports and invigorates the Church (ef CCC 131-33). It strengthens our faith, offers food for our souls, and remains a pure and lasting fount for our spiritual lives. Through the Spirit “God's word is living and effective” (Heb 4:12), But we realize that what was written in the Spirit must be proclaimed and heard in the Spirit. ‘The Canon of Scripture 88. Because of disputes, the Church found it necessary to make a definitive list, a “canton” of the books which have been truly inspired by God and thus have God for their author (gf. CCC 120). The ‘Canon of Scripture is divided into the books written before Jesus’ life (the Old Testament) and those written afier (the New Testament). Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Church determined the inspired and normative NT books in terms of their apostolic origin, coherence with the essential Gospel message, and constant use in the Church’s liturgy. After a long development, the Church finally accepted asinspired, sacred, and canonical, the 46 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament that we find in our Catholic Bible. Inerrant Saving Truth 89. Since all of Scripture was written, compiled and edited under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture, firmly, faithfully and without error, teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures” (DI” JM; ef CCC 107), In recognizing the Bible as normative, the Church confesses that when properly used, Scripture imparts saving truth that can be relied upon to bring us into deeper communion with God. 90, But we must recognize that the Bible is a collection of historical accounts, doctrinal teachings, poems, parables, ethical exhortations, apocalyptic visions and many other forms. It was written over a period of more than a thousand years, separated from us by almost twenty centuries. Therefore, it is not easy to determine precisely what is the “saving truth” which God wills to impart to us through a particular book or text of Seripure. ‘naddition, the Catechism of the Cenalic Church reeninds us that the Christin Faith is not a ‘religion ofthe Book” Chrstinty is the religion of the Word of God, ‘nota writen word unable 12 speak, but the incarate and living, Wo” So ht the Scriptures do not emai a dead Kt, its necessary that Chast the etemal ‘Word othe living God, bythe Holy Spirt, opens ourmindsto understandtham (COC 108) B. Interpreting Scripture 97, St Paul tells us duat“ull Scripture i inspired by God and is useful for teaching —for reproof, correction, and training in holiness so that the man of Ged may be fully competent and equipped for every good work” (2 Tim 3:16-17). But the problem, of course, is haw to faithfully and accurately interpret Scripture. For the Filipino Catholic, the answer is clear. “The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word af God has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the Chureh alone” (DV 10). Four Factors 92. At least four factors play a significant part in interpreting Scripture: (1) the inspired human author's intention; (2) the text itself (3) the reader of the text; and (4) the common horizon connecting the original community context of the text with our Christian community reading it today. 93. First, the human author. Common sense tells us to find out what the inspired human author had in mind when interpreting a text. This involves some basic idea of the social, economic, and religious c 94, Second, the rext itself. We have to look at its literary form (¢.g., historical narratives, prophetic oracles, poems or parables) which the author is using (eff DV 12) 1 addition, the text must be: Viewed within the unify of the whole Bible (gf COC 112) Both Old and New Testaments are read by Christos in the light of the Risen Cnucified Christ. The New Testamnt’s own use of Old Testament events, persons and things 2s “types” foreshadowing its own, exemplifies this dynamic ratty of the wo Testaments. For example, Adam and Melchisedek are types of Christ eff Heb 6:20.28): the food foreshadows Baptism (of 1P23:20-21); manna in the deserts the “type” of the Eucharist if Jin 6-48-51, COC 128.30), Something of the history of the text’s interpretations, especially its use in the Church's liturgy, can be very helpful.*95. Third, the readers/earers. We are constantly asking Scripture new questions and problems, drawn from our own experience. Every Filipino Catholic wants to know what the Scripture means “to me/us.” At the same time we recognize that the Bible brings its own culture of meanings and framework of attitudes that help form, reform and transform us, the readers, into the image of Christ. ‘We must let the Bible “form” us, even while conscious that we are reading it in the light of our own ‘experience. Jn secking what the Scripare text means “for melus”” we need w consider the witness offered in the lives of uly ‘men and women in the Church through the centuries. Any authentic interpretation ofthe text forthe Chistian community today must be in continuity and harmonize with this wadition of meaing that has gewn out of the text's impact on (Chastian communities dough the ages (ef DV'21; COC 131-33). 96. Fourth, is the common horizon which first unites all the books of the Bible into a basic unity, and second, links together the context of the Scriptural text and its tradition with our present reading context today. This horizon is the new and eternal covenant God has established with us in. His Incarnate Son, Jesus Christ. In interpreting Scripture, we seek the truth that God wishes to communicate to us today, through Scripture. In this we are guided by the living teaching office of the Church which “exercises its authority in the name of Jesus Christ, not as superior to the Word of God, but as its servant” (DV 10). 97. Thus we sce that “in the supremely wise arrangement of God, Sacted Tradition, Sacred Scripture and the teaching office (Magisterium) of the Church are so connected and associated that one of them cannot stand without the others. Working together, each in its own way under the action of the one Holy Spirit, they all contribute effectively to out salvation” (DV 10). INTEGRATION 98. The danger is that all this “doctrine” about Revelation and its sources in Scripture and Tradition will remain only as “head Anow/edge,” lefl behind in our daily living. But God is touching us, calling us to relate to Him in thought, word and deed. It is in and through our daily life-experiences — our everyday dealings in family, work and recreation — as well as in prayer and whe Sacraments, that God is close to us. Scripture and Tradition illumine our experiences in two ways: 1) by showing us how to act as disciples of Jesus Christ, and 2) by helping us discern God's action in our daily lives. 99, “Showing us how to act as believers in Jesus Christ” is the goal of Catholic moral teaching. The Filipino Catholic’s conscience is gradually formed through Scripture and the Church’s living tradition. We are drawn to the lifestyle of a son/daughter of the heavenly Father, following Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son, strengthened and inspired by the indwelling Spirit, and living in the Church, Christ's own community. The Commandments of God and Christ's Beatitudes do not impose burdensome obligations that restrict our genuine freedom. Ruther, they reveal and protect our inalienable dignity as human persons by specifying the moral duties of each and everyone. God’s call to justice and honesty creates our authentic 100. “To discern God’s action in our daily lives” demands a spiritual sensitivity that comes only from authentic Christian prayer and worship. This means that our personal prayer is grounded in God's revelation in Scripture and the Church's living tradition. Only then are we sure to worship “in Spirit and in truth” (Jia 4:24). All the typical Filipino devotions and forms of religiosity must ultimately beviewed in the light of the Gospel, For Jesus Christ taught us to pray “Our Father” (ef. Mr 6:9-13) and gave us the sacrament of his love to be our sacrificial worship of his Father in the Hloly Spirit. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS What is “Revelation”? Revelation is God’s personal loving communication to us of who He is and His plan to save us all in His love. It is God’s reaching out tous in friendship, so we get to know and love Him. 102. How does God reveal Himself? God reveals Himself in * Creating us and everything we sce, hear and touch — from the beginning till now [natural signs]; + His words and deeds in Sacred Seripmure’s record of salvation history, completed and perfected in His Son-made-man, Jesies Christ (Biblical signs}: + His continuing presence by the Holy Spirit in His people, the Church; fecelesial signs), + The prayer and sacramental worship, doctrine, and moral service of the Church; fliturgical signs). * His interior presence (Grace) in our conscience and in all the events of our daily lives, world evenis, recognized in the “signs of the times.” 103. How can the infinite, Pure Spirit, God, communicate Himself to us in this life? God reveals Himself to us through the deeds He performed in history and the wards which proclaim the deeds and clarify their true meaning (ef, DI” 2). These words and deeds show God's presence among us and His saving purpose for us. 104. How important is Jesus Christ in God's Revelation? For Christians, it is Jesus wha is: + the Revealer of God our Father, + himself the Image and Word of God; and. © the Final Goal of God’s revelation, our ultimate destiny. 105, How does Christ reveal God to us today? Christ reveals God to us primarily through the Church, its Sacred Scripture and living Tradition, through which the Holy Spirit comes to us. 106. To whom does God reveal Himself? God “wants all men to be saved and come to know the truth” (/ Tim 2:4), and in ways both hidden and clear, calls all to Chris, who is the goal, the object, and the agent of God's Self revelation and “the real light which enlightens every man” (dit -9) 107. How are we to understand God's inspired Word in Scripnore? Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Scripture grew from the life, worship and teaching of the early Church. So the Church is its authentic interpreter, under the active help of the same Holy Spirit.108. 110. a. 112. 13. What do we mean by the Bible's inerrant saving truth? Through the Holy Spirit's charism of inspiration, the human authors of the Bible set down faithfully and without error the truth God wished 10 convey for our salvation (ef DV IT; 2 Tim 3:16-17). How do we Catholics get to know Sacred Scripture/the Bible? Catholics hear the Bible proclaimed at every Mass. Readings from both Old and New Testaments are carefully selected and arranged acconding to the Church's liturgical year. In addition, parishes sponsor Bible study groups and encourage a Catholic Bible in every home for family reading and prayer. How were the Gospels formed? The Gospels were formed in three stages: first, Jesus’ own teaching in his earthly lifetime: second, the oral tradition in hich the apostles passed on what Jesus had said and done: and third, the putting into writing of the Gospels that we have till this day. How do we Catholics interpret Scripture? In interpreting Sacred Scripture, we search out: (1) the human author's meaning; (2) the consext of the text in relation to the whole Bible; 3) within our own search for meaning; (4) under the guidance of the Holy Spirit through the authentic interpretation of the Magisterium, the teaching Church, How important is Sacred Scripture in aur daily lives? God continues to speak to us personally through His inspired Word in Scripture, thereby * helping us to understand the true meaning of the daily happenings in our lives, * guiding our moral behavior toward authentic freedom and loving service of others, and * drawing us into prayerful union with Christ, our Way, our Truth and our Life, in his Chureh, How has the Bible come to iss? “Bible” comes from the Greek word “Biblia”, meaning “books.” So the Bible is really a collection of “books.” The content was first passed on by oral tradition over a long period of tine before it was put in written form. The Old Testament was composed in Hebrew and translated into Greek around the 2nd and 3rd centuries before Christ. The New Testament was composed in Greek during the 2nd half of the ist century A.D. © Tradiioaally four ‘enter’ of Seripre have been distinguished: Hera: the meaning intended by the oigial author, providing the basis forall other senses; allegorical: 2 point by point interpretation of the text's series of | ations as symbolic of «meaning metaphorically implied but not expressly stated; morai: demi frou smut, “season was (I Cor 10-1); ange: he mystical meaning, interpreted in the I four senses were summarized: the [itral, teaches what happened: the allegorical, what is to be believed: the moral, what is tobe done, the anagogic, towards what we must stain of CCC 15-19)