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The CreedSession 1: I Believe in God the Father

Who is God the Father, and how do I experience God’s Fatherly love?

Session Schedule

• Opening Prayer• Paired Activity• Talk #1: I Believe in God, the Father Almighty • Standing Activity • Talk #2: Creation, Man & the Fall• Small Group Activity• Closing Prayer

Opening Prayer: Apostles’ Creed & Nicene Creed

I believe in one God, the Father almighty,

maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made,

consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made.

For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit

was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,

he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand

of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

…The Nicene Creed

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins,

and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Paired Activity: Symbols of the Faith

Apostles' Creed: I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.

1) Compare & Contrast…

2) What word or phrasespeaks to you about who God is at this point of your faith journey?

Nicene Creed: I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.

Overview of the Catechism

IV. Christian Prayer

Talk #1: "I Believe in God, the Father Almighty"

Faith: the assent of the human person's whole intellect and will to God.

• Creed (Latin, “credo”): “I believe”• Apostle's Creed: Ancient “symbol” of the faith,

used in baptismal rite.• Nicene Creed: Councils of Nicaea (325 A.D.)

and Constantinople (381 A.D.)• “Whoever says ‘I believe’ says ‘I pledge myself to what we believe’” (CCC, n. 185)

+ The confession of God's oneness is rooted in the divine revelation of the Old Covenant.

+ God has revealed himself: YHWH (“I am who am”)

+ God is unique: there is only one God.

+ The Christian faith confesses that “God is one in nature, substance and essence.”

(CCC, nn. 199-200)

“I believe in God…”

Revelation and the Trinity

• The Most Holy Trinity: the central mystery of the Christian faith and life

• We believe in a God who is One in nature, substance and essence

• We believe that the one God is Trinitarian– God is three Persons in one Being or Substance

(the Son is “consubstantial” with the Father)– Analogy of Lover, Beloved and the Love itself– God reveals himself as an “eternal exchange of Love”

(CCC, n. 221)

One Nature (“what I am”)…Three Persons (“who I am”)

God the Father

• The Holy Spirit reveals both the Father and the Son

• Jesus revealed that God is Father not only by being the Creator, but also by relationship to his only Son • The Father is source and

origin of the whole divinity

• The Almighty Father wants us to call him Abba, “Daddy”!

“…“…I am going to my Father I am going to my Father and your Father…”and your Father…” (Jn 20:17)

“By calling God ‘Father,’ the language of faith indicates two main things: that God is the first origin of everything and transcendent authority; and that he is at the same time goodness and loving care for all his children…

“We ought therefore to recall that God transcends human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God. He also transcends human fatherhood and motherhood, although he is their origin and standard: no one is father as God is Father.” (CCC, n. 239)

The Father Almighty:The Omnipotence of God

• Universal: God rules everything and can do

everything

• Loving: He is our Father!

• Mysterious: His power is “made perfect in weakness” (CCC, n. 268)

• “As it is in Heaven”, Matt Maher

Standing Activity:Creation Lessons

Read & Discuss one of the following passages:

(a) Gen 1:26-31 (b) Gen 2:4-7 (c) Gen 2:18-25

*****************************What does the passage reveal about God?

What does it reveal about the human person?

Talk #2: Creation, Man & the Fall

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God” (Jn 1:1)

• Questions of Science

• Questions of Origins

• Questions of Evil

Creation and Science• Religion’s question about creation:

“Why is there something rather than nothing?”– Science can show how creation is ordered– Science cannot answer this question

• Science’s questions: What happened and how do things work? – offers natural explanations of natural phenomena

(e.g., big bang and evolution)

• Christian doctrine of Creation: God created an ordered, purposeful, and good creation from nothing (ex nihilo).

• Figurative Language: tells a greater truth than factual language can express

Other Theories of Creation

• Pantheism – God is identical withthe universe, not separate from it

• Dualism – matter is bad; spirit alone is good

• Deism – God as a “Dead beat dad,”or “watchmaker” God

• Materialism – only matter is real

“The Creator of Heaven and Earth”

• Trinitarian God of Love is both transcendent (higher than the highest mountain) andimmanent (closer than my inmost self)

• The Father creates through the Son (the Word/Logos) and with the Spirit…

• As unique individuals, human beings reflect both the One God

• Since they are made for relationship,human beings reflect the Three Divine Persons

Key Truths about Creation:

• Creation is the work of the Trinity• The world was created

for the glory of God• Creation is a gift of God’s wisdom and love• God creates “out of nothing” (ex nihilo)• God creates an ordered

and good world• God transcends creation

and is present to it• God upholds and sustains creation

The Mystery and the Mathematical Marvel of Creation

The Fall: Original Sin

• Human beings and Angels, as intelligent and free creatures, have to journey toward their ultimate destinies by their free choice and preferential love; they can go astray.

• Human beings preferred self to God.

• Grace of original holiness was lost.

• Death entered human history.

• God offers the first promise of redemption (Gen 3:15—the woman’s offspring will strike at the head of the serpent).

“The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms a primeval event, a deed that took place at the very beginning of the history of man.” (CCC, n. 390)

Small Group ActivityTerms and Concepts

• Creed • Revelation• Faith• Yahweh• Blessed Trinity• “Abba”• Omnipotence

• Transcendence• Immanence• The Word or Logos• Genesis • Creation ex nihilo• Original sin • Figurative language

“Mind-mapping”: (1) Connect different ideas

related to your concept; (2) then decide how you might

use the term or phrase to help explain the faith.

Who is God the Father, and how do I experience God’s Fatherly love?

Follow-up Reflection and Resources

2) Recommended follow-up: US/CCA, ch. 5 & 6

“I Believe in God,” and “Man and Woman in the Beginning”

3) For Catechists & Catholic School Teachers:“Record of Formation,” including:

required reflection & documentation

1) Session Evaluation & Feedback

Closing Prayer:The Act of Faith

My God, I firmly believe that you are one God in three divine Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Father, I believe that your divine Son became man and died for our sins and that he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches because you have revealed them who are eternal truth and wisdom, who can neither deceive nor be deceived.

In this faith I intend to live and die. Amen.

Holy God, We Praise Thy Name

Holy God, we praise Thy Name; Lord of all, we bow before Thee! All on earth Thy rule acclaim, All in heaven above adore Thee; Infinite Thy vast domain, Everlasting is Thy reign.

Hark! the loud celestial hymn Angel choirs above are raising, Cherubim and seraphim, In unceasing chorus praising; Fill the heavens with sweet accord: Holy, holy, holy, Lord.

Holy God, We Praise Thy Name (cont.)

Holy Father, Holy Son, Holy Spirit, Three we name Thee; While in essence only One, Undivided God we claim Thee; And adoring bend the knee, While we own the mystery.