We continue our quest for knowledge of the Catechism of the Church Catholic last week, we read paragraph 3, "The Almighty". Today we continue our meeting with Paragraph 4:
Paragraph 4 THE CREATOR
279 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (January ⇒ 1.1). Begins with these solemn words of Sacred Scripture. The creed confessing takes the Almighty Father as Creator of heaven and earth "," of all things visible and invisible. " We talk because first of all to the Creator, then his creation, then the fall due of sin from which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to raise ourselves.
280 Creation is the foundation of "all God's saving plans," "the beginning of salvation history," [Congregation for the Clergy, General Catechetical Directory, 51], culminating in Christ. Conversely, the mystery of Christ is the light on the mystery of creation and reveals the end for which, "in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (⇒ Genesis 1:1): from the beginning, God thought the glory of the new creation in Christ [Cf ⇒ Romans 8:18-23 ].
281 why the readings of the Easter Vigil, the celebration of the new creation in Christ, beginning with the story of creation, also, in the Byzantine liturgy, the story of creation is always the first reading of the vigils of great feasts of the Lord. According to the testimony of the ancients, the instruction of catechumens for Baptism followed the same route [Cf Ethers, Peregrinatio to loca sancta 46: PLS 1, 1047, St. Augustine, De catechizandis rudibus, 3, 5].
I. Catechesis on creation
282 Catechesis on creation is of paramount importance. Concerns the very foundations of human and Christian life: it makes explicit the response of the Christian faith to the fundamental questions that men of all ages have set themselves: "Where we come from?" "Where are we going?" "What is our origin?" What is our purpose? "" Where does and where does all that exists? ". The two issues, that of the origin and end, are inseparable. Are key to the meaning and direction for our lives and our actions.
283 The question of the origins of the world and of man is the subject of numerous scientific studies that have extraordinarily enriched our knowledge of the age and size of the cosmos, the development of life forms living on the appearance of man. These discoveries invite us to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator and thank him for all his works and the intelligence and wisdom that makes a gift to scholars and researchers. With Solomon they can say: "He gave me unerring knowledge of things, to understand the structure of the world and the strength of the elements. . . because it taught me the wisdom, the creator of all things "(Wis ⇒ 7.17 to 21).
284 The great interest which are the subject of this research, is strongly stimulated by a question of another order, which goes beyond the proper domain of natural sciences. It is not only to know when and how the universe arose physically, or when it appeared the man, but rather to discover what the meaning of such origin: whether it is governed by chance, blind fate, a necessity anonymous, or a transcendent Being, intelligent and kind, called God, and if the world comes from the wisdom and goodness of God, because evil? Where you from? Who is responsible? Is there any liberation from it?
285 From the beginning, Christian faith has been compared with responses other than its own on the question of origins. In fact, religions and ancient cultures there are many myths concerning origins. Some philosophers have argued that everything is God, that the world is God, or that the future of the world is the becoming of God (pantheism), others have said that the world is a necessary emanation of God, which springs from this source and it returns, others have argued the existence of two eternal principles, Good and Evil, Light and Darkness, in continuous conflict (Dualism, Manichaeism), according to some of these conceptions, the world (at least the material world) would be bad, a decay product, and then be rejected or exceed (gnosis), others admit that the world was made by God, but the manner of a watch that once done, would have left to itself (Deism), still others do not allow any transcendent origin of the world, but see it as the pure game a subject that has always existed (Materialism). All these attempts are a testimony to the persistence and universality of the question of origins. This research is proper to man.
286 Undoubtedly, human intelligence can already find an answer to the question of origins. Indeed, it is possible to know with certainty the existence of God the Creator through his works, by the light of human reason, [Cf Vatican Council I: DS. -Schönm., 3026] even if this knowledge is often obscured and disfigured by error. This is why faith comes to confirm and to clarify the reason in the correct understanding of this truth: "By faith we know that the world was created by the Word of God, so that things can not be seen was made out of what you see" (⇒ , Hebrews 11:3).
287 The truth of creation is so important for all human life that God in his compassion, has chosen to reveal to his People everything that you need to know about it. Beyond the natural knowledge that every man can have of the Creator, [Cf ⇒ Acts 17.24-29; ⇒ Rom 1.19-20] God has progressively revealed to Israel the mystery of creation. He, who chose the patriarchs, who brought Israel out of Egypt, and that electing Israel has created and formed [cf ⇒ Isa 43.1] proves to be the one to whom belong all the peoples of ground and the whole earth, as one who alone "made heaven and earth" (Ps 115.15 ⇒, ⇒ Ps 124.8; 287 ⇒ Ps 134.3).
288 Revelation of creation is so inseparable from the revelation and realization of the Covenant of God, the One, with his people. Creation is revealed as the first step towards this covenant, as the first and universal witness to the love of almighty God [Cf ⇒ 15.5 in January, 288 ⇒ Jer 33.19 to 26]. And then the truth of creation is expressed by a growing force in the message of the prophets, [cf ⇒ Isa 44.24] in the prayer of the Psalms [Cf ⇒ Ps 104] and the liturgy, in the reflection of wisdom [ Cf ⇒ Pr 8.22 to 31] of the Chosen People.
289 Of all the words of Scripture on creation, occupy a singular place the first three chapters of Genesis. From a literary standpoint these texts may have different sources. The inspired authors have placed them at the beginning of Scripture in a way that expresses, with their solemn language the truths of creation, its origin and its end in God, its order and goodness, the vocation of man Finally the drama of sin and hope of salvation. Read in the light of Christ in the unity of Scripture and the living Tradition of the Church, these words remain the principal source for catechesis on the mysteries of the "origins": creation, fall, the promise of salvation.
II. Creation - Work of the Holy Trinity
290 "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (⇒ Genesis 1:1). These first three statements containing the words of Scripture: the eternal God gave a beginning to everything that exists outside of him. He alone is Creator (the verb "create" - Hebrew "bara - always has God as its subject). The totality of what exists (expressed by the formula "the heavens and the earth") depends on the person who gives it to be.
291 "In the beginning was the Word. . . and the Word was God. . All things were made through Him and without Him nothing was made "(⇒ Jn 1:1-3). The New Testament reveals that God created everything by the eternal Word, his beloved Son. "Through him all things were created, in heaven and on earth. . . All things were created through him and for him. He is before all things and in him all hold together "(Col ⇒ 1.16 to 17). The Church's faith also says the creative action of the Holy Spirit: he is the "giver of life," [Symbol The Nicene] The "Creator Spirit" [Liturgy of the Hours, hymn "Veni Creator"] the "source of all good" [Byzantine Liturgy, Troparion of Pentecost Vespers].
292 allowing a glimpse of the Old Testament [cf ⇒ Ps 33:6; ⇒ Ps 104:30; ⇒ 1.2 to 3 January] revealed in New Covenant, the creative action of the Son and the Spirit, inseparably one with the Father is clearly affirmed by the rule of faith of the Church: "There is only one God. . : He is the Father, God, the Creator, the Author, order. He has made everything by himself, that is, his Word and his Wisdom "," through the Son and the Spirit, "which are like" her hands "[St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Adversus haereses, 2, 30, 9 and 4, 20, 1]. Creation is the common work of the Holy Trinity.
III. "The world has been created for the glory of God"
293 is a fundamental truth that Scripture and Tradition constantly teach and celebrate: "The world has been created for the glory of God" [Council Vatican: Denz. -Schönm., 3025]. God created all things, says St. Bonaventure, "not augendam propter gloriam, sed propter gloriam manifestandam et propter gloriam suam communicandam - not to increase his glory, but to manifest it and communicate it to [St. Bonaventure, In libros Sententiarum, 2 , 1, 2, 2, 1]. For God did not create another reason than his love and goodness: "Open manu clave amoris prodierunt creatures - Open your hand from the key of love, the creatures came to light" [St. Thomas Aquinas, In libros Sententiarum, 2, prol]. And the First Vatican Council explains:
In his goodness and his omnipotent power, not to increase his happiness, nor to buy perfection, but to manifest it through the goods that gives to his creatures, the only true God, the freer the decisions together by 'beginning of time, nothing created by the one and the other creatures, the spiritual and the corporal [Vatican Council I: DS. -Schönm., 3002].
294 The glory of God is the realization of this manifestation and communication of his goodness, for which the world was created. Make us his "sons and daughters through Jesus Christ, is the benevolent design "of his will. . . to the praise and glory of His grace "(⇒ Eph 1:5-6). "For the glory of God is man fully alive and human life is the vision of God, when already the revelation of God through the creation obtained life for all living beings on earth, as the manifestation of the Father through the Word gives life to those who see God "[St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Adversus haereses, 4, 20, 7]. The ultimate purpose of creation is that God "who is the Creator of all, can also be" all in all "(⇒ 1 Cor 15:28) by arranging a time to his glory and our happiness" [Conc Ecumenical Council, Ad Gentes, 2].
IV. The mystery of creation
God creates by wisdom and love
295 We believe that the world was created by God in his wisdom [cf ⇒ Wis 9.9 ]. Is not the product of any necessity whatever, nor of blind fate or chance. We believe that the world proceeds from the free will of God, he wanted to make his creatures share in being, in his wisdom and his goodness, "Thou hast created all things, and by your will they were created and there "(⇒ Rev 4:11). "How big are you, Lord, thy works! All of wisdom you have made "(⇒ Ps 104:24). "The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all creatures" (⇒ Ps 145.9).
God creates "out of nothing"
296 We believe that God, to create did not need anything or any help existing [Cf Vatican Council I, DS . -Schönm., 3022]. The creation is not even a necessary emanation from the divine substance [Cf., 3023-3024]. God creates freely "out of nothing": [Fourth Lateran Council, DS. -Schönm., 800, Vatican Council I: ibid. , 3025]
That there would be great if God had drawn the world from a pre-existing matter? A human artisan, when he is given a material, it does everything it wants. But the power of God manifests itself precisely in this, that he starts out of nowhere to do whatever he wants [St. Theophilus of Antioch, Ad Autolycum, 2, 4: PG 6, 1052].
297 The belief in creation "from nothing" is attested in Scripture as a truth full of promise and hope. So the mother of seven children encourages them for martyrdom:
not know how you came into my breast was not I who gave him life and breath, nor I who set in order the elements of each of you. Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of man and devised the origin of all, for his mercy will again return to the spirit and life, as you now to its laws do not you care of you themselves. . . I charge you, son, at the heaven and the earth and see what is in them and know that God did not make them from things that existed that is also the origin of mankind (⇒ 2Mac 7.22 to 23; ⇒ 2Mac 7.28).
298 God, because it can create from nothing, can also, by the Holy Spirit, giving life to sinners of the soul, creating in them a pure heart, [Cf ⇒ Ps 51.12] and the dead, the resurrection and the life of the body, he "who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that do not yet exist" (⇒ Romans 4:17). And, since, by his Word, was able to shine the light from the darkness [Cf ⇒ January 1,3] can also give the light of faith to those who do not know [Cf ⇒ 2 Corinthians 4.6].
God creates an ordered and good world
299 for the fact that God creates by wisdom, the creation has an order: "You have arranged everything with measurement, calculation and weight "(⇒ Wis 11:20). Created in and through the Eternal Word, "the image of the invisible God" (⇒ Col 1:15), creation is intended, addressed to man, the image of God [cf ⇒ Gen 1:26] called to a personal relationship with God our intelligence, as part of the divine light, this can include what God tells us through the creation, [Cf ⇒ Ps 19.2-5] is certainly not without great effort and in a spirit of humility and respect before the Creator and his work [42 Gb Cf ⇒ , 3]. Sprung from the divine goodness, the creation part of this goodness ("And God saw that it was good... Very good": January ⇒ 1.4; January ⇒ 1.10; 299 ⇒ January 1.12; January ⇒ 1.18; January ⇒ 1:21; ⇒ Gen 1:31). The creation, in fact, willed by God as a gift to man, as a legacy to him and entrusted intended. The Church, repeatedly had to defend the goodness of creation, including that of the material world [cf St. Leo the Great, Letter Quam laudabiliter: Denz. -Schönm. , 286; Council of].
God transcends creation and is its present
300 God is infinitely greater than all his works: [Cf ⇒ Sir 43.28] " rises above the heavens "its" magnificence "(⇒ Ps 8:2)," la.su. magnitude can not be measured "(⇒ Ps 145.3). But since he is the sovereign Creator and free, because first of all that exists, he is the deepest depths of his creatures: "In him we live and move and exist" (⇒ Acts 17:28). In the words of St. Augustine, he is "Summo meo et superior interior intimo meo - the most intimate of my most intimate, the higher the upper part of my" [St. Augustine, Confessions, 3, 6, 11].
God preserves and governs the creation
301 After you have created, God does not abandon herself to her child. Not only gives it to be and to exist: the preserve every moment of being, gives the power to act and brings to an end. Recognizing this utter dependence with respect to the Creator is the source of wisdom and freedom, joy, confidence
You love everything that exists, and loathe nothing that you've created, if you hated, you would not have created. How could a thing if you do not want? Or be preserved if you had not called forth? You spare all things, they are yours, Lord, lover of life (⇒ Wis 11.24 to 26).
V. God carries out his plan: the divine
302 Creation has its own goodness and perfection, but it is not out of the hands of the Creator made. It is created "in a state of journeying" (in statu viae) toward an ultimate perfection to which God has destined, but that is yet to be reached. We call divine providence to the provisions by which God leads to the creation this perfection.
God preserves and governs by his providence everything he has created, "it extends from end to end strength, governs all things well with goodness "(⇒ Wis 8:1). In fact, "everything is naked and exposed to his eyes" (⇒ Heb 4:13), also what will be done through the free action of creatures [Vatican Council I: DS. -Schönm., 3003].
303 The testimony of Scripture is unanimous that the solicitude of divine providence is concrete and immediate, it takes care of everything, from the smallest things to the great world events and history. With strength, the Holy Books say the absolute sovereignty of God over the course of events: "Our God is in heaven, he does whatever he wants "(⇒ Ps 115.3), and Christ says:" When he opens, no one closes, and closes when no one opens "(⇒ Rev 3, 7), "there are many ideas in the mind of man, but only the Lord's plan stands firm" (⇒ Pr 19:21).
304 often note that the Holy Spirit, the principal author of Sacred Scripture of the actions attributed to God, he made mention to secondary causes. It is not "a way of talking" primitive, but a profound way to invoke the primacy of God and his absolute rule on the history and the world [cf ⇒ Isa 10.5 to 15; ⇒ Is 45.5-7; ⇒ Deut 32.39; ⇒ Sir 11.14] so educating trust in him. The prayer of the Psalms is the great school of this trust [Cf ⇒ Ps 22; ⇒ Ps 32, 305 ⇒ Ps 35; ⇒ Ps 103; ⇒ Ps 138; and].
305 Jesus asks for childlike abandonment to the providence of our heavenly Father, who takes care of most basic needs of his children: "Do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear?. . . Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you "(⇒ Mt from 6.31 to 33) [cf ⇒ Mt 10.29-31].
Providence and secondary causes
306 God is the sovereign master of his plan. But to carry it, you also need the cooperation of the creatures. This is not a sign of weakness, but the size and goodness of Almighty God. For God grants his creatures not only their existence, but also the dignity of acting on their own, of being causes and principles for each other and to collaborate in this way to the accomplishment of his plan.
307 God gives men the power to participate freely in his Providence, entrusting them with the responsibility of "subduing" the earth and to dominate [cf ⇒ 1.26 to 28 January]. In this way, God's gift to men to be intelligent and free causes in order to complete the work of creating, perfecting the harmony, for their sake and for the good of their neighbor. Cooperators often unaware of the divine will, men can go deliberately into the divine plan by their actions, their prayers, but also with their suffering [Cf ⇒ Col 1:24]. Then they become fully "cooperate with God" (⇒ 1 Cor 3:9; ⇒ 1 Thess 3:2) and his kingdom [Cf ⇒ Col 4.11].
308 God acts in all the actions of his creatures is inseparable from true faith in God the Creator. He is the first cause that operates in and through secondary causes: "It is God is at work" in us "the will and to work for his good pleasure "(⇒ Phil 2:13) [cf ⇒ 1 Cor 12.6]. Far from diminishing the creature's dignity, this truth increases. In fact, the creature from nothing, by the power, wisdom and goodness of God, if nothing can separate you from your home, because "Without the Creator the creature vanishes" [Conc Ecumenical Council, Gaudium et Spes, 36] Still less can achieve its ultimate goal without the help of grace [cf ⇒ Mt 19:26; ⇒ Jn 15:5; ⇒ Phil 4.13].
Providence and the scandal of evil
309 If God the Father Almighty, Creator of the ordered and good world, cares for all His creatures, why does evil exist? To this question as pressing as it is unavoidable and as painful as it is mysterious, no quick answer will suffice. It is the whole of Christian faith that is the answer to that question: the goodness of creation, the drama of sin, the patient love of God who comes to meet man by his covenants, the redemptive Incarnation of his Son with the gift of the Spirit, the gather the Church, with the force the sacraments and his call to a blessed life to which free creatures are invited to give their consent, but which, by a terrible mystery, may also escape. There is a point of the Christian message that is not for a certain appearance, an answer to the problem of evil.
310 Why God did not create a world so perfect that not being able to be any harm? In his infinite power, God could always create something better [cf St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I, 25, 6]. However, in his infinite wisdom and goodness God freely willed to create a world "in a state of journeying" towards its ultimate perfection. This process of becoming, in God's plan involves, with the appearance of certain beings and the disappearance of others, the more perfect alongside the less perfect, both constructive and destructive forces of nature. So, along with the physical good there is also physical evil as long as the establishment has reached its perfection [cf St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles, 3, 71].
311 Angels and men, intelligent and free creatures, have to walk to their ultimate destiny for a free choice and preferential love. They can then deviate. In fact, they have sinned. This is how the world has entered the moral evil, immeasurably more serious than the physical pain. God is not in any way, directly or indirectly, the cause of moral evil [Cf St. Augustine, De free will, 1, 1, 1: PL 32, 1221-1223, St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa teologiae, I -II, 79, 1]. However, respecting the freedom of her child, permits, and, mysteriously, knows how to derive good:
For God Almighty. . ., Being supremely good, would never allow any evil to exist in his works, if it was not powerful enough and good to draw from evil itself [Augustine, Enchiridion de fide, spe et charity, 11, 3].
312 Thus, over time, we can discover that God in his almighty providence can bring a good from the consequences of an evil, even moral, caused by his creatures: "It was not you," said Joseph to his Brethren, "sent me here, but God. . . if you thought evil against me, God meant it for good. . . to live a great people "(⇒ ⇒ January 50.20 January 45.8) [Cf Tb Vulg 2.12 to 18]. From the greatest moral evil ever committed, the rejection and murder of the Son of God, caused by the sins of all men, God, by the superabundance of his grace, [Cf ⇒ Rom 5:20] drew the greatest of goods: the glorification of Christ and our redemption. With this, however, evil becomes good.
313 "All for the good of those who love God" (⇒ Romans 8:28). The testimony of the saints does not cease to confirm this truth:
So St. Catherine of Siena said to "those who are scandalized and rebel against what they understood": "Everything comes from love, everything is ordained for the salvation of man, God does nothing without this goal " [St. Catherine of Siena, Dialogues, 4, 138].
St. Thomas More, shortly before his martyrdom, consoled his daughter: "Nothing happens that God forbid, and I'm sure that whatever happens, bad as it appears, will in fact always for the better" [St. Thomas More, Letter to Margaret Roper to Alice Alington the conversation with his father in prison, cf Liturgy of the Hours, III, Office of Readings for June 22].
and Julian of Norwich: "I learned by the grace of God that I had to stand firm in faith, and I firmly and fully believe that everything would be over for good. . . "You'll see that each species of the same what will be for the good "[Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, 32].
314 We firmly believe that God is Lord of the world and history. But the ways of his providence often remain unknown. Only at the end, when it will end our imperfect knowledge and we will see God "face to face" (⇒ 1 Cor 13:12), fully know the streets, along which, even through the dramas of evil and sin, God has conducted its creation until the rest of that Saturday [January Cf ⇒ 2.2] final, in view of which he created heaven and earth.
SUMMARY
315 In the creation of the world and of man, God placed the first and universal witness to his almighty love and his wisdom, the first announcement of His "Plan of benevolence", which has its end in the new creation in Christ.
316 Although the work of creation is particularly attributed to the Father, is equally a truth of faith that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one and indivisible principle of creation.
317 God alone created the universe freely, directly, without any help.
318 No creature has the infinite power necessary to "create" in the sense of the word, that produce and give being to that which had not at all (to call into existence ex nihilo "- from scratch) [Congregation for Catholic Education, Decree of July 27, 1914, Theses approbatae philosophiae tomisticae: Denz. -Schönm., 3624].
319 God created the world to express and communicate his glory. That his creatures should share in his truth, its goodness, its beauty is the glory for which God created them.
320 God, who created the universe, keeps it in existence by his Word, "this Son. . . upholding the power of his word "(⇒ Heb 1:3), and by means of the Creator Spirit who gives life.
321 Divine providence consists of the provisions by which God, wisdom and love, leads all creatures to their ultimate end.
322 Christ urges us to abandon branch Providence of our Heavenly Father [cf ⇒ Mt from 6.26 to 34] and the Apostle Peter echoes: throw "in him all your anxiety, because he cares for you" (1 Peter 5 ⇒ , 7) [cf ⇒ Ps 55.23].
323 Divine providence works also through the action of creatures. God gives to humans to cooperate freely with his plans.
324 that God permits physical and moral evil is a mystery that God illuminates by his Son, Jesus Christ died and rose to vanquish evil. Faith gives us the certainty that God would not permit evil, if evil does not by itself cause a good, in ways that fully know only in eternal life.
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