What is Truth?

Catholic Q&A -- 09.29.03

What is the nature of God?

Were it not for his having revealed himself to us, this question would be utterly unanswerable. However, because he has revealed himself to us, we can speak of his nature, but even in so doing there remains an inexhaustible mystery, which surpasses all of our words, however noble and vaunted they may be. The essential qualities of God's nature as contained in divine revelation are: Unity, Being, Truth, and Love. God is first of all one, as the very word "God" implies. Moreover, his existence is absolute and unqualified. He is the beginning and end of all existence, including our own. There is nothing better than him nor can we substitute anything else for him in our lives. He has also shown himself to be absolute Truth and Love. All truth and love, wherever they may be found and in whatever degree, ultimately come from God.

"The supreme being must be unique, without equal. ...If God is not one, he is not God." - Tertullian

"If you understood him, it would not be God." - St. Augustine

"'Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!'" - Deut 6:4

"'The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity...'" - Ex 34:6

199-227; In Brief 228-231

What is prayer and what can the Old Testament teach us about it?

Prayer, simply put, is communication between us and God, who never ceases to call all of us at all times to raise our hearts and minds to him and his omnipresence in our lives. The Old Testament presents several types and models of prayer, the most important of which is the Psalms, an indispensable and permanent feature of the church's prayer. The prayer of the patriarchs, such as Abraham and Jacob, are shown as battles of faith whose outcomes are certain as long as they persevere in God's love. The prayer of Moses as mediator foreshadows that of the one, true mediator Jesus Christ. The prayer of the prophets, such as Elijah, brought conversion and spiritual renewal to God's people. Nevertheless, the Psalms remain the most important Old Testament prayer, especially when examined in the light of Christ, in whom they are perfectly and definitively fulfilled. Their universal nature makes them suitable for all people everywhere, which is why the church relies on them so heavily in her daily office.

"Prayer is the raising of one's mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God." - St. John Damascene

2568-2589; In Brief 2590-2597

What are we and what place should morality hold in our lives?

We are the image of the invisible God, who has given us three things which destine us to transcend the material world in pursuit of the eternal happiness which he has promised, and only he can provide. These three things are soul, intellect, and free will, none of which animals possess. Essential to our pursuit of God is our pursuit of holiness, of right living. Every one of us is absolutely bound to follow the natural, moral law as heard in our consciences. However, because we are stained by original sin, we are inclined to evil in our decisions and error in our thinking, even in our consciences. Fortunately, the Christian receives a new, supernatural life in his or her soul, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which enables him or her to come ever closer to perfectly fulfilling the moral life, a goal which will only be finally realized in the glory of heaven.

"The intellectual nature of the human person is perfected by wisdom and needs to be, for wisdom gently attracts the mind of man to a quest and a love for what is true and good. ...Always summoning him to love good and avoid evil, the voice of conscience when necessary speaks to his heart: do this, shun that. ...For its part, authentic freedom is an exceptional sign of the divine image within man. ...Christ...fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear." - Vatican II, Gaudium et spes, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, 15-22

1701-1709; In Brief 1710-1715

09.29.03

Okay, so it's only been up for less than 24 hours, but I am officially extremely pleased with the new Q&A segment. The format is perfect for teaching the faith, I think, and the little icons I've given it for aesthetic reasons look great (thanks be to Macromedia Fireworks!). So, I've decided to add two more questions to supplement the original two. Now at the least a very basic and preliminary question about each aspect of Catholicism (see my previous entry for those four aspects) has been proposed and quickly and meaningfully answered. Already I created an archive where all the questions can be found, grouped by topic. The newest question will always be on this page.

You can also see I've gotten rid of the awful snowflake theme in favor of something more pleasing to the eye, yet simple. For those keeping track, this is version 4.2 of my website.

09.28.03

I've added a prototype of a new segment I'm considering adding. The newest update will always be at the top of this page, with an archive of past questions. It's called "Ask Adam," in which I answer various questions about the Catholic Faith, with supplementary quotations from Catholic sources as prompted by the new Catechism of the Catholic Church. The idea comes from a newspaper article I once wrote called "Crash Course in Catholicism." My "The Catholic Faith" essay tried to do something similar to it, but not using the Q&A format. Upon further reflection (as I indicated in my previous post), I think that format may be preferable to an essay, so I'm seeing how that'll work. All questions will be divided into one of four categories: Profession of Faith (The Creed), Celebration of the Christian Mystery (The Sacraments), Life in Christ (The Commandments), and Christian Prayer (The Lord's Prayer). These are the tradional four pillars of the church, as ennumerated in the Catechism. All Catholic teaching falls into one of the distinct categories. Questions will also be further categorized in a way as to facilitate further study with the definitive source of Catholicism, the Catechism. I've decided to launch the segment with the most basic possible question about religion, I think, the very first issue the new Catechism addresses. Questions can be submitted to me via AIM (s/n Chrysologus400) or email (adam_rasmussen@wsu.edu). Enjoy!

09.26.03

Well, it's almost winter here in Pullman, so I've decided to change the website design to this pretty snowflake scheme. Okay, so it's still blazingly hot and technically only the fall, but very soon this scorching heat will be replaced with endless amounts of snow on the palouse, and I couldn't find any good fall designs. I've added a cool logo to the prayers section and I plan to do the same for each page. You may notice some other minor aesthetic differences. I've also uploaded three of my homework assignments from this semester to the "Essays and Papers" section. I especially recommend the philosophy of religion paper. I got 100% on it.

In the back of my mind I have the idea of buying a digital camera and taking some pictures for this website, but that's probably just wishful thinking. I'm also pondering trying to work on "The Catholic Faith" section again, but we'll see about that. I may redo it in a question-and-answer format. We'll see.