Not What but Who

One of the characteristics of the Catholic faith is its intellectual content. From the formulas of the early Ecumenical Councils, trhough Scholasticism's systemization of theology, to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, our church has developed a rich intellectual tradition.

However such emphasis on content runs the risk of focusing our attention on the things to be learned. Yet this knowledge is mean to help us come to know God and to enter into a relationship with God. The goal of our faith is a relationship with the God who loves us.

"In His goodness and wisdom God chose to reveal Himself and to make known to us the hidden purpose of His will 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. Through this revelation, therefore, the invisible God out of the abundance of His love speaks to men and lives among them so that He may invite them into fellowship with Himself." (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation #2)

God chose to reveal Himself so that we might come to share the divine nature! The 1st Letter of John puts it this way:

"See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are... Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." (1 John 3:1-2)

In the Gospel according to John, Jesus prays for his disciples at the last supper:

"I  pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also mey be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory that you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world."  (John 17:20-21)

One in Christ with the Father, sharing the glory the Father bestowed on Christ. This is Jesus' prayer for us whom the Father loves as he loves Christ. This is good news.