Catholic Beliefs

THAT There is a God.

Catholics go about their daily tasks in much the same way as everyone else does. They are human beings with all that goes with the condition. But they live their lives in a radically different way. They believe that there is a God who made them, sees them, and loves them. So their own attitude to life is very different from anyone who doesn't have any such belief. But let’s suppose we were living in a pre-Christian era. Let’s imagine that there was no Jesus Christ. Would we still believe in God? No one can be forced to believe in God if they are determined not to. But not to believe in God leaves huge gaps in our understanding. Believing in God helps many people to fill out their understanding of life.

There are some ways we can reason that God exists. One simple process called ‘causality’ simply observes that everything we know about has a cause. Maybe we don’t always know what the cause is, but we certainly wouldn’t say that it hasn’t got a cause at all. Everyone has parents. So did those parents have parents. And so on. What happens if you go back and back? Even if you can't go all the way back, you know that eventually, reason demands that the process must go all the way. If you find the beginner of that process then he must be the one who started it all off. It would be reasonable and appropriate to call that being ‘God.’ But who caused God? If you can find such a being then you simply have not got to the end of the process.

Our understanding of the one who made everything demands that he, unlike every other link in the chain had no cause at all. To call God ‘the uncaused cause does not sound romantic, but in terms of reason, the whole chain of causality is nonsense unless at the end of it there is a being who started it all. It’s interesting to note that ‘Alcoholics Anonymous’ requires that its members acknowledge the existence of a Power greater than themselves. If it’s a person we would call it ‘God,’ But ‘A.A.’ simply recognises the reasonableness of looking beyond themselves for the answer to life’s great mysteries, including why an alcoholic would seek to make a reason for his collapse and reconstruction. All this means is that it is not stupid to entertain the idea that there really might be someone out there who is at the root of our own human existence. If you don’t pray, don’t know how to, why don’t you make the first attempt at contacting Him. Find a time and a place to be quite alone. Start out with the question, “Is there anybody out there?”

IN Jesus Christ.

When Jesus began to work all sorts of wonders, his hearers began to ask with awe, ”Who is he? for even the wind and the sea obey him!” We have to go to the times when men were asking these questions. The only ones who were pleased with him were those who were asking these questions. The only ones who were pleased with him were those whom he had cured, and the poor and the law-breakers who knew instantly they had a friend. But when he began to say and do things that seemed to indicate that he was more than just a human being like them, those in charge didn’t like that a bit. “Who does he think he is? We know him. He comes from our village; his parents are just ordinary people like us.” The religious leaders did not like him. He challenged their authority, he criticised the way they claimed God for their father, yet they themselves didn’t seem interested in the ordinary people.

Everybody knows that he was an extraordinary teacher, but his teaching was not about putting new burdens on them. He actually preferred the company of the down-and-outers. In the end, they crucified him. But he rose from the tomb, defeating death, and leaving no doubt in the minds of his followers that he was truly alive in spite of being crucified. His followers were so convinced that he really was alive that they were quite prepared to proclaim his teachings, even in the face of persecution. In fact, most of them gave their lives for him.

So who was he?

It took the Church about three hundred years, long after it emerged from centuries of persecution, to proclaim that he was both human and divine, both God and man. He called himself the Son of God. If he really was that, then he was a most unique being. Obviously, he was a man. Now we are saying he was Son of God as well. One person with two natures, that of God and that of us. So he is quite unlike anyone else we know. His humanity is identical to ours, but he possesses the nature, and the power of God just like his Father, and as we shall see, just like the Holy Spirit, who took over his mission in the world after Jesus went back to his Father.

In The Church.

After Jesus returned to His Father his followers went, as they had told him, to await the coming of the Spirit, whatever that might mean. The coming of the Spirit was accompanied by spectacular sights and sounds. But what was even more astounding was the change in this small group of followers. They were filled with confidence which must have amazed them, as well as everyone else. They were determined, resolute, and ready to work and suffer for what they believed. They went off fearlessly proclaiming Jesus as Saviour, and most of them died for doing just that. Such was the birth of the Church.

Most people who have any commitment to religion and to the person of Jesus Christ have no problem about what Jesus said and did. They accept the Scripture, even to making it the sole and exclusive rule of their faith. If God said it, or Jesus did, then that’s fine. They will accept it without reservation. But when it comes to the Church they have many reservations. “man-made laws’ is a common restriction about accepting what the Church teaches. For the first Christians, it was entirely different. They believed enthusiastically and without reservation that one very good reason why Jesus left the earth was so the people he left in his place should occupy the place that he had once held. They did not expect to see Jesus until the end of time, and in the meantime, they themselves were the authority of God for all men and women on earth.

The belief of the Church is that it has been given authority from Christ himself and that the Spirit will remain with the Church as long as the world lasts. This notion is of crucial importance when trying to understand Christianity. The Church is made up of all conditions of men and women, with all the strengths and weaknesses of humankind. Yet the Church stands before God in the place of Jesus, not supplanting him, but as the actual presence of Christ in the world.

For Catholics, salvation is mediated precisely through the Church. It is not a ‘God and me’ relationship alone, although that remains important. If Jesus had told his followers just to roam around the world obeying whatever instinct seems to be appropriate, that would be fine. But it’s not what happened. Jesus set up the Church under the guidance of the Spirit. That’s why we listen to what the Church is saying. For me, salvation would not be available, unless it came through the very vehicle he set up precisely for my salvation, namely the Church.

IN THE UNIQUE PLACE OF MARY

The Catholic view of Mary is that of all women she alone was chosen for this unique role of being the mother of God. How can anyone be God's mother? You may well ask. Catholic teaching from the Council of Nicaea declared that Jesus was divine, that he was the Son of God. God, of course, we understand to be one in nature but three in person. It is this second Person of the Trinity (Father, Son and Spirit), who in our human history took our nature as well as that of God, which he always had. So Mary was instrumental in the Divine plan. Because of this we regard Mary as substantially different from every other woman ever born. This does not make her divine, but it certainly makes her unique. She is not a goddess, but Jesus associated her in a particular way in his own human upbringing, and in his death of the cross. The Gospel says. she 'pondered these things in her heart,' and that,' beneath the cross, there stood Mary his mother." So the whole tradition of the church, especially in its devotional life holds Mary in special veneration. Not only did she bring Jesus to birth, but she followed him, meditated on his meaning, followed him in his mission, and supported the infant church after Pentecost. For Catholics their experience of devotional life always includes Mary. Their practice of piety and prayer would not be complete without her.