Friday, April 3, 2009

Heb 11, 3 The universe was ordered by the word of God

(Heb 11, 3) The universe was ordered by the word of God
[3] By faith we understand that the universe was ordered by the word of God, so that what is visible came into being through the invisible.
(CCC 286) Human intelligence is surely already capable of finding a response to the question of origins. The existence of God the Creator can be known with certainty through his works, by the light of human reason (Cf. Vatican Council I, can. 2 § I: DS 3026) even if this knowledge is often obscured and disfigured by error. This is why faith comes to confirm and enlighten reason in the correct understanding of this truth: "By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear" (Heb 11:3). (CCC 297) Scripture bears witness to faith in creation "out of nothing" as a truth full of promise and hope. Thus the mother of seven sons encourages them for martyrdom: I do not know how you came into being in my womb. It was not I who gave you life and breath, nor I who set in order the elements within each of you. Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of man and devised the origin of all things, will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws… Look at the heaven and the earth and see everything that is in them, and recognize that God did not make them out of things that existed. Thus also mankind comes into being (2 Macc 7:22-23, 28).

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