Wednesday, May 20, 2015
YOUCAT Question n. 31 - Part III.
(Youcat answer - repeated) God gives himself a name so as
to make it possible to address him.
A deepening through
CCC
(CCC 208) Faced with God's fascinating and mysterious
presence, man discovers his own insignificance. Before the burning bush, Moses
takes off his sandals and veils his face in the presence of God's holiness (Cf.
Ex 3:5-6). Before the glory of the thrice-holy God, Isaiah cries out: "Woe
is me! I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips" (Isa 6:5). Before the
divine signs wrought by Jesus, Peter exclaims: "Depart from me, for I am a
sinful man, O Lord" (Lk 5:8). But because God is holy, he can forgive the
man who realizes that he is a sinner before him: "I will not execute my
fierce anger… for I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst" (Hos
11:9). The apostle John says likewise: "We shall… reassure our hearts
before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts,
and he knows everything" (1 Jn 3:19-20).
Reflecting and
meditating
(Youcat comment)
God does not wish to remain incognito. He
does not want to be revered as a “higher being” that is merely sensed or
surmised. God wishes to be known and to be called upon as someone real and
active. In the burning bush God reveals to Moses his holy name: YHWH (Ex 3:14).
God makes it possible for his people to address him, but he still remains the
hidden God, the present mystery. Out of reverence for God, the name of God was
not (and is not) spoken in Israel; the title Adonai (Lord) is substituted. This
same word is used by the New Testament when it glorifies Jesus as true God:
“Jesus is Lord!” (Rom 10:9).
(CCC Comment)
(CCC 212) Over the centuries, Israel's faith was able to
manifest and deepen realization of the riches contained in the revelation of
the divine name. God is unique; there are no other gods besides him (Cf. Isa
44:6). He transcends the world and history. He made heaven and earth:
"They will perish, but you endure; they will all wear out like a
garment... but you are the same, and your years have no end" (Ps
102:26-27). In God "there is no variation or shadow due to change"
(Jas 1:17). God is "He who Is", from everlasting to everlasting, and
as such remains ever faithful to himself and to his promises. (CCC 213) The
revelation of the ineffable name "I Am who Am" contains then the
truth that God alone IS. The Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew
Scriptures, and following it the Church's Tradition, understood the divine name
in this sense: God is the fullness of Being and of every perfection, without
origin and without end. All creatures receive all that they are and have from
him; but he alone is his very being,
and he is of himself everything that he is. (End)
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