1. Quest for God

Our Questions

What am I looking for in life?  What are my goals and ideals? How does God and a church play a part in whats I am seeking?  How is my life a journey towards God?

Read

In UNITED STATES CATECHISM  Chapter 1 : My Soul Longs for You Pages 1-9

In your Bible:   

    Psalm 105:1-15 ---- it may help to highlight in your Bible a few key words and add them and a few comments in your Faith Journal, such as “give thanks”, “ sing his praise”, “He remembers His covenant”.

     Acts 14:15-17 Paul says that God has not hidden Himself.

    Acts 17: 26-28 We should seek God, even grope for Him, and eventually find Him

    Romans 1:19-20  God’s power is made visible through the things He has made

    Wisdom 13:1-9  We see through created things their Author

Checking on What I Understand

There is a set of fun and stimulating quizzes that will confirm what you know and challenge what you do not yet know. Go to St. Edward Church website < www.saintedwardshelton.org> and click on “Becoming Catholic”.  Choose lesson one and  do do the self-correcting on-line <quiz 1>

Glossary

Catechism = the text of manual that is a summary of Catholic doctrine, sometimes presented in question and answer form.

Conscience =the judgment of our reason with regard to morality, the goodness or badness of an act.

Praying Like a Catholic

1. Use the Scripture passages above as a launching pad for your prayer.
   

2. Keep a prayer journal in which you record your observations, even questions to ask your instructor, and a summary of your reading.
   
   

3. Use the Meditation in the Catechism on page 8-9
   
   

Getting Personal

What am I looking for in life?  What are my goals and ideals?  How does God figure in my life?

Going Deeper

Reading

KC Catholic Information  God

Rohr, EIGHT GOOD REASONS FOR BEING CATHOLIC

What It Means to Be Catholic Satisfying 12 Human Needs

In the CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (if you have one) #27-49

St. Therese of Lisieux STORY OF A SOUL

Charles Lepetit TWO DANCERS IN THE DESERT: the life of Charles deFoucauld

Videos

OH GOD (1977) When God appears to an assistant grocery manager as a good natured old man, the Almighty selects him as his messenger for the modern world.

SAVING GRACE (1986) A newly-elected Pope Leo XIV finds himself accidentally locked out of the Vatican. Unknown to the outside world, he winds up in an impoverished Italian village, where his adventures ultimately teach the Pope and his new friends some important lessons about friendship and self-esteem.

Music

Lord of All Hopefulness

SUPPLEMENTARY:

GOD'S PERSONAL AND UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

God loves you personally, as would a loving father.

God accepts you unconditionally, just as you are, whether man or woman, regardless of your age, race, color, size, wealth or poverty, city or country dweller, educated or not. He loves you because of who you are, not because of what you have or any abilities you may possess. He doesn't love you because of your social position and status.

You are a child of God, made in the image of God. You must be conscious of this dignity. His love is steadfast and faithful, and always certain. It does not falter under any circumstances or for any reason.

 "His love is eternal, and His faithfulness is steadfast."

 "Can a mother forget her infant at her breast or fail to cherish the baby of her womb? Yet should she forget I will never forget you,"

 "Though the mountains leave their place and the hills be shaken, My love for you will never leave you" Is 54:10.

God Himself is saying this to you, now, in His Word.

God as Creator designed a plan of love for you so that you may be fulfilled, reach fullness and happiness in this world and throughout eternity. He wants you to be fulfilled in all that is positive and good and in everything that fulfills you deeply and thoroughly. He wants you to be fulfilled in your person, your body, mind, and spirit, as well as in your personal and family relationships. He wants you to be successful in your job, because you conduct yourself responsibly. He wants you to have and enjoy a sufficient amount of material goods so that you may support and develop both yourself and your family in an honest way.

As a provident father, He is always available to you. He takes care of you in all your needs: He knows the hairs on your head... more than the lilies of the field or the birds in the sky... to the smallest detail, He knows you. Have you realized this? Listen to what God Himself tells you through His Word, "Thus says Yahweh who created you, do not be afraid... I have called you by your name, you are mine... because you are precious in my eyes, because you are honored and I love you. Do not be afraid, for I am with you Is 43:1

He has created us, and it is towards Him that we journey. We come from Him and are destined for Him. Beginning and end. Alpha and Omega.

Only He knows how and why we have been created. He knows how we can function properly as individuals and as a society. His law and His commandments are instructions the same as an operation manual is for an appliance. And this is why He has equipped and enabled each one of us with definite gifts and talents, creative intelligence and free will, feelings and emotions. He has put everything in our hands and made us administrators of the whole of His creation, so that we may guard it without destroying it and transform it according to our initiative and creative endeavors for our benefit and service. Creation is to be used by all with a grateful spirit while praising and glorifying His Name.

God is our goal and our gravitational center. You made us for Yourself, Lord, and our hearts will always yearn, run, and search restlessly until they find their place and rest in You; until you fill and satisfy our thirst, our genuine longings, and the authentic and profound needs of every individual and of all humanity. "I have called you by name" means you personally and individually, irreplaceable and unique; there is no substitute for you.

Ever since God has been God... He thought of you...and loved you... that is why you exist and are present here. "I have loved you with an everlasting love..." and He still loves you. Because of this He says, "I have reserved my grace for you" which is to say, God offers you a benevolent love, personal and permanent. In Mary, our mother, always inseparable from the presence of God, we see the maternal face of a loving, caring and provident God.

He places us, as a token of total happiness, in the midst of the paradise that emanated from His hands. Everything was, and should continue being, harmony and order. Harmony and order should exist in our corporal and mental health, in our human relationships, and in our harmony with and our dominion over creation. Everything that has come from His creative power is good. He destines us to happiness, and sets everything under our disposition so that we can attain that happiness and fulfillment - if only we follow His plan.

From the beginning we have been invited into a personal relationship and loving communion with God, as children and as friends. We have been invited to treat each other as brothers and sisters. "He who loves the Father also loves his children" Jn5:I.

If we are all children of the one Father, then we are all brothers and sisters and God's love should manifest itself in our love for one another.

:"You are precious in my eyes and glorious"... you are priceless to me and I care for you... you personally, with all of your history and in your present situation (your face, your name, your vocation, your way of life). "Do not be afraid..." reject all fear and insecurity, all lack of self-esteem, all feelings of worthlessness and all thoughts that may imply that you do not matter or that you are useless. "You are mine..." and everyone protects what is theirs... "He has made us and we are His. If we would let these truths penetrate our hearts, they would be enough to touch us deeply and transform us. God loves me personally and unconditionally! It doesn't matters who I am now or what I have been or done before!... "My love for you will never leave you...!"

Even though we rejected God and His love and allowed sin to separate us from Him, God continues to love us and does not abandon us. God offers us reconciliation, salvation and New Life.

Can you accept this truth and this reality in your heart and in your life at this very moment? Or is there, perhaps, something that keeps you from accepting or believing this? Even though in theory we can accept this truth with our minds, there are many situations that can keep us from experiencing and letting this reality of the personal love of God penetrate our hearts. There are three fundamental reasons:

1- It could be that you have a distorted image of God, an image of a rigid and vengeful God, or that you had an erroneous religious education.

2- Some people may have a damaged father image due to their parents' inability or lack of knowledge of how to express their love and care directly or because of all that has hurt and wounded them. The consequence is a wounded and damaged inner child. They have not been able to express or experience their feelings and emotions, and when they did express them, they were reprimanded or shamed. Thus, their basic needs were not met at the appropriate times.

3-It can also be that, having sinned and alienated ourselves from God's love, without knowing and experiencing His loving action in us, we suffer many of the same consequences one would suffer distancing himself from the beneficial rays of the sun.

And so, it is time to open ourselves to experience the love of God, our loving and caring Father. You must believe in His Word! I am living testimony of His Word! Let this truth penetrate your heart. Experience this reality in your heart. Or is something limiting and keeping you from this?

I want to invite you to meditate in silence for a few moments about this important and fundamental truth: that God loves you in a personal and unconditional way.

REFLECTION IN YOUR NOTEBOOK

Summary: God created the world and all living things with a glorious, harmonious and abundant display of His love. It is His desire and design to share His love with each of us. He gives us unending proof of how much He loves us in an effort to grow closer and more intimate in our relationship with Him. His plan for us has always been to live with Him, in Him, and through Him.