The First Word
by Pat Gohn in Faith on Thursday, July 23, 2009 6:00 AM
My mother confesses that my first word was “Da-Da!” My own babies repeated the pattern, as many children do. Consider the proper order of that child’s knowledge: A father’s gift of life and love precedes the child’s relationship with him — knowledge of him and his name.
Opening the Prologue of the Catechism of the Catholic Church
Word of God
The Catechism’s first word is not from a bishop, a theologian, or an editor. It is the Word of God. It sets the tone and purpose for the Catechism.
“FATHER” is in bold relief. That word denotes a particular relationship. In context, Jesus is praying to the Father in heaven on our behalf, asking that we would be united in relationship with him and the Father… to “know” them.
What do Jesus’ words in the Prologue say—immediately—about the Catechism? Before we even get to Paragraph 1, (CCC 1)? It sets the stage: the Catechism is meant to help draw us deeper into relationship with God … to proclaim our familial identity as children of God, defining our ultimate destiny.
Mission to Love and Save
The next scripture verses in the Prologue remind us of Jesus’ mission to love and save us. His very name carries power. “God our Savior desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” [1 Tim. 2:3-4.] And, ” ‘There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved’ [Acts 4:12] than the name of JESUS.”
Again, knowing someone’s name denotes relationship. We are destined to have more than knowledge alone, rather, a relationship with God Himself!
The Church calls us to read the Catechism with this relationship—this holy union and our end—in mind. So much so, that CCC 1, the Catechism’s first official paragraph we encounter, is a beautiful, even poetic, expansion of this grand vocation God has designed for our union with Him. (Normally CCC 1 is a prose text. To accentuate its beauty, I am setting off its phrases as if it were poetry.) This is worth memorizing and taking to prayer:
God,
infinitely perfect and blessed in himself,
in a plan of sheer goodness
freely created man
to make him share in his own blessed life.
For this reason,
at every time and in every place,
God draws close to man.
He calls man to seek him,
to know him,
to love him with all his strength.
He calls together all men,
scattered and divided by sin,
into the unity of his family,
the Church.
To accomplish this,
when the fullness of time had come,
God sent his Son
as Redeemer and Savior.
In his Son and through him,
he invites men to become,
in the Holy Spirit,
his adopted children
and thus heirs of his blessed life. [CCC 1.]
Love That Never Ends
The Catechism is designed to be more than the definitive reference text of the doctrines of Catholic Faith. Therefore, its Prologue concludes with Paragraph 25, or CCC 25, reiterating the divine love we are meant to experience, on which all Catholic teaching stands: The whole concern of doctrine and its teaching must be directed to the love that never ends. Whether something is proposed for belief, for hope or for action, the love of our Lord must always be made accessible, so that anyone can see that all the works of perfect Christian virtue spring from love and have no other objective than to arrive at love. [emphasis mine]
The overarching purpose for all the Church’s teachings in the Catechism are to lead us to Eternal Love—a transforming love relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity. And it starts from knowing that your life comes from a Father in heaven who already loves you.
Want to read more? Try this:
CCC 239 By calling God “Father”, the language of faith indicates two main things: that God is the first origin of everything and transcendent authority; and that he is at the same time goodness and loving care for all his children. God’s parental tenderness can also be expressed by the image of motherhood, which emphasizes God’s immanence, the intimacy between Creator and creature. The language of faith thus draws on the human experience of parents, who are in a way the first representatives of God for man. But this experience also tells us that human parents are fallible and can disfigure the face of fatherhood and motherhood. We ought therefore to recall that God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God. He also transcends human fatherhood and motherhood, although he is their origin and standard: no one is father as God is Father.
—Pat Gohn is a wife & mother celebrating 27 years of Catholic family life. Her Catholic writing, podcasting, and ministry life are found at PatGohn.com.
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