we came from God: 2nd week of Lent Tuesday 2013

Today let us reflect on the first article of faith.  There are twelve articles of faith and legend says that each article is authored by an apostle.  I don’t think it would be accurate to say that the apostles met one day and Peter said, "I believe in God the Father almighty;" and another stood up and said, "I believe in Jesus his only begotten Son."  That may not have been the case.  But the point is this: the creed is apostolic in origin.  Its source is the twelve apostles.  This is the reason why the Catholic Church is called “one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.”  Our faith is apostolic, meaning it was handed down from the apostles.  That is the truth.  Our faith has its origin from the twelve apostles.  Our faith came from the twelve apostles, thus there are twelve articles of the faith.

The first article is, "I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth."  In explaining this first article of our faith, the Catechism of the Catholic Church says,  our profession of faith begins with God, for God is the First and the Last, the beginning and the end of everything. 

So when we say I believe in God we assert that we came from God, our origin is God, God is our beginning.  When we say I believe in God we also assert that God is our end, God is the goal of my existence, God is the purpose of my work and God is the reason of my life.

Dumdoman nyo anay sang gamay pa kita, kon gusto nila kita pahibion sunlogon kita nila, ay sin-o ya tatay mo man, pinulot ka lang didto sa UI.  Nakita ka lang sa basurahan.  We are hurt when our origin is questioned because our origin defines us, our origin gives us our identity, it answers the question, who are you, sin-o ka?  The creed teaches us who we are by telling us our origin.  I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth is placed at the beginning of the creed because it is fundamental.  Ngaa, kay ang tanan nga magasunod sa sini nga assertion will be defined in relation to God.  Who is man, what is man, what is the world – all these will be defined in their relationship with God.  We are who we are because of our relationship with God.  Kuhaa ang Dios and what is man?  He is a chimpanzee with fewer hairs. 

God is our origin.  This is the assertion of Jesus in our gospel today when he said, you have only one Father in heaven – and because God is Father and all of us come from him, Jesus said we are all brothers and sisters.  Our origin defines us in relation to God, and even in relation to each other. 

But remember God is also our end, God is our goal.  What is the goal of all these, why are we doing what we do, what is that for, what is the purpose.  God.  In the gospel we hear Jesus say, “The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”  Why should you want become a servant when you could boss it over others, when you can bully people around you.  You have the power, you have the money, you can afford, but why become a servant, why humble yourself?  Because God is the goal.  The values of God are different from the values of the world and God is our end.

And so we ask ourselves, who am I?  Do I believe that my origin is God?  Are my relations with others defined also by this origin, by our common origin?  Are my decisions influenced by my end and goal?

I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.