How can we know God?

 Besides knowing God by our natural

reason,
 we can also know Him from
SUPERNATURAL REVELATION.
 God has often revealed Himself to men
through means beyond the ordinary
course of nature.

to reveal = to disclose
 God "desires all men to be saved and to
come to the knowledge of the truth":
that is, of Christ Jesus .
 God revealed His plan of loving
goodness by giving man access to
Him through Jesus Christ, the Word
made flesh in the Holy Spirit.
 In His goodness and wisdom God chose to
reveal Himself and to make known to us
the hidden purpose of His will (see Eph.
1:9)
 by which through Christ, the Word made
flesh, man might in the Holy Spirit have
access to the Father
 and come to share in the divine nature
(see Eph. 2:18; 2 Peter 1:4).
 By this revelation then, the
deepest truth about God and
the salvation of man shines out
for our sake in Christ,
 who is both the mediator and
 the fullness of all revelation.
REVELATION: the communication
of some truth by God to a
rational creature through means
which are beyond the ordinary
course of nature.
 Christ must be proclaimed to all nations and
individuals, so that this revelation may reach to
the ends of the earth.
 God graciously arranged that the things he had
once revealed for the salvation of all peoples
should remain in their entirety, throughout the
ages, and be transmitted to all generations.
 The Transmission
 through Holy Scripture, written down
under divine inspiration, and
 through Tradition, handed down
orally from Apostolic times.
 Kinds
 The public revelation of truths to men by God
began with Adam and Eve and ended at the
death of Saint John the Apostle.
 Private revelations have been made to holy
persons, such as those of the Sacred Heart of
Jesus to Saint Margaret Mary, and those of Our
Lady of Lourdes to Saint Bernadette, St Faustina
of the Divine Mercy.
 But these private revelations are never proposed to the
faithful as articles of faith.
 When the Church approves them, it merely states that there
is nothing in them contrary to faith or morals.
Stages of Divine Revelation
I. PRE-CHRISTIAN REVELATION
 Primitive revelation,
made to Adam and
Eve;
 Patriarchal
revelation, made to
the patriarchs; and
 Mosaic revelation,
made to Moses and
the prophets
 II. Christian Revelation
 Our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, come to earth to
reveal Divine truths to men.
 After His death, His Apostles and disciples wrote
about Him and His teachings.
 God our loving Father has
revealed himself to us, giving
us the unimaginably
generous gift of his Word.

May we be thankful for, and

ever-faithful to this gift.