Beliefs in the roman catholic tradition: Ultimate reality

Question 1

Ultimate reality definition

Answer 1

Used to name the cosmic force beyond human understanding, which is understood by believers in some traditions to be the dynamic power that creates and controls the universe. Each religious tradition will have its own cosmology, a way of understanding how the universe came into being and how it continues to develop, which is attributed to the works of an ultimate reality. The god figure, spirit or force is considered to be supreme in power and wisdom and the source of moral values.

Question 2

Ultimate Reality in RCT

Answer 2

• Monotheistic meaning that they confess a belief in one God.
• For Catholic adherents, the One God is triune and is known as the Triune God or the Blessed Trinity. This is because the One God is made of three persons:
  The Father (the Creator of all things)
  The Son (the Redeemer of all things)
  The Holy Spirit (The sustainer of all things
• Teaches that there is a relationship between the three persons and that God has revealed God’s self to the human race over time - first as one God to the Jewish people as depicted in the first testament and then the full revelation of the Triune nature of God through Jesus as told in the New Testament.

Question 3

Theological terms to describe the Triune God

Answer 3

• Omnipotent (all powerful)
• Omniscient (all knowing)
• Omnipresent (everywhere at once)
• Imminent (present everywhere in all created things)
• Transcendent (exists outside time and space)
• Co-equal (all three are equal in power and majesty)
• Co-eternal (existed since before time and for eternity)
• Consubstantial (share in the same substance and nature)

Question 4

Expression of the Triune God in texts

Answer 4

The Nicene Creed
- belief that God is one
- belief in God the Father as a person in the Trinity and that God created all things
- belief in Jesus as a person in the Trinity and belief that he is the Redeemer by his death and Resurrection
- belief in the Holy as a person in the Trinity as the Sustainer of all things

Scriptures
- Matt 28:19-19 Belief in God as Trinity
- Revelation 23:13 Belief that God is eternal

Catechism

Question 5

Expression of the Triune God in symbols

Answer 5

Sign of the Cross
-Uses the ‘trinitarian formula’

Art

Question 6

Expression of the Triune God in Spaces, Places, Times and Artefacts

Answer 6

Trinity Sunday
-Every year on the first Sunday after Pentecost
-adherents revisit the belief in one, triune God.
-focus given to the Nicene Creed in Catholic liturgies.
-White represents God as one, pure and as spirit