1.

There is a vacuous space inside of man in which God desires to dwell

a. You can fill this with various things, but you will never be happy
b. No matter how many times you screw up, God will always be there to take
you back, but you must allow him.
2. Outside of God’s covenant (leaving this space for other things)
a. Man has the image of God. The image is defaced, but not destroyed
b. Man is capable of doing good, but ultimately a slave to sin
c. People try to fill this void in various ways
i. Pleasure – money, sex, leisure
ii. Causes – political, social
iii. Other people – family, friends
d. These aren’t necessarily bad, but they will never fill the void
3. Old covenant (God love’s man)
a. God chose the Jewish people to be special
b. God gave the law, the Torah. Following this made one righteous.
c. But God’s people continually turned their backs on God.
4. New covenant (God love’s man in an entirely new way)
a. Jesus is God in the world. He bridges the chasm between God and man.
b. The world is changed forever
c. The Church is Christ elongated through space and time
d. Christ is unique. This encounter with God can be found nowhere else.
i. The Eucharist is Christ physically present before us.
e. Man is redeemed – actually, really changed by Christ
i. Allowing God (Father, Son, HS) to enter the vacuum is true
happiness.
ii. Man is made right before God through repentance and acceptance
of Christ’s love.

God has always loved man, but Jesus made it possible for man to more truly love God by
offering the Holy Spirit
1. How?
f. Holy Spirit
g. working in and through the Church
h. In confirmation the holy spirit truly descends from the heavens and enters
into your hearts.
i. Will you feel it like the wind?
ii. Does this mean the holy spirit can’t work in you now?
iii. Will you be changed forever?
2. Man’s ultimate desire is to Love God
i. only true happiness is found in the love of God
j. other good things exist, but are hollow with the love of God
3. Because of a love of God, man can truly love his fellow man
k. love of man must be rooted in love of God
19We love because he first loved us. 20If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his
brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot
love God, whom he has not seen. 21And he has given us this command: Whoever loves
God must also love his brother