United States Catholic Catechism for Adults

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12 • Part I. The Creed: The Faith Professed
“But,”Moses said to God,“when I go to the Israelites and say to
them,‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ if they ask me
‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?”
Godreplied,“I amwhoam.”Thenheadded,“This iswhat youshall tell
the Israelites: I am sent me to you. . . .This is my name forever; this is
my title for all generations.”
But Moses said to the L ord, “If you please, Lord, I have never
been eloquent, neither in the past, nor recently, nor now that you
have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and tongue.”
The Lord said to him, “Who gives one man the gift of speech
and no such gift to another? Is it not I, the L ord? Go then! It is I who
will assist you in speaking and will teach you what you are to say.”
Yet Moses persisted, “If you please, Lord, send someone else.”
Then the Lord relented, “Have you not your brother, Aaron the
Levite? I know that he is an eloquent speaker. He shall speak to the
people for you. He shall be your spokesman. I will assist both you and
him and teach the two of you both what you are to do.” (adapted
from Exodus 3:1-15; 4:10-16)
The Old Testament is filled with numerous occasions where God
reveals himself, such as he does to Moses in this passage from Exodus.
The event of God’s self-disclosure to Moses at the burning bush is an
excellent introduction to the mystery of God’s revelatory acts, a truth of
our faith that is the focus of this chapter.
•
GOD REVEALS HIS LOVING PLAN TO SAVE US
By natural reason man can know God with certainty,
on the basis of his works. But there is another order of
knowledge, which man cannot possibly arrive at by his
own powers: the order of divine revelation.
—First Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on
the Catholic Faith (Dei Filius), no. 1870
Through the use of reason, we can learn much about God from both
creation and conscience, but Revelation enables us to learn about God’s