RCIA Session 2 – Reason and Revelation – How God Makes Himself Known

Reason and Revelation — How God Makes Himself Known

RCIA – Week 2
This session forms part of a structured introduction to the Catholic Faith used in parish RCIA. It is intended to be read slowly and prayerfully, alongside participation in the life of the Church. This material is offered for formation and reflection. Reception into the Catholic Church always involves personal discernment and parish accompaniment.

Aim of this session

By the end of this session, participants should understand that:

  • human reason can know that God exists
  • reason alone cannot know who God is or what He wills
  • if God exists and cares for humanity, revelation is reasonable
  • revelation is not opposed to reason but completes it
  • the Church receives and safeguards revelation rather than inventing it

This session explains why the Catholic Faith depends on revelation, not speculation.

1. What Reason Can and Cannot Do

Last week we established that:

  • belief in God is reasonable
  • religion arises naturally from human reason

But reason has limits.

By reason alone, we may know:

  • that God exists
  • that He is the source of all that is
  • that we depend upon Him
  • that moral obligation is real

But reason alone cannot tell us:

  • God’s inner nature
  • His will for humanity
  • how we are to worship Him
  • whether He offers forgiveness or grace

Reason can take us to the threshold of God.
It cannot take us inside the mystery.

This raises a serious question:

If God exists and wishes to be known, how would He make Himself known?

2. What Is Revelation?

Revelation means this:

God freely making known what human beings could not discover by reason alone.

Revelation is not:

  • human opinion about God
  • philosophy elevated into religion
  • personal insight or private experience

Revelation is God acting and speaking.

If God exists, revelation is not strange.
It is reasonable.

A personal God would not remain silent.

Penny Catechism

Q. How do we know that there is a God?
A. We know that there is a God because our reason tells us so, and because we are taught it by faith.

Faith here does not mean feeling.
It means receiving what God has made known.

3. Why Revelation Is Necessary

Without revelation:

  • human beings speculate
  • religions multiply
  • errors persist
  • certainty is impossible

History shows this clearly:

  • even brilliant thinkers disagreed about God
  • moral truths were mixed with grave errors
  • worship became distorted

Revelation is necessary because:

  • the human mind is limited
  • the human heart is wounded
  • error spreads easily

Revelation is not an insult to reason.
It is a remedy for its weakness.

The Catholic Faith insists:

What is most important for salvation must not be left to guesswork.

4. How God Reveals

God reveals Himself in two inseparable ways:

By deeds — acting in history

By words — explaining the meaning of those deeds

Revelation is not abstract teaching.
It is God entering human history and guiding His people.

Revelation unfolds gradually:

  • not all at once
  • not in private isolation
  • but publicly, over time

This protects revelation from:

  • personal distortion
  • private invention
  • emotional manipulation

Revelation is entrusted to a people, not individuals acting alone.

5. Revelation Requires a Guardian

If God reveals Himself, an obvious problem arises:

How is revelation preserved accurately across generations?

If revelation were left to:

  • private interpretation
  • individual inspiration
  • personal reading alone

it would fragment endlessly.

The Church exists, in part, to:

  • receive revelation
  • preserve it faithfully
  • teach it without corruption

The Church does not create revelation.
She guards what she has received.

This is why the Catholic Faith is not:

  • a collection of opinions
  • a changing philosophy
  • a private spiritual journey

It is a received deposit.

6. Revelation and Faith

Faith does not mean:

  • believing without evidence
  • suppressing questions
  • abandoning reason

Faith means:

Assenting to what God has revealed because God is truthful.

Faith rests on:

  • God’s authority
  • not human cleverness

This is why faith can be:

  • humble
  • confident
  • stable

Penny Catechism

Q. What is faith?
A. Faith is a supernatural gift of God, which enables us to believe without doubting whatever God has revealed.

Faith is not opposed to reason.
It goes beyond what reason can reach alone.

7. Modern Objections Addressed

“Why can’t I decide for myself what to believe?”

Because truth is not created by preference.
It is received.

“Isn’t revelation just human interpretation?”

If revelation were merely human, it would contradict itself endlessly.
Its coherence across centuries demands explanation.

“Doesn’t authority suppress freedom?”

Authority protects truth from distortion.
Without it, the strongest voices dominate.

8. What Is Being Asked of You Now

At this stage, you are not asked to:

  • understand everything
  • accept every doctrine
  • silence every doubt

You are asked to consider this:

If God exists, is it reasonable that He would reveal Himself — and preserve that revelation?

That question matters.

9. Questions for the Week

Reflect quietly during the week:

  • If God exists, would I expect Him to remain silent?
  • Do I trust my own judgment more than truth itself?
  • What would it mean to receive truth rather than invent it?

10. Closing Summary

Reason leads us to God.
Revelation allows God to speak.

The Catholic Faith rests on both:

  • reason respected
  • revelation received

Next week we will ask:

Has God in fact revealed Himself — and how can we know that revelation is authentic?

Optional Closing Prayer

God of truth,
if You have spoken, give us ears to hear.
Guard us from pride and haste,
and lead us patiently toward what is true.
Amen.