USCCB - Catechism of the Catholic Church

Catechism of the Catholic Church

ARTICLE 1
"I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY, CREATOR
OF HEAVEN AND EARTH"

Paragraph 3. The Almighty

268
Of all the divine attributes, only God's omnipotence is named in the Creed: to confess this power has great bearing on our lives. We believe that his might is universal, for God who created everything also rules everything and can do everything. God's power is loving, for he is our Father, and mysterious, for only faith can discern it when it "is made perfect in weakness."¹⁰³
"He does whatever he pleases"¹⁰⁴

269
The Holy Scriptures repeatedly confess the universal power of God. He is called the "Mighty One of Jacob," the "LORD of hosts," the "strong and mighty" one. If God is almighty "in heaven and on earth," it is because he made them.¹⁰⁵ Nothing is impossible with God, who disposes his works according to his will.¹⁰⁶ He is the Lord of the universe, whose order he established and which remains wholly subject to him and at his disposal. He is master of history, governing hearts and events in keeping with his will: "It is always in your power to show great strength, and who can withstand the strength of your arm?"¹⁰⁷
"You are merciful to all, for you can do all things"¹⁰⁸

270
God is the Father Almighty, whose fatherhood and power shed light on one another: God reveals his fatherly omnipotence by the way he takes care of our needs; by the filial adoption that he gives us ("I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."):¹⁰⁹ finally by his infinite mercy, for he displays his power at its height by freely forgiving sins.

271
God's almighty power is in no way arbitrary: "In God, power, essence, will, intellect, wisdom, and justice are all identical. Nothing therefore can be in God's power which could not be in his just will or his wise intellect."¹¹⁰
The mystery of God's apparent powerlessness

272
Faith in God the Father Almighty can be put to the test by the experience of evil and suffering. God can sometimes seem to be absent and incapable of stopping evil. But in the most mysterious way God the Father has revealed his almighty power in the voluntary humiliation and Resurrection of his Son, by which he conquered evil. Christ crucified is thus "the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."¹¹¹ It is in Christ's Resurrection and exaltation that the Father has shown forth "the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe."¹¹²

273
Only faith can embrace the mysterious ways of God's almighty power. This faith glories in its weaknesses in order to draw to itself Christ's power.¹¹³ The Virgin Mary is the supreme model of this faith, for she believed that "nothing will be impossible with God," and was able to magnify the Lord: "For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name."¹¹⁴

274
"Nothing is more apt to confirm our faith and hope than holding it fixed in our minds that nothing is impossible with God. Once our reason has grasped the idea of God's almighty power, it will easily and without any hesitation admit everything that [the Creed] will afterwards propose for us to believe—even if they be great and marvellous things, far above the ordinary laws of nature."¹¹⁵

IN BRIEF

275
With Job, the just man, we confess: "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted" (Job 42:2).

276
Faithful to the witness of Scripture, the Church often addresses its prayer to the "almighty and eternal God" ("omnipotens sempiterne Deus . . ."), believing firmly that "nothing will be impossible with God" (Gen 18:14; Lk 1:37; Mt 19:26).

277
God shows forth his almighty power by converting us from our sins and restoring us to his friendship by grace. "God, you show your almighty power above all in your mercy and forgiveness . . ." (Roman Missal, 26th Sunday, Opening Prayer).

278
If we do not believe that God's love is almighty, how can we believe that the Father could create us, the Son redeem us, and the Holy Spirit sanctify us?

Notes

Cf. Gen 1:1; Jn 1:3; Mt 6:9; 2 Cor 12:9; cf. 1 Cor 1:18.

Ps 115:3.

Gen 49:24; Isa 1:24 etc.; Ps 24:8-10; 135:6.

Cf. Jer 27:5; 32:17; Lk 1:37.

Wis 11:21; cf. Esth 4:17b; Prov 21:1; Tob 13:2.

Wis 11:23.

2 Cor 6:18; cf. Mt 6:32.

St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I, 25, 5, ad 1.

1 Cor 1:24-25.

Eph 1:19-22.

Cf. 2 Cor 12:9; Phil 4:13.

Lk 1:37, 49.

Roman Catechism, I, 2, 13.