Welcome to this summer’s Lawn Chair Catechism! We're reading Joe Paprocki’s best-selling book, A Well-Built Faith: A Catholic’s Guide to Knowing and Sharing What We Believe. We’re taking it one chapter at a time all summer long.

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It’s not unusual for us to identify someone as a member of a certain family because of the resemblance they share with their parents and/or siblings. As baptized Catholics, we are members of God’s family. We are made in the image and likeness of God.

The question for us today is, “Do we bear a family resemblance to our Creator?” Of course, we are not talking about a physical resemblance, because God is invisible. However, if we are indeed to bear a resemblance to God, it is important for us to know something about him!

As Christians, the single most important thing that we know about God is that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—the Trinity.

Our contemporary understanding of a mystery is very different than the biblical understanding of mystery. Today, we think of a mystery as something to solve. In the Bible, a mystery is not something to be solved, but something to enter into. We may not fully understand a mystery, but we can know a mystery.

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  1. How would you describe the concept of the Trinity to a non- Christian? To a Christian child?
  2. What does it mean for us to bear a family resemblance to our God?
  3. What does it mean that Catholics do not believe in a supreme being?
  4. What would you say to someone who claims that they can be spiritual but not religious (meaning that they feel they do not need to belong to a worshipping congregation)?
  5. What does it mean to live as a people “in communion with” one another?
  6. Explain the following statement: “Our belief in the Trinity is not an intellectual exercise—it is a relationship.”

Feel free to comment on your own thoughts from this week's reading, your impressions and reflections, and/or your answers to these questions. You can also share your blog post by linking up below.

Next week, we'll cover Chapter 5: The Bulldozer: Sin, Salvation, and the Cross of Jesus. For the complete reading schedule and information about this summer’s Lawn Chair Catechism, visit the Lawn Chair Catechism page.

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Copyright 2014 Sarah Reinhard

About the Author

Sarah Reinhard

Sarah Reinhard

When she’s not chasing kids, chugging coffee, or juggling work, Sarah Reinhard’s usually trying to stay up read just one … more … chapter. She writes and works in the midst of rural farm life with little ones underfoot. She is part of the team for the award-winning Catholic Mom’s Prayer Companion, as well as the author of a number of books. Follow her writing at Snoring Scholar.