Jesus and God

CHURCH OF ST. JOHN NEUMANN
A ROMAN CATHOLIC COMMUNITY CENTERED IN PRAYER AND EUCHARIST

16271 Pearl Road Strongsville, OH 44136
(440) 238-1770
Fax: (440) 238-2030

Question: I would like to know why the Catholic Church believes Jesus and God are one being, when God was here before Jesus was born? Also, when we pray are we supposed to pray to Jesus or God?

Answer: To take your second question first, you can pray to God the Blessed Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), to any of the persons of the Trinity, or to any saint. "Pray" is simply an old-fashioned word for "speak to" or converse. You can adore or worship only the triune God (or any of the persons of the Trinity, Father, Son or Holy Spirit) but you may not adore or worship a saint on a par with God. Saints and other creatures may only receive the honor that is proper to them as creatures, not the honor proper to God. Since many people confuse "prayer" with "worship" we point that distinction out. As to the reason the Church believes Jesus is "one in being with the Father", our own Mark Shea, Senior Content Editor here at Catholic Exchange, explains how the Church came to believe that Jesus is God-become-Man in his essay Who Do You Say I Am?. He also explains how the Church came to formulate the mysterious doctrine of the Trinity in light of this startling revelation in his The Discovery of the Trinity.