God and me.

Here am I again,
to say something about God,
who seems so far away from me
Yet, how can that be?

How can God be far away?
Far away where?
Far away when?
Isn't the One, who is Being, everywhere?
Isn't the One, who is Being,  everywhen?
Isn't the One, who is Being, ever Present?

So I am the one who is far away.
I am the one who lost track of The ever Present!
I wonder in the past and the future.
I wonder away from the great present.
I waste my time in what I was or what imagine I will be.
I force my present into the past or the future.
Amazing violence!
I stretch my heart and twist my mind.
I damage my senses and so loose contact.

I damage the being that I am, the great gift I received from the One who IS.
For once I was not but now I am.
And when I was something else I became the human I am aware of.
A damaged being but still a being.
How else did I enter the domain of Being? For I came to be!
How else did I enter the domain of the I AM? For I am too!

But I am damaged and weak.
My damaged senses do not sense God with their full capacity.
These are damages from my poor choices and the actions of others.

Why did God allow that?
Is anything beyond the capacity of the Almighty?
Why give freedom which can easily be  abused?
Yet, doesn't no_freedom means forcing?
Yet again, can there be forcing where there is no need of anything?

Can God need anything?
Then, why create?
Why create and offer freedom?
Giving without expecting a return?
Love!

What about all the suffering?
Is there anything God can't handle?
Any good the Almighty cannot achieve?

What is God? What is Creation?

After watching the first Curiosity show on Discovery Channel last weekend, I was reminded on this question and how it is generally assumed that everyone share the same understanding of the answer to it.
Even Physicist Stephen Hawking does not provide a background to 'God' before dismissing Him as non-existant. I believe that, with his brilliant mind, if he would look into 'God' nearly as much as he looks into Physics, he would accomplish the promise of this quote:

Science can purify religion from error and superstition; religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes. - John Paul II

In the first Curiosity documentary titled: Did God Create the Universe? Hawking does a good job of purifying religion from superstition. This is because the science he presents is reasonable. Without realizing it, he did a great favor to religion by comfirming the fact that God is not native of Time. Unfortunately, he does not seem to be aware that some religions are already aware of that. He clearly did not do even a little research of 'God' beyond what we may call the street understanding of 'God'.

Here is the last part of the presentation which includes how Hawking concludes that God does not exist.





Fortunately, I know people who probably think about God perhaps as much as Hawking thinks about Physics, so my faith was not shaken. It was not shaken because I have gone through those arguments before, but also seen video clips like this one:



I was actually glad about the arguments Hawking used because they do reject the common false notion of God and by doing so, they support the true notion of what God is. Somehow, I have a feeling that Hawking my be surprised by finding God since the truth always lead to God and as much as he sees and follow what is true, he get closer and closer to God. Of course this means farther and farther from the false notions of God which he is considering the notion of God...

To be more fair, I will also share Fr. Barron comment on Creation. It is not a particular response to Science, but can give hints about the attitude we should have in regard to God/Creation.



This will be all, even though I saw some other interesting youtube clips on Catholic view on Creation.

Truth on trial: First Station: Jesus is condemned to death

Adam was created in the image of God

His nature, the human nature is to magnify the truth.
Adam failed, we fail all the time to magnify the truth.
When scared to death, we rather betray the truth than die.
Jesus the perfect man, he rather die than betray the truth.

Real Life is in the truth not in the flesh
Adam separated from truth and become corruptible and died.
Jesus holds our nature in the truth and restores it into incorruptibility
His divine power is not about preserving us in the flesh, but in the truth
Man experience God's greatest powers when his sins are forgiven.

So much violence because we are trying to preserve our flesh like Adam
Yet our flesh does not hold us together or gives us peace.
Truth holds us together and harmonizes us
We should struggle to stay in the truth, to stay honest, to keep our integrity
We should struggle to magnify the Lord like Mary
Magnifying the Lord is the vacation of mankind.
Truth is the narrow way to paradise

It is so easy to drift away from the truth and loose our way to paradise
Sometimes under pressure, we even convince ourselves it can be okay to lie
Yes, the devil the liar and murder from the beginning knows how to scares us to death
The devil gives us two choices: lies or death
But there is an other choice: prayer, and wait for the Lord.
The devil can only offer lies and death, but God always offers life if we remains in the truth.
In truth, even if there is temporal death, there will be life again.
Jesus is set to prove this for he is the truth itself, and the way, and the life.
So at various occasions from the beginning in Gethsemane he showed the weakness of human nature
But he also showed the strength of his divinity by holding on to faith in the Father
At every turn, he strengthen humanity in the faith that there is no death in the truth.

Temporal life dwells in the flesh and in the world
But eternal life dwells in the truth
And we should aim for that which is eternal and not permit the evil one to deceive us.
When we want to save lives, we should ask ourselves what life we want to save:
Temporal life or eternal life?
Will saving temporal life save eternal life as well or will the contrary happen?
When we lie to save temporal life, we loose eternal life, so what is the point?
The devil deceives us that we have to lie if we love
He tells us that we can lie and save lives
But when we accept, we may save the temporal but the eternal is lost.
Like those who condemned Jesus, we choose man over God
But eternal life is in God not in man.
Now it is clear why Jesus would choose death
What point is he making?
Him who rose the dead back to life is accepting death and commending it
He tells us that if we want to be with him, we have to pick up our crosses
Adam refused the cross by avoiding confrontation with the serpent
He accepted to leave the path of truth choosing the lie of the devil
He believed that the creature cared more about him than the Creator
He observed the parade of the animals and went for life in the flesh forsaking life in the Spirit
He abandoned truth and became corruptible

Jesus undid this fall of Adam by accepting the cross
Jesus reopened the way to paradise that Adam closed after him.
The way to paradise is the way of the cross.
Paradise is protected by flaming swords of cherubim.
To cross that fire we have to be incorruptible for that fire will destroy every corruptible thing.
Or we have to cross that fire if we want all our corruption to be destroyed so that only the pure remains.
And the pure is the truth
The truth is Jesus,
Only he can pass through the fire and live
Only he can enter death and transform it
Only in him we can cross over to Paradise

 

[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] The same was in the beginning with God. [3] All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made. [4] In him was life, and the life was the light of men. [5] And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. - John 1.

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. " - Jhn 14.6

Meditations:
1. link1
2. link 2
3. Short meditations and prayers

The Truth on trial

All problems in the world without exception are grounded in hostility against truth. So when people are trying to solve problem they talk about truth all the time. They say that people have lied, that truth has been suppressed or revealed or this and that. They say that the truth is this or the truth is that. The truth is always at the center of the issues. Last Friday when I was in Adoration, I was inspired to blog about this trial: the stations of the Cross.

Lying for Jesus and Christian Identity 1

There is a controversy going on about how it may be okay to lie in some special cases for Jesus. The more I reflect on the arguments, the more I am realizing that we are talking about the very Christian identity here.

Now, it is clear to me that a Christian can be defined in few words like this:
A person who pledged absolute trust in the truth.

Explanation:
A Christian is a person who believe that truth is the very word/language of God. In truth, the Word, God created all things, and in it He hold all things together. The Word is God and the Word incarnated and became man:Jesus.

[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] The same was in the beginning with God. [3] All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made. [4] In him was life, and the life was the light of men. [5] And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

John 1

In Jesus, the truth, the divine language, is translated into human language. We can look at him, his life, from beginning to end, and understand the message of God to us.

Jesus said: "I am the way, and the truth and the life."


This means that for a Christian, true life, eternal life, is in the truth. This imply that true death is in lie(s). For these reasons, saints were never people who were afraid of physical death, they were afraid of spiritual death. They were afraid of lying and finding themselves in lies and falsehoods, embracing them and living by them.
In the same faith, for a saint to love is not to spare people so much from physical death as from spiritual death.

For a saint, it is not an absolute necessity to save physical lives (his or of his beloved people), but it is an absolute necessity to save them from spiritual death:lies and deceptions.

For a saint, walking in the truth is walking in the street that lead to Paradise. One must stay on this street and if necessary die on it. One must not leave it even to spare some physical lives of someone else. This street is Jesus himself. It is in Jesus that life is.

On the other hand, if one exit and walk away from this street by walking in falsehood, they are walking away from eternal life, and therefore they are dying as they walk away. The devil 'kills' us by setting up these falsehood and proposing that we walk in them. Jesus said that the devil is 'a liar and murderer' from the beginning. He lead us into death by the way of lies and deceits.

I find that the best tactic of the devil is to scare us to death.
The Bible tells us that the devil "holds the world in captivity through the fear of death." (Heb 2.15) We always feel a need to lie because we are scared to 'death' about something. It seems that the only alternatives are a lie or a 'death'. This is where we need faith. Faith is about trusting God always, trusting that he hold everything in his hands. Faith is about trust in the truth, because we know that nothing can hold without the truth, we know that the truth is the very Word of God. Faith is trust in the Word of God no matter what. And sometimes we are called to witness that this Word is powerful even in death and beyond death. Dying in truth is being sealed in eternal life. Again, life is not physical integrity, but spiritual integrity. Because with spiritual integrity, physical integrity can always be restored, in other words, the resurrection of the body. But when spiritual integrity is lost through falsehood, there is no hope of future physical integrity. We will rise to witness judgment which will be eternal disintegration, eternal incoherency, "the worm will never die"(Mrk 9.48)It is this sealing of loss of spiritual integrity which also affects physical integrity which is called Hell.

In consideration of all this, absolute trust in truth is necessary for salvation. This is the summary of the Christian Faith. So a Christian believes that there is no salvation without Jesus Christ.

When faced with classical questions like: "how to save Jew from Nazi?" without lying, we must remember to ask ourselves who is the greater enemy of the Jew, the nazi or the devil? Also, some them from what death? physical first or spiritual first? First, with God's grace, I would remind them to trust God, that God is on the other side as well, so nothing to fear than betraying God. Next, I will try my best to honor the truth without betraying it. The Catechism of the Catholic Church covers this:

2489 Charity and respect for the truth should dictate the response to every request for information or communication. the good and safety of others, respect for privacy, and the common good are sufficient reasons for being silent about what ought not be known or for making use of a discreet language. the duty to avoid scandal often commands strict discretion. No one is bound to reveal the truth to someone who does not have the right to know it.282

- CCC

Therefore, when our Lord asks us to be always ready, it seems that one of the things to be ready for is to know how to use discreet language is grave situation to protect the sanctity of truth. Often we are caught by surprise and lie in the confusion of the moment, and later we comfort ourselves that God will understand, after all we had a good intention. But sin is still sin. Peter cut off the roman soldiers ear in a moment of confusion and protective instinct. Jesus did not approve of this. God is still perfect and our weakness can not make him lower his great standard which is really his identity: God does not change; Truth is who He is.

In great suffering, the great role model can be none other than the Blessed Mother.
Mary suffered for Jesus from the beginning to end. She risked a break up with Joseph, she became a refugee in Egypt, and more... all the way through the Passion and the Cross. She is never reported trying to spare him or his friends from suffering. On the contrary, she seems to be a great sign of comfort and hope in the love of God which never abandon us.

In conclusion, suffering is terrible. Jesus told us that we must pick up our cross and follow him if we expect to be with him in Paradise. But he did not tell us to be stupid and expose ourselves to situation of temptations. On the contrary, he taught us to pray so that we are spared from temptations. Perhaps he wants us to be spared from terrible suffering. It is not easy to resist temptations in the face of great suffering and death. He suffered greatly in Gethsemane "…and his sweat became as drops of blood running down upon the ground." But "he prayed and an angel came to comfort him."(Luke 22) When we say that lying is okay sometimes, we are basically saying that Jesus never went pass Gethsemane. There he was terrified to death, and as usual the devil proposed a way out. The Lord Jesus showed us the terror on the flesh, and its desire that the cup of suffering be taken away, but by his prayer, he reminded us of the priority of the spiritual life over physical life. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, so he ask his Father, "not my will, but your will be done". Muslims believe, God took him up, and deceived people by showing an other person and getting them to believe that it is was Jesus they were torturing and crucifying. This explains why they believe that lying is okay sometimes, after all, God lied himself to save Jesus. However, we Christians believe that God is almighty, not only God is truth itself, but why would the all powerful one feel a need to lie? isn't truth powerful enough to defend itself? This is the Christian Faith, truth is all powerful and can conquer everything including death. And this is what Jesus went on to prove, because he is the truth incarnate. He went beyond Gethsemane to the cross and beyond, he conquered suffering and death, and went back to the Father to send us his power: the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, the power of true love. It empowers us to witness to the truth in all things. To prove that real life is in the truth not in the flesh. The Holy Spirit reveals to us that those who die in the truth are alive while those who are in the flesh but lives in falsehood are dead.

Eternal life is life in the truth. Lying for Jesus is like cutting the branch one is seating on. The effects may not show immediately but they will eventually show. Let's pray the Holy Spirit never to leave us but to empower us never to shy away from our crosses, but to pick them up and carry them to the end.

Litany of Humility

O Jesus! meek and humble of heart, Hear me.

From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being extolled, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being honored, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being praised, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being preferred to others, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being consulted, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the desire of being approved, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being despised, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of suffering rebukes, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being calumniated, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being forgotten, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being ridiculed, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being wronged, Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being suspected, Deliver me, Jesus.

That others may be loved more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be esteemed more than I, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That, in the opinion of the world, others may increase and I may decrease, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be chosen and I set aside, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be praised and I unnoticed, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may be preferred to me in everything, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.
That others may become holier than I, provided that I may become as holy as I should, Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it.

--- This prayer was composed by Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1930)

Look at birds and flowers...not worthier than you, yet better off!

This is it!

Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Ivory Cost,..., Wisconsin, Greece, China,...
Socialism, Communism, Fascism, Capitalism, Marxism, Jamahiriya, Democracy,...
None of these works, and none will ever work.

I don't feel like waiting for the Lord to speak louder than this.
We are not even meant to have borders! Let alone cities!

All these scheming started with a man in a distant past: Cain.
He was the first to build a city, and with Nimrod his son, more development;
More divisions: languages, nations, borders, kingdoms, wars, armies,....

Now, I am going to start pulling out slowly.
I am going to get out this world like Lot getting out Sodom
It is better to wonder like Abraham
Only I will try not to accumulate riches....
I will try to be more like birds and flowers. Like Jesus.
They are healthier than men, and better clothed!...Happier!

As I follow Jesus, I am sure I will be on the way (back) to Paradise.
If I pass through Gethsemane, I will know I have one more major stop.
If I pass through Golgotha, I will have made it.
Great adventure, but really worth it!
Otherwise, I may not even end up like the Good Thief.

We have been trying to build paradise on earth for ages, but we don't even need to.
It is here. In the heart.
And the only door to it is called: Golgotha: Dying to self!

Matthew 6:24-34:

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘No one can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money.
‘That is why I am telling you not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and how you are to clothe it. Surely life means more than food, and the body more than clothing! Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are we not worth much more than they are? Can any of you, for all his worrying, add one single cubit to his span of life? And why worry about clothing? Think of the flowers growing in the fields; they never have to work or spin; yet I assure you that not even Solomon in all his regalia was robed like one of these. Now if that is how God clothes the grass in the field which is there today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will he not much more look after you, you men of little faith? So do not worry; do not say, “What are we to eat? What are we to drink? How are we to be clothed?” It is the pagans who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all. Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on his righteousness, and all these other things will be given you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.’

God is himself the Gift

I have been pondering on God's love with special focus on the subject of 'gift'.
Now I have some good news to share.

God, in the most basic terms, is internal exchange of self-gift.
This is because God is love. This love is so infinite that it is personal.
So God was revealed as the Blessed Trinity to those who are grown in love.
Here is a progressing way through which I discover this great wonder.
God is:
To Be ->infinitely -> - The Father - the lover
To Love ->infinite -> - The Holy Spirit - the love
To Be Loved ->infinite -> - The Son - the beloved

Note that God is those persons from all eternity, but men take on those at Creation.
When man is created, since all things are created in the Son, he becomes son right from nothingness (or from dust if you will).
Then he is loved, he learns about love as he grows in Holiness (or in the Holy Spirit). This largely depends on his mother as the process of being loved starts at his creation/conception.
Last when he wants to love, he becomes father at an other moment of creation, that is the creation of his child.
This tells me that all human persons are ministries. Our ministry is to image God. We become ministers of what God is always. We BECOME but God IS always.

All this to teach us love which is also an other way of saying 'to teach us God'.
All this we received as gifts.
God gave us gifts to introduce himself who is the final gift.

How can you be a gift to someone who does not even exist?
You create him as a person for only a person can understand what a gift is.
But even for a person to understand it, he must be used to receiving gifts.
So you send gifts before you.
God surrounds us with gifts and through them we slowly get ready for him.

So slowly we learn to receive what God himself is for all eternity.
At the end when we are fully tuned to the template, it will be Heaven.
God is himself Heaven.
When we are perfectly in him, it will be perfectly in Heaven.

God bless!

Hopefully Back

Hmm! I have been away for a long time. However, I have been feeling inspired these days, so perhaps I am coming back...
This remains to be seen!

The Glory of Jesus is the Glory of Love

Intro of "Charity in Truth"

1. Charity in truth, to which Jesus Christ bore witness by his earthly life and especially by his death and resurrection, is the principal driving force behind the authentic development of every person and of all humanity. Love — caritas — is an extraordinary force which leads people to opt for courageous and generous engagement in the field of justice and peace. It is a force that has its origin in God, Eternal Love and Absolute Truth. Each person finds his good by adherence to God's plan for him, in order to realize it fully: in this plan, he finds his truth, and through adherence to this truth he becomes free (cf. Jn 8:22). To defend the truth, to articulate it with humility and conviction, and to bear witness to it in life are therefore exacting and indispensable forms of charity. Charity, in fact, “rejoices in the truth” (1 Cor 13:6). All people feel the interior impulse to love authentically: love and truth never abandon them completely, because these are the vocation planted by God in the heart and mind of every human person. The search for love and truth is purified and liberated by Jesus Christ from the impoverishment that our humanity brings to it, and he reveals to us in all its fullness the initiative of love and the plan for true life that God has prepared for us. In Christ, charity in truth becomes the Face of his Person, a vocation for us to love our brothers and sisters in the truth of his plan. Indeed, he himself is the Truth (cf. Jn 14:6).

Feast of the Most Holy Trinity ...some quotes from the CCC

257 "O blessed light, O Trinity and first Unity!" God is eternal blessedness, undying life, unfading light. God is love: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God freely wills to communicate the glory of his blessed life. Such is the "plan of his loving kindness", conceived by the Father before the foundation of the world, in his beloved Son: "He destined us in love to be his sons" and "to be conformed to the image of his Son", through "the spirit of sonship". This plan is a "grace [which] was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began", stemming immediately from Trinitarian love. It unfolds in the work of creation, the whole history of salvation after the fall, and the missions of the Son and the Spirit, which are continued in the mission of the Church.


813 The Church is one because of her source: "the highest exemplar and source of this mystery is the unity, in the Trinity of Persons, of one God, the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit." The Church is one because of her founder: for "the Word made flesh, the prince of peace, reconciled all men to God by the cross, . . . restoring the unity of all in one people and one body." The Church is one because of her "soul": "It is the Holy Spirit, dwelling in those who believe and pervading and ruling over the entire Church, who brings about that wonderful communion of the faithful and joins them together so intimately in Christ that he is the principle of the Church's unity." Unity is of the essence of the Church:
What an astonishing mystery! There is one Father of the universe, one Logos of the universe, and also one Holy Spirit, everywhere one and the same; there is also one virgin become mother, and I should like to call her "Church."

260 The ultimate end of the whole divine economy is the entry of God's creatures into the perfect unity of the Blessed Trinity. But even now we are called to be a dwelling for the Most Holy Trinity: "If a man loves me", says the Lord, "he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him":
O my God, Trinity whom I adore, help me forget myself entirely so to establish myself in you, unmovable and peaceful as if my soul were already in eternity. May nothing be able to trouble my peace or make me leave you, O my unchanging God, but may each minute bring me more deeply into your mystery! Grant my soul peace. Make it your heaven, your beloved dwelling and the place of your rest. May I never abandon you there, but may I be there, whole and entire, completely vigilant in my faith, entirely adoring, and wholly given over to your creative action.


266 "Now this is the Catholic faith: We worship one God in the Trinity and the Trinity in unity, without either confusing the persons or dividing the substance; for the person of the Father is one, the Son's is another, the Holy Spirit's another; but the Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty coeternal" (Athanasian Creed: DS 75; ND 16).


256 St. Gregory of Nazianzus, also called "the Theologian", entrusts this summary of Trinitarian faith to the catechumens of Constantinople:
Above all guard for me this great deposit of faith for which I live and fight, which I want to take with me as a companion, and which makes me bear all evils and despise all pleasures: I mean the profession of faith in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. I entrust it to you today. By it I am soon going to plunge you into water and raise you up from it. I give it to you as the companion and patron of your whole life. I give you but one divinity and power, existing one in three, and containing the three in a distinct way. Divinity without disparity of substance or nature, without superior degree that raises up or inferior degree that casts down. . . the infinite co-naturality of three infinites. Each person considered in himself is entirely God. . . the three considered together. . . I have not even begun to think of unity when the Trinity bathes me in its splendor. I have not even begun to think of the Trinity when unity grasps me. . .

2845 There is no limit or measure to this essentially divine forgiveness, whether one speaks of "sins" as in Luke (11:4), "debts" as in Matthew (6:12). We are always debtors: "Owe no one anything, except to love one another." The communion of the Holy Trinity is the source and criterion of truth in every relation ship. It is lived out in prayer, above all in the Eucharist.
God does not accept the sacrifice of a sower of disunion, but commands that he depart from the altar so that he may first be reconciled with his brother. For God can be appeased only by prayers that make peace. To God, the better offering is peace, brotherly concord, and a people made one in the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.


738 Thus the Church's mission is not an addition to that of Christ and the Holy Spirit, but is its sacrament: in her whole being and in all her members, the Church is sent to announce, bear witness, make present, and spread the mystery of the communion of the Holy Trinity (the topic of the next article):
All of us who have received one and the same Spirit, that is, the Holy Spirit, are in a sense blended together with one another and with God. For if Christ, together with the Father's and his own Spirit, comes to dwell in each of us, though we are many, still the Spirit is one and undivided. He binds together the spirits of each and every one of us, . . . and makes all appear as one in him. For just as the power of Christ's sacred flesh unites those in whom it dwells into one body, I think that in the same way the one and undivided Spirit of God, who dwells in all, leads all into spiritual unity.

Job 38

[1] Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind:
[2] "Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
[3] Gird up your loins like a man,I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
[4] "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?Tell me, if you have understanding.[5] Who determined its measurements -- surely you know!Or who stretched the line upon it?
[6] On what were its bases sunk,or who laid its cornerstone,
[7] when the morning stars sang together,and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
[8] "Or who shut in the sea with doors,when it burst forth from the womb;
[9] when I made clouds its garment,and thick darkness its swaddling band,
[10] and prescribed bounds for it,and set bars and doors,
[11] and said, `Thus far shall you come, and no farther,and here shall your proud waves be stayed'?
[12] "Have you commanded the morning since your days began,and caused the dawn to know its place,
[13] that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,and the wicked be shaken out of it?
[14] It is changed like clay under the seal,and it is dyed like a garment.
[15] From the wicked their light is withheld,and their uplifted arm is broken.
[16] "Have you entered into the springs of the sea,or walked in the recesses of the deep?
[17] Have the gates of death been revealed to you,or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?[18] Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?Declare, if you know all this.
[19] "Where is the way to the dwelling of light,and where is the place of darkness,
[20] that you may take it to its territoryand that you may discern the paths to its home?
[21] You know, for you were born then,and the number of your days is great!
[22] "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,[23] which I have reserved for the time of trouble,for the day of battle and war?
[24] What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?
[25] "Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain,and a way for the thunderbolt,
[26] to bring rain on a land where no man is,on the desert in which there is no man;
[27] to satisfy the waste and desolate land,and to make the ground put forth grass?
[28] "Has the rain a father,or who has begotten the drops of dew?
[29] From whose womb did the ice come forth,and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven?
[30] The waters become hard like stone,and the face of the deep is frozen.
[31] "Can you bind the chains of the Plei'ades,or loose the cords of Orion?
[32] Can you lead forth the Maz'zaroth in their season,or can you guide the Bear with its children?
[33] Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?Can you establish their rule on the earth?
[34] "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,that a flood of waters may cover you?
[35] Can you send forth lightnings, that they may goand say to you, `Here we are'?
[36] Who has put wisdom in the clouds,or given understanding to the mists?
[37] Who can number the clouds by wisdom?Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
[38] when the dust runs into a massand the clods cleave fast together?
[39] "Can you hunt the prey for the lion,or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
[40] when they crouch in their dens,or lie in wait in their covert?
[41] Who provides for the raven its prey,when its young ones cry to God,and wander about for lack of food?

God is Love

God is Love
218 In the course of its history, Israel was able to discover that God had only one reason to reveal himself to them, a single motive for choosing them from among all peoples as his special possession: his sheer gratuitous love.38 And thanks to the prophets Israel understood that it was again out of love that God never stopped saving them and pardoning their unfaithfulness and sins.39
219 God's love for Israel is compared to a father's love for his son. His love for his people is stronger than a mother's for her children. God loves his people more than a bridegroom his beloved; his love will be victorious over even the worst infidelities and will extend to his most precious gift: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son."40
220 God's love is "everlasting":41 "For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you."42 Through Jeremiah, God declares to his people, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you."43
221 But St. John goes even further when he affirms that "God is love":44 God's very being is love. By sending his only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret:45 God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange.

God is Truth

God is Truth
215 "The sum of your word is truth; and every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever."30 "And now, O LORD God, you are God, and your words are true";31 this is why God's promises always come true.32 God is Truth itself, whose words cannot deceive. This is why one can abandon oneself in full trust to the truth and faithfulness of his word in all things. The beginning of sin and of man's fall was due to a lie of the tempter who induced doubt of God's word, kindness and faithfulness.
216 God's truth is his wisdom, which commands the whole created order and governs the world.33 God, who alone made heaven and earth, can alone impart true knowledge of every created thing in relation to himself.34
217 God is also truthful when he reveals himself - the teaching that comes from God is "true instruction".35 When he sends his Son into the world it will be "to bear witness to the truth":36 "We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, to know him who is true."37

GOD, "HE WHO IS", IS TRUTH AND LOVE

III. GOD, "HE WHO IS", IS TRUTH AND LOVE
214 God, "HE WHO IS", revealed himself to Israel as the one "abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness".27 These two terms express summarily the riches of the divine name. In all his works God displays, not only his kindness, goodness, grace and steadfast love, but also his trustworthiness, constancy, faithfulness and truth. "I give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness."28 He is the Truth, for "God is light and in him there is no darkness"; "God is love", as the apostle John teaches.29

Creatures in the image of God

108. The fundamental message of Sacred Scripture proclaims that the human person is a creature of God (cf. Ps 139:14-18), and sees in his being in the image of God the element that characterizes and distinguishes him: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27). God places the human creature at the centre and summit of the created order. Man (in Hebrew, “adam”) is formed from the earth (“adamah”) and God blows into his nostrils the breath of life (cf. Gen 2:7). Therefore, “being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. Further, he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give in his stead”[204].

-Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church

Creation: A Work of Love

God is such a superabundance of love that he wanted to share his love with others, so he chose to create the visible world. All of creation reflects imperfectly the infinite perfections of God. But man in particular, God chose to give a special participation in his being, a special likeness to himself.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Gen 1:27) As an individual, man is like God in the rationality of his soul, including his will and his intelligence. God also inscribed on man's heart a participation in his divine Wisdom, known as the natural law, so that he would have a knowledge of the proper ordering of all creation, including himself, to its ultimate End. Communally man bears the image of God in his ability to love another-- not only the love of the male for the female and of the female for the male, but also to love others in general. Perhaps the greatest of all of God's gifts to man was a share of his own divine life so that man would have the ability to do what only God is capable of doing: loving God with the infinite love of God.

God set man over the world over it to rule it and to participate, though in a limited way, in God's own creativity by ordering the world through his work:
The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it (Gen 2:15)
God made the world good (cf. Gen 1:31). Unfortunately, man freely chose to disobey the commandment of God. Man chose himself over God and thus sin entered the world (cf. Gen 3). Sin, which is a rupture of man's relationship with God, takes from man the filial image of God that enabled him to love God and to share in God's eternal happiness. Sin separated man from God. It also brought with it disunity within man himself: man's body rebelled against his soul, so that he was now subject to death, and his soul could no longer exercise perfect dominion over his passions.

The most dominant of his passions was now the desire for sexual union. In the beginning there was no shame: Adam and Eve felt no need to cover themselves (cf. Gen 2:25). After sin, however, the image of God within man, male and female, was obscured, so that he could no longer sense the expression of personal communion of which the body was meant to be the substratum. Sexual differences, instead of expressing the nuptial meaning of the body-- to male and female as gift for each other-- became a source of confrontation and distrust because of the inability of the soul to govern the body (cf. John Paul II. Blessed Are the Pure of Heart, Boston: St. Paul Books and Media, 1983.)

Even now after the fall, spousal love guarded against lust retains the interior freedom of the gift. Spousal love contributes much to man's fulfillment, but it is only a poem of the overwhelming majesty of the love that God has for man, and that God enables man to have for God:
You have made our hearts for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. (Augustine, Confessions, I, 1)

We are not made merely for human love, but to love God himself! Only the infinite love of God can fully satisfy man's heart.
God wishes good for his creatures, who can only be happy by loving him. So when the fullness of time had come, the Author of all creation showed the depth of his love by entering into the story.

-Augustine Club @Columbia.edu

The Most Holy Trinity: a Union of Love

It is said that a people's values can be seen in the god they worship. For Christians, ``God is love'' (1 Jn 4:8). But a God who is love seems like a philosophical impossibility. How can one God, who is perfect, lacking nothing in himself and possessed of no dependence on creatures, be love when love necessitates a relation to another?
The resolution of this paradox God himself has revealed to us: God is perfect unity, but a unity of three Divine Persons-- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit-- who are each equally divine. The Father, Son, and Spirit exist from all eternity. None precedes the other in time, but each are related to the others by a relationship that orders them with respect to the others.
The ever-living, all-knowing, almighty God the Father exists from all eternity and is the source of all perfection created and uncreated. The self-conception and self-expression of the perfect Being is so complete that it is another person: God the Son, the image of the invisible Father, ``the only-begotten Son of God, begotten from the Father before all the ages, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father, through whom all things came to be'' (Nicene-Constantipolitan Creed). The love between the Father and the Son is so perfect that it too is another person: the Holy Spirit ``the holy, the lordly and life-giving one, proceeding forth from the Father [and the Son], co-worshipped and co-glorified with Father and Son'' (ibid.).
But if the Holy Spirit is the love between the Father and the Son, how can God as a whole be called Love? Each person shares equally in the divine nature, so that each person shares equally in the perfections of the others. The only distinction between the persons of the Trinity is their mutual relations. None of the persons exists in respect to himself alone, but each exists relatively to the other two:
...the ``three persons'' who exist in God are the reality of word and love in their attachment to each other. They are not substances, personalities in the modern sense, but the relatedness whose pure actuality... does not impair unity of the highest being but fills it out. St Augustine once enshrined this idea in the following formula: ``He is not called Father with reference to himself but only in relation to the Son; seen by himself he is simply God.'' Here the decisive point comes beautifully to light. ``Father'' is purely a concept of relationship. Only in being-for the other is he Father; in his own being-in-himself he is simply God. Person is the pure relation of being related, nothing else. Relationship is not something extra added to the person, as it is with us; it only exists at all as relatedness.
....the First Person [the Father] does not beget the Son in the sense of the act of begetting coming on top of the finished Person; it is the act of begetting, of giving oneself, of streaming forth. It is identical with the act of giving. (Joseph Ratzinger Introduction to Christianity, pp. 131-132; cf. Augustine, Enarationes in Psalmos 68; De Trinitate VII, 1, 2.) Each of the persons of the Trinity lives completely for the others; each is a complete gift of self to the others. The complete self-giving not only constitutes the individual persons of the Trinity, but also their inseparable oneness.
Thus, for Christians the very basis of all reality is the loving communion of persons that is the Holy Trinity.

- Augustine Club@columbia.edu

Adam the priest-king, the sanctuary, and the sacrifice

Gen 2:16 And he commanded him, saying: Of every tree of paradise thou shalt eat:
Gen 2:17 But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death.