14. The Beatific Vision of God

 

Today’s Meditation on Christian Dogma is called “The Beatific Vision of God.” It was submitted by Sister Mary Claire and her little sister Kathy from Camp Littlemore Farm, and comes from their very old book, Meditations on Christian Dogma by Father James Bellord, first published in the 19th century. Sister Mary Claire received the book as a gift from an elderly nun friend in County Kilkenny, Ireland, and she treasures it dearly.

The Beatific Vision of God

I. There are three factors in the vision of God as in the perception of anything else. The first is the subject which sees; i.e., the person possessing the faculty or organ of vision. God is not corporeal but spiritual: so that He is not to be perceived with the bodily eye but with the spiritual faculty or the elevated intelligence of angels and men. Therefore the Lord said to Moses, “Thou canst not see My face; for man shall not see Me and live” (Ex. xxxiii. 20). The intellect is the power of perceiving intellectual objects; and it has an aptitude and a need for exercising itself on intellectual objects, of which the first and most eminent is God. Further the mind easily acquires an incipient knowledge of God; and this, like every other faculty, is capable of indefinite development, and indicates the possibility of a transcendent degree of knowledge. There is also in man an intellectual hunger for the Infinite, and a tendency towards it, i.e., towards God. This is shown by the fact that nothing created, whether in the material or the intellectual sphere, can satisfy man’s desires and fulfil his ideal of goodness, knowledge and happiness. The natural knowledge of God as seen in the universe does not satisfy this high faculty of vision, this spiritual eye. We require a fuller vision of God here, and a still fuller vision hereafter, if we are to carry out our destiny and develope all the possibilities that are in us. Cultivate clearness of vision according to the indication of Our Lord: “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. v. 8).

II. The second factor in vision is the medium, like the light which conveys the impression of the object to the eye. Something analogous to this is required to enable man to see God; according to the Scripture: “In Thy light we shall see light” (Ps. xxxv. 10). The nature of God altogether transcends that of man; they are in different spheres; man is absolutely incapable by himself of seeing God as He is. His faculties are such that they are not sensitive to the vibrations of that finer spiritual light which makes God visible. These faculties require to have some quality added to them corresponding to a new sense, so that they may perceive the rays as they come direct from God and not merely as they are reflected from creatures. This supernatural quality is called “the light of glory.” This is the “eternal light” which we implore for the souls in purgatory. Even in this life the faithful can say, “the light of Thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us” (Ps. iv. 7). They have a light and a vision, by which they can see, and know, and understand things which for others are wrapped in impenetrable darkness. No happiness is so great as the possession of this. It is a foretaste of the vision which we shall enjoy in heaven.

III. The third factor in vision is the object present before us. Our faculties, which cry out for an infinite object to satisfy them, and that sense in us which has an aptitude for God, are proofs that God will some day be within their range. In heaven the Divine Essence will be present to us in a better way than it is present to every creature in this world. In what way that indescribable Essence will be manifested to us we cannot now conceive. This only we know that God will not be shown to us as at present, in His creatures, His images, His reflections, or in figure, but in Himself, directly, and without intermediary. So the Apostle tells us: “We see now through a glass in a dark manner, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I am known” (1 Cor. xiii. 12). How wonderful, how novel, how far beyond all expectation will be the heavenly vision when it is suddenly unveiled before us! How little we can anticipate now that revelation of glory and delight, the revelation of divine love for us, and of our capacity for loving God!

13.The Incomprehensibility of God

Today’s Meditation on Christian Dogma is called “The Incomprehensibility of God.” It was submitted by Sister Mary Claire and her little sister Kathy from Camp Littlemore Farm, and comes from their very old book, Meditations on Christian Dogma by Father James Bellord, first published in the 19th century. Sister Mary Claire received the book as a gift from an elderly nun friend in County Kilkenny, Ireland, and she treasures it dearly.

The Incomprehensibility of God

I. God is known to us with perfect certitude; at the same time we cannot now, and never shall fully understand Him. The infinite heights and the infinite depths of His nature, and the multitudinous aspects which His perfections present to us cannot be grasped and sounded by any less perfect than Himself. “The things that are of God no one knoweth but the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. ii. 11). God is incomprehensible. Man possesses the light of nature for the investigation of truth. His natural faculties, exercised upon the world around him, discover to him the existence of God and some of His attributes, His greatness, wisdom, goodness, and others. “The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, His eternal power also and divinity” (Rom. i. 20). But our science, while penetrating boldly into the secrets of the universe, is checked at the threshold of God’s sanctuary. It is unable to analyse and catalogue the divine mysteries; it requires to be refined and elevated first by supernatural grace. God, to our natural faculties, is like a great fire beyond the horizon. We have evidence of its existence and know something of what it must be by the volumes of smoke; but we do not know of its details, and still less do we profit by its light and heat and varied power. Take care not to trust too much to natural faculties and mental cultivation in the things of God. As towards God natural science is profoundest ignorance.

II. To satisfy our desires for the unattainable, God gives us a second light, that of faith and revelation. This is of the supernatural order. By this we are able to receive and assimilate knowledge about the Trinity, the Incarnation, the future life, the moral law, the Church; knowledge which is most positive and certain, and yet cannot be gained by natural investigations, nor proved by natural tests. One ray of this light does more for our intelligence, in spiritual matters, than years of study and all the instruments of the laboratory. We may compare this higher light to those marvellous rays which penetrate through solid substance and convey to us a picture of metals or bones enclosed within. Unless we have the secret, no accumulation of ordinary light in its greatest intensity is of any avail. At present even the supernatural light reveals God only as “through a glass in an obscure manner” (1 Cor. xiii. 12). Yet it gives us a knowledge such as worldly wisdom never acquires: a knowledge that is primarily spiritual, but enables us to understand many of the secrets of life, of the practical sciences, of history. Be grateful for the gift of revelation and faith, but do not expect that it will dispel all clouds and explain all difficulties.

III. When we shall have been proved faithful and admitted to the presence of God we shall become capable of a higher manifestation of God by the light of glory. Our eyes will be opened, our intellect perfected, and God will be disclosed to our sight. Then we shall know things, which here below eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart conceived. We shall receive a special influx from God, or a light, which will enable us to apprehend the Beatific Vision. Yet even then the angels and the blessed will find God still unfathomable. For eternity they will go on, progressing in mental illumination and in ever new delights, and yet will never arrive at the end. God will remain for ever beyond all human capacity, however enlarged; for He will always be infinite, and we shall always have a finite receptivity. How miserable then will be the lot of those who have been content with the light of nature, have refused to receive or acknowledge the light of faith, and have thereby excluded themselves from the light of glory! They will remain in the darkness of ignorance for ever. Take care so to profit by faith here as to merit the fullness of illumination hereafter.

12. The Peace of God

Today’s Meditation on Christian Dogma is called “The Peace of God.” It was submitted by Sister Mary Claire and her little sister Kathy from Camp Littlemore Farm, and comes from their very old book, Meditations on Christian Dogma by Father James Bellord, first published in the 19th century. Sister Mary Claire received the book as a gift from an elderly nun friend in County Kilkenny, Ireland, and she treasures it dearly.

The Peace of God

I. The peace of God is a most profound tranquillity and repose, like the silence of untrodden mountain summits clothed with eternal snows; or like the lowest depths of the ocean, where the fierce storms that rage on the surface are unfelt, and where the turbulent industry of men can never penetrate. Nothing can equal that peace. Within the Godhead there is its perfect unity without diversity, there is immutability untouched by any changes. The will of God is not disturbed by the need of striving after anything that has to be accomplished or possessed; and nothing happens contrary to its determination. God is not like man, disturbed by the weight of responsibility or the greatness of His operations; nor by any incompetence, or weakness, or failure of His plans; nor by hesitation and doubt as to the issue of events; nor by the loss of the love and esteem which so many of mankind refuse Him; nor even by the exercise of His avenging justice when this becomes necessary.

“But Thou, being master of power, dost judge with great tranquillity” (Wisd. xii. 18). In the human soul, as in heaven, God dwells not in an atmosphere of tumult, excitement, passion. Those who are eminently the abode of God are marked always by a peaceful and peace-making spirit, by contentment and joy under all circumstances. May this “peace of God which surpasseth all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. iv. 7).

II. The tranquillity of God is not inaction and stagnation. On the contrary, it is the accompaniment of irresistible power always in activity, and never swerving from its purposes, and never overcome. It is like the silence and quiet of the broad sunshine as it bathes land and sea in its glow. Nothing is more peaceful, yet its activity in a single instant is to be measured by millions of horse-power. It is the source of almost all the mechanical force and heat and motion on this earth. So, too, it is with God. Although He abides in an eternal Sabbath, yet Our Lord says, “My Father worketh until now, and I work” (John v. 17).

When we hereafter enter into the repose of the Lord we shall not pass into a state of inactive enjoyment. Life and action are inseparable; and a fuller life means that our faculties will be freed from their present bondage, our powers enlarged, and consequently our activity. God’s whole universe will be open to us. Then will begin our true life of increasing mental activity, and, in some way, of usefulness also in a higher sphere of work.

III. Holy Scripture sometimes speaks of God as angry, or as repenting of what He had done. Such passages are not to be understood literally; they are figures of speech, used to impress on us the evil of sin, and the consequences of withdrawing ourselves from the beneficent operation of the divine law. No ingratitude, insult, or wrong can really ruffle the immutable peace of God. Nothing of earth is able to penetrate into the inner sanctuary of the Divinity and diminish the essential joy and glory of God.

We need a like equanimity if we are to be happy amidst the turmoil of this world. It can come only from God abiding in our souls. Forgetfulness of God induces an over-anxiety about earthly things, a feverish activity in the pursuit of them, an intemperate indulgence in pleasure, which rob us of the proper rewards of our activity, and destroy the capacity for enjoyment. Even for its temporal well-being human life requires a large infusion of the peace of God; and activity needs to be tempered by grace in order that it may attain its full efficiency.

Act always with vigour and upright intention, but leave the result to God, and be contented with it. Let no wrongs endured, no disappointment, disturb your equanimity. Our Lord has said to His faithful: “My peace I give to you. . . . Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid” (John xiv. 27).

11. Purity, Sanctity sand Beauty of God.

 

Today’s Meditation on Christian Dogma is called “The Purity, Sanctity, and Beauty of God.” It was submitted by Sister Mary Claire and her little sister Kathy from Camp Littlemore Farm, and comes from their very old book, Meditations on Christian Dogma by Father James Bellord, first published in the 19th century. Sister Mary Claire received the book as a gift from an elderly nun friend in County Kilkenny, Ireland, and she treasures it dearly.

Purity, Sanctity sand Beauty of God.

I. The purity of God is a negative term indicating that He is exempt from all admixture of anything inferior to Himself, from all fault, taint, imperfection; as gold is pure when it is free from all dross or alloy of inferior metals. “Thine eyes are too pure to behold evil, and Thou canst not look on iniquity” (Hab. i. 13).

God is purity most perfect and inconceivable, in Himself, in creation, and in His decrees concerning us, His sinful creatures. Although in such close relations with material things and with sinners, He contracts no imperfection from them. There is in Him no passion or disturbance, for He is immovable in His perfect tranquility. He is not hasty or inconsiderate, for He is never taken by surprise. He does not the smallest wrong to us, for He is perfect justice. He is not harsh or vindictive, for He is infinite mercy and love.

The defects which produce sin in us have no place in God. There is no malice in Him on account of His infinite goodness; no ignorance on account of His perfect wisdom; no weakness on account of His omnipotent power. How then can men murmur against God as if any iniquity could be in Him, or His decrees, or His actions? He is not like us who are full of impurities even in our holiest actions.

Ask for purity of mind and heart and body, that God may dwell in you without a rival.

II. Sanctity is a positive term indicating the possession of all moral perfections. “The Lord is just in all His ways and holy in all His works” (Ps. cxliv. 17).

Every virtue that we recognize, whether by its presence or its absence in men, exists in God in a supereminent degree. The Divine Essence is the first source and the full reservoir of all virtues and holiness. We have seen much excellence in saints and other great men; it has seemed wonderful to us and almost unattainable; but it is all only a shadow compared to the reality of holiness in God.

God is upright in all His works, perfectly just without failing in mercy, infinitely merciful without making justice a mockery. He is liberal in His gifts, setting no bounds to them but what we ourselves place. His patience never grows tired under our repeated offences. His prudence foresees all things and orders them for the best.

God is not exacting or hard in demanding from us more than we can render to Him; but He is most generous in making broad allowance for our inevitable shortcomings. He is pacific in receiving us back as soon as we accept the overtures of His love. God is most true; His words will never pass away, and He will never forget His promises.

Glorify God therefore with His angels, saying, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God of hosts” (Isa. vi. 3). Imitate His holiness by the practice of all virtues.

III. God also possesses the attribute of beauty in an infinite degree. This is another quality of beings when complete and well ordered, and it is the cause of intense delight.

Consider how much there is of beauty in the world. We find it in harmonious sounds, in form and colour, in nature and art, in words and in ideas, in the expressions of the countenance, in the moral character of men. It is a special quality different from goodness, truth, utility. How abundant it is, and how much pleasure it affords!

It exists also in God in infinite perfection, and in diverse forms more varied and more intense than we can imagine. The beauty of God will ravish us with delight for all eternity.

This same beauty of God exists in your soul when you are in the state of grace; you are then more pleasing in the eyes of God than all the wonderful beauty of the material world. Possessing this in yourself and in God, you can afford to dispense with earthly pleasures, to live a life of mortification, and to look forward to the enjoyment of that “Beauty which is ever ancient and ever new.”

Cultivate this divine quality in your soul that God may take delight in beholding you.

10.The Unity of God

Today’s Meditation on Christian Dogma is called “The Unity of God.” It was submitted by Sister Mary Claire and her little sister Kathy from Camp Littlemore Farm, and comes from their very old book, Meditations on Christian Dogma by Father James Bellord, first published in the 19th century. Sister Mary Claire received the book as a gift from an elderly nun friend in County Kilkenny, Ireland, and she treasures it dearly.

The Unity of God

I. The next great truth after the existence of God is His Unity. “Know that the Lord He is God, and there is no other besides Him” (Deut. iv. 35). This is a wonderful and a necessary perfection. There is a striking grandeur in the idea of a One, sole, supreme, unequalled Being. The Gentile multiplication of gods was ignoble and debased; it was destructive of the very idea of the supreme infinite God as revealed by Moses and Our Divine Lord. Sovereignty, omnipotence, infinity, perfection, independence are meaningless terms as soon as we attempt to conceive them as divided amongst a number of equal beings. Supremacy is necessarily vested in one or it does not exist. The multiplication of beings is an acknowledgment that no one of them is absolutely perfect: it is a vain attempt to make up the perfection which does not exist in any one of them.

So, too, the authoritative manifestation of God in religion must be one and sole. The idea of a multiplicity of religions, all equally good, is a survival of that tendency to deterioration which expressed itself of old in polytheism. If religion be the divine system for the communication of truth and grace, it does not need to be multiplied, like the cells of an electric battery, in proportion to the increase of the circuit. Religion is a representation of God, and is the exercise of His divine action. A number of them, if they are uniform, are at variance with the supreme unity of God; if they are contradictory, they cannot be the manifestation of Him who is harmony and peace. Thank God for calling you to a Church whose unity proclaims its divine origin and its all-sufficiency.

II. Reason, proceeding on the data which the visible world supplies, sufficiently indicates the Unity of God. Science shows us a surpassing unity underlying all things and carries us back towards one great original principle of life, motion and law. Harmony and strength are marks of all the works of God; and the source of them is unity and not division. Divided power is weakness, divided authority is no authority. In the spiritual and religious sphere, even more than in nature, we should expect to find the impress of God’s Unity. If there is to be among men unity of mind and heart, of doctrine, worship and morals, there must be unity of spiritual laws and religious organization. Disorder and contradiction do not accord with the Divine Ideal. No kingdom divided against itself shall stand. One Church alone maintains the principle of unity and possesses unity in itself. Endeavour always to promote “the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. iv. 3).

III. In relation to man individually, the unity of God demands unity of service from us. We cannot serve two masters; we must serve God alone “with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, with all our mind.” If we render partial service to the world or any creature, to our pride, our interests or our lusts, we are putting a false god in God’s place. It is equivalent to dividing our loyalty among a number of gods, or attempting to worship God simultaneously in discordant religions; it is compounding together light and darkness, truth and falsehood.

Our hearts are too small to love the one great Being sufficiently; much more insufficient is their service if part of it be withdrawn and bestowed on creatures. In any pursuit we can only secure success by concentrating all our thoughts and energies upon it alone. In this respect, the children of light may well take a lesson from the children of this world. Seek God alone and always. Let one principle guide your life in all its diverse operations. Let nothing turn you from the path of consistency, from whole-hearted loyalty and affection towards God. Do not dissipate your energies on any other object; but let all the various duties of life look to God and be turned to His service.

9. The Eternity of God

Today’s Meditation on Christian Dogma is called “The Eternity of God.” It was submitted by Sister Mary Claire and her little sister Kathy from Camp Littlemore Farm, and comes from their very old book, Meditations on Christian Dogma by Father James Bellord, first published in the 19th century. Sister Mary Claire received the book as a gift from an elderly nun friend in County Kilkenny, Ireland, and she treasures it dearly.

The Eternity of God

I. The eternity of God is His infinite tenure of life. His life is nothing else but Himself; it is entirely beyond our understanding and cannot be described in human words, any more than the essence of God could be painted with brushes. As creatures bound to time, we naturally think of existence as unfolding in moments—with beginnings and endings—and so we speak of life in temporal terms. But God’s eternity stands apart from all that. Time and eternity are not just different—they are opposed in every way. While time is the unfolding of life in successive instants, eternity is the simultaneous possession of life in its completeness.

God’s eternity is not made of past, present, or future. As St. Denis tells us, there is no “was” in God, for He never had a past. He never “will be,” for there is no unrealized future before Him. Nor can we say that He simply “is,” for our present is passing and incomplete, but His existence is full and without change.

Because we are unable to grasp eternity as it truly is, we often imagine God’s life as if it were stretched out over an infinite timeline. “He always was,” we say, and “He always will be,” with a present moment in between: “He is.” We picture eternity by stacking countless moments upon each other, as if adding more and more time could eventually amount to eternity. But this is not the way to understand God. In fact, such imagining misleads us, because it tries to use the very element—time—that eternity denies.

So we must mortify our curiosity. Scripture warns us: “Seek not the things that are too high for thee, and search not into things above thy ability: for it is not necessary for thee to see with thy eyes the things that are hid.” We must humbly adore what we cannot explain.

II. Eternity is the possession of a life without any limits. This boundlessness includes the complete absence of beginning and end, which belong only to time and to the creatures that exist in time.

We cannot measure backward through the vast stretches of created existence, nor can we calculate its duration. But we do know that everything we see was once nothing, and every created thing—whether a force, a planet, or a human soul—is gradually using up its strength and will one day fall silent in death. All things in time fade and pass.

Yet beyond all this stands God, the all-pervading and unchanging Existence. “The heavens are the works of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou remainest. Thou art always the same, and Thy years shall not fail.” Therefore, as Scripture proclaims: “To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever.”

III. God’s eternity is also said to be complete and perfect because it is entirely free from all the limitations and deficiencies that mark life lived in time. Our life, by contrast, is always unfolding. It is never whole in a single moment, and there is always something just beyond us—something we hope for or something we regret.

While each phase of life brings its own work and joys, each also comes with struggles and losses. We do not possess our life in fullness. We live it in dependence on others and alongside countless other souls. Though we are immortal, and though we may one day pass through an endless series of moments, we still do not live as God lives. His life is absolute; ours is not. Even the life of glory that we will receive in heaven will not be equal to His in independence, completeness, or perfection.

And yet, God in His mercy promises us some measure of participation in that eternal life—so far above our comprehension. We shall be raised one day into the glory and beauty and happiness of His own life, a joy we cannot now imagine or fully understand. Let us give thanks to God for this promise, and desire that happy day with all our hearts.

8.The Immutability of God

 

Today’s Meditation on Christian Dogma is called “The Immutability of God.” It was submitted by Sister Mary Claire and her little sister Kathy from Camp Littlemore Farm, and comes from their very old book, Meditations on Christian Dogmaby Father James Bellord, first published in the 19th century. Sister Mary Claire received the book as a gift from an elderly nun friend in County Kilkenny, Ireland, and she treasures it dearly.

The Immutability of God

I. “With God there is no change or shadow of alteration” (James i. 17). This attribute of unchangeableness is a great perfection in God. We are always impressed by the sight of stability, firmness, permanence of strength and fitness, whether we see them in a grand building, in a political constitution, in a landscape, or in the character of a noble man. All this exists in a supreme degree in God.

Change of any kind is impossible to Him, whether it be in His substance or in His relation to creatures; for change denotes the improving of the position or making it worse, gaining something or losing. As being infinite and possessing in Himself all perfection, it is impossible for God to suffer any addition or any diminution.

As eternal, He exists outside of the conditions of succession and time, so that the progress of events is not a change to Him. The whole of the celestial bodies are in a state of most rapid motion, but this is no change relatively to God, who is everywhere by His immensity.

As all-wise and all-knowing, God cannot experience anything unexpected; nor can He learn any new thing that would change His determinations or His action towards creatures.

How majestic is God, imperturbable, unmoved, unchangeable for all eternity! Prostrate yourself before this grand attribute. Know that God will never change towards you, never desert you, never fail you, never deceive you, nor grow weary of you or forget you. Rest firmly on Him and you will be strengthened in faith, in virtue, in perseverance, by participation to some extent in His immutability.

II. We speak of God changing His dispositions and acting differently at different times towards His creatures. But this is an inaccuracy, necessary in the transference of spiritual ideas into human speech. What change there is is in ourselves, and in the different results produced by the one law in its incidence on our varying actions.

So it is that we speak of the sun as rising, or withdrawing his light, or growing hotter, whereas the changes are really in the conditions of this earth. No alteration then takes place in God as a consequence of our action.

As our sins do not injure Him or disturb Him, so, on the other hand, our service and love are not any new happiness to God, or any increase in His essential glory. So far as we are said to advance His glory, it is only His accidental and temporal glory with regard to creatures that is promoted.

“What doth it profit God if thou be just; or what dost thou give Him if thou be unspotted?” (Job xxii. 3).

Acknowledge humbly that all your justice, which you esteem so highly, is worthless before God; that you have never really done anything for Him, and that you are a most unprofitable servant. He does not want you except for your own good.

III. Consider, on the other hand, how variable and inconstant creatures are. All things are in a state of flux, rising and falling, flourishing and decaying and taking new forms. So the days and seasons and generations pass by. So kingdoms and civilizations and races of men come and go, and the whole surface of the earth is renewed. All ideas, customs, theories, and even sciences, change from day to day.

“They shall perish but Thou shalt continue; and they shall all grow old as a garment, and as a vesture Thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed. But Thou art always the self-same and Thy years shall not fail” (Heb. i. 11, 12).

There is no fixedness, no certainty, no permanence, except in God and in that religion which is never to fail. Human religions change like the minds of men, and all at last suffer the final change of dissolution. The Church of God alone outlives all institutions and never grows antiquated.

Thank God that your faith is founded on an immutable rock; but pray that your life may ever change—for the better.

7. The Immensity of God

 

Today’s Meditation on Christian Dogma is called “The Immensity of God.” It was submitted by Sister Mary Claire and her little sister Kathy from Camp Littlemore Farm, and comes from their very old book, Meditations on Christian Dogmaby Father James Bellord, first published in the 19th century. Sister Mary Claire received the book as a gift from an elderly nun friend in County Kilkenny, Ireland, and she treasures it dearly.

The Immensity of God

I. Immensity is an aspect of God’s Infinity; it is the boundless diffusion of the Divine Essence; and in virtue of this, God is ubiquitous or actually present in all created space. Consequently God does not move from place to place. To do so would be to change, which is contrary to His immutability; and it would be acquiring something, certain relations for instance, not already possessed.

God is not comprised within the dimensions of space, but He is at once in the whole of creation. In those great expanses beyond our solar system which surpass the capacity of arithmetic to describe, and which the swift rays of light take thousands of centuries to traverse, God is present throughout.

He is above all things, not as being locally elevated, but as presiding over all: He is under all things, not as being abased, but as sustaining all: He is within all, not as being enclosed, but as filling them: He is outside all things, not as being excluded, but as enveloping them.

Most literally then “in Him we live and move and be” (Acts xvii. 28). The whole of visible creation up to the remotest nebula is overwhelmed and lost in His immensity, like a microscopic animalcule in the depths of the ocean.

Remember always this all-absorbing presence of the infinite God, and be ever full of respect for Him in all your words and thoughts and actions. What an outrage it is to sin against Him when actually living by His support and in Him!

II. God may be considered as universally present in three different ways.He is present substantially, by His Divine Essence actually being here and everywhere.
He is present everywhere, in that He sees and knows all things; and nothing escapes His watchfulness, even to the most secret thoughts of our souls.
He is present as ruling and guiding all things irresistibly, and operating in them by His power.

Further, God is specially present with His elect.The Apostle says: “Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Cor. iii. 16).
There is a special watchful providence over the just, and predestination of them to grace and glory.
There is a special supernatural operation of God in the soul, including justifying grace, and the infusion of virtues, and help in all natural and spiritual duties.

How wonderful it is that you should thus possess the kingdom of God within you! This presence of God is your greatest treasure; it gives you strength for every emergency, companionship in loneliness, cheerfulness as against depression, indomitable faith and confidence; it is your happiness and your glory. Value it as such.

III. Although God is absolutely pure, yet He is a witness of every event, yet He contracts no defilement from scenes of sin, He is not hurt by any outrage, He is not dishonoured by any blasphemy on earth or in hell.

It is with Him as with the bright, pure rays of sunlight; they shine upon every kind of foulness, but never become unclean or contaminated. God is present to all our sins, yet “He inhabiteth light inaccessible” (1 Tim. vi. 16) at the same moment. He is with us by His immensity and is far above us by His infinity.

Nothing can pain Him. Nothing can touch His sanctity, His beauty, His perfect felicity. It is only God who can know of evil and not suffer the penalty of knowledge. We cannot pass through it or live amongst it without imminent peril, if not actual corruption.

Keep far away from evil; else, it is tempting God to ask Him to preserve you from it. You must encounter evil, but you need not therefore fall. If God be with you, you can do your duty in the world and still keep yourself unspotted from it. 

“I set the Lord always in my sight: for He is at my right hand, that I be not moved” (Ps. xv. 8).

6. The Infinity of God

 

Today’s Meditation on Christian Dogma is called “The Infinity of God.” It was submitted by Sister Mary Claire and her little sister Kathy from Camp Littlemore Farm, and comes from their very old book, Meditations on Christian Dogma by Father James Bellord, first published in the 19th century. Sister Mary Claire received the book as a gift from an elderly nun friend in County Kilkenny, Ireland, and she treasures it dearly.

The Infinity of God

I. God is infinite in the number of His perfections. It is true that, by virtue of the divine simplicity, the attributes of God are all one and indistinguishable; yet we perceive Him, not as He is, but as our limitations permit. No concept of ours can represent adequately that which is at one and the same time every perfection. We must then view God, now as this perfection, now as that, though all the time we are conscious that all perfections are identified in Him; and that He not only has them all, but further is them all, in the indivisible simplicity of His essence.

God is far more than the sum of all the perfections we can conceive. We can imagine only the perfections which we find in creatures; but God could go on creating for ever more and more perfect beings, without exhausting the revelation of His own perfections. The prophet babbled helplessly, unable to convey a fraction of the mysteries made known to him. “A—a—Lord God! Behold I cannot speak: for I am a child” (Jer. i. 6). St. Paul also saw secret things which cannot be uttered in human speech (2 Cor. xii. 4).

How many things you have seen and enjoyed! Yet they are nothing to the wonders of this earth; and they in their turn are nothing to the wonders of the wider universe; and they again are nothing to the marvels of the angelic world; and the whole sum of all is but the flash of a single ray proceeding from the intense brilliancy of the Divinity. “There are many things hidden from us that are greater than these; for we have seen but a few of His works” (Eccli. xliii. 36).

Adore the Infinity of God.

II. Furthermore, each one of the innumerable perfections of God is infinite in its range and its intensity. Each one is supreme; it cannot be increased by any addition; neither is it subject to the limitations which beset all things within our experience; nor can any perfection fall short or fail.

Thus, strictly speaking, the patience of God can never fail, nor does His mercy come to an end. When we use such expressions, it is to indicate a permanent change which man by his obstinacy and rejection of God works in himself. God cannot be limited by time, for He is eternal; nor by space, for He is immense; He is not limited by the measure of our intelligence—as many would seem to think when they pass judgment on His decrees—for He is incomprehensible; still less is God expressed adequately by the terms we use to describe Him, for He is ineffable. Neither can our hearts fathom the delights of His love.

Thus every perfection of God surpasses all understanding. “We shall say much and yet shall want words; but the sum of our words is, He is all” (Eccli. xliii. 29). How miserable are you before these awful infinities! Humble yourself in silence before this greatness, which your words cannot describe and your mind cannot imagine.

III. God is infinite in magnificence and grandeur. “The Lord is terrible and exceeding great, and His power is admirable” (Eccli. xliii. 31). How can we possibly form any idea to ourselves of this? We can only heap up words indefinite, that convey only the idea that we have no adequate idea of God.

We can only picture to ourselves the trivial scenes of grandeur that we know on earth: the angry sea, a thunder-storm in the tropics, a great battle, the triumphant reception of a conqueror, an Oriental pageant, the ancient glories of Egyptian architecture, the inaccessible heights of a wilderness of snow-clad mountains. These absorb all our faculties and fill us with awe and speechless admiration. They are but little after all, and yet we cannot rise beyond them in our present life.

What adoration and awe are due to God! How wonderful is His presence! We are actually in that presence when we kneel before the silent tabernacle! Let not the lowly surroundings diminish your awe of the Majesty that dwells there.

5. The Goodness of God

 

Today’s Meditation on Christian Dogma is called “The Goodness of God.” It was submitted by Sister Mary Claire and her little sister Kathy from Camp Littlemore Farm, and comes from their very old book, Meditations on Christian Dogma by Father James Bellord, first published in the 19th century. Sister Mary Claire received the book as a gift from an elderly nun friend in County Kilkenny, Ireland, and she treasures it dearly.

The Goodness of God

I. God is good in Himself with natural goodness; that is to say, He possesses all the natural qualities which belong to His nature. God, being truly God, is what God ought to be, and possesses all that God ought to possess; being infinitely perfect, He possesses this entirely and not partially; being necessary, He possesses His perfections absolutely, and cannot suffer any loss or diminution of them.

God possesses every conceivable goodness in an infinite degree. He is all that is most beautiful, holy, pure, delightful, useful, wonderful, lovable. Therefore, when Moses asked to see His face, God answered, “I will show thee all good” (Exodus 33:19).

God has all this not from another, or by participation, but of Himself and by virtue of His own nature. No other being is good in this supereminent way; whence it is written, “None is good but God alone” (Luke 18:19).

How admirable, then, and desirable is God, and deserving of our highest love, even apart from all that He has done for us and the love that He has shown us. Render Him love and service purely for His own sake. This is the highest kind of love and homage. Pray Him, with Moses, to show you His face, and with it supreme and total goodness, not only in the next world, but here too in your meditations.

II. Goodness is, of its nature, “diffusive of itself” (St. Denis). God is good with respect to His creatures, as being the source from which all goodness of every kind is originated and poured forth. He may be compared to the sun, which is ever emitting heat and light and vital force in every direction, on all the worlds which come within its range.

“The eyes of all hope in Thee, O Lord, and Thou givest them meat in due season. Thou openest Thy hand and fillest every creature with blessing” (Psalm 145:15–16).

This diffusion of good is always in full activity, and is never checked for an instant. It falls on all alike, however great their unworthiness or the bad use they make of it. None can escape the continual outpouring of blessings.

All this God does, not under constraint, not moved by any desert on our part, not for any advantage or gain to be expected from us, but simply from the very nature of His goodness itself. Therefore, “give glory to the Lord because He is good. Let the mercies of the Lord give glory to Him, and His wonderful works toward the children of men” (Psalm 106:1, 15).

Glorify God by imitation, and by diffusing upon others, without hope of gain or even of gratitude, such blessings temporal and spiritual as may be within your gift.

III. The immense goodness and kindness of God towards man, the chief of the works of His hands, is manifested in a special way by every one of His attributes; by His power which has created us, wisdom which ordains all for our good, justice which renders to us what is due, mercy which pardons sin, eternity which assures us endless happiness, beauty which ravishes our souls.

God is good to us variously as father, as friend, as brother, as spouse, as master, as benefactor, as our “reward exceeding great.” He is Creator, Preserver, Redeemer, Advocate, Sacrifice, End, Beatitude.

Further, He is our supreme good as being the author of all the good that is in us; He has given us our natural powers, our virtues, our moral perfection, our efficacy for good, all our successes, and all enjoyments.

“The Lord is good to them that hope in Him, to the soul that seeketh Him” (Lamentations 3:25).

Seek God alone, and all these good things will be yours. God gives Himself entirely to you; take care to give yourself entirely to Him. Dedicate your body, your thoughts, your action, your life to Him. Strive to be like God, to be good in every quality, in the practice of every virtue, in your relations to every creature that God has made.

4. The Simplicity of God

 

Today’s Meditation on Christian Dogma is called “The Simplicity of God.” It was submitted by Sister Mary Claire and her little sister Kathy from Camp Littlemore Farm, and comes from their very old book, Meditations on Christian Dogmaby Father James Bellord, first published in the 19th century. Sister Mary Claire received the book as a gift from an elderly nun friend in County Kilkenny, Ireland, and she treasures it dearly.

The Simplicity of God

I. Simplicity means the exclusion of component parts, and is an attribute, although not a property, of spirit. God is supremely spiritual, and is therefore supremely simple. He differs from matter, which has a necessary relation to quantity and therefore to parts. He differs from ourselves, in whom are found not only the composition of quantitative parts, but also the composition of body and soul, of faculties and qualities various in kind. He differs from the angels, in whom is found the composition of essence and existence, of substance and properties.

So we must not consider the character of God as being composed of different qualities antagonistic to and checking one another. We must not think of His mercy as contending with His justice and frustrating it; nor of His promises and threats as representing different frames of mind. We must distinguish between what is figurative, or spoken according to human apprehension, and the inconceivable, inexpressible divine reality.

Your soul, as a spiritual substance, is immensely superior to your material body. Endeavour to become more spiritual, and so more like to God, alienating yourself, as far as you can, from flesh and blood by means of prayer and mortification.

II. From this perfect simplicity of God’s essence which lies at the root of His immutability, it follows that He can receive no extrinsic addition of anything to His substance; nor is He, as we are, brought into new relationships to beings by any change of environment.

So the course of events does not pass through the stages of past, present and future with regard to God. He is always acting, yet in His eternity there is no beginning of action, no end of action, no change of activity. We express the truth in an approximate way when we say that all things and all events are always present at once to God in His eternity, which is a simultaneous totality of life without any succession.

So also God is everywhere, but He is not under the conditions of space; He is great, and yet is not extended or measurable; He creates all things, and is not the richer for them; He changes all things, and yet towards them He changes not.

The simple essence of God is all things; it is law, it is love, it is justice, it is eternity. Hence you cannot divide God so as to possess Him partially. You possess Him entirely or not at all. One mortal sin excludes God entirely from the soul. You cannot disobey one of His laws and have the merit of obeying all the others. He cannot be present with you in one respect and absent in another.

Hence the impossibility of that which so many attempt, viz., serving God simultaneously with mammon, or the world, or self.

III. Not only is God simple in the sense described; He is so in the further sense which excludes duplicity in thought, word or deed. All in Him is simple, straightforward, undisguised truth.

In His teachings and in His dealings with us there is no admixture of Yea and Nay, of “I will” and “I won’t,” but all is categorical and positive, and no word of His can ever pass away. What God promises He will perform; His threats are literally true, and are not spoken for effect.

Hypocrisy, double-dealing, paltering with the truth are abominations in His eyes. He demands from us, in our relations with Him, with ourselves, and with our neighbour, perfect candour, simplicity, consistency.

“Wo to them that are of a double heart, and to wicked lips, and to the hands that do evil, and to the sinner that goeth on the earth two ways. Wo to them that are faint-hearted, who believe not God: . . . and have forsaken the right ways, and gone aside into crooked ways” (Eccli. ii. 14–16).

There are many who would not wilfully deceive a neighbour with false words, yet do not shrink from deceiving themselves with vain excuses for not following the lead of light and grace; but they do not deceive God, and He will not be mocked.

3. The Divine Perfections

   

This meditation called The Divine Perfections was submitted by Sister Mary Claire and her little sister Kathy from Camp Littlemore Farm. It comes from their very old book, Meditations on Christian Dogma by Father James Bellord, first published in the 19th century. Sister Mary Claire received the book as a gift from an elderly nun friend in County Kilkenny, Ireland, and treasures it dearly.

The Divine Perfections

I. The attributes or perfections of God are those qualities which proceed from His Essence and manifest it to us. God possesses every actual perfection of creatures, and every conceivable perfection, in an infinite degree.

As we cannot fully conceive them, we must try to rise to some inadequate appreciation of them by considering such manifestations of them as occur in the visible creation. There we have the incalculable vastness of the celestial world, the long epochs of cosmic time, the irresistible forces of nature, the varieties of beauty and marvellous works of skill and power, from solar systems down to the infusoria in a drop of water, and the vast achievements and vaster cravings of human minds.

All this has proceeded from God in the first instance. He surpasses it all. It is the merest dim reflection of the unimaginable splendour of God.

How magnificent will be the full revelation of God given to us in glory! He contains all that we can desire. He alone can satisfy the immense cravings of human nature.

Seek Him, then, above all things, and let nothing come between your soul and God to turn you from this wonderful treasure reserved for you.

“O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God!”
(Romans 11:33)

II. All that is contained in the Divine Essence is really one and indivisible; there is no real multiplicity of qualities. God’s sanctity is His wrath, His mercy is His justice, and His power and His love are one and the same.

But in order to accommodate realities to our comprehension and to the limitations of our speech, we make a division of the divine attributes according to the different effects produced on us.

The perfections of God are, then, from this point of view, numerous and varied. We know of many, but there are many more which are not manifested in this limited sphere to our limited comprehension.

Consider some classes of them. The negative attributes express indirectly God’s infinite perfection by excluding from Him all conceivable limitations and imperfections. Thus, we say that God is uncreated, unchangeable and incomprehensible.

The positive attributes, such as wisdom, power and goodness, are those which directly attribute perfections to God.

Some perfections are immanent in God, such as His sanctity, while others express a relation of action towards us, as His providence, predestination and mercy.

Some are incommunicable, according to that:

“I will not give My glory to another.”
(Isaiah 42:8)

Such are His eternity and immensity.

Others, again, are communicated in a measure to us, like intelligence, prudence, the supernatural life and the beatific vision.

Every good or great quality in creatures extorts your love or admiration. How much, then, does God deserve from you on account of His great attributes!

You cannot know how great is your debt. Render Him all that you can.

III. We have no experience of good qualities unalloyed. We speak, accordingly, of having the “defects of our qualities.”

Our highest virtues, though infused by God, are limited and are accompanied by many faults. Our faith, our justice and our love are all seriously imperfect. All things in us err by excess or deficiency.

Reason is obscured, the will tends to love evil, and power is ineffectual. Greatness is dangerous to us, beauty is transient, desire is insatiable, gratification ends in disgust, and our best virtues are spoiled by our conceit.

With God, how different! All is perfect.

Action is without effort, repose without inactivity, justice without harshness, mercy without weakness, joy without drawbacks, and power equal to His desires.

There is no weariness, no failure and no disappointment.

Rejoice that God, in whom you trust, is so perfect. Recognize your own imperfection and nothingness. Take no credit to yourself for anything.

All that is good in you is from Him. All that is really your own is your weakness, your folly and your shame.

And this is the whole of man without God.

2. The Existence of God

Today’s Meditation on Christian Dogma is called “The Existence of God.” It was submitted by Sister Mary Claire and her little sister Kathy from Camp Littlemore Farm, and comes from their very old book, Meditations on Christian Dogmaby Father James Bellord, first published in the 19th century. Sister Mary Claire received the book as a gift from an elderly nun friend in County Kilkenny, Ireland, and she treasures it dearly.

The Existence of God

I. God exists. This is the first truth of all truths; it is eternally true, before all ages, without beginning; it is a necessary truth, for the opposite is inconceivable; it is the most important of all truths, for all things affirm it, and all depend upon it; and it is forever unchangeable.

This truth is the foundation of that most universal, most constant of all phenomena, Religion. Around this all civilizations have grown up; because this alone furnishes a rational ground for virtue, for that suppression of natural savagery and selfishness which is necessary for social life.

The recognition of this truth makes all the difference between high and noble lives, and noxious, degraded, animal lives. To all those who aspire to higher things, even though conscious of sin and depressed by their weakness, the existence of God is a source of strength and hope and joy. It gives them an ideal that is higher than mere matter, a hope that raises them above this world and enables them to bear its disappointments, courage to repent, and assurance of pardon.

How miserable the lot of those who have deprived themselves of all this, who possess nothing and believe in nothing but themselves and possessions and pleasures!

Thank God for having revealed so clearly this most glorious truth. Keep it always before your eyes and in your right hand, by continual remembrance of God, and by doing all your works for His glory.

II. The existence of God is not only revealed, it is also a truth of the natural order, enforced on our recognition by the material world around us.

“For by the greatness of the beauty and of the creature, the Creator of them may be seen so as to be known thereby” (Wisd. xiii. 5).

The world proclaims the existence of a first principle, greater than itself, from which all things proceeded. The immensity, the splendor, the order of the universe, the perfection of the most insignificant but countless details, make known a great Being of infinite power and wisdom and goodness.

So distinct is this teaching that the lowest barbarians, unable for the rest to rise above material things, yet hold firmly, with greater or less distinctness, this transcendent truth. Some individuals, no doubt, have rejected this doctrine; but we need not be surprised that humanity, like every other class of beings, has its aborted or atavic forms.

“The light of Thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us; Thou hast given gladness in my heart” (Ps. iv. 7).

Look with reverence on this world which God has made. It is a revelation of God to us, and is not made superfluous by the higher and supernatural revelation; each illustrates the other. Search for God in each and you will find Him.

III. How shall we conceive to ourselves this supreme existence? Pagans have thought of God under human, unworthy, even degraded attributes. There are whole classes of Christians who transform the Deity into their own likeness, instead of modelling themselves upon Him. They attribute to God their own points of view; or they judge of His works as if they knew His motives, and as if His works were those of man.

Watch for this tendency in yourself and suppress it.

St. John represents the Divinity as universal light and life filling all things, and dazzling the comprehension of the world. We may think of Him as one supreme, boundless, formless, changeless spirit, the tranquil source of all the exuberant life and energy of the universe; as manifested to us in the mysterious Trinity, and visibly in that Divine Person who became Jesus Christ.

St. Augustine tells us that if we would approach to the idea of God we must think of Him as Supreme Love.

See into what a sublime region we rise at once when we turn to God! How far above the sordid cares and pleasures of the world! Live always in this region. Let this great truth, like the sun, shine ever before your eyes and illumine your life.

1. The Knowledge of God

 
Today’s Meditation on Christian Dogma is called “The Knowledge of God.” It was submitted by Sister Mary Claire and her little sister Kathy from Camp Littlemore Farm, and comes from their very old book, Meditations on Christian Dogma by Father James Bellord, first published in the 19th century. Sister Mary Claire received the book as a gift from an elderly nun friend in County Kilkenny, Ireland, and she treasures it dearly.

The Knowledge of God

I. “All men are vain in whom there is not the knowledge of God” (Wisd. xiii. 1). Ignorance and want of reflection about divine things are two fruitful sources of anxiety, doubt, discontent, and sin in the world. “With desolation is all the land made desolate, because there is none that considereth in his heart” (Jer. xii. 11). We need, not only to have learnt once for all, but to revolve continually in our minds, the great truths which God has revealed. The will, which is the embodiment of human energy, is a blind faculty, and, if left to itself, stumbles in the darkness; the intelligence is the torch that guides its footsteps. The intelligence must be formed by the knowledge of God and meditation on Him in order to be adequate to its great task; otherwise the will cannot burn with affection towards God and crave for moral goodness. We need this light always burning before us to illumine our path and help us to pick our steps. How great is the blindness and how lamentable the miscalculations and failures of those who have not this light! Consider how much you need the science of God, and how deficient you are in it. Resolve to apply yourself to it. Ask God to infuse it into your soul.

II. The remedy for ignorance and inconsideration is to be found in knowledge and meditation on Devotional Theology. As a science it will perfect the understanding, as devotion, the will. By this we shall learn to know of God and His attributes, the deep mysteries of the Trinity, the holy spirits who will be our companions for eternity, the significance of creation. We shall understand more about Our Lord Jesus Christ in His double nature as God and man, and the lessons of His life; His Blessed Mother also, in whom we can study mere human nature brought to its highest expression by the plenitude of grace and close association with the three Divine Persons. We shall be able to cast light upon the great problems that have perpetually exercised men’s minds—the origin of evil, the permission of sin and suffering, the object of our existence, the law of our perfection and happiness, the secrets of the future life, the designs of God’s Providence. We shall study God’s commands, the nature of virtue, the graces by which we are aided; and we shall receive comfort, strength, illumination, certainty, such as earthly science cannot give us. This divine study will lead us through knowledge to the love of God and the practical ordering of our lives. Beseech God to give you Wisdom that sitteth by His throne, to send her from the throne of His Majesty, to be with you, and labour with you, and preserve you by her power (Wisd. ix.).

III. To attain to this divine science, the prime necessity, beyond all talent and cultivation, is purity of soul. Only the pure of heart can see God. “Wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins” (Wisd. i. 4). The intellect must be purified by faith, which eliminates perturbing errors and dispels the mists that cloud the spiritual vision. The will is purified by innocence of life and adhesion to God in love. These faculties, like all others, are susceptible of cultivation, and of being perfected to an extent incredible to those who have not personal experience of it; they become sensitive to the finer vibrations of divine light and divine warmth which are lost upon the coarser sensibilities of the worldly, the selfish, the proud. Deplore the many impurities of your mind and affections. Ask God to send His angel with a burning coal from the altar to touch your heart and lips, and to purify you, if needs be, by fire, so that you may be capable of dwelling on His mysteries, singing His praises and loving Him. “To know Thee is perfect justice: and to know Thy justice and Thy power is the root of immortality” (Wisd. xv. 3).