“THE LOVE STORY BETWEEN GOD AND MAN consists in the very fact that this communion of will increases in a communion of thought and sentiment, and thus our will and God's will increasingly coincide: God's will is no longer for me an alien will, something imposed on me from without by the commandments, but it is now my own will, based on the realization that God is in fact more deeply present to me than I am to myself. Then self- abandonment to God increases and God becomes our joy (cf. Ps 73 [72]:23-28).”
Pope Benedict 16th, God is Love, 17
Sometimes it feels like God chooses some and excludes others in the Old Testament. Why is this?
"God will not judge our performance,
but how much we have loved with our handicaps."
Paul Chetcuti SJ
‘Where is God now?’, I have been asked.
‘Where is God when his children die?
Where is God when all this evil is unmasked?
Where is God when families are torn apart
By their anxieties, and by the rule of law?
Where is your God when I lost heart?’
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God."
1John 4:7
"You made us for Yourself, O Lord; and our heart is restless until it rests in you."
St. Augustine of Hippo
A LINK BETWEEN ATHEISTS AND CATHOLICS?..."I believe in God, not in a Catholic God, there is no Catholic God, there is God and I believe in Jesus Christ, his incarnation. Jesus is my teacher and my pastor, but God, the Father, Abba, is the light and the Creator. This is my Being. Do you think we are very far apart?"
Pope Francis to atheist newspaper editor of La Repubblica - Eugenio Scalfari, 2013
If one is to ask various persons, if they believe in God, probably they will say 'yes'. If one is to ask, "who is God?" or "what is God?" there will probably be as many different answers as there are people! In ancient philosophy, God is described as the Unmoved mover, the all-knowing, eternal and transcendent. In Christianity, according to Scriptures, God revealed his name as YHWH: the God Who Is. From the very first book of Scriptures, God is seen creating the universe, the stars, our planet and finally the human being. So God can be called the Creator of heaven and earth. In the New Testament, we find Jesus Christ calling God as Father and revealing God to be a Triune God: Father, Son and Spirit. Hence, in Christianity, we speak of the Trinity. Throughout the centuries, God was experienced as the God with us and yet as the Totally Other.
THE FATHER – offering us unconditional love,
THE MOTHER – promising us eternal tender care,
THE GIFT – giving Himself to us,
THE WORD – becoming flesh and dwelling amongst us,
THE TRUTH – bearing witness to Himself,
THE REVEALER – showing Himself as Love,
THE BROTHER – sharing our experiences of life,
THE BABY – so fragile in a manger in Bethlehem,
THE CARPENTER – leading a normal life in Nazareth...
“Lord . . . culture, custom, art, science, literature, can all serve as conduits of your Spirit . . . “ This is part of a prayer in my Lent and Easter book. For me personally, God’s most clear and most effective conduit of his Spirit has always been literature. Books have always been my great love, and grace rests on nature.