Meditations for Layfolk - God

The foundation of all religion and all life is belief in God. To feel His help and taste His sweetness is the purpose of all spiritual ambition, for He is not merely the beginning but the end of all things: from Him we come and to Him we go. It is this overwhelm ing thought of God which is generally our primary view of Him, this intimate relationship between Him and creation, between Him and all the intricate complications that make up the sum of human life. The Old Testament is full of this nearness of all things to Him. The holy men of Israel are all marked with this sign of their appreciation of the divine presence. It would, indeed, be difficult to express the difference that exists between this and other sacred books merely in the high moral teaching, for it is very evident that in the Scriptures we find that God in early times was content to reveal a very rudimentary form of moral doctrine. But all the time, despite the repeated failure of the Hebrews to live up to their high prerogatives among the nations of the ancient world, there is in them a wonderful and unique perception of the unceasing nearness of God. "Enoch walked with God, and God took him" is the most perfect description of holiness, and it occurs quite early in the record of the Jewish religion. So, again, in the Book of Deuteronomy (which may well in parts bear the stamp of later editing) we find this characteristic phrase: "Beneath us are the everlasting arms." The peculiar spiritual tone of the Scriptures comes from this recognition of the nearness of God.

Now this consciousness of God's all-pervading power is based on real doctrine, for in any analysis of what we mean by God we must notice, that from the necessity of His being, He can never be idle. It is true that Scripture suggests that on the seventh day of creation God rested, but His sabbath or rest is interpreted by Saint Augustine to mean that thereafter He created no new matter (except the human soul), but left all things to evolve according to the laws that He gave to each: that is, He ordained the increase and multiplication of creation and ordained it to be performed by creation itself. Yet within the perfect circle of the Divine Life, within the intimate relation of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is perpetual activity, the highest pitch of life, since in that sacred mystery knowledge and love constitute the work of the Three Persons. The Father knows Himself in the Son, and from Them both proceeds the Holy Spirit - namely, the love that is consequent on knowledge. Now it is obvious that the life of God could not be interrupted by creation, since eternity means nothing more than an unceasing present. There can be neither past nor future. Consequently, as far as God Himself was concerned, there can have been no time, if this expression be allowed, when He was not the Creator, nor when that fulness of life was in any way slackened. Therefore it is clear that God in the full activity of His existence has, since the dawn of human destiny, been unceasing in the exercise of His power, wisdom, and love.

But since this incessant life of power, wisdom, love, constitutes the divine nature, and since the extent of them affects, not only God Himself, but the things that He has made, it is obvious that all creation itself must be steeped in God. Not merely has He called them into existence, but they could not continue in that existence without His support. Unless beneath them were the everlasting arms, they would slip back into that nothingness from which they sprang at the divine command. Again, to His all-seeing mind and providence the whole universe must be open and naked, lie outstretched before His gaze. Even His very being must be intimate with all creation. Nothing could be itself without God s essence making it what it is. His power, His presence, His being enter into all creatures. Hence we have to realize this consciousness of God. No practice spiritualizes us more easily than the perception of His presence. Grace comes readily to those in whose minds this nearness of God is the customary thought. Communion, frequent and devout, makes it a living truth. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man open the door to Me I will come in and sup with him and he with Me." This saying becomes intelligible when we understand that the divine life is unceasing from all eternity; that this life must affect not merely God Himself, but (because He is a creator of things that are distinct from Him) also intimately the nature of everything that He has made, and, finally, because they are affected by Him, He must be Himself close to every one of us.

- text taken from Meditations for Layfolk by Father Bede Jarrett, O.P.