THE SPIRITUAL LIFE SERIES - Little Books

The Nature of God

By Brother Joseph of Mary

Since the goal of our spiritual journey or interior life is union with God, it is necessary and appropriate to ask, who is this God we seek union with? What is God like? What does God’s activity in eternity consist of? What can we know of God and can we know everything about God? The reader is referred to St. Thomas Aquinas for a more in depth understanding and discussion about God, or to the beginner attempting to initially enter into the interior life.

We will approach the concept of God from our Catholic perspective, or very simply as we find God in Himself as God and as we find God in His activity. You will recall that there are four categories of being; they are natures, existence, powers and activity. Our discussion here is limited to the categories of natures and activity. We are all familiar with this distinction, when we think of ourselves as mothers and fathers in relation to our children. Mothers and fathers in and of themselves have attributes and a common life distinct from their common life that exists with and in their children. This common life is the basis for the family being called a community of love. Our children can be considered a fruit of our spiritual and physical union or activity. The same is true of lower levels of being such as an apple tree. The tree is distinct from its fruit, and Christ refers to this as it is written in the Bible; “You will know the tree by its fruit.” Here an attempt has been made to distinguish God from God’s activity.

God in and of Himself has attributes that are separate from His fruit or from His creation which we are a part of. God is life, goodness, beauty, truth, endless happiness and the list goes on. These are considered the perfections of God. God does not possess life and goodness as you or I possess money or clothing. There is a big distinction to be made here. God is life. God is goodness. Where God dwells there is life. Where God dwells there is goodness. This is a fundamental and basic distinction to be made between the attributes of the God of the Jews and the gods of the pagans. You will recall Scripture referring to the wooden gods of the pagans with nostrils having no breath passing through them. Also you will recall Elijah in the Old Testament teasing the followers of the gods of Baal, telling the followers of Baal to shout louder, that maybe their god is asleep. It will be important to know this as you progress along your interior life or spiritual path up the mountain of perfection. You will want to know something about your destination, which is God, so that you will be able to gauge your progress and know when you have arrived. Never mistake the gifts of God for God.

Generally a desire from God when tested will grow stronger as you approach God, the converse is true, a desire that is not from God will grow weaker as you draw closer to God. So you see it is important to have a rational basis of what God is so that souls in search of God are not left to the arbitrary and passing feelings or passions of what the sense tell us of what God is or wills. As an example, the reader is reminded that Christ’s human feelings and passions were so rebellious at approaching God through His will that Christ sweat blood in the garden of Gethsemane at the approaching crucifixion even though this was God’s will and Christ literally did draw closer to God through the crucifixion. It was His time. Jesus previously refused this cross prior to His time. He hid after overturning the moneychanger’s table. It is equally important to have a rational basis in discerning God’s will when it draws us to joy and happiness. Mary is the best example of this. Oh what joy she must have experienced on being told she would birth Christ. She could have refused this honor and responded with a no and instead told God her preference was to become a nun and work in a soup kitchen. Both Christ and Mary show us it is always best to do God’s will, whether that brings us sorrow or joy. Of course it goes without saying that Joseph could easily have refused to become the husband of Mary. Joseph could have done his own will and become a good priest offering sacrifice at the altar of God for the rest of his life, though in doing so he would be rejecting God’s will.

God as it is revealed in the Catholic faith, exists beyond time and space. The concept we use to refer to where God exists at is called eternity. God is not idle, as He exists in eternity; however, to describe God’s activity as humans describe their activity would be incomplete and possibly erroneous, leading to invalid conclusions about God. The activity of man, as man uses that term in the generic sense, can be considered and defined as that term is used to involve change, gain or loss. When we apply that same term to God it has a different meaning. There is no change, gain or loss in God’s activity. God’s activity is intense and not idle. We will go further into the activity of God in the next issue.

A review of the concepts introduced here includes God’s nature, which is separate from His activity. God by nature is life, goodness and truth. God does not possess these natures like a man possesses a coin but God is life, goodness and truth. Where God dwells there is life and goodness. God’s activity is separate from His nature. God is our destiny, our goal, our ultimate possession. God is the greatest good we can possess. The greater the good possessed, the greater the happiness. This is the truth that the Saints discovered. Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity said it well, “I HAVE FOUND HEAVEN ON EARTH… GOD IS HEAVEN… AND GOD IS IN ME!”