Monthly Archives: February 2016

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This is the fifth in a series of short reflections on the eight general attributes of God that can known by reason, as set forth by St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica.  I've been learning about St. Thomas and the Summa from Dr. Taylor Marshall and the online classes he offers at the New Saint Thomas Institute.  These reflections are the result of my meditations on each individual attribute during prayer.  As such, they are not meant to be deep theological discussions, but simple spiritual thoughts on the majesty of our God .  I pray you find them beneficial in your walk with Christ.

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God is present in all things, always and everywhere.  He is omnipresent.  This is the fifth attribute of God according to St. Thomas.  God "operates in all things" and "is in every place," if, by no other reason, than His giving everything its existence. (Summa Theologica q. 8, art. 1 and 2)  Thus, God declares in the Old Testament, "I fill heaven and earth."  (Jeremiah 23:24)  In a similar way, Jesus tells us that "where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them."  (Matthew 18:20)

But on this side of the thin veil between heaven and earth, God is present in another way unique from any other: the Eucharist -The body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ; Christ's flesh and blood under the appearance of bread and wine.  Jesus made this quite clear:

  • "This is my body which is given for you."  (Luke 22:19).
  • "[F]or this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.  (Matthew 26:28).
  • "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; . . . For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed."  (John 6: 53 - 55)

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Before he ascended into heaven, after giving the great commission to baptize and make disciples of all nations, Jesus told the eleven apostles "I am with you always, to the close of the age."  (Matthew 28:20)  As often as we speak of the Incarnation, it still is easy to forget sometimes Christ's humanity.  It's one of the greatest gifts and miracles God gave us.  Being fully human as He was, Jesus knew what it was like to see, to touch, to smell, and to taste.  He knew by experience that, as humans, we perceive reality first and foremost by our physical senses.

As such, it is only logical that when Jesus said that he would be with us "always" until the end of the age, he meant more than simply a spiritual presence.   And to be clear, he does reman spiritually present with us--through the Holy Spirit; through His words in Scripture; through the love we share for our neighbor.  But as human beings, Jesus knew that we, and especially the apostles, needed more than that to sustain us through the trials and sufferings of this life.  Indeed, we would need his physical presence to see, to touch, to smell, and to taste.  We would need the Eucharist.

While He was offending and shocking the Jews with this crazy talk of His flesh and blood, Jesus told them in no uncertain terms that "[h]e who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him."  (John 6:56)  To abide means to "remain or stay" and "to dwell or reside."  As St. Thomas explains: "In the sacrament of the Eucharist, what is outwardly signified is that Christ is united to the one who receives it, and such a one to Christ."  Stated simply, by partaking of the Eucharist--His body and blood--Christ becomes omnipresent within us.  And not only that, but in every Catholic church (parish) throughout the entire world, Jesus resides--is omnipresent--in the tabernacle.  Anyone who wishes may stop by whenever they like to sit with Him; talk with Him; adore Him!

In his commentary on  Matthew 28:20, the great Bible scholar Cornelius a Lapide summarizes this beautifully:

"[L]ikewise, Christ has willed to abide continually in the Church in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. For as the humanity and deity of Christ are present in glory in Heaven, and are adored visibly by the angels and saints, so are the same likewise present in the Eucharist, but hidden under the forms of bread and wine, and therefore invisible, and are there adored, and even partaken of by the faithful."

With Lent now in full swing, I encourage you to read and pray with the sixth chapter of John's Gospel.  Then carve some time out of your busy day to stop by and say hi to Jesus in the tabernacle (or exposed in a monstrance for adoration) at your local parish.  If you are Catholic, try to attend a weekday Mass to receive Jesus in the Eucharist.  And if you are not Catholic, perhaps never realizing His real presence in the Eucharist, then what are you waiting for?  Christ wants to give Himself to you--abide in you--in a way you never thought imaginable.  You won't find it in any other church on earth except the Church He founded.

God love you.

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This is the fourth in a series of short reflections on the eight general attributes of God that can known by reason, as set forth by St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica.  I've been learning about St. Thomas and the Summa from Dr. Taylor Marshall and the online classes he offers at the New Saint Thomas Institute.  These reflections are the result of my meditations on each individual attribute during prayer.  As such, they are not meant to be deep theological discussions, but simple spiritual thoughts on the majesty of our God .  I pray you find them beneficial in your walk with Christ.

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God is infinite.

This is the fourth attribute of God according to St. Thomas.  This means that God is "eternal and boundless," (Summa Theologica I, q. 7, art. 1) "that which has no end, no limit, . . . and therefore cannot be measured by a finite standard."  (Catholic Encyclopedia)  The idea of God's infinity most often applies to His not being limited by space and time.  Indeed, as King Solomon declared, "the heavens and earth cannot contain You."  (1 Kings 8:27) Likewise, the Catechism explains that God is "without origin and without end."  (CCC ¶ 213)

The infinite nature of God also applies to His perfections, such as His wisdom, beauty and power.  Yet two things illustrate this reality more than all others: God's infinite mercy and love.  There is a popular saying we've all heard that goes something like this: "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me."  Really, this is just a clever way of illustrating that as humans, our mercy often is finite and limited.  For God though, through the person of His Eternal Son Jesus Christ, this expression is non-existent.  Indeed, His mercy towards us is unlimited--infinite--no matter how many times we "fool" Him.  Unconvinced?  Stare at a crucifix for a few minutes.  "He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him?"  (Romans 8:32)

And God's infinite mercy flows directly from His boundless love for us.  A love, as St. Paul tells us, from which we can never be separated: "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."  (Romans 8:38 - 39)

In John's Gospel, Jesus asks the first two disciples that began following him, "What are you looking for?" (John 1:38)  He's asking all of us that same question.  The answer, I believe, is that more than anything, we are looking for His infinite love and mercy.  One doesn't have to observe the state of the world long, especially in the increasingly secularized West, to see that people desperately are thirsting for God's love and mercy--whether they know (or will admit) it or not.  More powerful than any physical thirst, it is a spiritual thirst for Truth and the Eternal.  But what we forget--or don't even realize--is that as much as we thirst for Him, God thirsts for us even more.  Jesus told us so on the cross:  "I thirst."  (John 19:28)

A beautiful prayer attributed to Mother Teresa of Calcutta describes Jesus' unfathomable thirst for us better than anything I have ever read.  The prayer is somewhat unique, in that it is Jesus speaking to us, as opposed to us speaking to Him.  My favorite audio recording of the prayer is by Father John Riccardo, who is a parish priest in the Archdiocese of Detroit and the host of the daily podcast "Christ is the Answer" available on iTunes.  I encourage you to take ten minutes or so to listen to the prayer, and in doing so, I pray that you will be drawn closer to God's infinite mercy and His boundless love.

God love you.

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th-10

This is the third in a series of short reflections on the eight general attributes of God that can known by reason, as set forth by St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica.  I've been learning about St. Thomas and the Summa from Dr. Taylor Marshall and the online classes he offers at the New Saint Thomas Institute.  These reflections are the result of my meditations on each individual attribute during prayer.  As such, they are not meant to be deep theological discussions, but simple spiritual thoughts on the majesty of our God .  I pray you find them beneficial in your walk with Christ.

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"God is good all the time; all the time God is good."

The author of this often-repeated phrase, as far as I can tell, is unknown.  But no matter its origin,  St. Thomas certainly would agree with the statement.  In fact, he explains not only that God is good, but that he is the greatest or supreme good.  Stated another way, nothing is more desirable than God, for all "other things are deficient in comparison."   (Summa Theologica I, q. 6, art. 2)

Deep down, we know this to be true, but the secular culture we live in wages an all-out war to convince us otherwise.  Lots of things are more desirable than God, the culture tells us: money, material possessions, power, fame, success, beauty, physical pleasure, entertainment, political ideology, etc.  This list could go on and on.  What the culture doesn't tell us though, is that none of those things will fill the God-sized hole in each of our hearts.  St. Augustine may have said it best:

"With You there is true rest and life untroubled.  He who entered into You enters into the joy of his Lord, and he shall have no fear, and he shall possess his soul most happily in Him who is the supreme good.  I fell away from you, my God, and I went astray, too far astray from you, . . . and I became to myself a land of want." (Confessions p. 81)

It's simple, really. When we try to fill that hole with anything other than God--when we want things more than God--we actually end up in "a land of want," "far astray" from Him.  What better time than Lent to fill our hearts with Him and discard all the empty promises of the world.

I was reflecting on this recently while reading the first chapter of John's Gospel, where the priests and Levites were questioning John the Baptist as to who he was.  Was he the Messiah, Elijah, the Prophet?  He answered them simply by saying: "I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, Make straight the way of the Lord."  (John 1:23)  The Lenten imagery in this statement immediately struck me.  Indeed, as Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI once wrote, "Lent recalls the forty days of our Lord’s fasting in the desert, which He undertook before entering into His public ministry."  We too then go into the desert of our hearts during Lent, praying and fasting in imitation of Jesus and to prepare for his coming Passion, death and resurrection.  And our goal is nothing more than to "make straight the way of the Lord," as St. Thomas explains in his commentary on John's Gospel:

"The way, prepared and straight, for receiving the Lord is the way of justice, according to Isaiah (26:7): 'The way of the just is straight.' For the way of the just is straight when the whole man is subject to God, i.e., the intellect through faith, the will through love, and actions through obedience, are all subject to God. "

Make your way straight and receive God this Lent.  Fill your heart,  nay your entire being, with Him--the greatest good.  Temptations no doubt will come while in the desert; they did for Jesus.  If and when they do, remember these words from St. Louis De Montfort:

"[Jesus] is our only Master, who has to teach us; our only Lord on whom we ought to depend; our only Head to whom we must be united; our only Model to whom we should conform ourselves; our only Physician who can heal us; our only Shepard who can feed us; our only Way who can lead us; our only Truth whom we must believe; our only Life who can animate us; and our only All in all things who can satisfy us."  (True Devotion to Mary, pp. 29 - 30).

God love you.

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th-10

This is the second in a series of short reflections on the eight general attributes of God that can known by reason, as set forth by St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica.  I've been learning about St. Thomas and the Summa from Dr. Taylor Marshall and the online classes he offers at the New Saint Thomas Institute.  These reflections are the result of my meditations on each individual attribute during prayer.  As such, they are not meant to be deep theological discussions, but simple spiritual thoughts on the majesty of our God .  I pray you find them beneficial in your walk with Christ.

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God is perfect.

The second attribute of God according to St. Thomas comes straight from the lips of Jesus himself: "Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."  (Matthew 5:48)  Unlike divine simplicity, God's perfection isn't as hard for us humans to wrap our heads around.  As St. Thomas says, we call perfect "that which lacks nothing."  Indeed, God lacks nothing, meaning he cannot improve.  He's as perfect today as he was yesterday, and as perfect today has he will be tomorrow.  Any created thing we call "perfect" in this world is but a reflection of the Creator's divine perfection.

While God gave each us the reason (mental ability) to comprehend His perfection, He chose to reveal completely that perfect nature by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, the God-man, to suffer and die for our sin.  "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father."  (John 14:9)  As the Catechism explains, "Jesus presents himself as our model.  He is the perfect man, who invites us to become his disciples and follow him.  In humbling himself, he has given us an example to imitate."  (CCC ¶ 520)

Not only is God's perfection revealed in Christ himself, but also in His perfect suffering and sacrifice.  "You were ransomed . . . with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot."  (1 Peter 1:18-19)  "In suffering and death his humanity became the free and perfect instrument of his divine love which desires the salvation of men."  (CCC ¶ 609)  Moreover, Christ's perfect suffering and sacrifice on the Cross results from His perfect love for us: "It is for love of us that he is on the Cross with his arms stretched out, fastened to the wood more by the Love he has for us than by the nails."  (St. Josemaria Escriva, The Forge ¶ 191)

Our job in this life is to imitate Christ's perfection through our daily battles and sufferings.  Jesus doesn't stutter when he says "be perfect!"  (Matthew 5:48)  "The way of perfection passes by way of the Cross.  There is no holiness without renunciation and spiritual battle."  (CCC ¶ 2015)  As Ash Wednesday quickly approaches, I encourage you to pray and meditate on ways you can grow in holiness during Lent.  Whether it is increasing the time spent in prayer, starting a new devotional practice, or engaging in the corporal or spiritual works of mercy, do it with the goal of encountering Jesus anew every day.  But whatever the case may be, remember these words from St. Gregory of Nyssa: "Christian perfection has but one limit, that of having none."

God love you.

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th-10

Today I'm posting the first in a series of short reflections on the eight general attributes of God that can known by reason, as set forth by St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica.  I've been learning about St. Thomas and the Summa from Dr. Taylor Marshall and the online classes he offers at the New Saint Thomas Institute.  These reflections are the result of my meditations on each individual attribute during prayer.  As such, they are not meant to be deep theological discussions, but simple spiritual thoughts on the majesty of our God .  I pray you find them beneficial in your walk with Christ.

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St. Augustine tells us that "God is truly and absolutely simple."  It is  on this foundation that St. Thomas builds his discussion on the first of God's attributes: absolute simplicity.  This, at first, can seem counter-intuitive.  Theological concepts like the Trinity and the "hypostatic union," for example, can make it seem that God is too complex to be fully known and understood, especially for non-Christians.  Further, as St. Thomas points out, one can look at the created world and see complexities everywhere, from the composition of certain elemental formulations to the design and workings of the human eye.

But while certain concepts and created realities may be complex (i.e. made up of different parts), God is not.  Indeed, as St. Thomas says, God is "absolute being,"  in other words, pure existence in and of Himself.  As such, God cannot be made up of component parts because He is the first being; the first uncaused cause of every created thing.

As I meditated on this during prayer recently, I immediately was drawn to the flame of a candle I had lit nearby in the darkness.  The flame was simple, constant and consistent.  The flame, although small, danced around--silent yet speaking--illuminating the area all around me.  Even when I closed my eyes, the light from the flame still penetrated my senses, allowing me to remain aware of its presence and movements.  I quickly came to see the simplicity of God in that candle flame, and more importantly, the all-consuming simplicity of His love for us.

Is it any wonder that God revealed Himself to Moses for the first time in the flame of the burning bush?  (Exodus 3:1-6; Acts 7:30)  Indeed, the constancy and consistency of the flame drew Moses' attention.  Although it is often silent to our ears, "the voice of the Lord strikes with fiery flame."  (Psalms 29:7)  St. Paul tells us to "stir into flame the gift of God that you have [been given]."  (2 Timothy 1:6)  This simple flame, this gift, always illuminates us with God's love and never leaves us, even when we close our eyes or turn our back on Him.

We, in turn, must reflect God's simplicity in our lives.  Indeed, Jesus told the twelve apostles to be "simple as doves" as he sent them out to proclaim the Kingdom of God.  (Matthew 10;16)  Because when you get right down to it, nothing is simpler than the two greatest commandments Jesus gives us: (1) to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and (2) to love your neighbor as yourself.  (Mark 12:29-34).  It is putting these commandments into practice that often seems complex.  But as Jesus promises us, if we respond to these commandments "with understanding," we "are not far from the Kingdom of God" and that much closer to seeing Him in all of His majestic simplicity.

God love you.