A peculiar god

11. A peculiar God

In the history of religions, the gods have always been distinguished by its power, a power guided

by his majesty and even whim. In stark contrast, the Christian God present a loser, baby, bad

businessman, small, tender, bond, non-intrusive ...

Yes, the Christian God is a peculiar God, a God with too strange names for God. However, the

devil has no name but number. We also should know some peculiarities of this twisted creature

666.

1.11 GOD Multi-person In Jesus Christ God became man and allowed us, as it were, a glance at the intimacy of God himself. And there we see something

completely unexpected: in God, an "I" and a "You". The mysterious God is not infinite loneliness, is an event of love. If we envisage

the creation we can glimpse the Creator Spirit, God himself, almost like creative mathematics, as a force that shapes the world's

laws and order, but then also as a beauty, now we learn that the Creator Spirit has a heart. Love There is the Son who speaks to

the Father. And both are one in the Spirit, which is, so to speak, the atmosphere of giving and loving which makes them one

God. This unity of love which is God, is a unity far more sublime than the unit could be a last indivisible particle. The Triune God is

the only God. Through Jesus, as it penetrates our eyes in the intimacy of God. San Juan, in his gospel, put it this way: "God no one

has ever seen: the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has revealed him" (Jn 1, 18). Saint Peter´s Square. Saturday June 3, 2006.

1.11.a

But Jesus not only allowed us to penetrate our eyes in the intimacy of God with him, God somehow, also left his intimacy and came

to meet us. This is done primarily in their life, passion, death and resurrection, in His word. But Jesus is not content with coming to

our meeting. He wants more. Wants unification. And this is the meaning of the images and the wedding banquet. Not only must we

know something about him, but through him we must be drawn to God. That's why he must die and rise again, because now is not

in a particular place, but his Spirit, the Holy Spirit emanates from him and into our hearts, thereby uniting us with Jesus Himself and

the Father, the Triune God.

Saint Peter´s Square. Saturday June 3, 2006.

1.11.b Amorous "Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved to the end" (Jn 13, 1). God loves His creature, man, loves him in his fall and

does not leave himself. He loves to the end. Take your love to the end, to the point: low of divine glory. It follows from the garments

of divine glory and put on the garb of a slave. Down to the extreme poverty of our fall. He kneels before us and performs the

service of a slave washes our dirty feet so that we may be admitted to the table of God, to make us worthy to sit at his table,

something that by ourselves we could not nor should ever do.

Basilica of St. John Lateran. Holy Thursday April 13, 2006.

1.11.c Tender Our God is not a distant God, untouchable in his blessedness. Our God has a heart, indeed, has a heart of flesh. He became flesh

precisely to suffer with us and be with us in our suffering. He became man to give us a heart of flesh and to awaken in us the love

of those who suffer, those in need. Let us now pray to the Lord for all those suffering in the world. Let us ask the Lord to give us

actually a heart of flesh, make us messengers of his love, not only with words but with our whole lives.

Rome, Friday, April 6, 2007

1.11.d The Church presents to our contemplation of this mystery, the mystery at the heart of a God that melts and pours all his love for

humanity. A mysterious love, which in the texts of the New Testament is revealed as God's immeasurable love for man. No

surrender to the ingratitude, even to the rejection of the people has chosen, indeed, with infinite mercy sends to the world his only

Son to bear upon them the destiny of love destroyed, so that, defeating the power of evil and death, to restore the dignity of

children to humans enslaved by sin. All this to high price: the Father's only Son is sacrificed on the cross: "Having loved his own

who were in the world, he loved to the end" (Jn 13, 1).

St. Peter's Basilica. Friday June 19, 2009.

1.11.e crazy

The love of God for us, starting with the creation, became visible in the mystery of the cross in the kenosis of God, of the removal,

in the humiliating abasement of the Son of God who told us about the Apostle Paul. .. Yes, the cross reveals the fullness of the love

God has for us. A crucified love, not just in the scandal of Good Friday, but culminates in the joy of the Resurrection and Ascension

into heaven, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, Spirit of love by which, also this afternoon, forgive their sins and be granted a pardon

and peace.

WYD, St. Peter's Basilica. Thursday March 29, 2007

1.11.f The love of God to man, which is manifested fully in the cross, can be described by the term agape, ie, "self-giving love that seeks

only the good of others" but also with the term eros. Indeed, while it is love which gives man all that is God ... it is also a love where

"the very heart of God, the Almighty awaits the" yes "of His creatures as a young bridegroom that of his wife. " Sadly, "from its

origins, mankind, seduced by the lies of evil, has been closed to God's love with the mirage of self-sufficiency is impossible

(cf. Gn 3, 1-7).

WYD, St. Peter's Basilica. Thursday March 29, 2007

1.11.g slave

Jesus is stripped of the garment of his glory, fits the "clothing" of humanity and becomes a slave. Wash the dirty feet of his disciples

and thereby enables them to access the divine banquet to which the invite.

Basilica of St. John Lateran. Holy Thursday March 20, 2008.

1.11.h God comes down and becomes a slave, washes our feet so we can sit at their table. This reveals the whole mystery of Jesus

Christ. So it is obvious what it means to redemption. The bathroom that we love lava is willing to face death. Only love has the

purifying force that cleanses us from our impurities and lifts us up to God. The bath that purifies us is he who gives himself totally to

us from the depths of his suffering and death.


1.11.i

In this light we also understand the solemn proclamation terminating with the Gospel: "When I am lifted up from the earth, will draw

all men to myself" (Jn 12, 32), as well as the comment of the Evangelist: "He said this to signify he was going to die "(Jn 12,

33). The cross, the height is the height of the love of Jesus, and at this point draws us all.


1.11.J close God is not a distant God, too distant and too big to deal with our trifles. Since it is large, it may also be interested in little

things. Because it is great, the soul of man, the man himself, created by the eternal love is not something small, but it is great and

worthy of his love. The holiness of God is not only an incandescent power, before which we must move away in terror, is the power

of love and, therefore, is cleansing and healing power.


1.11.k demanding

Let us pause to contemplate this scene, where they meet face to face human misery and divine mercy, a woman accused of a

great sin and He who, even without sin, bore our sins, the sins of the world. He, who had begun to write on the ground, lift your

eyes now and find the women. Do not ask for explanations. It is ironic when asked, "Woman, where they are? Did no one condemn

you? "(Jn 8, 10). And his answer is poignant: "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and do not sin again "(Jn 8, 11). St. Augustine, in his

commentary, notes: "The Lord condemns sin, not the sinner. Indeed, had he tolerated sin would have said, "Neither do I condemn

thee: go and live as you want ... how great are your sins, I will deliver you from punishment and all suffering." But he said that "(In

Io. Ev. Tract. 33, 6). He says:" Go and sin no more. " Dear friends, the word of God we have heard gives us specific directions for

our lives. Jesus is not engaged with its partners a theoretical discussion on the passage of the law of Moses is not interested in

winning an academic dispute about an interpretation of Mosaic law and its objective is to save a soul and reveal that salvation is

found only in the love of God. To this came to earth, so will die on the cross and the Father will rise the third day.

Parish of St. Felicity and children, martyrs. Sunday March 25, 2007.

1.11.L BEGGAR-NEEDED

With the love song of the prophet Isaiah, God wants to speak to the hearts of his people and also to each one of us. "I have created

in my image and likeness," he says. "I myself am love, and you are my image to the extent that you shines the splendor of love, to

the extent that I respond with love." God awaits us. Wants us to love: our hearts must not touch this invitation? Precisely at this

hour, when we celebrate the Eucharist, he comes to meet us, come to me. "You will find an answer? Or what happens to us in the

vineyard of Isaiah speaks God "expected it to yield grapes, but gave agrazones? Is our Christian life is often much more vinegar

than wine? "Self-pity, conflict, indifference?

Vatican Basilica. Sunday October 2, 2005.

1.11.m While it is love which gives man all that is God, [...] is also a love where "the very heart of God, the Almighty awaits the" yes "of His

creatures as a young bridegroom that of his wife "(L'Osservatore Romano, Spanish language edition, February 16, 2007, p.

4). Unfortunately, "from its origins, mankind, seduced by the lies of the Evil One, rejected God's love with the mirage of self-

sufficiency is impossible (cf. Gn 3: 1-7)" (ibid.).

But in the sacrifice of the cross God continues to propose his love, his passion for man, the force, as Pseudo Dionysius, "prevents

the lover to remain in itself, but compels them to join the beloved" (De divinis Nominibus, IV, 13: PG 3, 712). God comes to "beg"

the love of his creature. This afternoon, as you approach the sacrament of confession, you can experience the "free gift that God

makes of his life, infused by the Holy Spirit in our soul to heal it of sin and sanctify it" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1999 ),

so that, united with Christ, we become new creatures (cf. 2 Cor 5: 17-18).

St. Peter's Basilica. Thursday March 29, 2007.

1.11.n RELAXING The Lord's presence is a source of joy, because where he is, evil is vanquished, and triumph of life and peace. I want to

emphasize, in particular, the wonderful expression of Zephaniah who, turning to Jerusalem, says the Lord "will renew your love"

(So 3, 17). Yes, the love of God has this power: to renew all, from the human heart, which is his masterpiece, and where the Holy

Spirit performs better transformative action. With His grace, God renews man's heart forgives sin, reconciles and instills in him the

impulse toward good. All this is manifested in the lives of the saints. And so at this time we also open our hearts to this love of man

and renewal of all things.

Pompeii Sanctuary. Sunday October 19, 2008.

1.11.o EVERY DAY IS COMING

"Proclaim to all people and say: Behold, God is our Savior." Let us pause a moment to reflect: do not use the past, God has come,

"nor the future, God will come," but this: "God comes" . As we can see, this is a present continuous, ie, an action that is always: is

happening, happening now and will happen in the future. At all times, "God comes."

Saturday November 26, 2005.

1.11.p We have said that the coming of the Lord is unique. However, there is only the last coming at the end of time. In a sense, the Lord

would always come through us, and knocks on the door of our heart: are you willing to give me your flesh, your time, your life? This

is the voice of the Lord who wants to come in our time too, want to enter into human history through us. He also seeks a living

dwelling place in our personal lives. This is the coming of the Lord.This is what we learn: that the Lord can come through us.


1.11.q

The verb "come" is presented as a verb "theological" or even "theological" because it says something that affects the very nature of

God. Therefore, announcing that "God comes" means simply announcing God himself, through one of its essential features and

characteristic: it is the God-who-comes.

Advent calls believers to become aware of this truth and act coherently. Rings out as a healthy call repeated over days, weeks,

months: Wake up. Remember that God comes. Not yesterday, not tomorrow but today, now. The only true God, "the God of

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" is not a God in heaven, ignore us and our history, it is the God-who-comes.


1.11.r WITH HANDS

I have risen and I am always with you, you have set your hand upon me. The liturgy sees these as the first words of the Son to the

Father after his resurrection, after returning from the night of death into the world of the living. The hand of the Father upheld him

even on that night, and thus he could rise again.

These words are taken from Psalm 138, which initially have a different meaning. This Psalm is a song of wonder at the

omnipotence and omnipresence of God, a hymn of trust in the God who never leaves fall from his hands. And his hands are good

hands. The Psalmist imagines himself journeying through the universe, what will happen? "If I ascend to heaven, you are there if I

descend into the underworld, you are present there. If I fly to the edge of dawn, when he emigrated to the ends of the sea, there I

will reach your side, I grab your right. If I say, 'Let only darkness cover me ... "Even darkness is not dark for you, the night is clear

as day" (Ps 138 [139] ,8-12).

Vatican Basilica. Holy Saturday, April 7, 2007

1.11.s PRECISE

The mercies of God are with us every day. Just be watchful heart so they can be perceived. We are very likely to notice only the

daily fatigue that we, as sons of Adam, imposed on us. But if we open our hearts, then, although we are immersed in it, we can see

how good God is continually with us, how to think us precisely in little things, helping us to achieve large. By increasing the weight

of responsibility, the Lord has also brought new aid to my life. I note with joy and gratitude always how big the number who sustain

me with prayer, of which his faith and love help me carry out my ministry, of those who are indulgent with my weakness,

recognizing in the shade Peter the beneficent light of Jesus Christ. Therefore, at this hour, I would like to cordially thank the Lord

and all of you.

Sunday April 15, 2007.

1.11.t BAD DEALER

The Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, in a short story, narrated that there was a severe king asked his priests and wise God to show him

to view it. The wise men were not able to fulfill that desire. Then a shepherd who came from the field, offered to perform the task of

the priests and sages. The pastor told the king that his eyes were not enough to see God. The king wanted to know at least what

was God. "To answer this question," said the shepherd to the king-we must exchange our clothes. " With some misgivings, but

impelled by curiosity to know the expected information, the king agreed and gave the shepherd his royal robes and he was dressed

in simple clothing of the poor man. At that time he received the answer: "This is what God does." Indeed, the Son of God, true God

from true God, gave up his divine splendor: "We emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness. And so,

acting as an ordinary man, stooped accepting even death "(Flp.2, 6 ff.) As the Fathers say, God made the commercium sacrum,

the sacred exchange: he took what was ours, so we could get what was theirs, to be like God. Indeed, the Son of God, true God

from true God, gave up his divine splendor.

WYD. Saint Peter´s Square. Sunday April 9, 2006.

1.11.u WITH CLASS "In this is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as expiation for our sins" (1 Jn 4, 10). Therein lies the

heart of the Gospel, the heart of Christianity. The light of this love opened the eyes of St. Augustine, we did find the "ancient beauty

ever new" (Confessions, X, 27), in which peace is only a man's heart.

Rome Friday, April 6, 2007

1.11.v

LOOSER In the Gospel passage of the washing of the feet, the conversation between Jesus and Peter presents another aspect of the

practice of Christian life, which I want to focus, finally, care. At first, Peter did not want his feet washed by the Lord. This reversal of

order, ie the teacher, Jesus washed the feet that carry out the task master of the slave, in complete contrast to his awe for Jesus,

with his concept of relationship between teacher and pupil. "Do not ever wash my feet" (Jn 13, 8), Jesus says with his usual

vehemence. His concept of Messiah meant an image of majesty and grandeur of God. He must continually learn that the greatness

of God is different from our idea of greatness, which is in fact below, in the humility of service, the radical nature of love to the total

self-emptying. And we must continually learn, because we want a God consistently successful and not of passion, because we fail

to realize that comes as Pastor Lamb is delivered and we confront the real grass

St. John Lateran. Holy Thursday March 20, 2008.

1.11.w

FORGIVEN Jesus can give forgiveness and the power to forgive, because he himself suffered from the guilt and dissolved in the flames of love.

Forgiveness comes from the cross, he transforms the world with the love given. Open heart on the cross is the door through which

the world enters the grace of forgiveness. And just this grace can transform the world and building peace.

Sunday May 15, 2005.

1.11.x

PARADOXICAL In the Child of Bethlehem God revealed in the humility of the human form in the "serfdom", nay, crucified (cf. Phil 2, 6-8). It is the Christian paradox.

Precisely this concealment is the "manifestation" most eloquent of God: humility, poverty, ignominy of the Passion itself allow us to know how God really is. The face of the Son reveals the Father faithfully. Therefore, all the mystery of Christmas is, so to speak, an "epiphany."

1.11.2.A

GIVES TRACKS

Christian thought compares the cosmos with a "book", it said Galileo also considering it as the work of an author who

is expressed by the symphony of creation. In this symphony is, at some point, musical language what would be called

a "just" a matter entrusted to a single instrument or one voice and is so important that it determines the meaning of the

whole opera. This is "only" Jesus, a sign that corresponds precisely regions: the emergence of a new star in the sky.

1.11.2b

The early Christian writers comparing Jesus with a new sun. According to current astrophysical knowledge, we should

compare with a more central star, not only for the solar system, but also for all the known universe. In this mysterious

plan, while physical and metaphysical, which led to the emergence of man as the crowning of the elements of

creation, came into the world Jesus, "born of woman" (Gal 4, 4), as St. Paul . The Son of man embodied the earth and

sky, the creation and the Creator, the flesh and the Spirit. Is the center of the cosmos and of history, because it joined

without confusing the author and his work.

In the earthly Jesus is the culmination of creation and history, but in the risen Christ goes further: the passage through

death to eternal life anticipates the point of "recapitulation" of all in Christ (cf. Eph 1, 10). In fact, "all things were

created through him and for him," writes the Apostle (Col. 1, 16). And precisely to the resurrection from the dead, he

got "the primacy over all things" (Col 1, 18). Jesus himself said it appeared to the disciples after the resurrection: "I

have been given all authority in heaven and on earth" (Mt 28, 18).

1.11.2c

SMALL

Moreover, in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God, God from God, became man. The Father says: "You are my son."

The eternal today of God has descended on today's ephemeral world and lifted our passengers today God's eternal

today. God is so great that he can become small. God is so powerful he can make himself vulnerable and come to us

as a defenseless child that we love. God is so good that he can renounce his divine splendor and come down to a

stable so we can find and, thus, his goodness might touch us, we communicate and continue to work through us. This

is Christmas: "You are my son, today I have begotten you." God has become one of us so we can be with him so that

we can become like him. Has chosen as his sign the child in the manger: he is well. Thus we come to know. And on

every child shines a flash of that "today," the nearness of God that we love and to which we must yield in every child,

even on those still unborn.

1.11.2d

NEEDED

God's sign is simplicity. God's sign is the baby. God's sign is that he makes himself small for us. This is how he reigns.

He did not come with power and outward splendor. Comes as a baby defenseless and in need of our help. Do not

want to overwhelm with force. He takes away our fear of his greatness. He asks for our love: so he becomes a child.

He does not want to us than our love, through which we spontaneously learn to enter into his feelings and his

thoughts and his will: learn to live with him and practice with him that humility of renunciation that is an essential part

of love . God made himself small so that we could understand him, welcome, love.

1.11.2e

SLANT "Who is like the Lord our God, who rises in his seat, and he stoops to look at the sky and the earth?". So Israel sings

one of his Psalms (113 [112], 5s), which simultaneously celebrates the greatness of God and his benevolent proximity

to men. God dwells on high, but slopes downward ... God is infinitely great, and above us. This is the first experience

of man. The distance seems infinite. The Creator of the universe, guiding all, is far from us, so it seems initially. But

then comes the surprise: One who has no equal, who "is seated on high," looks down, bends down. He sees us and

sees me. This looking down is more than a look from above. Looking for God is active. The fact that He sees me, I

look, I transformed myself and the world around me. Thus, the Psalm goes away: "He raises the lowly dust ...». With

her looking down, He lifts me up, take me kindly by the hand and help me up, just me, from bottom to top. "God

bends." This is a prophetic word. On the night of Bethlehem, this word has acquired an entirely new meaning. The

bow of God has taken a previously unimaginable and unprecedented realism. He bends down, coming down, just him,

like a child, even the misery of the barn, every need and status symbol of neglect of men. God really low. He becomes

a child and put in the condition of total dependence typical of a newborn human. The Creator who has everything in

his hands, which we all depend, is small and in need of human love. God is in the barn.

1.11.2f

FAITHFUL

The faithful and tenacious love of God, who keeps his covenant from generation to generation. This is the "mystery" of

which Paul speaks in his letters (...) The Apostle says that this mystery will "was reported by a revelation" (Eph 3, 3)

and he was instructed to make it known.

This "mystery" of God's faithfulness is the hope of history. Indeed, are opposed forces of division and outrage,

afflicting humanity because of sin and conflict of egos. In history, the Church is to serve this "mystery" of blessing for

humanity. In this mystery of God's faithfulness, the Church fulfills its mission only when it reflects in itself the light of

Christ the Lord, and thus helps the people of the world on the path of peace and true progress.

1.11.2g

HUSBAND The truth about marriage and family, which has its roots in the truth of man, has become a reality in the history of salvation, in the

center are the words: "God loves his people." Indeed, the biblical revelation is above all an expression of a love story, the story of

God's covenant with men, hence, the story of love and union of a man and a woman in the covenant of marriage could be taken up

by God as a symbol of salvation history.

The fact ineffable mystery of God's love to men, get your language form the vocabulary of marriage and family, both positive and

negative: indeed, the approach of God to his people is presented in the language of love spousal, while Israel's infidelity, idolatry, is

designated as adultery and prostitution.

Rome, Monday June 6, 2005

1.11.2.H

PERMISSIVE I do not know why they omitted from the Italian text the word "omnipotent", but it is true that we feel almost as threatened by the

omnipotence: it seems that limits our freedom, it is too heavy a weight. But we learn that God's omnipotence is not an arbitrary

power, because God is the Good, is the truth, and that is why God can do everything, but can not act against the good, can not act

against the truth, can not act against the love and the freedom because he himself is good, is love, and true freedom.So everything

he does can never be opposed to the truth, love and freedom. The truth is otherwise. God is the guardian of our freedom, love, of

truth. The eye that sees is not an evil eye that is watching us, but it is the presence of a love that never abandons us and gives us

the certainty that it is being, or is living: it is the eye of love gives us the air to live.

Aosta. July 24, 1909

1.11.2.I

Almighty and merciful God. A Roman prayer, linked to the rest of the Book of Wisdom, says, "God, show your almighty power of

forgiveness and mercy." The summit of the power of God's mercy, is forgiveness. In our current global concept of power, think of

one that has great properties, which in economics has something to say, provides capital to influence the world market. We think of

one that has the military power that can threaten. Stalin's question: "How many armies does the Pope have?" Continues to define

the common idea of power. Who has the power can be dangerous, who can threaten, he can destroy, who holds in his hands so

many instruments in the world. But Revelation tells us: "Not so" the real power is the power of grace and mercy. In mercy, God

demonstrates the real power.

Aosta. July 24, 1909

1.11.2.J

WITH NAME We hear a biblical text that presents the revelation of God's name. It is God Himself, the Eternal, the Invisible, who proclaims,

passing before Moses in the cloud on Mount Sinai. And his name is "The Lord God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and rich in

grace and faithfulness" (Ex 34, 6). San Juan, in the New Testament, this term sums up in one word: "Love" (1 Jn 4, 8. 16). Also

bears witness to the Gospel passage today: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (Jn 3, 16).

Genoa. Sunday May 18, 2008.

1.11.2.K Thus, this name clearly states that the God of the Bible is not a kind of monad closed in on itself and its own self-satisfied, but it is

life that wants to communicate, openness, relationship. Words like "compassionate," "compassionate", "rich in mercy," we speak of

a relationship, particularly a vital be offered, which wants to fill any gap, any fault, which means giving and forgiving, you want to

enter a strong and lasting bond.


1.11.2.L The Holy Scripture knows no other God than the God of the covenant, which created the world to pour his love upon all creatures

(cf. Roman Missal, Eucharistic Prayer IV), and chose a people to seal a pact with him Bridal , so it became a blessing to all nations,

thus turning all humanity into one big family. Jesus told us God's face, one in essence and three in persons: God is Love, Love,

Father, Son and Love Love Holy Spirit.


1.11.2.M At first glance this looks away from the world and its problems, but in reality it is found that just knowing God more closely, the

signs are also fundamental to our life, as happened to Moses at Sinai and stay up in the presence of God, received the law

engraved in stone tablets, in which the people found a guide to move forward, to find freedom and to train as people in freedom

and justice. From the name of God depends on our history, in the light of your face depends on our way.

This reality of God, which he himself has released revealing his "name", ie his face, derives a certain image of man, namely, the

concept of person. If God is a dialogical unity, being in relation, the human creature made in His image and likeness, reflected that

constitution. It is therefore called to be in dialogue, the symposium, at the meeting.It is a being in relationship.

In particular, Jesus revealed to us that man is essentially "son", a creature that lives in relationship with God the Father, and thus in

relation to all his brothers and sisters. The man is not at the absolute autonomy, mistakenly believing he is God, but on the

contrary, recognizing child, child open geared to God and neighbor, whose face is the image of the common Father.

Genoa, Sunday May 18, 2008.

1.11.2.N EYE THAT SEES In the religious history of mankind, which coincides with the story of her great spirit and permeates the culture, God is

everywhere as the being whose eyes look in all directions, with no vision. This archaic representation is stamped on

the figure of God's eye that is familiar to Christian art, God's eye, God's eyes. Behind that is, again, an overriding

sense of man: it is known known. Knows that there is a last hiding, that everywhere, without shelter or escape, his life

is, to the bottom, look to a patent, he knows that for him, to live is to be seen. What made as a prayer one of the most

beautiful psalms of the Old Testament articulates a conviction that has accompanied humanity throughout its history:

Lord, you examine me and know me

You know when I sit or get up,

Penetrate my thoughts from afar.

Warn you if I walk or rest,

All my ways you are known.

Not even a word in my tongue,

and you, Sir, you already know.

Wrap me behind and before,

And your hands protect me.

It's a mystery I know that exceeds

A height that I can not reach.

Where can I go from your Spirit,

Where flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there,

if I descend into the underworld, you are present there.

If I fly on the wings of dawn

and I moved to the edge of the sea,

there also reach me your hand,

and I grab your right.

While saying, "Let only darkness cover me,

and the light become night around me, "

darkness is not dark for you

because to you the night shines as the day [...] (Ps. 139: 1-12).

The Christian God, pp. 16-17

1.11.2o

CREATOR

Martin Buber account in the future legends Hasidic Rabbi Levi Isaac made his first trip, driven by its desire to know,

and visited the rabbi of Nikolsburg Schmelkes against the will of his father. Upon his return, he asked haughtily:

- What have you learned with him?

To which Isaac Levi said:

"I learned that there is a creator of the world.

The old man then called a servant and asked:

- Did you know there is a creator of the world?

"Yes," said the servant.

"Absolutely," said Isaac Levi, everyone says, but what they learn, in addition to say?

Try this meditation learn more deeply what it means "God is the creator"

The Christian God, p. 37

1.11.2p

HE IS The expression "God is" also means that we are all his creatures. Only creatures, but as such, truly from God. We are

creatures loved by him and intended to Eternity: creature is his neighbor, a person-perhaps unfriendly, which is on my

side. The man is not from the accident or the mere struggle for existence leading to the victory of the fittest, which

manages to be imposed: the man from the creative love of God.

The Christian God, p. 27

1.11.2q

A STRANGE POWERFUL The power of God is different from the power of the largest in the world. His modus operandi is different as we imagine, and how

we might wish them to him in this world, God does not enter into competition with earthly powers. Does not marshal his divisions

alongside other divisions. When Jesus was in the Garden of Olives, God did not send twelve legions of angels to help him (cf. Mt

26, 53). The shrill and pompous power of this world, He contrasts the defenseless power of love, which in Cross-and after-history

always fallen yet, however, constitutes the new divine, that opposes injustice and ushers in the Kingdom of God. God is different

now [when the wise men worshiping the Child], realize it. And that means that now they must be different, they must learn God's

ways.

August 20, 2005

1.11.2.R 2.11 SATAN

NUMBER OF SATAN

Revelation speaks of God's adversary, of the beast. The beast, the power side, it has a name, but a number: "666 is your number,"

says the seer (13, 18). Is a number and makes the person a number. Those who have experienced the world of the concentration

camps we know what does that equal: the horror is based precisely on that erases the face, which cancels the story, in which

numbers of men, replacement parts, a great machine. One is what is their function, nothing more. Today we fear that the camps

were only a prelude, that the world, under the universal law of the machine, assume the entire camp structure. Well if there are only

functions, then the man is also no more. The machines he has assembled will now impose their own law. Must become computer-

readable, and that is only possible if it is translated into the language of numbers. Everything else is meaningless to him. What is

not is not function.

The beast is number and became a number. God, however, has a name and calls us by name. Is a person and find the person.

Has a face and seeks your face. Have a heart and search our heart. We are not for use in cosmic machinery, but they are precisely

those who lack their own function. Name equals ability to be called, amounts to community. Therefore he is the real Moses, the

culmination of the revelation of the name. Do not bring a new word as a name, does something else: he is the face of God, be

relied upon God as you, as a person, in the heart.

The Christian God, pp. 22-24

2.11.a

CHALLENGING GROPING

"If you are the Son of God ..." listen to these words again by those who make fun of him on the cross: "If thou be the Son of God,

save and down from the cross" (Mt 27, 40). This is a joke, but at the same time a challenge: to be credible, Christ must prove their

claims. This demand for evidence appears throughout the historical life of Jesus, because he continually reproaches that he did not

sufficiently test its identity, you have to do the great miracle that will eliminate any ambiguity and contradiction and clarify to

everyone who so irrefutable and what he is, or what is not. This demand us to God, Christ and His Church throughout history: if you

exist, God, then you must also show. You rip your privacy clouds and give us the clarity to which we are entitled. If you, Christ, are

truly the Son of God and not one of the enlightened who have continually appeared in history, then you should show more clearly

than you do, you give your church, whether it should be your church, a unambiguity greater than it actually is peculiar.

Paths of Jesus Christ, p. 85

2.11.b

YOUR FUNERAL

Satan leads to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the earth with all its splendor, is presented as the real

ruler of the world who has power and distributes it. Jesus gives power and its "bubble"-a phrase that reappears in the formula of

baptism, which must not only renounce the devil, but in particular to their pumps in order to be Christian.

The pomp of power means the ability to do what you want, to enjoy what you want, have all, always occupy the top positions. No

pleasure is denied you, any adventure you can, all kneel before you. You are allowed to do whatever you want and have the

chance. That misleading "be like God", the caricature of the image and likeness of God uses the devil to parody mad man and

God's freedom. Satan has power, of course, paying a price: a power which rests in terror, fear, greed, violence against the other

and the deification of self. But, Satan seems to say this is precisely the power. Otherwise you can not have. The need to press that

wants to dominate, you need the threat of violence and to exercise it. And how will the world be redeemed when the Redeemer has

no power? Clearly, therefore, that the Saviour, if you want to do something, you assume the supply of power and bend to the rules

of the game [...].

The power of God, our hope, pp. 51-52

2.11.c

THE TEMPTATION OF SUCCESS

['Depart from me, Satan! "]: Jesus has with Peter a relationship of trust and closeness, so such sentences are justified. Pedro

accepts, understands that he was completely wrong. In this case sought to prevent the Lord on Calvary. He says: "That at odds of

your mission you win, you can not go to the cross." Peter repeats the temptation of the desert is described as the quintessential

Jesus' temptation, the temptation to be a messiah of success, to bet by the political horse. - The Lord says these words we hear

here on the mountaintop, at the conclusion of the story of temptation, "Get behind me Satan" (Mk 8, 33).

God and the world, p. 223 - Paths of Jesus Christ, p. 84 (45.7 pray with B16)

2.11.d

ITS KINGDOMS WILL CRUMBLE

The power of God in the world is discreet, not looking for glitz, as shown not only the history of temptations, but also all the earthly

story of Jesus. But this is the real power and permanent. The cause of God seems to continually "lying as if in agony", but

continually shown as permanent, and saving. The kingdoms of this world at the time show the Lord Satan could have been

tumbling all. His glory, doxa, proved to be mere appearance. But the glory of Christ, the glory humble and willing to suffer for his

love has not died. In the fight against Satan, Christ stood as victor: some angels came and ministered to him, says the evangelist

(cf. Mt 4, 11).

Paths of Jesus, pp. 95-96

2.11.e

Spiritual

A peculiar god