Page 147 - Built For God Handbook (Annotated and Explained Edition) - The Christian Edition of the Tao Te Ching - The New Evangelization - Pope John Paul II

81

In this brief chapter, we are invited to ponder the mystery of life itself. “The
movement of God is returning” could be an allusion to reincarnation, but for
those who believe in Jesus Christ, it brings to mind the whole of our
salvation history. From the beginning, God planned to bring forth creation
out of an immense love that would be fully revealed only through the
incarnation, life, passion, death, and resurrection of his Son Jesus, and in
his second coming in the fullness of glory.

As no one else could, Jesus, by his life among us and especially the
manner of his death on the cross, revealed to the world who our God truly
is. The scriptures tell us the heavy curtain in the temple was torn from top to
bottom at the moment of his death. That curtain was there to keep people
out of the Holy of Holies. With the death of Jesus on the cross, there is no
more separation between God and us. We can now see right into the heart
of God, and what we see is a God who is humble, yielding, merciful, never
dominating or forceful, compassionate. His love is unconditional, he is
forgiving, and totally non-violent.

In the Old Testament, Moses, when asked by the people Who sent you?
God identified God’s self as I Am who Am or divine Is-ness itself, the reality
of being pure and simple, yet totally beyond any human comprehension. All
of creation arises out of this being-ness of God, who created us ex-nihilo, or
out of nothing. In the beginning, there was only God who is love. As love is
revealed best through the act of sharing, God created this magnificent
universe, turning sheer nothingness into an ever-expanding act of love,
calling us to have faith in God’s love for us and loving all things in return.

b
a Ecclesiastes 3:18-20; Psalm 37:4-7; Exodus 32:14; Jonah 3:9-10;
d
c Genesis 2:7; Genesis 1:30; Colossians 1:15-16.