Page 95 - Built For God Handbook (Annotated and Explained Edition) - The Christian Edition of the Tao Te Ching - The New Evangelization - Pope John Paul II

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Two competing tendencies have marked humanity from time immemorial –
the heartfelt impulse to believe in and worship a spiritual being greater than
ourselves and, perhaps more present in our modern age, the difficulty in
believing in a deity greater than ourselves.

This chapter reflects the struggle with our image of God and the presence of
a Supreme Being in our lives. We are somewhat like a fetus in the womb of
his or her mother, having no idea of the world that awaits it, or like a fish
swimming in the ocean, having no concept of the water in which it is
immersed. God is invisible, silent, formless, and unfathomable, yet more
present to us than we are to ourselves.

The Book of Genesis tells us that we are made in the image of God – imago
Dei – male and female, God made us in God’s own image. Being born one
or the other -- unlike God who can hold male and female energy together --
just being born into this world means we are born incomplete with a
concomitant yearning and longing for wholeness, for completeness, for
consummation. This is a holy longing that will only be fully met when we see
God face to face.

Some would say we were kissed by a love greater than any we had ever
known before we were even conceived and spend the rest of our lives
seeking that original blessing. This all makes for a great mystery to be
explored and lived, made much more feasible for those who believe in a
loving God who fathers and mothers us, who has sent us his Son as the
eternal Word present to the Father to reveal the depth of the Father’s love,
and who has in turn given us his Spirit to draw us back to the Father.

c
b
a Romans 1:20-21; John 14:17; John 8:47; Mark 4:12; Jude 20-21;
e
1 Corinthians 2:6-16; Isaiah 60:19; Colossians 1:15-16; Isaiah 40:28;
d
f Job 9:10-11; John 1:1-2; John 14:6-7; John 8:14-18.
g