Friday, June 19, 2009

Fullness of God

THIS is what is meant for us. In his Letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul did not mince his words when he said: “May you attain to the fullness of God himself.” (8,19)

This is the ultimate goal of our life, and the backdrop and context of all our activities and human affairs—that we in the end may attain the fullness of God.

That is to say, that we should move toward reaching the fullness of God in our life. All our activities and everything else in our earthly life should be an occasion and a means to achieving this goal. They are subordinated to this end.

And yet how many people, even Catholics and Christians, are aware of it, let alone are doing something to achieve it? It’s amazing that even in these times of excess information, many still miss this basic truth of faith.

We have to spread this good news to many people yet, explaining why it is so and how it can be so. For we cannot deny the fact that not only are many people ignorant of this truth of faith. There are also many who are unbelieving about it. They even dispute it.

What is this talk about us meant for the fullness of God, they can ask. Isn’t that too much to claim? Isn’t our life just earth-bound and time-bound? Any talk about life after death is simply hallucinatory.

These thoughts and questions can describe the mind of an unbeliever, an atheist or agnostic, or a free thinker. But the thoughts and attitudes of an improperly grounded believer can be worse. He can say, I believe in God, but please don’t say I’m meant to reach the fullness of God in my life! That’s just…

As we can see, sometimes the greatest enemy of the best is the good. It is those who are near the truth, but not quite in it yet, who find it most difficult to reach the truth, precisely because of the traces of truth that they already have. Whatever good they have hinders them from arriving at the best.

We have to learn to effectively grapple with these questions, mindsets and predicament. We just cannot consume our attention trying to handle purely human and temporal concerns. We have to find precious time and resources to resolve a very basic, life-shaping issue.

Truth is God created us out of pure love. There can be no other first explanation of why we exist. That’s why in his first letter, St. John says, “God first loved us and sent his Son to take away our sins.” (4,10)

All creatures come from him and belong to him. The special element in our case is that our belonging to him acquires a most distinctive character, because we have been made in his image and likeness, and have been given grace.

This means our life is actually a participation in the life of God. It cannot be any other way, since we have been outfitted, so to speak, for this. Besides, this truth has been revealed to us by Christ not only with words, but also with his deeds—in fact, with his passion, death and resurrection.

We need to be aware of the true character of our life, and act according to that truth. We need to freely cooperate with him in his actions for us and with us.

That’s why the Holy Spirit is sent to us by the Father and the Son. It is for us to live the life of God, and to lead us precisely to the fullness of God.

What the gifts of the Holy Spirit do to us can give us an idea of this truth. As described by St. Josemaria Escriva, the following gifts have these effects:

Understanding, to perfect our perception of the mysteries of faith. Wisdom, to improve our loving knowledge of God and that leads to and comes from him. Knowledge, to make us understand properly what created things are and what they ought to be according to the divine plan of creation…

Counsel, so that by correctly judging God’s will at every moment and for each person, we may be able to advise others. Fear, to impress on us a spirit of adoration and humility by detesting all sin.

Fortitude, to make us steadfast in the faith, constant in struggle and persevering in our life. Piety, to teach us the meaning of our divine filiation.

We need to be more familiar with the meaning of “fullness of God” in our life.

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