God and the world

WE need to clarify a few points about the relation between

God and the world in general. While it’s true that a number of gospel

passages picture the world as bad, it does not mean that God and the

world are inherently opposed to each other.

  

            On the contrary, God and the world should merit the same

love, since we can only have one love, and our love for God should be

the same but much more if not infinitely more elevated than our love

for the world.

  

            Our love can only be one because love is only possible

with God who is the source, pattern, end and energy for love. Our love

should start and end with God, and everything between the start and

end of our love should simply be a means and an occasion to love God.

This should be made clear to everyone as early as possible.

  

            Yes, it’s true that we need to be careful with the world,

because of the many dangers it contains. St. John articulated this

warning very well when he said: “For everything in the world--the lust

of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--comes not

from the Father but from the world.” (1 Jn 2,16)

  

            As corollaries to this truth of our faith, Christ tells us

that if we follow him we will be hated by the world, that we have to

conquer the world with him, etc., etc. But these do not take away the

fact that the world is a creation of God and therefore good, though

spoiled by our sin.

              And precisely because the world has strayed from God, God

has to send his only Son to save it. Again St. John expressed this

very well when he said: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his

only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,

but have everlasting life.” (3,16)

  

            The point to make is that we ought to have the same

attitude of God toward the world, as shown to us concretely by Christ.

When we have Christ’s mind and heart, we will love the world and do

everything to bring it back from its alienated state to him from whom

it came and to whom it belongs.

  

            We would not be afraid of the world that much, because

with Christ we can conquer it insofar as it is opposed to God. Rather

we have to love the world the way God loves it, without being worldly.

  

            This means that if we truly love God, we should not run

away from the world and the many challenges it poises on us. Rather we

should love it, immerse ourselves in it, make use of what is true,

good and beautiful in it and purify it of what is not.

   

            It would clearly be a wrong understanding of what and how

it is to love God if we equate loving God with running away from the

world, or worse, hating it. The negative and evil things we can find

in the world should only spur us to love the world the way God loves

it—sending his only begotten Son to it. In other words, we have to be

“alter Christus” to love the world properly.

  

            We have to understand that loving the world will

necessarily involve a lot of suffering and self-denial. We should not

be afraid to bear all this. Christ has assured us we will always win

with him in our war of peace and love with the world.