The Goodness of God: a current topic

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On August 10, 1866, while the world of his time was, too, crossed by many tribulations, Saint Thérèse Couderc, had a vision on the Goodness of God. Today, 150 years later, when our world is crossed by many turbulences, Pope Francis invites us in his encyclical Laudato Sì, to watch the whole creation with the same Goodness. It is extraordinary to see how these two texts are in spiritual resonance. May these texts nourish our faith and hope, so we will be rooted in the love of God at work in this world, in the love of God of Goodness who desire to transform our hearts and our lives so we can may love Him and follow Him more closely.

 

 

March 2016

I saw the word Goodness, I say, written upon all creatures, animate and inanimate, rational or not, all bore this name of goodness, I saw it even upon the chair that served as a prie-dieu.

Mother Thérèse, August 10, 1866

The universe as a whole, in all its manifold relationships, shows forth the inexhaustible riches of God. Saint Thomas Aquinas wisely noted that multiplicity and variety “come from the intention of the first agent” who willed that “what was wanting to one in the representation of the divine goodness might be supplied by another”, in as much as God’s goodness “could not be represented fittingly by any one creature”. Hence we need to grasp the variety of things in their multiple relationships. We understand better the importance and meaning of each creature if we contemplate it within the entirety of God’s plan.

Pope Francis Laudato Si n °86

quoted from Summa Theologiae, I, q. 47, art. 1. and art. 2, ad 1; art. 3.

Image : photographs and composition by Ghislaine Pauquet rc