Wednesday, 7/16/14
In the Gospel Jesus said, “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father,
except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”
St. Justin, who was baptized around the year 100 told a
story about his coming to know
God. Justin was a Greek philosopher whose studies had brought him to believe that there was only one God, and that God was all
good and all wise.
Walking along the beach one day, Justin fell in with an old
Christian who quizzed him about Plato and Aristotle’s belief in the one God.
The old man complimented Justin on his wonderful understanding of the Almighty,
but then he told him, “You know so much
about God, but you do not actually know him. For that you will need to give
yourself over to Jesus, who alone can bring you into experiencing God personally.”
Moved by the old man’s conviction and his sincerity, Justin
gave himself over to a thorough preparation for Baptism. Later then, he opened
a school for Christian learning near the Forum in Rome.
One individual to whom the Son revealed the Father was John,
the Beloved Disciple. One way to get to the Son for help in knowing him and
the Father is by using John’s words to for your prayer time. One by one take the
opening phrases in John’s Gospel.
“In the beginning”
That has you imagining God alone before he created anything.
“Was the Word” So, the Word was there before creation. Hmm?
“the Word was with
God, and the Word was God.”
To get some grasp on that, I go to what I remember of the
explanation given by St.
Thomas Aquinas. He believed that God always had a mental
picture of himself, and that picture was so complete that it was the Father’s “brainchild.”
And the Word was so satisfying to the Father that he never
let it waver or leave. He loved it so completely that their love took on a
personality of its own.
And, since love cannot be contained, God, used the forms he
saw in his Word as models for creation.
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