The Natural World: Week 2<\/p>\n
Nature Reflects God\u2019s Goodness<\/strong><\/p>\nTuesday, March 6, 2018\n<\/iframe><br \/>\nTo start with words of the great Doctor of the Church, Thomas Aquinas: \u201cGrace does not destroy nature, but perfects it.\u201d [1] Grace brings nature to a sense of its own sanctity, and it evokes this sacredness within the human heart. Aquinas also affirms that God\u2019s image and likeness is visible within the other-than-human realm, which few Christians were ever taught:<br \/>\nGod brought things into being in order that God\u2019s goodness might be communicated to creatures, and be represented by them; and because God\u2019s goodness could not be adequately represented by one creature alone, God produced many and diverse creatures, that what was wanting to one in the representation of the divine goodness might be supplied by another. For goodness, which in God is simple and uniform, in creatures is manifold and divided. [2]<br \/>\nThis is the reason St. Francis could speak of animals as \u201cbrother\u201d and \u201csister.\u201d This manifold and diverse world is held together in a uni-verse, which means a reality turning around one thing. Our common name for that one thing is \u201cGod\u201d but the word is not necessary to appreciate the reality. Aquinas explained this theologically; Francis knew it experientially.<br \/>\nAquinas continues with \u201cThe whole universe in its wholeness more perfectly shares in and represents the divine goodness than any one creature by itself.\u201d [3] Paul said the same thing long before Aquinas: \u201cWhat can be known about God is perfectly plain, since God has made it plain. Ever since God created the world, God\u2019s everlasting power and divinity, however invisible, has been there for the mind to see in the things that God has made\u201d (Romans 1:19-20).<br \/>\nHow could humans think we were the only or even the main event? Not only did we think that the Earth was the center of the universe; we were certain our human species was the only one that God really cared about. All of creation was just a stage set for the human drama. Normally that is called narcissism. We extracted the soul from everything else. Nature was simply here for our utilitarian purpose, to be used for our consumption. With this belief system, we entered into a state of profound alienation from our own surroundings. We no longer belonged to this world because there was nothing worth belonging to. It was no longer naturally sacred, deserving our reverence or respect. We could rape, plunder, and misuse the earth. We could torture animals and destroy ecosystems because we thought they had no inherent value. We acted as though we were fully in charge.<br \/>\nEvery day we have opportunities to reconnect with God through an encounter with nature, whether an ordinary sunrise, a starling on a power line, a tree in a park, or a cloud in the sky. This spirituality doesn\u2019t depend on education or belief. It almost entirely depends on our capacity for simple presence. Often those without formal education and \u201cunbelievers\u201d do this better than a lot of us. I have met many like this who put me to shame.<\/p>\n<p>__________________________________________________<\/p>\n<div class=\"row title-row\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"utmost-devo-title col col-sm-12 col-xs-12\">\n<h2 class=\"entry-title\">Taking the Next Step<\/h2>\n<h4>By <a href=\"https:\/\/utmost.org\/oswald-chambers-bio\">Oswald Chambers<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"clearfix\">\u2026<strong>in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses. \u2014<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?version=31&search=2+Corinthians+6%3A4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2 Corinthians 6:4<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n<div class=\"row entry-meta\">\n<div class=\"col-sm-4\">\n<div class=\"top-sharing\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"top-rule\">\u00a0When you have no vision from God, no enthusiasm left in your life, and no one watching and encouraging you, it requires the grace of Almighty God to take the next step in your devotion to Him, in the reading and studying of His Word, in your family life, or in your duty to Him. It takes much more of the grace of God, and a much greater awareness of drawing upon Him, to take that next step, than it does to preach the gospel.<\/div>\n<section class=\"entry-content\">\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<p>Every Christian must experience the essence of the incarnation by bringing the next step down into flesh-and-blood reality and by working it out with his hands. We lose interest and give up when we have no vision, no encouragement, and no improvement, but only experience our everyday life with its trivial tasks. The thing that really testifies for God and for the people of God in the long run is steady perseverance, even when the work cannot be seen by others. And the only way to live an undefeated life is to live looking to God. Ask God to keep the eyes of your spirit open to the risen Christ, and it will be impossible for drudgery to discourage you. Never allow yourself to think that some tasks are beneath your dignity or too insignificant for you to do, and remind yourself of the example of Christ in<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=John+13:1-17\">John 13:1-17<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Natural World: Week 2 Nature Reflects God\u2019s Goodness Tuesday, March 6, 2018 To start with words of the great Doctor of the Church, Thomas Aquinas: \u201cGrace does not destroy nature, but perfects it.\u201d [1] Grace brings nature to a sense of its own sanctity, and it evokes this sacredness within the human heart. Aquinas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16502"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16502"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16507,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16502\/revisions\/16507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Tuesday, March 6, 2018\n<\/iframe><br \/>\nTo start with words of the great Doctor of the Church, Thomas Aquinas: \u201cGrace does not destroy nature, but perfects it.\u201d [1] Grace brings nature to a sense of its own sanctity, and it evokes this sacredness within the human heart. Aquinas also affirms that God\u2019s image and likeness is visible within the other-than-human realm, which few Christians were ever taught:<br \/>\nGod brought things into being in order that God\u2019s goodness might be communicated to creatures, and be represented by them; and because God\u2019s goodness could not be adequately represented by one creature alone, God produced many and diverse creatures, that what was wanting to one in the representation of the divine goodness might be supplied by another. For goodness, which in God is simple and uniform, in creatures is manifold and divided. [2]<br \/>\nThis is the reason St. Francis could speak of animals as \u201cbrother\u201d and \u201csister.\u201d This manifold and diverse world is held together in a uni-verse, which means a reality turning around one thing. Our common name for that one thing is \u201cGod\u201d but the word is not necessary to appreciate the reality. Aquinas explained this theologically; Francis knew it experientially.<br \/>\nAquinas continues with \u201cThe whole universe in its wholeness more perfectly shares in and represents the divine goodness than any one creature by itself.\u201d [3] Paul said the same thing long before Aquinas: \u201cWhat can be known about God is perfectly plain, since God has made it plain. Ever since God created the world, God\u2019s everlasting power and divinity, however invisible, has been there for the mind to see in the things that God has made\u201d (Romans 1:19-20).<br \/>\nHow could humans think we were the only or even the main event? Not only did we think that the Earth was the center of the universe; we were certain our human species was the only one that God really cared about. All of creation was just a stage set for the human drama. Normally that is called narcissism. We extracted the soul from everything else. Nature was simply here for our utilitarian purpose, to be used for our consumption. With this belief system, we entered into a state of profound alienation from our own surroundings. We no longer belonged to this world because there was nothing worth belonging to. It was no longer naturally sacred, deserving our reverence or respect. We could rape, plunder, and misuse the earth. We could torture animals and destroy ecosystems because we thought they had no inherent value. We acted as though we were fully in charge.<br \/>\nEvery day we have opportunities to reconnect with God through an encounter with nature, whether an ordinary sunrise, a starling on a power line, a tree in a park, or a cloud in the sky. This spirituality doesn\u2019t depend on education or belief. It almost entirely depends on our capacity for simple presence. Often those without formal education and \u201cunbelievers\u201d do this better than a lot of us. I have met many like this who put me to shame.<\/p>\n<p>__________________________________________________<\/p>\n<div class=\"row title-row\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"utmost-devo-title col col-sm-12 col-xs-12\">\n<h2 class=\"entry-title\">Taking the Next Step<\/h2>\n<h4>By <a href=\"https:\/\/utmost.org\/oswald-chambers-bio\">Oswald Chambers<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"clearfix\">\u2026<strong>in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses. \u2014<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?version=31&search=2+Corinthians+6%3A4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2 Corinthians 6:4<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n<div class=\"row entry-meta\">\n<div class=\"col-sm-4\">\n<div class=\"top-sharing\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"top-rule\">\u00a0When you have no vision from God, no enthusiasm left in your life, and no one watching and encouraging you, it requires the grace of Almighty God to take the next step in your devotion to Him, in the reading and studying of His Word, in your family life, or in your duty to Him. It takes much more of the grace of God, and a much greater awareness of drawing upon Him, to take that next step, than it does to preach the gospel.<\/div>\n<section class=\"entry-content\">\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<p>Every Christian must experience the essence of the incarnation by bringing the next step down into flesh-and-blood reality and by working it out with his hands. We lose interest and give up when we have no vision, no encouragement, and no improvement, but only experience our everyday life with its trivial tasks. The thing that really testifies for God and for the people of God in the long run is steady perseverance, even when the work cannot be seen by others. And the only way to live an undefeated life is to live looking to God. Ask God to keep the eyes of your spirit open to the risen Christ, and it will be impossible for drudgery to discourage you. Never allow yourself to think that some tasks are beneath your dignity or too insignificant for you to do, and remind yourself of the example of Christ in<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=John+13:1-17\">John 13:1-17<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Natural World: Week 2 Nature Reflects God\u2019s Goodness Tuesday, March 6, 2018 To start with words of the great Doctor of the Church, Thomas Aquinas: \u201cGrace does not destroy nature, but perfects it.\u201d [1] Grace brings nature to a sense of its own sanctity, and it evokes this sacredness within the human heart. Aquinas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16502"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16502"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16507,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16502\/revisions\/16507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}