"...Wanting to Make Us Sharers in His Divinity..."

I was trekking through part of the Catechism that explains why the Word became flesh. I'd gotten up to Catechism of the Catholic Church, 459, about a month ago. (October 24, 2012)

... To Really Mess Things Up, You Need a Computer

I had written the framework for this post late Monday afternoon. Then, somehow, I deleted the whole thing. Irrevocably. Every trick I know for recovering 'deleted' data - didn't work.

I took a break, then started reconstructing the post. I knew where I'd found most of the information, and still remembered most of the structure. That kept me occupied until after midnight. My after-midnight work tends to be a trifle unstructured; or strangely-structured; or both.

The rest of this post is an effort to break that mass of text and lists into something that might pass as an orderly set of ideas.

Should you choose to continue reading, good luck. I should be much more coherent by Friday: emphasis on "should." :)

Issues and an Election

Issues at stake in America's national election encouraged me to go 'off schedule' for late October and most of November. I even put one of these 'Wednesday' posts on a Monday. (November 5, 2012)

The election didn't turn out entirely as I'd hoped. By the way, this isn't a political blog: but having standards sometimes means discussing my native land's leadership.

• "Elijah, Disappointing Election Results, and Getting a Grip"
  (November 14, 2012)
• "Eugenics, Compassion, and Cooperating with Evil"
  (November 5, 2012)
  Particularly
  • Life: It's Complicated, Sort of
  • Formal and Material Cooperation With Evil

The Ultimate Role Model

One of the reasons the Word became flesh was "to be our model of holiness." (Catechism, 459) There's more to Jesus than that, but like God the Father said:

"...'This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.' "
(Mark 9:7)

I went over that last month:

• "Love, Hate, and Leaving an Impression"
  (November 21, 2012)
  Particularly
  • "Love One Another..."

Eternal Life: Good News, Bad News

Listening to Jesus seems prudent, since each of us will live forever. That's good news, or bad news: depending on what each of us decided to do with our lives. (Catechism, 1021-1022)

Some of my take on eternity:

• "An Eternal Life I can Live With"
  (August 27, 2011)
• "Hell, Heaven, Character, and Culture"
  (June 23, 2011)
• "Last Judgment: Attendance Mandatory"
  (May 21, 2011)

When Jesus died on Golgotha, and then stopped being dead, my Lord made eternal life available. (Catechism, 1026)

"Partakers of the Divine Nature"

Jesus is more than just a good role model. My Lord became one of us so that we could become "partakers of the divine nature." This doesn't mean that I'm God; or we'll all God; or will become God. As I've said before, "God's God, I'm not."

On the other hand, St. Thomas Aquinas said Jesus came to "make men gods." Lower case "g:"

"The Word became flesh to make us 'partakers of the divine nature':⁷⁸ '... 'The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.'⁸¹"
(Catechism, 460)

Fully Understand - - - GOD?!

I talked over "...might make men gods" with someone who's been Catholic longer than I've been alive. He said that a better translation of St. Thomas' words might be "...might make men like gods."

That cleared things up a bit, but I still don't completely understand: which is about par for the course. St. Augustine said:

"If you understood him, it would not be God"
(St. Augustine of Hippo, quoted in Catechism, 230)

Then there are the last chapters of Job, and I'm getting a little off-topic. Which is also about par for the course.

Learning About God

I'm a finite creature. I don't expect to fully understand the infinite Almighty; but we're all expected to:

• Know God
  (Catechism, 31-35)
• Know about God
  (Catechism, 36-38)
  • As much as a finite creature can understand the infinite Creator
    (Catechism, 39-43)

Describing God

"There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written."
(John 21:25)

I think what John wrote applies to efforts to catalog the characteristics of God. That didn't keep me from assembling this list:

• A "mystery without words"
  • Even after revealing Himself
    • "If you understood him, it would not be God"
      (St. Augustine)
  (Catechism, 230)
• All-powerful
  • Created everything
    (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 268)
    • Out of nothing
      (Catechism, 296)
  • Didn't have to create anything
    (Catechism, 295)
  • Upholds and sustains what He created
    (Catechism, 301)
• The source of
  • Every good
  • All love
  • All truth
  (Catechism, 1723, 2465)
• The great HE WHO IS
  • From everlasting to everlasting
  • Without origin and without end
  (Catechism, 212-213)
  
• Infinitely good
  (Catechism, 385)
• Loving
  (Catechism, 268)
• Merciful
  (Catechism, 270)
• Holy
  (Catechism, 208)

I've posted most of that list before:

• "The World isn't Flat"
  (June 9, 2012)
• "Science isn't a Four-Letter Word"
  (January 29, 2012)
• " 'Understand God?' Ha!"
  (September 9, 2011)

More:

• "God Father and Creator: Catechesis on the Creed, part I"
  John Paul II, General Audience (September 4, 1985)

Related posts:

• Jesus
  • "Faith, Belief: and a Really Good Role Model"
    (October 24, 2012)
  • "Sons of God, and the Son of God"
    (October 17, 2012)
  • "Response to an Ancient Offense"
    (September 5, 2012)
  • "'When:' Not 'If;' 'WHEN'"
    (April 6, 2012)
  • "The Man Who Wouldn't Stay Dead"
    (March 11, 2012)
• Looking ahead
  • "An Eternal Life I can Live With"
    (August 27, 2011)
  • "Last Judgment: Attendance Mandatory"
    (May 21, 2011)
    Particularly
    • End Times: Here We Go Again
    • Last Judgment: You Won't Miss It
  • "To 'Make Men Gods' "
    (January 10, 2011)
  • "Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell, and Warm Fuzzies"
    (August 8, 2010)
  • "Rambling on About Death, Resurrection, Burial and Cremation"
    (September 25, 2009)
    Particularly
    • Resurrected? You Mean I Have to Live With This Body Forever?!
• Getting a grip
  • "God the Almighty, Providence, and Some Guy in Minnesota"
    (February 1, 2012)
  • "How to Know About God"
    (December 14, 2011)
    Particularly
    • Finite Meets Infinite
  • "A Nerdy Interest in God and His Creation?"
    (August 12, 2011)
  • "Uncertainty, 'Being Religious,' and This Catholic"
    (February 12, 2011)
    Particularly
    • God Knows: That's Enough
  • "If Catholics aren't Supposed to Read the Bible, How Come We're Told to Read the Bible?"
    (May 31, 2010)