– Rev José Mario O. Mandía
Creatures exist because God, the Supreme Being, gives them being. “God is present to his creatures’ inmost being: ‘In him we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17:28)” (CCC 300).
This does not mean, however, that God becomes a part of his creation or that the whole of creation is God (this is the error of pantheism). “God is infinitely greater than all his works: ‘You have set your glory above the heavens’ (Psalm 8:2; cf Sirach 43:28)” (CCC 300).
Saint Augustine expressed this two-fold truth when he said that “God is ‘higher than my highest and more inward than my innermost self’ (Confessions, 3,6,11)” (CCC 300).
In addition, creatures cannot keep themselves in existence unless God upholds and sustains them. The CCC, no 301, tells us: “With creation, God does not abandon his creatures to themselves. He not only gives them being and existence, but also, and at every moment, upholds and sustains them in being, enables them to act and brings them to their final end. Recognizing this utter dependence with respect to the Creator is a source of wisdom and freedom, of joy and confidence: ‘For you love all things that exist, and detest none of the things that you have made; for you would not have made anything if you had hated it. How would anything have endured, if you had not willed it? Or how would anything not called forth by you have been preserved? You spare all things, for they are yours, O Lord, you who love the living’ (Wisdom 11:24-26).”
Our Lord Jesus Christ frequently spoke of how the Father cares for His creation: “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? … Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Matthew 6:26-29). “Even the hairs of your head are all numbered” (Luke 12:7).
Although God cares for each one and in an immediate way (cf CCC 303), God also makes use of His creatures to execute His plan of Providence. Saint Thomas says that God is the Primary and Principal Cause, but creatures are “secondary causes.” The CCC (no 306) teaches us: “God is the sovereign master of his plan. But to carry it out he also makes use of his creatures’ co-operation. This use is not a sign of weakness, but rather a token of almighty God’s greatness and goodness. For God grants his creatures not only their existence, but also the dignity of acting on their own, of being causes and principles for each other, and thus of co-operating in the accomplishment of his plan.”
The Catechism (no 307) further says: “To human beings God even gives the power of freely sharing in his providence by entrusting them with the responsibility of ‘subduing’ the earth and having dominion over it (cf Genesis 1:26-28). God thus enables men to be intelligent and free causes in order to complete the work of creation, to perfect its harmony for their own good and that of their neighbours. Though often unconscious collaborators with God’s will, they can also enter deliberately into the divine plan by their actions, their prayers and their sufferings (cf Colossians 1:24). They then fully become ‘God’s fellow workers’ and co-workers for his kingdom (I Corinthians 3:9; I Thessalonians 3:2; Colossians 4:11).”
When we are aware that God counts on us, it makes us realise that we have to always count on Him. We cannot build a better world without Him. “The truth that God is at work in all the actions of his creatures is inseparable from faith in God the Creator. God is the first cause who operates in and through secondary causes: ‘For God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure’ (Philippians 2:13; cf I Corinthians 12:6). Far from diminishing the creature’s dignity, this truth enhances it. Drawn from nothingness by God’s power, wisdom and goodness, it can do nothing if it is cut off from its origin, for ‘without a Creator the creature vanishes’ (Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes, 36, 3). Still less can a creature attain its ultimate end without the help of God’s grace (cf Matthew 19:26; John 15:5,14:13)” (CCC 308).
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