So, who is God? Big, Scary Guy in the sky? The Uncaused Cause? Our Father, Who Art in Heaven?
God is a term that’s thrown around a lot, but what do Catholics really mean when they say God? How can we know who God is? Why does God seem to have changed throughout time? In “Catholic Central: Who Is God?”, Kai and Libby take you through some of the qualities that Catholics believe God has, and why they differ from the vengeful, angry being you might have read about.
Diving Deeper
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What is your image of God? How do you imagine God? Where do you see, feel, experience or sense God’s presence in your daily life?
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What does it mean to you to make false idols out of other things or people? Do you have any “idols” or things that take the place of God in your life right now? What tempts us to put these idols in God’s place? What might we seek from God that those idols can’t ever give us?
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God loves us, so our identity is “beloved.” How being a beloved sinner affect the way you think or feel about your relationship with God?
Activity
Track your sense of God’s presence in your life in a journal. At the end of each day, take a few moments to pray an Awareness Examen, reflect over your day on where you felt close to or far from God. What drew you away? What led you closer? Where did you feel joy? Where did you feel emptiness. Journal about these daily experiences. Feel free to use a timeline to track points where you felt close to or far from God as a visual aid. Notice the fluctuations of consolation and desolation over time. In periods of desolation, keep praying, and trust that consolation will come again. In consolation, soak in it and thank God for the experience of His closeness.
Reflection by Father Vince Kuna, C.S.C.
Writing in a spiritual journal in the above activity is a good way to remind yourself of God’s presence. Using the same journal, if you have even the smallest artistic bone in your body, perhaps, draw a picture of God. Years ago, I vividly remember teaching high-school freshmen, and one student drew the Sacred Heart. He said, while he used to think of God as a grandfather with a beard, he now thought of Jesus’ Sacred Heart, taking on the thorns of this world, but still beating with love for his people.
