The Fullness of Life
The Divine Perfections (Part II)
This is still a continuation of our reflections on a God-centered life. Before we could center our life on God, we must have some notions on who God is. And now, let us consider some of the divine perfections.
God is eternal. The Book of Psalms stated, "Before the mountains were born and the earth and the world were brought forth, from everlasting to everlasting You are God" (Ps. 89:2)
Because God is infinitely perfect He lacks nothing. Nothing can be added to Him to make Him more perfect because He already is infinitely and absolutely perfect --- therefore God remains unchanging before all times and beyond all times. Holy Scripture attests to this mystery: "Father of lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alterations (James 1:17).
This perfect and unchanging nature of God is the key to our understanding His Eternal Being. If in God "there is no change, nor shadow of alterations", then there also is no past, nor future for Him, since the passage of time --- from past to present, and from present to future --- indicates change. Instead, both past and future are all in His divine awareness --- a mystery which is too deep for us to fully fathom.
And yet, amazingly, from His eternity, God who is Love, entered our history and broke into time by becoming Man through the cooperation and consent of Mary who consequently was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. Thus, the Virgin conceived and gave birth to the Son of God while remaining a virgin. As the Gospel of St. John tells us, "God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son that whoever believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life" (Jn 3:16). The Logos, the Eternal Word of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, finally became flesh (Incarnate) and dwelt among us (cf. Jn 1:14).
We must not think that with the Incarnation, God is no longer as He was before. No -- He is still eternally the same Blessed Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, "with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration." The closest comparison we can think of is the way the sun rays break into our world each new day and yet the sun remains as yesterday, perpetually sending forth its rays. Although in the case of the sun, which is only a creature, our scientific knowledge will tell us that there is a change, although unperceivable, and may take billions of years for it to cool down, whereas God is eternally the same forever and ever.