How Does In God's Love relate to the Catholic Church?

How does In God's Love 
written by Janet Hurlow
relate to 
the Catholic Faith ?

  Chapter 2 We Believe in One Triune God: (continued) 3/12

   Part 2 Titles and Descriptions of God (continued)
            Section 4 Other Descriptions of God

77           The major titles of the One God are Father, Almighty King, and Creator.  In In God’s Love God has at least eleven other descriptions that, like titles, can help begin to describe the mystery of God, while always keeping in mind that the mystery we are attempting to put into words is beyond our comprehension.  Before engaging upon the following Parts of this Chapter, it is prudent to point out that In God’s Love has a lot to say about God.  While the authors use words like “nature” and “title” when talking about God, to organize their thoughts into a presentation I have had to use other words that they do not use to head up categories.  They do not subdivide things into “feelings” and “actions” of God.  They do not use words like “attributes” and some other words that I use to try to present their theology of God in a systematic order.  I am sure that there are probably other ways their information about God could be organized, but I have done the best I can.  Before reading any further into this Chapter, I would suggest the reader take time out to reread the following passage from In God’s Love:  # 437 “God’s Nature”  (and perhaps reread # 48 “Litany of a Wondrous, Wonderful God”, too ).  In addition to presenting some of the major themes we will encounter in the rest of this chapter, if we read it prayerfully, it may just allow our spirit to go “ah, wow!” and remember that, like an infant attempting to describe his dad, so, too, are we attempting to talk about our wonderful Daddy, “Abba”, we tend to call, “God”.

78           One description of God is that God is awesome.  “Your God is an awesome Being.  His merriment is beyond what any creation has ever known.”(147)   There are many qualities of God that evoke this awareness of His awesomeness.  Merriment is not usually one that comes to mind, but it should.  We have already noted that God is almighty.(148)   There are other qualities of God that cause us to be in awe. We think of God as being vast(149) and everywhere.(150)  This “unlimitedness” of God inspires awe and the authors dedicate a whole passage(151)  and many references to the reality that God is not limited.(152)  God’s Spirit is vast,(153)  and unlimited(154)  for it goes on forever.(155)  Not only is God unlimited, but God is also God of all, all life,(156) and all things.(157)   As the authors so aptly put it, “This is seen, more cannot be given to mankind.   More than God does not exist.”(158)

79           We have already noted that God is the uncreated Creator.(159)  This uncreated Creator creates and “Out of all God’s wonders with no end, nothing exceeds Himself.”(160)   God’s intelligence causes awe.  The authors state that God is the most intelligent Being(161)  as they cleverly state, “God knows everything.  He knew everything from the beginning of forever.”(162)  God’s power causes awe.  As the Catechism states, “The Holy Scriptures repeatedly confess the universal power of God.”(163)   Likewise, the authors agree that God is “mighty”(164) , and “is the most powerful force ever known.”(165)  Furthermore, God is “One being who can do all things in His Spirit”(166)  

80           In addition to God’s unlimitledness, power, and ability there are still other qualities that evoke awe.  Augustine, cited by the Catechism, states that God is the Beautiful One.(167)   The authors of In God’s Love divulge that “In God is all beauty”(168)  and this beauty is endless.(169)  The authors state that “If you could put all the beauties of Earth together and add them to all creation and lovely things beyond Earth’s wildest dreams so that rapture carries your spirit away in its ecstasy, never would all these wonders come near to the beautiful Creator who is God.”(170)  They also state that, “Blessed is our God, both in spirit and in body.  Such indescribable beauty, man has never seen in all the Earth.”(171)  Furthermore, they exclaim, “Such is our God.  Very spirit of spirits. Very body of bodies.”(172)   God’s beauty is seen in the Earth and in people who are saints:  “Such things as God has created on the Earth are a small inspiration of His beauty.  Yet if you sit in the woods a short while, soon, you are resting in His beauty”(173)   “God radiates His Spirit through the spirits of His saints.  Seen is the beauty of God in the faces of Earth saints.”(174)  

81           Another quality that evokes awe is God’s sacredness, His blessedness.  As the Catechism states, “God is eternal blessedness”.(175)   The authors assert that God is the “blessed creator,”(176)  “blessed of blessed”(177) “Most blessed Spirit is our God,”(178)  and that God is sacred.(179)   The authors of In God’s Love state that “This Father is so special and so different from what mankind expects Him to be.”(180)  The authors assert that God is so real and so interesting.  As we remember mankind’s limited experience of God,(181)  we should not be offended when the authors state that “Man has not seen, neither can he conceive of such a being as our God.  This righteous person is such a splendid, inspiring, blessed, wise person, so real and interesting.  Nothing can compare to His existence.”(182)   God is interesting because God is “ very full of blessed life”(183)  and is a “true God of love and peace.”(184)  Our God is an awesome God.

82           A second description of God is that God is humble.  “Very smart, little Earth people, only one is intelligent and wise, yet He is simple and humble in nature.  He does not demand things to be the way He wants them to be.  He does not order people around.  He has given the rules so order can be maintained, and, if mankind does not listen to these rules, then mankind destroys himself.  God seldom shows off with flashes of light.  This is a Being who neither shows off nor interferes.”(185)

83           I think one of the most astounding images in the book is one that depicts God as a flower petal.  “His (God’s) nature is kind and gentle. Look at a flower.  Turn it in your hand.  How does it feel?  Is it soft, velvety and rich in color?  How does that fragile petal make you feel?  God’s nature is like that.  He is as gentle as the soft petal from the flower you are holding in your hand.”(186)    I cannot read that passage and not feel humbled in the presence of our humble God.  They tell us that we “are going to be surprised.  Here is a God who is so small in stature.  His Spirit is vast.  His inspirational music is so lovely.  Earth beings, you were truly made in God’s image.  Small Earth people.”(187)  

84           Exactly what they mean by small in “stature”, I do not know.  I guess a comparision could be a sports superstar coming into a room brimming with pride, arrogance, and huge size, whereas when God comes into the room, we may not even notice.  He is the God who authored the Beatitudes that beg us to be humble.  He is the God who was born to a poor couple and had an animal food trough as His first bed. Yes, this humble God, who is small in stature, is very much in tune with the Scriptures, and yet the same quote also affirms that God’s Spirit is vast.

85           When we think of humble people, they are often pleasant and happy.  According to the authors, God is like that: “This is such a pleasant, happy God.  In all ways, delighted are the saints with Him.  Nothing is as our God.  All creation delights in His singing.  Come into God’s pleasant nature.”(188)  

86           When we think of someone who is humble and pleasant we usually think of someone who has manners, and God does: “His manners are awesome.  They are so respectful and courteous.  He would never be impolite to anyone in all creation.”(189)  “We are so taken to His charm and poise.”(190)  

87           I must admit that before reading In God’s Love I never thought of God as polite, although Scripture tells us that “love is not rude”(191)  and “God is love”.(192)   Therefore, it should also follow that God is not rude, or rather God is polite.  This humble, polite, happy God is also “sensitive to your rudeness.  This is a sensitive Being, gentle in nature, small in stature and so lovely to look upon.  This is His nature: He is polite and sensitive.”(193)  Our God is a humble, polite, happy, sensitive God.

88           A third description of God is that God is compassionate, steadfast love.  The Catechism wonderfully encapsulates truths about the love of God in the following passages: “God, ‘HE WHO IS’ revealed himself to Israel as the one ‘abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness’. <Ex 34:6> These two terms express summarily the riches of the divine name. In all his works God displays, not only his kindness, goodness, grace and steadfast love, but also his trustworthiness, constancy, faithfulness and truth. ‘I give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness.’<Ps 138:2 cf Ps 85:11>  He is the Truth, for ‘God is light and in him there is no darkness’; ‘God is love’, as the apostle John teaches.<1 Jn 1:5; 4:8>”(194)  “But St. John goes even further when he affirms that ‘God is love’<Jn 4:8,16>  God's very being is love. By sending his only Son and the Spirit of Love in the fullness of time, God has revealed his innermost secret: <Cf 1 Cor 2:7-16 Eph 3:9-12> God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange.”(195) 

89           The authors of In God’s Love would agree that God is love for they write, “This is a God of endless beauty and love.”(196)   God’s love is sacred,(197)  blessed and vast.(198)   “God’s love endures forever.”(199)   “His love is life,”(200)   “His love created man.  In this music is man created.”(201)    “His love sustains all of His Creation.”(202)    “His love is all love.”(203)  

90           God gives His love to us: “God’s love reaches all men of Earth.”(204)  “In return for your love, God who is pure love sends His love without measure.”(205)    “His love is sent to all who desire Him on Earth”(206)    “Stay with Him. His love is complete.”(207)  "You can trust this God of yours.  His love never fails you.”(208)   “God’s Spirit is the source of love.  Spirits are bathed in her.  She is in Earth beings who reach out to God.”(209)   “Love has no limit. All other virtues rest in her wisdom.”(210) 

91           Saying that all other virtues rest in love is found in a different form in Scripture, “Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick tempered,  it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, and endures all things.  Love never fails.”(211)

92           This God of love very much wants to be our friend, which is another way to describe Him: “God is a very comforting friend who can help you and a loving Father who cares and understands all your troubles and needs.”(212)  God is a friend who comforts.(213)   “Kindness is in His voice. Song is in His Spirit.  Rest is in His song.  Come unto me in your sorrow, for I am a comforting Spirit.”(214)    “Earth children, never was there such beauty, such kindness and rest as there is in our God.”(215)   “In God’s Spirit is all kindness”(216)   

93           Sometimes the authors express this in a very down to Earth way: "Think about this. God is a good person. He is not mean and grumpy.  He wants to help you find your way home.”(217)  “God is a kind, gentle Father.  This is the type of person you would like to know.  He is the kindest person you could ever meet”(218)  “God is so kind and merciful.  He is so loving and good.  Someone does love you and wants you.  Someone cares about your needs.”(219)   

94           This loving God has all the virtues we would expect from love.  The authors write that God is generous: “This God of yours is a generous God.  Open your heart wide so that you may be filled.”(220)   “God’s love is free and beautiful.”(221)   Our God of love is patient.(222)   God is understanding. “Never have you seen such understanding and gentleness as is this God of ours.”(223)  The authors write that God is honest.(224)    God’s love is faithful. As mentioned above, God’s love never stops.  It is steadfast and faithful.  Even if we stop loving God, God does not stop loving us.  The Catechism states, “God continues loving though we forget God ‘Although man can forget God or reject him, He never ceases to call every man to seek him, so as to find life and happiness.’”(225)   The authors would also agree: They hold that “God never turns His back on anyone.  He never stops listening.  God is always there.  His love never fails.”(226)   “He (God) loves all His Creation.  The sinner is loved equally as the saint is loved.  So what is the difference?  The difference is God never stopped loving, though the sinner stopped loving God.”(227)

95           A fouth description of God is that God is life.  It has already been noted that God is the Creator of all, the author of all life.(228)   Another way of putting it is that “God is an interesting Father in all ways full, very full of blessed life.”(229)   As noted earlier God is not only the author of love, but is love.(230)   Likewise, God is not only is the author of life, but is life. As the authors put it, “His (God’s) beauty is all beauty.  His love is all love.  His life is all life.”(231)   As mentioned earlier, there is a connection to life and music.(232)   “His music is life, and, in it, there is no pain.”(233)  God is the master of this inspirational, sweet music of life.(234)   “In God’s singing is life with no end.”(235)   In a deep, spiritual way, they write of the mystery of being joined with the essence of life: “O such saints of Earth, to see God is life, and to live is to see God….In this Spirit is life.”(236)  

96           The authors seem to be amused by our representation of God as an old man.  They have this to say about God: “God is young.  His youth is forever.”(237)  “He (God) is so young and beautiful.  This is a God who is not an old man with a white beard and hair that is like cotton flying in the wind.”(238)   This makes a certain amount of sense.  The glory or “prime” of our Earthly human health is not when we are 99 years old or 9 weeks old.  Our prime, health-wise, is when we are young.  The glory of a flower is not when it is a seed, or rising from the ground, or wilting, but when the flower is in full bloom.  Even in our fictional stories of  finding the treasure of  life, we never hunt for the fountain of old age, or fountain of infancy, but rather the fountain of youth.  So, God, who is all life and never grows old, is always young. God truly is the fountain of life,  the fountain of youth: “Come walk in the cool meadows of God’s love and refresh at the springs of eternal life.”(239)   God is life.  God is youthfulness.   They say when you see God, “you will see all beauty and have a chance to live forever and be young and healthy.”(240)

97           A fifth description of God is that God is peace.  Life is more than existence.  A wonderful life is one that has peace and joy and other elements.  God’s nature or essence also has these qualities of a wonderful life.  The authors of In God’s Love, write that “Such peace man has never known as he shall see in God.”(241)  The Catechism describes the beatific vision in this way: “The beatific vision, in which God opens himself in an inexhaustible way to the elect, will be the ever-flowing well-spring of happiness, peace, and mutual communion.”(242)   The authors concur: “In this Being are all beauty, all peace and all inspiration.”(243)  “When you see God, you will see all love and peace and joy.”(244)    They state that it is from God that peace comes: “God sends peace.  Peace and rest are in inspirational beauty….Spirits so pure, peace comes from God.”(245)   When we are at peace, we truly have freedom and “God is freedom.”(246) 

98           A sixth description of God is that God is joy and is joyful.  In the phrases about peace the authors of In God’s Love  often mention joy.  This is because God is pleasant.  The messengers simply say that “this is such a pleasant, happy God.”(247)  God is sweet.(248)  God’s is delightful, “O spirit, so full of delight, so full of joy, so full of singing,”(249)  God has a childlike joy.  “His voice is such music, and His laughter fills all things with gladness.  In your Father’s Spirit, live the joys of childhood.  This is His way, O sons of man.  Blessed is this God of such joy.  Blessed is His playful Spirit”(250)   Newness and mystery are two childlike things that help make life joyful and delightful.  In God there is newness and mystery: “O wondrous, wonderful God filled with mystery and expectation. Amen.”(251) 

99           A seventh description of God is that God is inspiration and inspirational to those who see Him.  As the authors of In God’s Love put it, “In this Being (God) is all beauty, all peace and all inspiration.”(252)   They say that “Soon, you shall see your God, and so very pleased you will be with this inspiring Being.”(253)  For “in God’s inspirational beauty are all desires of man.”(254)  That God is inspirational is no surprise, for God is wise and the source of wisdom. As the authors explain, “Very smart, little Earth people, only one is intelligent and wise,”(255)   Indeed, “God is all wise,”(256)   “This is a God whose Spirit is in all wisdom.”(257)

100         An eight description of God is that God is truth.  The Catechism recognizes that “God's truth is his wisdom…”(258)   Indeed, “God's very being is Truth and Love.”(259)  The messengers of In God’s Love also believe that God is truth: “Where does the truth come from?  The source of all truth comes from God.  God is the source of all truth. Such wisdom is real.  All other answers are false.  Be so wise. Listen to things that are real.  Listen to things that are true and inspired by God.”(260)  “Truth is in God.  Seek only God.”(261)

101         A ninth description of God is that God is faithful, loyal, righteous and virtuous.  Because God is wisdom and truth, He is by His nature also faithful, loyal, and, as the Catechism states, “In the book of the prophet Isaiah, we find the expression "God of truth" (literally "God of the Amen"), that is, the God who is faithful to his promises;…”(262)   The authors point out that God became a man and suffered and died because,  “He is kind and loyal to His Creation.”(263)  This loyal, truthful God is also a righteous God.  As the authors state, “There is only one God, and He is a just God.”(264)  “This righteous King is real”(265)  If God is righteous, then similarly God is virtuous, as the authors comment, “O merciful Father, pure and virtuous,”(266)   and also, “Such pure, sweet music is in God, songs of life, virtue and peace.”(267)

102         A tenth description of God is that God is Mother.  The Catechism states that “In no way is God in man's image. He is neither man nor woman. God is pure spirit in which there is no place for the difference between the sexes. But the respective "perfections" of man and woman reflect something of the infinite perfection of God: those of a mother and those of a father and husband.”(268)   The Catechism then  notes several Biblical references in which the image of Mother is used for God.

103         While In God’s Love’s most used title for God is “Father”(269),  there are a few times it calls God, “Mother”.  The messengers of In God’s Love write both “Mother” and “Father” together, while writing “I” and “me” in a  most profound, simple and matter-of-fact way,  which reflects the “perfection” of man and woman mentioned in the Catechism.  The messengers proclaim, “I (God) gave you birth.  I love you and have protected you from all harm.  I clothed you and fed you.  I am your Father and your Mother.  It was I whom you first smiled upon.  I am your physical and spiritual provider.  I am your dear Mother and your dear Father, the ones whom you can trust above all others, yet you have turned your face from Me.”(270)   Later in the passage they say that God implores us to “Take My hand.  Come to your Mother’s and your Father’s heart.  Remember, dear little brothers and sisters of our family, we love you.  We are the children of the most delightful Father.  Our Mother is so beautiful.  She is a delightful Mother.  We are not orphans.”(271)

104         There is an eleventh description of God as the authors expand the family terms for God by also calling God not only Mother and Father, but also Sister and Brother.  “God our Father, our Mother, Brother and Sister, in all our heart’s desire, teach us to understand there is no other love compared to our God who waits in such spiritual music”(272)  Perhaps the most profound thought of this expression of God as Father, Mother, Sister and Brother is not the gender titles, but the truth that  “there is no other love compared to our God.”  Once again we must recognize our ability to know God and our “limited experience” of God.(273)

105         In summary of this Part of the Chapter, while the three major descriptive titles for God in In God’s Love are Father, Creator, and King, God can be further described in other ways.  God is awesome because God is merriment , unlimited, intelligent, powerful, beautiful, and beautiful in body and spirit, blessed.  God is humble.  Though He is vast in spirit, He is small in stature.  God is pleasant and polite.  God is love.  God is a compassionate, friend who is faithful, loyal, and understanding.  God is life, which is young and full of peace, joy, happiness, and mystery.  God is inspirational, truthful, wise, righteous, and virtuous.  God’s love cannot be compared to any other love, but is expressed as the perfect love of a Mother, Father, Sister, and Brother.  Thus continues our incomplete description of God.

  Next section in Part One Chapter 2: 4/12