Villa La Paz Newsletter March 2018
Panentheism: the belief that the Divine pervades and interpenetrates every part of the universe and also extends beyond time and space.
There is one God and Creator of all who is over all, who works through all, and is within all.
Ephesians 4:6
We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent and the Divine is shining through it all the time.
Thomas Merton
Apprehend God in all things, for God is in all things. Every single creature is full of God and is a book about God. Every creature is a word of God. If I spent enough time with the tiniest creature-even a caterpillar-I would never have to prepare a sermon. So full of God is every creature.
Meister Eckhart
The highest condition of the religious sentiment is when the worshiper not only sees God everywhere, but sees nothing which is not full of God.
Harriet Martineau
Because of our dualistic mind-set we have separated God from His creation. In our thinking He is out there and we are here. We imagine a chasm between us that is so wide that it can only be bridged by thoughts and prayers. Reality, however, is otherwise. God is not separate from His creation. He pervades it, interpenetrates it, and implants His image in everything created. Nothing escapes the Divine infusion, from the largest galaxy in the universe to the atoms that compose matter. It is a concept so extraordinary, so sublime, that it had to be revealed to us since our finite intellect would be unable to intuit to such a profound doctrine. The implications of panentheism, the interpenetration of God and the presence of His image in all of creation, enjoins us to care for the created world, especially to love and care for our brothers and sister, be they family members, friends or persons who live half-a-world away. The presence of God in all of creation adjures us to care for those who our society considers less desirable and even expendable, the marginalized, the homeless, the sick, the aged, the addicted, the mentally challenged, the irascible and those who have not achieved the success that our society so admires, the “nobodies”. Furthermore, we are compelled to care for other members of the animate world, the beasts of the field, domesticated animals, insects and birds and, finally, we are entreated to care for the inanimate world, forests, brooks, rivers, trees, oceans, all lovingly created by God to assist man in his earthly journey to his true home. Carried to its extreme, it also enjoins us to care for and love our enemies, those who hate us and would harm us, since they too are interpenetrated by God and bear His image.
Jesus says we have to love and recognize the divine image even in our enemies. Either we see the divine image in all created things or we don’t see it at all. Once we see God’s image in one place, the circle keeps widening. It doesn’t stop with human beings and enemies and the least of our brothers and sisters. It moves to frogs and pansies and weeds. Everything becomes enchanted with true sight. We cannot not live in the presence of God. We are totally surrounded and infused by God.
Father Richard Rohr, OFM
Our children and the children of the world are beacons of God’s image. They come into the world with life’s potential folded inside of them. How they develop and use this potential depends on us, on the care and love we give them and the example we set for them. We must help them see the image of God in one another and in all of the created order. We must help them become stewards of the gifts God has given them. Their future and the future of our world depend on us.
Lord God, it is difficult to see Your image in the least of our brothers and sisters, in those who do not think as we do, in those who do not espouse our values and beliefs, in those who do not look like us, in those our society considers the “nobodies.” Gift us with the eyes of faith to see You and love You in them. Make us one with them so that we can become one with You.
We thank you for your support of our children. We love you and wish you God’s peace.