The Immensity of God.

I. Immensity is an aspect of God’s Infinity; it is the boundless diffusion of the Divine Essence; and in virtue of this, God is ubiquitous or actually present in all created space. Consequently God does not move from place to place. To do so would be to change, which is contrary to His immutability; and it would be acquiring something, certain relations for instance, not already possessed. God is not comprised within the dimensions of space, but He is at once in the whole of creation. In those great expanses beyond our solar system which surpass the capacity of arithmetic to describe, and which the swift rays of light take thousands of centuries to traverse, God is present throughout. He is above all things, not as being locally elevated, but as presiding over all: He is under all things, not as being abased, but as sustaining all: He is within all, not as being enclosed, but as filling them: He is outside all things, not as being excluded, but as enveloping them. Most literally then “in Him we live and move and be” (Acts xvii. 28). The whole of visible creation up to the remotest nebula is overwhelmed and lost in His immensity, like a microscopic animalcule in the depths of the ocean. Remember always this all-absorbing presence of the infinite God, and be ever full of respect for Him in all your words and thoughts and actions. What an outrage it is to sin against Him when actually living by His support and in Him!

II. God may be considered as universally present in three different ways.

1. He is present substantially, by His Divine Essence actually being here and everywhere.

2. He is present everywhere, in that He sees and knows all things; and nothing escapes His watchfulness, even to the most secret thoughts of our souls.

3. He is present as ruling and guiding all things irresistibly, and operating in them by His power. Further, God is specially present with His elect.

1. The Apostle says: “Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Cor. iii. 16).

2. There is a special watchful providence over the just, and predestination of them to grace and glory.

3. There is a special supernatural operation of God in the soul, including justifying grace, and the infusion of virtues, and help in all natural and spiritual duties. How wonderful it is that you should thus possess the kingdom of God within you! This presence of God is your greatest treasure; it gives you strength for every emergency, companionship in loneliness, cheerfulness as against depression, indomitable faith and confidence; it is your happiness and your glory. Value it as such.

III. Although God is absolutely pure, yet He is a witness of every event, yet He contracts no defilement from scenes of sin, He is not hurt by any outrage, He is not dishonoured by any blasphemy on earth or in hell. It is with Him as with the bright, pure rays of sunlight; they shine upon every kind of foulness, but never become unclean or contaminated. God is present to all our sins, yet “He inhabiteth light inaccessible” (1 Tim. vi. 16) at the same moment. He is with us by His immensity and is far above us by His infinity. Nothing can pain Him. Nothing can touch His sanctity, His beauty, His perfect felicity. It is only God who can know of evil and not suffer the penalty of knowledge. We cannot pass through it or live amongst it without imminent peril, if not actual corruption. Keep far away from evil; else, it is tempting God to ask Him to preserve you from it. You must encounter evil, but you need not therefore fall. If God be with you, you can do your duty in the world and still keep yourself unspotted from it.

“I set the Lord always in my sight: for He is at my right hand, that I be not moved” (Ps. xv. 8).

The Infinity of God.

 

I. God is infinite in the number of His perfections. It is true that, by virtue of the divine simplicity, the attributes of God are all one and indistinguishable; yet we perceive Him, not as He is, but as our limitations permit. No concept of ours can represent adequately that which is at one and the same time every perfection. We must then view God, now as this perfection, now as that, though all the time we are conscious that all perfections are identified in Him; and that He not only has them all, but further is them all, in the indivisible simplicity of His essence. God is far more than the sum of all the perfections we can conceive. We can imagine only the perfections which we find in creatures; but God could go on creating for ever more and more perfect beings, without exhausting the revelation of His own perfections. The prophet babbled helplessly, unable to convey a fraction of the mysteries made known to him. “A—a—Lord God! Behold I cannot speak: for I am a child” (Jer. i. 6). St. Paul also saw secret things which cannot be uttered in human speech (2 Cor. xii. 4). How many things you have seen and enjoyed! Yet they are nothing to the wonders of this earth; and they in their turn are nothing to the wonders of the wider universe; and they again are nothing to the marvels of the angelic world; and the whole sum of all is but the flash of a single ray proceeding from the intense brilliancy of the Divinity. “There are many things hidden from us that are greater than these; for we have seen but a few of His works” (Eccli. xliii. 36).

Adore the Infinity of God.

II. Furthermore, each one of the innumerable perfections of God is infinite in its range and its intensity. Each one is supreme; it cannot be increased by any addition; neither is it subject to the limitations which beset all things within our experience; nor can any perfection fall short or fail. Thus, strictly speaking, the patience of God can never fail, nor does His mercy come to an end. When we use such expressions, it is to indicate a permanent change which man by his obstinacy and rejection of God works in himself. God cannot be limited by time, for He is eternal; nor by space, for He is immense; He is not limited by the measure of our intelligence (as many would seem to think when they pass judgment on His decrees), for He is incomprehensible; still less is God expressed adequately by the terms we use to describe Him, for He is ineffable. Neither can our hearts fathom the delights of His love. Thus every perfection of God surpasses all understanding. “We shall say much and yet shall want words; but the sum of our words is, He is all” (Eccli. xliii. 29). How miserable are you before these awful infinities! Humble yourself in silence before this greatness, which your words cannot describe and your mind cannot imagine.

III. God is infinite in magnificence and grandeur. “The Lord is terrible and exceeding great, and His power is admirable” (Eccli. xliii. 31). How can we possibly form any idea to ourselves of this? We can only heap up words indefinite, that convey only the idea that we have no adequate idea of God. We can only picture to ourselves the trivial scenes of grandeur that we know on earth, the angry sea, a thunder-storm in the tropics, a great battle, the triumphant reception of a conqueror, an Oriental pageant, the ancient glories of Egyptian architecture, the inaccessible heights of a wilderness of snow-clad mountains. These absorb all our faculties and fill us with awe and speechless admiration. They are but little after all, and yet we cannot rise beyond them in our present life.

What adoration and awe are due to God! How wonderful is His presence! We are actually in that presence when we kneel before the silent tabernacle! Let not the lowly surroundings diminish your awe of the Majesty that dwells there. 

The Goodness of God.

 
I. God is good in Himself with natural goodness; that is to say, He possesses all the natural qualities which belong to His nature. God, being truly God, is what God ought to be, and possesses all that God ought to possess; being infinitely perfect, He possesses this entirely and not partially; being necessary, He possesses His perfections absolutely, and cannot suffer any loss or diminution of them. God possesses every conceivable goodness in an infinite degree. He is all that is most beautiful, holy, pure, delightful, useful, wonderful, lovable. Therefore, when Moses asked to see His face, God answered, “I will show thee all good” (Exodus 33:19). God has all this not from another, or by participation, but of Himself and by virtue of His own nature. No other being is good in this supereminent way; whence it is written, “None is good but God alone” (Luke 18:19). How admirable, then, and desirable is God, and deserving of our highest love, even apart from all that He has done for us and the love that He has shown us. Render Him love and service purely for His own sake. This is the highest kind of love and homage. Pray Him, with Moses, to show you His face, and with it supreme and total goodness, not only in the next world, but here too in your meditations.

II. Goodness is, of its nature, “diffusive of itself” (St. Denis). God is good with respect to His creatures, as being the source from which all goodness of every kind is originated and poured forth. He may be compared to the sun, which is ever emitting heat and light and vital force in every direction, on all the worlds which come within its range. “The eyes of all hope in Thee, O Lord, and Thou givest them meat in due season. Thou openest Thy hand and fillest every creature with blessing” (Psalm 145:15–16). This diffusion of good is always in full activity, and is never checked for an instant. It falls on all alike, however great their unworthiness or the bad use they make of it. None can escape the continual outpouring of blessings. All this God does, not under constraint, not moved by any desert on our part, not for any advantage or gain to be expected from us, but simply from the very nature of His goodness itself. Therefore, “give glory to the Lord because He is good. Let the mercies of the Lord give glory to Him, and His wonderful works toward the children of men” (Psalm 106:1, 15). Glorify God by imitation, and by diffusing upon others, without hope of gain or even of gratitude, such blessings temporal and spiritual as may be within your gift.

III. The immense goodness and kindness of God towards man, the chief of the works of His hands, is manifested in a special way by every one of His attributes; by His power which has created us, wisdom which ordains all for our good, justice which renders to us what is due, mercy which pardons sin, eternity which assures us endless happiness, beauty which ravishes our souls. God is good to us variously as father, as friend, as brother, as spouse, as master, as benefactor, as our “reward exceeding great.” He is Creator, Preserver, Redeemer, Advocate, Sacrifice, End, Beatitude. Further, He is our supreme good as being the author of all the good that is in us; He has given us our natural powers, our virtues, our moral perfection, our efficacy for good, all our successes, and all enjoyments. “The Lord is good to them that hope in Him, to the soul that seeketh Him” (Lamentations 3:25). Seek God alone, and all these good things will be yours. God gives Himself entirely to you; take care to give yourself entirely to Him. Dedicate your body, your thoughts, your action, your life to Him. Strive to be like God, to be good in every quality, in the practice of every virtue, in your relations to every creature that God has made.