The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1922-07-01
ATTRIBUTES OF GODS WILL.

God that belong to His essence, and
those that belong to His understand
ing, we finally come to the attributes
of His will.
The first of these is His almighty
power; that is, He can do everything
that He wills, and by single act of
His holy will Holy Scripture says,
With God nothing is impossible"
(Math xiv, 26) There are two kinds
of power, active and passive, or the
power to do something and to re-
ceive something. The latter supposes
a want, or an imperfection, and so
cannot be in God. The former He
possesses in the sense that He can do
anything that is not contradictory, or
as St. Thomas expresses it, 1T is be-
cause certain things cannot be done,
rather than that God cannot do them. "
(St. TIL. 10, 25) Whatever, therefore,
God wills, He can do. His creative
power requires no material. "He spoke
and the heavens were created" FPS.
cxlv, So And God said: Be light
made and light was made" (Gen.. C.
81 Man can only form something
into another object. For example: to
take q piece of lumber and make a
table, or build house of bricks, but
God is not thus limited.
His Creative Work.
When we examine Gods creative
work, we are amaZed-such as to real
or-0
over 10000 900 fixed stars, all of them
suns, and some SO large that, should
they occupy the place of our sun, they
would take all day to rise above the
horizon, and so far apart that light,
which travels at the rate of $4,000
miles a second, would take millions of
years to reach the earth. Then re-
member that our visible creation has
not exhausted Gods power. On the
contrary, He could have created far
larger and more beautiful world
Should we not, therefore, have perfect
trust in such a great God, who can
and will supply all our needs?
His Infinite Love.
God is also supremely good. He
loves us and wishes our welfare. He
is our Father, and in consequence
loves us, His children. BY His very
nature His love is extended to all
creatures. AS light comes naturally
from the sun, and water from God, the
fountain, so love flows from the source
of all love. We must not forget that
all created love. comes from God, and
the amount of created love almost
passes our comprehension. Let US
take into account the love of all crea
lures that ever lived or ever will live
on this earth, but especially the love
of all the angels and saints in heaven
All this love is certainly amazing
still it is only like a sunbeam dancing
on a wall or stealing through the win
dow of sick room, compared to the
sun itself.
His Choicest Gifts.
No creature is excepted in the uni
versatility of Gods love. For thou
lowest all things that are, and hatest
none of the things which thou hast
made" (Wisd. XII 25.) He has, how
ever, an especial love for mankind
particularly for the just. He has be
slowed His choicest gifts on man. AL
the lower creation God provides fol
his comfort. And let him have do
minion over the fishes of the sea, anC
the fowl of the air, and the beasts
and the whole earth" (Gen. /, 26)
In oAd nj h iohn
spiritual nature, like unto Himself
Let us make man to our image and
likeness" Gen. 1, 26) In other
words, He gave man the priceless
treasure of an immortal soul, and Oh
this soul He is continually lavishins
His graces. The greatest proof of His
love is His death on the cross. Great
er love no man hath, than that 8
man lay down his life for his friends
(Jehn XIV, 49, What should not then
be our gratitude to God, and love fol
him in return?
His Infinite Patience.
The next attribute of God to con
slider is His patience by which He
gives the sinner time for repentance
This is but an additional proof of Hi.
goodness to us, especially so in Hi!
attitude to sinners. Il will not re
member all his iniquities that hi
hath done; in his justice, which h,
hath wrought, he shall live" (Ezec
xviii, 23.) We have numerous ex
amples of long warnings given by Coo
TO men. In the days of Noe, He wait
ed 100 years. He reminded the Jew!
of the destruction of Jerusalem n
years in advance. God first coaxe.
like a mother with a cross child L
this fails, He sometimes sends pun
ishment, but only as the doctor
giving medicine to cure our maladies
What wonderful conversions He ha!
pictured for us, as result of Hi,
kindness and patience in st. Mar!
Magdalen, the prodigal son, st. Peter
st. Paul, st. Augustine. 1t is, how
ever, very foolish to trif1e too Ion,
within Gods patience, for His pun
ishment is sure to come, and Otter
falls unexpectedly like a thunderbolt
He is also full of mercy and com
passion. He readily forgiyes our sin
when we are sorry for them. TIL
pages of Holy Scripture are liteTall
strewn with examples of His Mere
and compassion. King David, tn
Samaritan woman, the woman take