In Him All Things Hold Together
by Pat Gohn in Family on Sunday, August 08, 2010 11:20 PM
Creator.
God as the creator, and our creator is a central tenet of Christian belief. It’s a title we Catholics use while praying the Apostles Creed. I believe in God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. The Nicene Creed – prayed at Mass – uses “maker” in lieu of “creator.” God is maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. Both texts point to the same truth.
Understanding God as the sole creator, and origin and end of all creation, is a premise of enormous magnitude. It is both reality and mystery.
This word, creator, is familiar to us. It tells part of our story …
As common as “once upon a time,” or “a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away …” It signals to us that we are about to profess that this God did sometime extraordinary: God created the universe out of nothing. And from that origin, we came into being.
But creation isn’t just a story, or the first act of film or play. It is the critical foundation to salvation history in three movements: creation, “the fall”, and redemption.
The creation drama in Sacred Scripture takes up the first three chapters in Genesis and begins to unfold in the very first verse of the Bible:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1).”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church in CCC 280 states:
Creation is the foundation of all God’s saving plans, the beginning of the history of salvation that culminates in Christ. Conversely, the mystery of Christ casts conclusive light on the mystery of creation and reveals the end for which “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth [Gen 1:1]”: from the beginning, God envisaged the glory of the new creation in Christ.
By discovering and claiming God as our creator, we find knowledge that answers the most basic questions in life.
“Where do I come from?”
“What is my origin?”
“What is my end?”
And, “Where does everything that exist come from, and where is it going?
CCC 286:
The existence of God the Creator can be known with certainty through his works, by the light of human reason, even if this knowledge is often obscured and disfigured by error. This is why faith comes to confirm and enlighten reason in the correct understanding of this truth: “By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear. [Heb 11:3.]”
While our human intellect allows us to “see” God in creation, it is important that we do not confuse God with creation itself. For God acts outside the creation he makes. He alone is creator. And he alone creates everything.
There is a wonderful illustration from St. Paul’s epistle to the Colossians whereby God’s interaction through creation allows all things to “hold together”:
[In him] “all things were created, in heaven and on earth ... all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Col 1:16-17.)”
Creation is the giant first step God took in moving toward us. God was in search of a covenant with us, and creation is God’s setting through which our communion becomes possible.
St. Bonaventure, the great Franciscan Doctor of the Church from the 13th century, taught God created all things “not to increase his glory, but to show it forth and communicate it.”
The purpose of creation is to communicate God’s majesty and transcendent Beauty, yet to ultimately draw us to him. When we look at the awesome beauty of nature, and in our human personhood, God is communicating to us. As we experience and participate in creation, we experience the goodness of God toward us, becoming better disposed toward God.
Even more fantastic, God’s communication through creation reaches its height when, in the fullness of time, God chose to reveal himself intimately via the incarnation: God the Son becomes a man in the Person of Jesus Christ.
Christ is the beginning of the new creation, and the renewal of all things in and through God. Christ’s entering into creation elevates it and shows us its precious nature.
God, the Creator, had a divine plan all along… a plan that would surround us with many material blessings… a plan that would deal with our need for salvation… a plan where a Savior who would have a human face.
Only a divine Creator could have conceived and revealed it: It is the plan of a Creator whose love never ends for his creatures in creation.
And one we profess every time we pray the Creed.
Want to read more?
Check out CCC 319:
God created the world to show forth and communicate his glory. That his creatures should share in his truth, goodness and beauty - this is the glory for which God created them.
—Pat Gohn is a wife & mother celebrating 27 years of Catholic family life. Her Catholic writing, podcasting, and ministry life are found at PatGohn.com.
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