The Gift of God

The Gift of God | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J. | June 15, 2009 | Ignatius Insight

In Nazareth on May 14, Benedict XVI made the following incisive remark: "The conviction that the world is a gift of God, and that God has entered the twists and turns of human history, is the perspective from which Christians view creation as having a reason and a purpose" (L'Osservatore Romano, English, May 20, 2009). That is a remarkable sentence. Human history, to be sure, does have its "twists and turns," that is, it is very complex, unexpected, and difficult to understand. But its workings out ever leave us with a sense that there is intelligence at play somewhere.

In spite of this difficulty of understanding, we can still say that this same creation is a gift. It is not a necessity. It did not have to happen, nor happen in the way it did happen. God also has entered human history. Indeed, this entering is the salient point in the unfolding of human history itself. That is, within the actual world, at a given time and place, God in the Person of the Word did dwell on this earth. This fact must mean that the world we live in is significant for this divine indwelling to happen among us. Or perhaps, we should say that the world is important enough that God once dwelled among us. "Why would He do so?" we wonder.

Notice that the Pope says that there is a reason and a purpose for creation. It does not just happen that the cosmos exists. It, the whole, does not "cause" itself, but is caused. And if it is caused, it is caused for a purpose. This purpose stands prior to creation itself and is not part of it. Most religious traditions also think that peace among us is also a gift of God. But it is not a gift that can be achieved "without human endeavor." Peace requires we recognize that the world "is not our own."

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