Day 7: God Reveals Himself

God, who "dwells in unapproachable light", wants to communicate his own divine life to the men he freely created, in order to adopt them as his sons in his only-begotten Son. By revealing himself God wishes to make them capable of responding to him, and of knowing him and of loving him far beyond their own natural capacity. (Catechism 52)

 

Through reason and observation of his creation, we can have assurance of God's existence. Yet it is only through Divine Revelation, freely given by God to us, that we come to truly know more about him. In today's reading from the Catechism, it's all about God slowly revealing himself to us. From the "intimate communion with himself" that he offered to Adam & Eve, our first parents, down to the covenant he established with Noah after the Flood with more to come afterward. It's a pity that our first parents in effect rejected that intimate communion with God through their sin, though I'm quite sure I wouldn't have done any better in their place. It does show, however, the deep love God has for us that even after the Fall he gave us hope of redemption, which of course would be fulfilled through Jesus Christ.

I like how the Catechism Companion puts it by quoting from this early saint:

As St. Irenaeus of Lyons writes, "The Word of God dwelt in man and became the Son of man in order to accustom man to perceive God and to accustom God to dwell in man, according to the Father's pleasure" (quoted in CCC 53).