“Believing is possible only by grace and the interior helps of the Holy Spirit. But it is no less true that believing is an authentically human act.” -CCC 154
God gently reveals himself to humanity and we are invited to respond. People who choose to believe that there is no God will often argue, more or less, “If there is a God why does he not make himself more manifest? Why doesn’t he show himself more?” To this I would answer, “Well, what exactly do you want? Do you want him to become a man and walk the earth? Do you want him to speak to some people directly? What exactly do you want?” It seems to me that God has made himself very manifest, and yet we are not content. If he “came on stronger” there would still be people who would reject him and reject the very idea that he exists. The only way for God to remove all of the objections to his existence is to make himself so manifest that we would have no choice but to accept him. God respects us too much to do that to us.
If we are not free to reject him, then we are also not free to accept him. In other words, we would not be able to love him. We would be slaves, but not sons and daughters. Our God wants more for us. He longs to be our Father and invites us into a filial relationship.
 | About Pat Arensberg Patrick Arensberg is the Director of Religious Education for the Archdiocese of Mobile. Previously, he taught for 17 years at McGill-Toolen Catholic High School, where he served as Chairman of the Theology Department. He attended the Gregorian University in Rome and holds an M.A. in Theology from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. He is married to Connie and they live in Mobile with their 5 children. |
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