06 God created the world out of love


Compendium of the Catechism

■ 54. How did God create the
universe?
■ 295-301

317-320
■ God created the universe freely with
wisdom and love. The world is not the
result of any necessity, nor of blind
fate, nor of chance. God created “out
of nothing” (ex nihilo) (2 Maccabees
7:28) a world which is ordered and
good and which he infinitely
transcends. God preserves his
creation in being and sustains it,
giving it the capacity to act and
leading it toward its fulfillment through
his Son and the Holy Spirit.
Introduction
■ In the beginning God created
the heavens and the
earth” (Gen 1:1)
God created everything out of
nothing.
■ Everything was created out of
love. And God, with His laws,
takes care of everything He
created
God wants men to cooperate
with His work. The Bible says
that man was created to work,
and to rule with his work over
creation.
Main ideas
1. God is eternal

■ Only God is really eternal, that

is, God has no beginning and no
end.
■ In God there is no past nor
future, only present.
■ God wanted to communicate his
perfections to other beings, so
He created the world, with a
special regard to man, whom He
created in His image and
likeness.
2. God created the world out of nothing

■ God created all things

just willing, and He
created them out of
nothing.
■ There was nothing
before God created
things.

MICHELANGELO Buonarroti
Creation of the sun and the moon
1509-10
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican
3. To create is not the same as to make or manufacture things

■ To create means to bring into

existence, out of nothing,
something that did not exist
before.
■ Man cannot create: only God
can.

LARGILLIÈRE, Nicolas de
Study of Hands
c. 1715
Oil on canvas, 65 x 52 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris
4. God created for His glory and out of love

■ The world is a
manifestation of God’s
perfection, a reflection of
what God is: we can say
that the universe sings
God’s glory.
■ God wanted man to rule
over material creatures,
which God created
thinking of man, and put
them into our hands.

MICHELANGELO Buonarroti
Creation of Eve
1509-10
Fresco, 170 x 260 cm
Cappella Sistina, Vatican
5. Work and ruling the earth

■ God chose to have

man ruling over
creation transforming
things as a product of
his work.
■ In the same way as
God created only
good things and out
of love for man, man
has to work well and
out of love for God.

BRUEGEL, Pieter the Elder

The Corn Harvest
1565
Oil on wood, 118.1 x 160.7 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
6. God maintains and governs the world

■ Without the providence of God

things would disappear and
return to nothing.
■ God governs the world with laws
He has imprinted them in
nature, while respecting the
freedom He has given to men as
one of His great gifts.
7. To offer our daily work and to show gratitude to God
■ At the beginning of each day we
should offer to God what we are
going to do. We could use a
prayer like the following:
"I adore you my God and I love
You with all my heart. I give you
thanks for having created me,
for having made me a Christian
and guarded me this night. I
offer you all my works and I ask
you to prevent me from
committing any sin and to free
me from every evil. Amen".
8. Trust God

■ Knowing God’s
providence over
everything and everyone
of us, should lead us to
put our confidence in
Him, as the source of
our peace, safety and
joy.
Resolutions for Christian life
Resolutions to move forward

■ To do the morning offering when

getting up everyday.
Oh my Jesus, I offer you my
prayers, works, joys and
sufferings for this day. For all
the intentions of Your Sacred
Heart, in union with the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass, being
offered throughout the world, in
reparation for my sins, for the
intentions of my family and
friends, and in particular for the
intention of the Holy Father.
■ To get used offering to God your
study and your work, and doing
them as good as possible.