View of God as Mystery-Presence
In the twenty-one Eastern Churches of Catholicism God is described as MYSTERY. The Maronite mind has always been in awe of this mysteriousness and un-approachability of God. It presumes a great distance between the Creator and the creation. Since the human mind cannot fathom, grasp nor understand God, then any knowledge of God is just that, knowledge about God and not experience of God. Narsai says: “we are able only to say God is, but to research how he is, the door is closed.”
Maronites believe that the inner life and being of God is a divine, ineffable, inexhaustible mystery always beyond limited human knowledge and understanding. St Ephrem, and other Syriac Fathers, write of God as Mystery saying: “when one tries to describe the mystery of God in words, he can only stammer.” However, this great distance is bridged by God’s self-disclosure – what we call revelation. Since God opens and communicates himself in the act of creation then God can be known by experiencing his loving actions.
This Maronite sense of otherness and mystery of the inner life of God is attributable to two things:
1.its Jewish Christian origins where the ‘name’ God was not even spoken since no one could be that familiar with or know God, who is beyond human understanding;
2.its familiarity with the scriptures which addressed God by various titles reflecting his love for his creation.
While one would expect that this un-approachability of God would lead to a detached relationship with the divine. In fact, this process leads to mystical union; for the more that one searches for God, the more one encounters God. The search then for God, leads to wonder/awe, communion/intimacy and conversation/prayer.
In the twenty-one Eastern Churches of Catholicism God is described as MYSTERY. The Maronite mind has always been in awe of this mysteriousness and un-approachability of God. It presumes a great distance between the Creator and the creation. Since the human mind cannot fathom, grasp nor understand God, then any knowledge of God is just that, knowledge about God and not experience of God. Narsai says: “we are able only to say God is, but to research how he is, the door is closed.”
Maronites believe that the inner life and being of God is a divine, ineffable, inexhaustible mystery always beyond limited human knowledge and understanding. St Ephrem, and other Syriac Fathers, write of God as Mystery saying: “when one tries to describe the mystery of God in words, he can only stammer.” However, this great distance is bridged by God’s self-disclosure – what we call revelation. Since God opens and communicates himself in the act of creation then God can be known by experiencing his loving actions.
This Maronite sense of otherness and mystery of the inner life of God is attributable to two things:
1.its Jewish Christian origins where the ‘name’ God was not even spoken since no one could be that familiar with or know God, who is beyond human understanding;
2.its familiarity with the scriptures which addressed God by various titles reflecting his love for his creation.
While one would expect that this un-approachability of God would lead to a detached relationship with the divine. In fact, this process leads to mystical union; for the more that one searches for God, the more one encounters God. The search then for God, leads to wonder/awe, communion/intimacy and conversation/prayer.
(Taken from "The Maronite Church" by Msgr. Ronald Beshara, S.T.L., J.C.L.)