The Catholic Book Club discussion

3. Use this thread to note your favorite quotes and passages from the book. Feel free to share why you felt the passage in question was worth noting.

"We didn't build the idea of GOD, your majesty. That is written on every human heart..."

Or isn't true we are always looking for "that thing" that makes us complete, that gives sense and purpose of our lives?

"In that reality, everything was knowable. There was no pain, no
judgment. No consequences. It was a pure quest for understanding. The only thing missing was God. God as love, to be more precise. There was no love, no hate. Nothing discernibly human at all. It was like the entire cosmos had been reshaped into a purely aesthetic geometry. That was the key” ...

I can't imagine living a life without purpose. The scriptures say you can have all the knowledge, but without love... there is no value in that gift... what is Love but GOD?

"The surest way to lighten one’s own burdens was to help another with theirs"...

This I Know, whenever I focus on my own problems not seeing the beauty of everyday, am extending my own pain. We all have problems; we all are struggling in one way or another, and yet there is food at my table, and roof upon my head, I am not under the menace of war, and I am able to hold my child. I can work and take care of my family. I sure can help other people. More important: I hope, because I believe in Him, and He says he will take care of path.

Tania wrote: "what is Love but GOD?"

I would say that GOD is Love, but Love is not GOD.

A quote from the Introduction of The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis:

St. John’s saying that God is love has long been balanced in my mind against the remark of a modern author (M. Denis de Rougemont) that “love ceases to be a demon only when he ceases to be a god”; which of course can be re-stated in the form “begins to be a demon the moment he begins to be a god.” This balance seems to me an indispensable safeguard. If we ignore it the truth that God is love may slyly come to mean for us the converse, that love is God.

Manuel wrote: "Tania wrote: "what is Love but GOD?"

I would say that GOD is Love, but Love is not GOD.

A quote from the Introduction of The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis:

St. John’s..."

Point understood.
I guess if you single out the phrase the whole meaning of the sentence is amiss. Please, dont miss the context in which was said. I was paraphrasing Corintious.

But i guess, you are correct. The author himself has a similar discussion regarding beauty and God. When he says human can be deceived by beauty, but certainly God is in all beautifull things.

Tania wrote: "human can be deceived by beauty, but certainly God is in all beautiful things."

In other words: God is Beauty, but beauty is not God :-)

Manuel wrote: "Tania wrote: "human can be deceived by beauty, but certainly God is in all beautiful things."

In other words: God is Beauty, but beauty is not God :-)"

Yes. Beauty is an aspect of God's essence, but it has no being except in Him.

Manuel wrote: "Tania wrote: "human can be deceived by beauty, but certainly God is in all beautiful things."

In other words: God is Beauty, but beauty is not God :-)"
yes, correct