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8. The Existence of God in Things

1. God is present to things as an agent (that is, doer, performer, effecting cause) is present to and in the action and the effect which it produces. God is the source of all actuality in creatures; He must, then, be in creatures to produce and preserve this actuality; for creatural actuality is not self-producing or self-preserving. Creatures depend essentially on God both for production and preservation. God is in all things in the most perfect manner, not limited by the things nor identified with them.

2. God is in all places, actual and possible, for God is infinite. If any possible place could exclude God, it would impose a limit on the illimitable; it would impose a finiteness on the infinite. Since this is impossible, it follows that God is everywhere. God is not limited by the place in which he is, for God is not contained in a place as a body is. God's presence in a place does not block out a creature from occupying that place.

3. The mode or manner by which God is in places and things is threefold: (a) God is in all things by his power, as exercising absolute rule there; (b) God is in all things by his presence, as perfectly knowing the things and disposing them by his providence; (c) God is in all things by his essence as creator and preserver.

4. Only God can be everywhere, for only God is infinite and absolute. God is in all things and all places by the whole of his undivided being, not part here and part there, for God is not made of parts. Thus God is present everywhere absolutely, and such presence belongs to the absolute being alone.

"The one thing necessary which Jesus spoke of to Martha and Mary consists in hearing the word of God and living by it."
R. Garrigou-Lagrange, OP

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"Whoever wants to stand alone without the support of a master and guide will be like the tree that stands alone in a field without a proprietor. No matter how much the tree bears, passers-by will pick the fruit before it ripens. "
St John of the Cross, OCD - Doctor of the Church

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"Those who love God are always happy, because their whole happiness is to fulfill, even in adversity, the will of God."
St Alphonsus de Liguori

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