Solomon tells us that “a happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing” (Proverbs 17:22, AMP ). God undoubtedly has a sense of humor; we need only look at some of the animals He created (it’s hard not to smile at the sight of a hippo, a monkey, or a puppy). Or think of some of the married couples you know: don’t you think God was smiling at the wedding as He looked ahead to the interaction of the wildly different personalities that will be living together?
But what does it mean when we call this God a living God? It means that this God is not a conclusion we have reached by thinking, which we now offer to others in the certainty of our own perception and understanding; if it were just a matter of that, then this God would never be more than a human idea, and any attempt to turn to Him could well be a reaching out in hope and expectation but would still lead us into vagueness. When we talk of the living God, it means: This God shows Himself to us; He looks out from eternity into time and puts Himself into relationship with us. We cannot define Him in whatever way we like. He has “defined” Himself and stands now before us as our Lord, over us and in our midst. This self-revelation of God, by virtue of which He is not our conception but our Lord, rightly stands, therefore, in the center of our Creed…
from Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, God Is Near Us: The Eucharist, the Heart of Life, p. 11.
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Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.