The Church is the center of the universe, the sphere in which its destinies are determined. All are called to enter into the Church, for if man is a microcosm, the Church is a macro-anthropos, as St. Maximus says.^[*] It increases and is compaunded in history, bringing the elect into its bosom and uniting them to God. The world grows old and falls into decay, while the Church is constantly rejuvenated and renewed by the Holy Spirit who is the source of its life. At a given moment, when the Church has attained to the fullness of growth determined by the will of God, the external world, having used up its vital resources, will perish. As for the Church, it will appear in its eternal glory as the Kingdom of God. It will then stand revealed as the true foundation of the creatures raised up in incorruptibility to be united to God who will be all in all.

The God of the theological textbooks loves only Himself, and in His creation loves only His own perfection. He doesn't love anyone …

The Jealous God of the Bible is … He whose love for His chosen ones is "strong as death", and whose jealousy for everything that separates His creation from Him is "cruel as the grave" (Song of Songs 8:6). … He expects from His creation a free and complete turn towards Him, He wants a freely bonded union with Him. … He wanted to create a world that could not reach its ultimate perfection without involving the will of the Creator in the risk of love, reaching the "madness of the Cross." "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son" (Jhn 3:16).