God and his perfections

Question 13

What is God?

God is a spirit infinitely perfect.

Question 14

Had God a beginning?

God had no beginning; He always was and He always will be.

Question 15

Where is God?

God is everywhere.

Question 16

If God is everywhere, why do we not see Him?

We do not see God, because He is a pure spirit and cannot be seen with bodily eyes.

Question 17

Does God see us?

God sees us and watches over us.

Question 18

Does God know all things?

God knows all things, even our most secret thoughts, words, and actions.

Question 19

Can God do all things?

God can do all things, and nothing is hard or impossible to Him.

Question 20

Is God just, holy, and merciful?

God is all just, all holy, all merciful, as He is infinitely perfect.

Spirit and perfection

Questions 13, 16

The word spirit distinguishes God from a material object. The lesson is not describing an invisible human body or a physical substance spread through space. Infinitely perfect means that God's goodness is not limited or completed by something outside him. Question 16 explains why ordinary bodily sight does not reveal God in the way it reveals a chair or a tree. In John 4, Jesus connects God's spiritual nature with worship in spirit and truth; the conversation is about how people worship, not simply where they can find a sacred place.

Without beginning or end

Questions 14

The answer to question 14 concerns God's eternity. It does not mean that God came into existence an unimaginably long time ago. The Catechism describes God as without origin and without end in its discussion of the divine name. Psalm 90 contrasts the enduring God with passing human generations. This distinction matters when someone asks who made God: the lesson identifies God as the uncreated source of created life, rather than one more being that began to exist.

Presence and knowledge

Questions 15, 17, 18

These answers say that no place or action lies outside God's presence and knowledge. Psalm 139 expresses this through a person's address to God, describing being known in ordinary actions and across imagined journeys. The point is more than surveillance: the psalm is a relationship expressed in prayer. Being present to creation does not mean God and the world are identical. In Catholic teaching, the Creator remains distinct from what he creates while sustaining its existence.

Power together with goodness

Questions 19, 20

The lesson immediately places divine power beside justice, holiness, and mercy. Read those answers together. The Catechism explicitly says that God's power is not arbitrary. It is not a capacity for cruelty that stands apart from goodness or wisdom. The scriptural language of power invites trust in God, but it does not answer every question about suffering by itself. Later study must consider providence, freedom, sin, and redemption without treating a painful experience as a simple test of someone's faith.

John 4:19–26

Jesus discusses worship and God's spiritual nature within his conversation with the Samaritan woman.

19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. 21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. 26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.

Psalm 90:1–4

The psalm contrasts God's enduring life with human time and generations.

1 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. 3 Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men. 4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

Psalm 139:1–12

The psalmist speaks of God's knowledge and presence through a sustained prayer.

1 O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. 2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. 3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. 4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. 5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. 7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. 12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.