[God] is perfect not only insofar as He is absolute perfection, defining perfection in Himself and from His singular existence and total perfection, but also because He is far beyond being so. He sets a boundary to the boundless and in His total unity He rises above all limitation. He is neither contained nor comprehended by anything. He reaches out to everything and beyond everything and does so with unfailing generosity and unstinted activity.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the nature of God as an absolute perfection beyond all limitations and boundaries.
Pope Dionysius articulates a profound understanding of God's essence, emphasizing His unparalleled perfection and unity. It suggests that God transcends all known limitations, existing in a realm beyond comprehension while simultaneously engaging with the universe through infinite generosity and activity. This perspective invites reflection on the nature of divinity as not only perfect in a conventional sense but also as fundamentally beyond any human understanding of perfection.
In practice
In a sermon about the nature of God, this quote could be used to illustrate His boundless nature.
The fact is that the more we take flight upward [to God], the more our words are confined to the ideas we are capable of forming; so that now as we plunge into that darkness which is beyond intellect, we shall find ourselves not simply running short of words but actually speechless and unknowing.
...God does not possess a private knowledge of Himself and a separate knowledge of all the creatures in common. The universal Cause, by knowing Itself, can hardly be ignorant of the things which proceed from It and of which It is the source. This, then, is how God knows all things, not by understanding things, but by understanding Himself.
...if we know God our knowledge of... everything will be brought to perfection, and, in so far as is possible, the infinite, divine and ineffable dwelling place (cf. Jn. 14:2) will be ours to enjoy. For this is what our sainted teacher said in his famous philosophical aphorism: 'Then we shall know as we are known' (I Cor. 13:12), when we mingle our god-formed mind and divine reason to what is properly its own and the image returns to the archetype for which it now longs.
Although a man may have no jurisdiction over the fact of his existence, he can hold supreme command over the meaning of existence for him.
Equality and prosperity shouldn't be seen as enemies of each other, but as partners. One reinforces the other.
There are many things worth living for, a few things worth dying for, and nothing worth killing for.
The laws only can determine the punishment of crimes, and the authority of making penal laws can only reside with the legislator, who represents the whole society united by the social compact.
Majorities, as such, afford no guarantees for justice. They are men of the same nature as minorities. They have the same passions for fame, power, and money, as minorities; and are liable and likely to be equally - perhaps more than equally, because more boldly - rapacious, tyrannical and unprincipled, if intrusted with power.
When we respect everybody around us, we are in peace with everybody around us.
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