God made the atmosphere on the second day, because neither plants, nor animals, nor men can live without air. Sound also is impossible without air, so that without it there could have been neither speech nor hearings.
On the third day God made the earth to be dry, and plants to grow on it. But plants, to live and thrive, require something besides light and air, therefore it was that God had already on the second day caused part of the water to remain in the air, to supply the plants with moisture from above, either by means of dew or rain.
The works of the first three days, and those of the last three, are thus related to each other as the general to the particular, or as the place and its furniture.
1st day. The light.
2nd day. The atmosphere which divided the waters.
3rd day. The dry land.
4th day. The bodies of light.
5th day. The inhabitants of the air and water: the birds and fishes.
6th day. The inhabitants of the dry land: the beasts and man.
Time began with the world. Once nothing existed but the Eternal
God alone. “Before the mountains were made, or the earth and the
world was formed, from eternity and to eternity Thou art, God”
(Ps. 89, 2). Why does not the Psalmist say, ‘Thou wast, God’, instead
of 'Thou art, God ?’ Because God is Eternal. He is not subject to the
changes of time, for with God there is no past, no future, nothing
but an everlasting present. “I am who am”, God said to Moses
(Exod. 3, 14). God exists of and by Himself. Everything else is
made by God.
God is Almighty. God created the whole world, visible and invisible, material and spiritual, out of nothing by His almighty will. His almighty power is manifested to us in creation. By His word, that is, by His will, He called into existence the earth, moon, and the whole, to us immeasurable universe, with its millions and millions of heavenly bodies. “God spoke, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created” (Ps. 32, 9).
God works unceasingly. What then do the words, ‘He rested on the seventh day’, mean? They mean that God rested from this particular work, i.e. from creating, because the universe was finished and complete; but God does not cease from the work of conservation and of natural and supernatural providence. Our Lord says: “My Father works till now and I work” (New Test. XXVI). God is continually working for the good of His creatures, for only He who called the world into existence can sustain and govern it. If Almighty God were to withdraw His hand from the world, at that moment it would collapse and fail into ruin. Every day, every hour of life is a gift of Almighty God.
