If you ever read something like this, do not fall for it. It simply is not true: while He certainly doesn't need us for His own Eternal Existence, He needs us to save us, and He chose it to be this way. We certainly cannot do it ourselves, and the complex paths of God's grace must prompt us towards Him and Redemption bought by the Blood of His Son, but to simply declare "He doesn't need us" is a grievous mistake. Saint Augustine explained it well in a well-known sermon passage ("God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without us"), but happily enough, the concept is explained more extensively and in an even more passionate manner by Saint Catherine of Siena in the sweet words of her Tuscan language, as she addresses God Almighty:
I know well that mercy is Your own attribute, wherefore You can not destroy it or refuse it to him who asks for it. Your servants knock at the door of Your truth, because in the truth of Your only-begotten Son they know the ineffable love which You have for man, wherefore the fire of Your love ought not and cannot refrain from opening to him who knocks with perseverance.
Wherefore open, unlock, and break the hardened hearts of Your creatures, not for their sake who do not knock, but on account of Your infinite goodness, and through love of Your servants who knock at You for their sake. Grant the prayer of those, Eternal Father who, as You see, stand at the door of Your truth and pray.
For what do they pray? For with the Blood of this door -- Your truth -- have You washed our iniquities and destroyed the stain of Adam's sin. The Blood is ours, for You have made it our bath, wherefore You can not deny it to any one who truly asks for it. Give, then, the fruit of Your Blood to Your creatures. Place in the balance the price of the Blood of Your Son, so that the infernal devils may not carry off Your lambs. You are the Good Shepherd who, to fulfill Your obedience, laid down His life for Your lambs, and made for us a bath of His Blood.
That Blood is what Your hungry servants beg of You at this door, begging You through it to do mercy to the world, and to cause Your holy Church to bloom with the fragrant flowers of good and holy pastors, who by their sweet odor shall extinguish the stench of the putrid flowers of sin.
You have said, Eternal Father, that through the love which You have for Your rational creatures, and the prayers and the many virtues and labors of Your servants, You would do mercy to the world, and reform the Church, and thus give us refreshment; wherefore do not delay, but turn the eye of Your mercy towards us, for You must first reply to us before we can cry out with the voice of Your mercy. Open the door of Your inestimable love which You have given us through the door of Your Word.
I know indeed that You open before even we can knock, for it is with the affection of love which You have given to Your servants, that they knock and cry to You, seeking Your honor and the salvation of souls. Give them then the Bread of Life, that is to say, the fruit of the Blood of Your only-begotten Son, which they ask of You for the praise and glory of My name and the salvation of souls. For more glory and praise will be Yours in saving so many creatures, than in leaving them obstinate in their hardness of heart.
To You, Eternal Father, everything is possible, and even though You have created us without our own help, You will not save us without it. I beg of You to force their wills, and dispose them to wish for that for which they do not wish; and this I ask You through Your infinite mercy. You have created us from nothing; now, therefore, that we are in existence, do mercy to us, and remake the vessels which You have created to Your image and likeness. Re-create them to Grace in Your mercy and the Blood of Your Son, sweet Christ Jesus.
Saint Catherine of Siena
Dialogue of Divine Providence (Dialogo della Divina Provvidenza)
Chapter 134
