The reason for creation lies entirely in the unfathomable mystery of God, who is self-originating and self-communicating love. While the world is the gracious result of divine freedom, God's freedom means necessarily being who and what God is. From this standpoint the world is not created ex nihilo but ex amore, ex condilectio, that is, out of divine love.
CATHERINE MOWRY LACUGNA God for Us: The Trinity and Christian Life