Today is Feb. 20, Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time.
We read at today’s Mass, “If anyone sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; For in the image of God has man been made” (Gn 9:6).
I look and sound a lot like my dad. Unsurprisingly, both of us resemble my grandfather. And one of my little nephews looks and sounds a lot like me!
But family resemblance is far from being just a Briscoe thing. When a baby is born, think of how many times we ask parents whether the baby seems to favor mom or dad. Fathers look like sons and daughters look like mothers. I’ve always thought this physical connection to be a beautiful thing. A family is part of who a baby is at the most fundamental level. Babies belong to families and inherit from their families a core sense of who they are. (That’s part of why it’s so tragic when family life goes awry.)
So, when we are told at the beginning of Genesis that man is made in the image of God, we might be inclined to be confused. How can all of humanity “look like” God?
Being made in God’s image
In fact, being made in God’s image is about more than resemblance. When we are told that man is created in the image of God, we are making a claim about who man is. We are defining humanity.
And here’s the really astonishing thing: In order to fully know ourselves, to plunge to the depths of the mystery of man, we need God. Only God enlightens the furthest corners of our hearts.
That’s why, at this moment, which we read about at today’s Mass — when all of creation has been destroyed by the flood and God makes a new covenant with Noah and his sons — it’s so beautiful to receive the teaching on man, again. Man is precious. His life is sacred, “For the image of God has man been made.”
Let us pray,
O God, who teach us that you abide in hearts that are just and true, grant that we may be so fashioned by your grace as to become a dwelling pleasing to you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
