Sunday, 2/19/12
The cure of that paralytic
was nowhere as marvelous as God's making us in his image.
At Gettysburg Lincoln said, “The world will little note, nor
long remember what we say here.” He was wrong about that, but that comment has
been verified over and over in regard to Catholic Church documents. For
instance, how many Catholics are
aware that Vatican II issued a
“Declaration On Christian Education?” How many Catholics know that Rome
has a Congregation for Catholic Education?
People in ignorance of those entities have missed out on a beautiful
aspects of our faith. They have missed the phrase in the “Declaration On
Christian Education” that tells us, “True education is directed toward the
formation of the human person.” They have missed a refinement of that statement
issued by the Congregation for Catholic Education.
In 1988 the Congregation’s prefect, Cardinal William Baum,
narrowly defined what the Church wants of her teachers. He wrote that their
duty was to help each student in developing his or her personality. Then, he
reminded us that Vatican II asked us to employ two aids to personality
development. One has us providing opportunities for students to interact with
each other. The other was urging them to set goals, and freeing them to devise
their own means for reaching those goals.
We all have been taught that God made us in his own image
and likeness. So, with all of being like God , shouldn’t it follow that we
would be like each other, clones? That
certainly is not the case. To explain our differences we can employ the
metaphor of seeing God as a many faceted jewel, with each of us mirroring a
different facet of his infinitely variegated being.
Of course, we do not see facets of God’s beauty riding the
bus with us. What we see are people with severely underdeveloped potentials for
being God-like. Saints, by their steady practice of avoiding evil and doing
good may develop a high percentage of their potential for mirroring God’s
beauty. The rest of us have cloudy visages which at rare intervals may show
flashes of Godliness.
If all of us could develop our God-like potentials we would
be like jigsaw pieces that could be fitted together into the divine image.
Short of that, as an individual you can
go with the Army’s motto:
“Be all that you can be.”
2 comments:
Hello Fr. Sullivan!
I am a bit conflicted about a meditative exercise I had to complete for a class I am taking. First of, it is called "Meeting Aesclepius". In learning of this title, I already felt a bit apprehensive. The meditation started with instructions to think of a wise, compassionate and loving person you feel a strong connection to, alive or dead. Naturally, I thought about Jesus Christ. The meditation was going well until it instructed me to allow the image to dissolve and enter my body so that I become that image. Immediately, I felt uncomfortable with that. I decided to improvise a little and instead, imagined the Holy Spirit entering my body, permeating my entire being with loving kindness and compassion. I understand that we are all called to be God-like, but I am conflicted with the suggestion of being "Jesus". Would it be acceptable for the sake of this meditative exercise to imagine that I am Jesus, or would that be blasphemous? Your response would be greatly appreciated!
Blessings,
Nicole
Nicole,
Thanks for your fine comment.
I am at a loss in this age in which people talk about what the Holy Spirit is doing. I was raised on Thomas Aquinas who said that the actions of Father, Son and Spirit differ only within the Trinity. (The Greek Fathers thought of that action as similar to a holding-hands dance; the Greek word for such a dance was perachoresus). What God does affecting us outside the Trinity is the action of the One God. I hold fast to the opening words of the Creed; "I believe in one God."
Post a Comment