WE ARE MADE IN HIS IMAGE

OUR LADY OF LOURDES

Gen 1:20-2:4; Ps 8:4-9; Mk 7:1-13

The Origins of heaven and earth

God made the material universe (or what the author called heaven and earth) from light and darkness, as contraries, and water as material or changeable. These contraries and the substratum are the origins or principles of material heaven and earth. The above truth is what the author of the passage states as follows. “Such were the origins of heaven and earth when they were created.” Apart from these three principles or origins: light, darkness, and water, the divine will is the creative force generating each new nature. The new natures are introduced by God’s word, expressing his will. “Let the waters teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth within the vault of heaven.’ And so it was.” The same command is given to the earth, which was made from the water and now acts as the substratum of another set of creatures. “Let the earth produce every kind of living creature: cattle, reptiles, and every kind of wild beast.’ And so it was.”

God announced the creation of human nature with significant interest when he said: “Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild beasts and all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth.” The self-invitation of the Trinity to make man indicates the importance of the work to God. It was the completion of a phase of God’s creative work. “God created man in the image of himself, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.” God rested after he completed the material creation, which reached its apex in the creation of human nature. The material creation of man and woman ended material creation but began the spiritual creation of man and woman to make them like God. Another phase of creation commenced to make man and woman like God. God will achieve this when they learn to follow the spiritual light of his word. As the image of God, human nature would be a possibility of God in material creation, a receptacle or temple of God. If man images God, then he must also share in the mystery of God. The mystery will be known when man and woman possess the full light of God’s word. To achieve this, the Eternal Word of God must dwell in man and woman.

Only God knew the difficulty and expertise that would enter into this work. If God made our nature in his image, then we are free to follow his word or not to follow. This freedom makes us an image of God. Free will is a rare beauty in a material creature, a gate leading to possible everlasting glory or doom. That it turned out ill for man and woman is our common knowledge. Our Lord captures the corruption/sickness of our nature in the gospel. “How ingeniously you get round the commandment of God in order to preserve your own traditions! … In this way you make God’s word null and void for the sake of your tradition which you have handed down. And you do many other things like this.” Evil would not have corrupted our nature if man and woman stayed with the word of God instead of listening to the evil one. We celebrate Our Lady of Lourdes, the celebration of the appearance of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1858 to a young girl of 14, Bernadette Soubirous, near Lourdes in France. She introduced herself to Bernadette as the Immaculate Conception, a teaching the Church was yet to proclaim. By this name, the Blessed Virgin Mary presents herself as the original and real human nature intended by God. Hers was human nature as intended by God before the evil one introduced his corruptive seed in man. The Immaculate Conception is our human nature as God originally made it; when fully actualised, it is the Word Incarnate.

Let us pray: Grant us, O merciful God, protect in our weakness, that we, who keep the Memorial of the Immaculate Mother of God, may, with the help of her intercession, rise up from our iniquities. 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.