"Image and Likeness" Means Something

The doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity is as mysterious as it is ancient in our faith. Simply put, the teaching is that we believe in one God who is three divine persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Each of these persons are equal in their divinity, sharing in the one supreme Godhead, yet each Person is distinct – not three Gods, but one divinity in three Persons. That’s really the best I can do in “explaining” the Trinity.

However, as we celebrate this mystery on the Sunday after Pentecost, what does it mean that this is our God? Jesus tells us that “everything that the Father has is mine,” and this means that in the divinity of God all things are shared among the three Persons.  We are told that “God is love,” and that this perfect love is the source of all things. But that is a theological truth; how can it be relevant and practical in our lives?

The love of God does not remain static and closed in on itself. God could exist perfectly well without us – without any of creation. He is perfect and complete. However, this perfect love does not stay closed precisely because it is perfect and it is love. It effuses and creates. It goes out of itself. That is what we mean by the word “charity” – it is a love that is not selfish and closed, but rather open and life-giving, serving others.

If the love that is God “goes out,” and we are created in the image of God, then the question we should ask ourselves on this Trinity Sunday is “De we go out in love too?” That is how we show ourselves most perfectly in the image and likeness of God. If we are focused on others in love; if we are so filled with charity that we cannot help but find ways to contribute to the good of others and of our world.

God so loved the world that He gave all that He has: His only Son. It would be fine, I think, for God to remain the intense furnace of love in and of Himself. However, that is not what God does, so it cannot be what we do!

Last week, as we observed Pentecost, I challenged us to get involved in the life of the pastorate – to volunteer, join a committee, serve as a liturgical minister, join of form a small group, whatever. That is not simply to make our parishes busy places or hotbeds of activity. That is not my goal as a pastor. Rather, our engagement in the life of the Church should be motivated by the love that we have for Jesus and for one another. If we have truly experienced the love of the Risen Lord, then we are not permitted to simply sit on that reality!

Just as the intense love of God burst forth and created the universe and all that is in it; just as that love brought about the creation of men and women in the very image of God; just as that love found its fullest expression in the total self-giving of Jesus on the Cross; so too our love must drive us on to serve one another; and to see in one another that same image of God that He created.

That is why we must get involved in the life and work of the Church. Too many people today believe in a God who is not involved, who is distant and aloof, disinterested in our lives.  If that were true, would God have given His only Son for our salvation, to be reconciled with us? Of course not! The way we show that we are God’s children in communion with the Blessed Trinity is to live the same love that God has shown us.

Anything that leads to our separation from one another; anything that draws or expresses a border between human beings based on their origin, life situation, or beliefs; anything that creates division, is an obstacle to our fully experiencing the love of Christ. If we are tied up in our agendas, our prejudices, our hurts, then we are self-absorbed; and that is not what the love of God looks like. Instead, we are called to be outward focused, looking for others and the opportunity to do good for them.

Our Psalm today proclaims, “When I behold your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you set in place — What is man that you should be mindful of him, or the son of man that you should care for him?” This is something to marvel at. God is perfect love, and God loves you! However, we are also called to live that same love, so we could also proclaim, “Who is the person – this prisoner, this immigrant, this homeless woman, this troubled youth, this broken man, this dying father – that I should care for them?” If we cannot make that love our own, are we really worthy of the image of God ourselves?

Go out from here, my friends, and remember that you bear the image of a God who is love – perfect love. And we are called to activate that love anywhere we can, to create a communion of love in this world.