Father Marneni asked me to dig deeper into 𝘐𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘰 𝘋𝘦𝘪. That is Latin for “the image of God.” Two words that sound manageable until you start considering what they ask of you.
In his homily about rendering unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar, Father pointed out that the coin bore Caesar’s image. Then he took us back to Genesis, where we learn that we bear God’s image.
Caesar could have his coin. We owe God ourselves.
That thought has been following me around.
Genesis tells us that God created humanity in His image, male and female (Genesis 1:27). Before anyone had earned a paycheck, won an argument, or done anything worth putting on a résumé, that dignity was already there. It began with God.
But what does bearing His image actually mean?
God is spirit, so this goes deeper than the face looking back at us from the bathroom mirror. We were made to know and love Him, to seek truth, to choose the good, and to give ourselves in love. The Catechism describes the human person as “not just something, but someone” (CCC 357). And this dignity embraces the whole person, body and soul (CCC 364).
Our worth therefore cannot depend on how useful we are, how clearly we think, or how much we can accomplish. The infant who cannot speak and the elderly person who can no longer remember a familiar name possess a dignity as real as anyone else’s.
Here is where this starts getting uncomfortable for me.
The person holding up the checkout line bears God’s image. So does the person whose political opinions make my blood pressure climb. So does the person I have reduced to a label because learning their story would require more effort.
Apparently, God did not wait for my approval before giving someone dignity.
Of course, bearing God’s image does not make every choice we make good. Sin wounds and distorts our ability to reflect Him. We know that from our own lives.
That is why we have to look to Christ. Saint Paul calls Him “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). In Christ, we see both who God is and the human life we are called to live. His grace restores what sin has damaged in us (CCC 1701, 1708).
I think of Him stopping for people others passed by. Touching the sick. Speaking the truth. Washing feet.
Those are things I can pray over. They also give me something to do.
Father’s homily left me asking what I owe God. Digging deeper has added another question:
How am I treating the people who bear His image?
I suspect my answer will show up in the way I speak to somebody today.
⨥⨥ RayN
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