26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:26-27RSVCE
The Book of Genesis is very clear – man was created in God’s image. It is also very clear that it was God who created man. So why are some Catholic’s creating a God in their own image? “What?”, you ask. You inform me that you are a Catholic, and that you follow the teachings of the Church.
Then let me ask you to consider the following. We will start with the easy ones and progress to a few more difficult ones.
Have you received all of the pertinent Holy Sacraments as prescribed by the Church? Have you provided these for your children?
Having received the Holy Sacraments, do you act on them? For example, do you go to Mass on Sundays and all days of obligation? Do you go to confession? If with a life partner, are you legally married with that partner within the teachings of the faith? Are you still married with that partner?
Do you know all of the 10 commandments? More importantly, do you try to follow them….to the utmost…without fail? Or do you only follow the easy ones…the ‘obvious’ ones?
Having followed them, do you practice them openly even in the presence of family, friends and the rest of the world? Or do you shy away from offending or avoiding confrontation? Do you only practice ‘safe-Christianity’ ?
Do you also practice your faith when no one is looking?
If you do practice your faith openly, do you also correct others that speak an untruth through ignorance of the faith? What if they purposely speak an untruth about the faith? What if they openly disparage the faith? Are openly hostile to the faith?
Do you fully and whole heartedly stand behind all of the Church teaching on contraception, abortion, same-sex orientation and other similar social teachings of the Church? Or do you pick and chose what to support and not to support?
If you do support the Church teaching on these and similar issues, do you do so only in the presence of the faithful or do you also support the Church position in ‘hostile territory’?
How much are you willing to risk for standing up for and practicing your faith in ‘hostile territory’? Are you willing to make a personal sacrifice for your faith? Would you risk your job for your faith? Would you be willing to be a martyr for your faith in God?
As I said at the onset of this post, I would like you to simply consider what I posted above. Reflect on them. Talk to others about them. Discuss them with your family and friends…and your enemies.
God created us in His image. That means that He expects us to try to live our lives as God would like us to live our lives.
More and more Christians are living their lives how they like to live their lives and only out of convenience how God would like them to live their lives. I believe that if you try with all of your heart, soul and mind to live your life in the image of God, even if at times unsuccessfully, you do honour to the image of God. If you are in the latter group, you are breaking the first commandment:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. Exodus 20:2-6 RSVCE
Copyright 2015, Luciano Corbo
Luciano Corbo
Luciano Corbo holds a Master of Arts - Integrated Studies from Athabasca University. His major interests are Culture, Work, Organizations and Leadership, within a context of Catholic Social Teaching Principles. He writes from Canada.
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