God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them. (Gen 1:27)
1. The dignity of the human person is rooted in his creation in the image and likeness of God. Human beings were created by God and for God; and God does not cease to call them to Himself. That is why it is only in Him that men and women can find the truth and happiness they seek.
Human dignity rests above all on the fact that humanity is called to communion with God. The invitation to converse with God is addressed to men and women as soon as they are born. For if people exist it is because God has created them through love, and through love continues to keep them in existence. They cannot live fully in the truth unless they freely acknowledge that love and entrust themselves to their creator.[1]
2. Of all visible creatures only man is able to know and love his creator. He is the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake; and he alone is called to share, by knowledge and love, in God's own life.[2] In other words,
“Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone.” As such, the human person “is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. And he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer Him a response of faith and love that no other creature can give in his stead.”[3]
3. Christ, “in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, makes man fully manifest to himself and brings to light his exalted vocation.” (GS, 22) It is in Christ, “the image of the invisible God,” (Col 1:15; 2 Cor 4:4) that man has been created “in the image and likeness” of the Creator. It is in Christ, Redeemer and Savior, that the divine image – disfigured in man by the first sin – has been restored to its original beauty and ennobled by the grace of God.[4]
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Every individual who strives to be a person and exercises his faculties to gradually achieve it more fully, frequently struggles between his fears and aspirations. Commonly, he will attempt to flee from his fears and move toward his aspirations. Man is attracted by his aspirations and assaulted by his fears. When he struggles to achieve his aspirations with nobility and honesty, he “moves toward.” When he is overcome by his fears, it can be said that he “flees from.” (Eduardo Bonnín and Francisco Forteza, in Forgotten Evidence, no. 9)
1. Make a list of your aspirations and your fears.
2. In view of the dignity that we each possess as persons made “in the image of God”, how do these fears and aspirations diminish or enhance our human dignity?
[1] Gaudium et Spes, no. 19, 1
[2] Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 356
[3] Ibid., no. 357
[4] Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1701
1 comment:
In Pope Benedict's, Jesus of Nazareth, he states, "The world exists, in other words, because God wanted to create a zone of response to his love, a zone of obedience and freedom." (p.83) These words comforted me and at the same time help me to understand the dignity of the person even more. It would seem God has done everything, really, so that I can be who I am and you can be who you are. Isn't this something to marvel at? These words also make me grow in my awareness of how much more I need to recognize the dignity of others and give them this "space".
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