IMAGE AND LIKENESS

Often when someone comes for career counseling I ask them, “What would you do if you won the mega lottery? What would you like to do if you had no financial worries…no fears?” Invariably the respondent says, “I would like to help the poor.” That tells me not only that we have an inner desire to reach out to others, but more than anything else it reveals who we are at the core of our being. We are a reflection of God ~ whose image more than any other is that of a Supreme Being, who loves and gives life.

We want to do the same. Studies reveal that when we help others, we are happiest, as if juices were fired into our brain, not unlike taking a drug that produces a state of happiness. It is no mere coincidence that Jesus’ commandments are called the Beatitudes ~ the “Be Happy” attitudes ~ nor that the Bible tells us that we are created in “the image and likeness” of God. It is when we are most true to our identity…to the image and likeness of God…that we are happiest.

That begs the question, “When are we most like God?” It is tempting to think that we are most like God when we are all-powerful. This was the mistake of Adam and Eve…they wanted the apparent power of God. To have this image of God is to be SELF-CENTERED. The other image of God is that reflected in Jesus, which is to be OTHER-FOCUSED…to want to serve rather than to be served…to give away rather than to accumulate.

[It must be noted that no one image of God could ever fully express the nature of the Holy Mystery. A dear, wise, and holy friend, Sr. Lucida, would often say that God is “Unbounded Energy”. I, too, have a favorite image of God as the “Grand Artist” ~ who not only loves beauty and variety, but who also trusts us and invites us to be co-creators of the masterpiece that we (and our world) are meant to be. Still, in terms of our human behavior, we are pulled by two principal polar opposites: power and love.]

This battle between the image of a God of power and a God of love continues to be waged within each of us. Perhaps it was best reflected in the choice we had 2,000 years ago to choose between Barabbas, which means son (bar) of the father (abba), and Jesus, the most authentic Son. One wanted to liberate his people from the oppression by the Romans with the power of force, the other wanted to free all of us with the power of love. One had the true image of God; the other was blinded by our human frailty.

What is this weakness that blinds us to the true and accurate image of God? Is it fear, as I stated in my last blog, or pride, or selfishness, as others may believe? To me, pride and selfishness are like the Jamaican fruit, the aikee, an apple-sized fruit which turns bright red, and is edible only when fully mature, at which time it opens to let out poisonous gases. If eaten before it matures, it can be deadly.

Pride and selfishness can also be poisonous, but if allowed to mature, both have a healthy role to play in our development and in leading us to our true, divine nature. It is a healthy pride when reflected as in St. Maximilian Kolbe whose desire was to be the “greatest saint”…to be the greatest servant. It is a necessary selfishness when it directs us to look to ourselves first… in discovering the best…the Christ… in us, so as to help others find the same in themselves.

Fear is the tree which gives birth to these potentially poisonous fruits. Fear leads us to be anxious, to be near-sighted and limit our focus to what is in front of us: our immediate needs and self-gratification, to not trust in God (or in ourselves) for the greater and longer-term blessings, and to go on the attack or shut ourselves off, both of which lead to death. The antidote to fear, as Jesus showed us, is love.

I recently visited my brother, Vito, in Detroit and was chatting with one of his grandchildren, little Vito, seven years old and about to make his First Communion. I asked him if he was excited. He said, “Yeah!” “Why?” “Because it will help me get to heaven.” “Do you need to be rich to get to heaven?”, I asked. “No,” he answered, “just rich in love.”

Easter, which we celebrate for 50 days until the Feast of Pentecost, is a time of new life in Christ…that is, a time to take on the same image and likeness of God that Jesus manifested…a time to be rich in love (and we don’t have to win the lottery). Only then will we be resurrected with Christ. Only then will His resurrection be complete.