Reflection
What does it mean to be made in the image of God? In part it is to say that wisdom is deep within us, deeper than the ignorance of what we have done or become. It is to say that the passion of God for what is just and right is deep within, deeper than any apathy or participation in wrong that has crippled us. To be made in the image of God is to say that creativity is at the core of our being, deeper than any barrenness that has dominated our lives and relationships. And above all, it is to say that love and the desire to give ourselves away to another in love is at the heart of who we are, deeper than any fear or hatred that holds us hostage. Deep within us is a longing for union, for our genesis is in the One from whom all things have come.
J. Phillip Newell
Prayer
May we “put on love, which binds all together in perfect unity.”
Col 3:13-14
Action
As we view the our lives, our communities, our nation our world, what is “the ignorance of what we have done or become?” Where do you see wisdom or the desire for what is just and right? How can you live this way?
Suggested Reading
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10
To love God means to invest our energies each day to be God’s assistants in the unmitigated service of our neighbor, in trying to forgive without limitations, and in cultivating relationships of communion and fraternity.
Pope Francis
The truth of human freedom lies in the love that breaks down barriers.
Jürgen Moltmann
True religion is real living; living with all one’s soul, with all one’s goodness and righteousness.
Albert Einstein
Tolerance isn’t about not having beliefs. It’s about how your beliefs lead you to treat people who disagree with you.
Timothy Keller
We ought to think that we are one of the leaves of a tree, and the tree is all humanity. We cannot live without the others, without the tree.
Pablo Casals
Internal peace is an essential first step to achieving peace in the world. How do you cultivate it? It’s very simple. In the first place by realizing clearly that all mankind is one, that human beings in every country are members of one and the same family.
The Dalai Lama
I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.
Anne Frank
It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.
Irish proverb