looking like dad
"What comparison can I use to describe this breed? They are like children..." —Matthew 11:16
We were created in the image and likeness of God (Gn 1:26-27). That image was marred when we sinned. The purpose of our lives is to be restored to the image of God by imitating Jesus, "the Image of the invisible God" (Col 1:15). However, we are so blinded and confused by sin that we are tempted to make everyone and everything (even God) conform to our deformed image.
We are tempted to pretend to be God and to get everyone to do our will rather than God's will. But we are not the Creator; we are the created (see Wis 13:5ff). We are not the perfect image of the Father but the imperfect image. We need to conform to God's will so that our deformity will be reformed and transformed.
This Advent, we began the year of God the Father in preparation for the Great Jubilee in the year 2000. Let us be humble, docile children of the Father. Let us obey our Father as He teaches us what is for our good and leads us on the way we should go (Is 48:17). Let us rejoice in being conformed to the Father's image. When we give up our desire to make the world in our image, we will be restored into God's image and thereby find our true selves.
Prayer: Holy Spirit, cry out in my heart "Father" (Abba) (Gal 4:6).
Promise: "If you would hearken to My commandments, your prosperity would be like a river, and your vindication like the waves of the sea." —Is 48:18
Praise: Pope St. Damasus left the world a great treasure by initiating intense Biblical studies and commissioning the translation of the Scriptures into Latin, the common language of his time. He wanted to open up the Scriptures to as many people as possible.
Nihil Obstat: Reverend Robert J. Buschmiller, June 11, 1998
Imprimatur: †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, July 20, 1998