Word to the Wise
Tuesday, February 6, 2007 - St. Paul Miki and Companions
[Genesis 1:20-2:4a and Mark 7:1-13]Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground." God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.
If we're not totally exhausted by the discussion of the words, "In the beginning..." surely we can fnish the task by taking up the subject of the creation of humanity. Man and woman are made in the "image of God" and they have "dominion" over all other living beings. This truth, too, has been the subject of strenuous and often divisive debate. On the one hand there are those who cannot believe that being made in the image of God includes destructive stewardship of creation. On the other, there are those who say, "dominion means dominion." Forests are merely feet of timber. Birds and other creatures dependent on those forests are unfortunate victims of the march of progress. The air and water, so they say, are also unfortunate victims of the march of progress. Much depends on one's biblical anthropology. Is the human person the Master or Mistress of all creation. Or is he or she the steward thereof? On an individual or societal or global level this question is very serious. The whole global warming issue spins around it! Perhaps the first question that should be asked is the meaning of the notion that we are made in the image and likeness of God. Some may think that gives us the right to "play God." Others, including myself, believe that we shall have to render an account to the God in whose image we have been made. I would not want to say that I destroyed a planet to make my bank account larger. AMEN
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