Daily Meditation: Saturday, September 4, 2004

‘Make man in our image’ - interpretation

09/04/2004

It is written in the Book of Genesis that on the sixth day, after having separated the earth from the waters and created the sun, moon, stars, plants and animals, God said: ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.' The universe is the body of God, a body which He animates with His spirit. In the same way, the human being has a body which is a reflection of the universe, and the spirit which animates this body is a spark from the divine Spirit. So God is not a monarch who reigns far from view in some inaccessible place in the farthest reaches of heaven. Undoubtedly there is no being who is more impenetrable or imperceptible, but at the same time He is the closest, for He is inside us. Thus, there is a great work for us to carry out so that we may sense and bring to life this presence within us. Nothing is more precious than the sensation that we are inhabited by God and, then, whatever happens, nothing can shake our conviction.