We Are Made in God’s Image

Everything in creation has its own particular beauty and its own particular way of giving glory to God. This should make us think twice about the time we waste envying one another. If I find myself envious, I know that I have lost sight of the glorious, God-given this-ness of who I am. Who are you supposed to be? It is obvious; you are supposed to be you! 

Made in God’s image and likeness, our true selves are hidden in Christ, the New Adam. God’s only Son came to show us who we are and to help us to become ourselves fully. It might sound strange, but we will never be our true selves until we encounter Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and come to know him and love him as the Father’s greatest gift to creation. It is through Jesus that we are set free to be who we’re supposed to be.

At the beginning of his journey, St Francis prayed, ‘Who are you, Lord, and who am I?’ Francis came to see that the more God is revealed to us, the more we come to know who we really are, who we are supposed to be. Our true selves are hidden in Christ, waiting for us (Colossians 3:1–11). We don’t become who we are supposed to be through envy and competition. We relax, more and more, into our true selves when we begin to realise that we are loved unconditionally for who we are.

Liam Kelly OFM, The Sacred Heart Messenger, October 2024