Monday, October 6, 2008

The Image of God

Some of you who subscribe to my free e-letter CassidyComments (cassidycomments@yahoo.com) will be familiar with the following quote. My apologies for the duplication, but this is such a beautiful quote from Pope Benedict XVI that it warrants repeating.

It comes from his weekly General Audience of September 17, 2008. I am using the translation published in the National Catholic Register.

"Just as Caesar's image was stamped on Roman coins in order to indicate that they were to be given back to him, the image of of the Creator--the only Lord in our life--is stamped on the heart of man."

Yes, the image of God is stamped on our hearts. That is how inseparable we are from our Creator. We are permanently joined to God and formed by him. It is natural that the heart, from where our love grows and flows out to the world, would be the centerpiece of God's image.

It's interesting, also, to contemplate the idea that Caesar's coins were marked so as to be given back to him, and we, marked for God, are always claimed by him as well.

God bless,
Janet