{"id":20703,"date":"2021-10-27T09:12:46","date_gmt":"2021-10-27T13:12:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=20703"},"modified":"2021-10-27T09:16:38","modified_gmt":"2021-10-27T13:16:38","slug":"20703","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=20703","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6zmobdjnw70\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Made in the Divine Image<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Father Richard views religion\u2019s purpose as reminding us of who we truly are:&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The essential work of religion is to help us recognize and recover the divine image in ourselves and everything else too. Whatever we call it, this \u2018image of God\u2019 is absolute and unchanging. There is nothing we can do to increase or decrease it. It is not ours to decide who has it or does not have it. It is pure and total gift, given equally to all.<em>&nbsp;<\/em>[1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>It is often the mystics who understand that \u201cMy deepest me is God!\u201d to paraphrase St. Catherine of Genoa (1447\u20131510). [2] In these passages, contemplative writer Ursula King presents three mystics who saw God\u2019s divine image as more fundamental in the human soul than sin.&nbsp;<\/em><em>The fourth century theologian and mystic Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335\u2013c. 394) held that:&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In each human soul there exists a divine element, a kind of inner eye capable of glimpsing something of God, for there exists a deep relationship, an affinity between human and divine nature. [3]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The medieval mystic Mechtild of Magdeburg (c. 1212\u2013c. 1282) yearned for the soul\u2019s original intimacy with God:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mechtild\u2019s work is motivated by the deep desire that the soul return to its original being in God. It is her true nature to live in the flowing light of the Godhead, just as it is a bird\u2019s nature to fly in the air and a fish\u2019s nature to swim in water. She has emanated from the heart of God, where she must return, but she discovers her utter nakedness before and in God: \u201cLord, now I am a naked soul!\u201d Yet her intense love pours out in praise of God:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>O God! so generous in the outpouring of Thy gifts!<br>So flowing in Thy Love!<br>So burning in Thy desire!<br>So fervent in union!<br>O Thou who doest rest on my heart<br>Without whom I could no longer live! [4]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><em>In the early seventeenth century, Francis de Sales (1567\u20131622) became Bishop of Geneva, Switzerland. In a time of deep religious division, he was known for his belief in \u201coriginal goodness.\u201d Ursula King continues: &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whereas many other spiritual writers in seventeenth-century France held a pessimistic view of the human being, stressing sin and abnegation, Francis de Sales believed in the inherent goodness of human nature. Human beings have a natural inclination to love God, due to the correspondence between divine goodness and human souls, which bear some kind of divine imprint or spark. God holds us by this goodness as in some way linked to himself \u201cas little birds by a string, by which He can draw us when it pleases His Compassion.\u201d Francis does not speak about the \u201cground\u201d of the soul like the Rhenish [or Rhineland] mystics, but refers to the \u201cmountain top\u201d of the soul, the utmost summit where self ends and God begins, a no-place which is yet a place, a dwelling place that can only be reached by an all-transforming movement of love. [5]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"325\" src=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/image-6-500x325.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-20705\" srcset=\"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/image-6-500x325.png 500w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/image-6-300x195.png 300w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/image-6-768x499.png 768w, http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/image-6.png 1910w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Made in the Divine Image Father Richard views religion\u2019s purpose as reminding us of who we truly are:&nbsp; The essential work of religion is to help us recognize and recover the divine image in ourselves and everything else too. Whatever we call it, this \u2018image of God\u2019 is absolute and unchanging. There is nothing we [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20703"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20703"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20708,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20703\/revisions\/20708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}