{"id":17625,"date":"2018-12-25T09:25:31","date_gmt":"2018-12-25T14:25:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=17625"},"modified":"2018-12-25T09:32:32","modified_gmt":"2018-12-25T14:32:32","slug":"saying-yes-to-the-divine-likeness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=17625","title":{"rendered":"Saying Yes to the Divine Likeness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Richard Rohr<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Saying Yes to the Divine Likeness<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Tuesday, December 25, 2018<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Christmas Day<\/strong><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1voPbg3zOCY\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nMy work is to free<br \/>\nmyself of myself<br \/>\nso that You can be<br \/>\nborn in me.<br \/>\n\u2014Meister Eckhart, paraphrased [1]<\/p>\n<p>The positive being that emerges from you and me [is] the image of God. The problem is that this image has been distorted by the emotional programs for happiness and over-identification with false values or groups so that the purity and power and beauty of who we really are is kind of hidden with layers of false self, both conscious and unconscious. So the spiritual journey aims at that. \u2014Thomas Keating [2]<br \/>\nHow do we first see and then practice our unique image of God, our \u201cOriginal Goodness\u201d? Paul gives us an answer. He says, \u201cThere are only three things that last, faith, hope, and love\u201d (1 Corinthians 13:13). In Catholic theology, we call these three essential attitudes the \u201ctheological virtues\u201d because they are a \u201cparticipation in the very life of God\u201d\u2014given freely by God or \u201cinfused\u201d into us at our very conception. In this understanding, faith, hope, and love are far more defining of the human person than the \u201cmoral virtues,\u201d the various good behaviors we learn as we grow older. This is why I cannot abandon an orthodox or Catholic worldview. For all of its poor or incomplete formulations, it still offers humanity a foundationally positive anthropology, not just a moral worthiness contest, which is always unstable and insecure.<br \/>\nFrom the very beginning, faith, hope, and love are planted deep within our nature\u2014indeed they are our very nature (Romans 5:5, 8:14-17). But we have to awaken, allow, and advance this core identity by saying a conscious yes to it and drawing upon it as a reliable and Absolute Source. Image must become likeness.<br \/>\nOur saying \u201cyes\u201d to such implanted faith, hope, and love plays a crucial role in the divine equation; human freedom matters. Mary\u2019s yes seemed to be essential to the event of Incarnation (Luke 1:38). God does not come uninvited. God and grace cannot enter without an opening from our side, or we would be mere robots. God does not want robots, but lovers who freely choose to love in return for love. And toward that supreme end, God seems quite willing to wait, cajole, and entice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Richard Rohr Saying Yes to the Divine Likeness Tuesday, December 25, 2018 Christmas Day My work is to free myself of myself so that You can be born in me. \u2014Meister Eckhart, paraphrased [1] The positive being that emerges from you and me [is] the image of God. The problem is that this image has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17625"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17625"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17627,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17625\/revisions\/17627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}