The creation of the cosmos, and the human person as the apex of this creation, was a completely gratuitous act of the Holy Trinity. Why did they do it? Pope Francis put it succinctly in the first months of his papacy: “Creation is a love story.” We were created by Love itself to participate in the Love of the Divine Creator.
How do we do this? Scripture states that “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8). Our loving God is both one and also three distinct persons. So we might say that the complete giving and receiving of love makes the Trinity “one.” And human persons are made in “God’s image and likeness” (Gn 1: 27). We were made distinct persons to love and to be loved—we were created for love. We were also made to be lovingly “creative” like unto God.
Creative human love is most divinely imaged in the marital union of woman and man when they join together for the sake of giving birth to a child. We must be amazed that each child born of woman and man will live for eternity! This incredible power, we might even call it divine, was given to us by God! I always tell this to parents and guests at baptisms. Mainly, that the Church reverences and protects the act of procreation, specifically for marriage, because it is the principal way human persons most closely mirror the loving, creative action of the Holy Trinity.
Rev. William M. Watson, SJ is the founder and president of Sacred Story Institute.
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Spend a weekend in Napa exploring the Magisterium of Pope St. John Paul II, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of his election to the papacy, and dive deeper into the joys of Catholic Faith, Family and Love.
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