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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Join the Napa Institute and the Busch School of Business for the Principled Entrepreneurship™ Conference on the Dignity of Work as understood in light of Catholic social doctrine.
Through keynote sessions and panel discussions, the conference will examine such themes as the sanctification of work, growth and prosperity, innovation, and the relationship between work and human dignity. The conference will be held at both the Mayflower Hotel and The Catholic University of America and will include a tour and sessions at the recently opened Museum of the Bible.
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