Today’s first reading, Genesis 1: 20-2: 4a, is a continuation
of the creation story, whereby God creates an abundance of every living thing
upon the earth: birds of the air, fishes of the sea, creeping things, cattle
and all kinds of wild animals and says after creating all of them: “Be fertile,
multiply,” populate the earth with more of your kind, seeing that all that He
had made was good. Then, God created
humankind in His image; the image of the Divine He created us, in God’s
likeness, “male and female He created [us]” and said: “Be fertile and multiply;
fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over…all living things that move on
the earth.” God also gave us “every seed-bearing plant all over the earth and every
tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be [our] food [along with] all the
animals of the land, all the birds of the air,” the fishes in the sea, and “all
the living creatures that crawl on the ground.”
Then God rested and enjoyed all of His creation.
What a generous God, providing everything for us to exist in
peace, enjoying fullness of life and delighting in all of God’s creation! And, moreover, in His creation of us, God
made us like Himself. We are created in God’s image. Think of the Trinity, a
community of three persons (though one God) relating equally to one another. No one person of the
Trinity dominates the other. All share equally the gifts of divinity: the
power, the creativity, the Wisdom, the Prudence, the Counsel, the Reverence, and
the Courage. And you and I are created in the likeness of the Trinity, of God. When we live the Trinitarian life, each of us
relates respectfully to each other. Each of us relates prudently, lovingly,
creatively, courageously, wisely in meeting each other’s needs and being one
with the other in holiness and grace, in power and majesty, in love and
forgiveness.
What a generous God, who shows us in the Trinity how to live
according to God’s likeness!
