In God's Image And Likeness

It is the first of all the sins – the desire to make ourselves God.

Instead of submitting to God, we want to take his place and put ourselves at the center of the universe. Instead of obeying God's law, we want to make up our own rules. Instead of allowing God to use us, we want to use others to serve our needs.

This sin of pride is at the core of all sinful behavior. It was the sin of Adam and Eve who disobeyed God so they could have His knowledge of good and evil. As a result, our first parents lost paradise and unleashed violence and death upon God's creation. It is the sin of the people in today's first reading who think their knowledge and skill can rival God’s. As a result, their speech became confused. They were no longer able to work together and the tower which was to be a monument to their greatness fell into ruin.

This desire to put ourselves in God's place continues to harm this planet and its history. It burns in the heart of those who exploit workers to increase their already inflated profits. It drives warlords to kill and maim innocent people so as to intimidate and dominate them. It motivates corporations to pollute the environment so that they can produce more and more products that will only end up in dumps. The allure of godlike power drives some scientists even to manipulate and experiment on other human beings, denying their dignity. There is no doubt that this insane urge we have to overthrow God and put ourselves in His place has caused only misery and destruction all over our world.

Nonetheless, this desire to be God is rooted in one basic fact of our nature. We are created in His image and likeness. Among all the beautiful and amazing creatures on this earth, we are the most like God. It is within our nature to want to know Him, to want to love Him and to strive to serve Him. It is also within our nature to want to be like Him.

In our confused society and culture, we think that to be like God we have to get rid of Him. We think that the only way to be like Him is to have His power and knowledge for ourselves so that we can make our own rules and twist reality to suit our desires. In so doing, we fail to see God as a merciful father or loving Creator. Rather we see Him as a rival.

Of course, God is all-powerful and all-knowing. But that is not all there is to God. He is also merciful and loving. He gives himself totally to His creatures, providing for all their needs. He never grows tired of reaching out to sinners and forgiving them. He strengthens all those who believe in Him and empowers them to achieve great things. He is not a distant God ruling over us from afar but a loving Father who is ever near to all those call upon Him.

If we desire to be like God then, we must imitate his qualities of love, faithfulness, forgiveness and self-sacrifice.

This is precisely the meaning of today's celebration. On Pentecost, God sent his Holy Spirit down upon believers to meet our need to be like Him. The Holy Spirit is God's love poured into our hearts empowering us to love and forgive as He does. The Holy Spirit is the very power of God filling us with strength to do good even when it seems impossible. The Holy Spirit is God himself living within us and making us like himself, renewing us daily as Jesus assures us in today's gospel, "Rivers of living water will flow from within him who believes in me. "

Pentecost brings to fulfillment all that Jesus did to save us. By dying on the cross for us on Good Friday, He won for us the forgiveness for our sins. By rising from the dead on Easter Sunday, he gained for us the hope of everlasting life. Now, on Pentecost Sunday, by sending the Holy Spirit, He made us capable of reaching heights of holiness and goodness that we would never be capable of by our own power. The Holy Spirit we receive through baptism and faith makes us truly like God not so much in his power and knowledge, but in his love and faithfulness.

When we look at all that Jesus did to save us we can sometimes be tempted to put it in negative terms. For instance, we talk about the forgiveness of sins or even the ability to avoid sin. While that is true, there is so much more to what God wants for us. He wants us not only to not be bad but to truly be good. He wants us not only to not harm one another, but to serve one another and to meet one another's needs. He wants not only to protect us from evil but to empower us to do good. Through the power of the Holy Spirit living within us, he wants us to restore the world to the beauty and harmony He first created it to have.

All of us who believe in Jesus and are baptized have this power of God living within us. St. Paul reassures us in today's second reading that the Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness. If we feel weak and afraid, we need only call on this Holy Spirit living within us to reassure and strengthen us. If we feel confused and unsure, we  need only call on this Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds. If we feel ourselves resisting God and becoming allured by the empty promises of this world, we need only to call upon the Holy Spirit to remind us of all that we have as children of God.

God created us in his image and likeness so that we can reflect his beauty and goodness to the world. The Holy Spirit we celebrate this day makes this a reality in our lives. This power is available to all believers so that we can serve one another in love. Enlivened by this hope we can leave this celebration today and really live the power God has poured out upon us so that all of us can be like Him who loves us and gave us his Son so that we could live as His children.