Like Animal and Angel

We are like animals. It’s true. God created all of us; God created all of us from matter, matter that He created out of nothing. We, like the chimpanzees and the slugs and the whales and the bluebirds, are all God’s creatures. The beauty of all created things give witness to the source of beauty, the Beautiful One — God who gives existence and life to all things. Therefore, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “There is a solidarity among all creatures arising from the fact that all have the same Creator and are all ordered to his glory”[i] and sites the words of St. Francis of Assisi in celebration of this beautiful truth:

May you be praised, O Lord, in all your creatures, especially brother sun, by whom you give us light for the day; he is beautiful, radiating great splendor, and offering us a symbol of you, the Most High. . . . May you be praised, my Lord, for sister water, who is very useful and humble, precious and chaste. . . . May you be praised, my Lord, for sister earth, our mother, who bears and feeds us, and produces the variety of fruits and dappled flowers and grasses. . . . Praise and bless my Lord, give thanks and serve him in all humility.[ii]

So, yes, we are like the animals. However — and this is the most crucial and essential however that ever was — we are not only created from matter, made of flesh, but also of spirit. We are created in the image and likeness of God, we are given spiritual souls, souls of spirit — of God — that animate our human bodies of flesh, thus making us human. Only we human beings are both physical and spiritual, uniting in our very natures the spiritual and material worlds.[iii]

St. Catherine of Siena said of this unity of matter and spirit that is man in her Dialogue with God:

What made you establish man in so great a dignity? Certainly the incalculable love by which you have looked on your creature in yourself! You are taken with love for her; for by love indeed you created her, by love you have given her a being capable of tasting your eternal Good.[iv]

St. John Chrysostom meditated and reflected upon this unique difference, this holy, divine difference of God’s creation of man:

What is it that is about to be created, that enjoys such honor? It is man—that great and wonderful living creature, more precious in the eyes of God than all other creatures! For him the heavens and the earth, the sea and all the rest of creation exist. God attached so much importance to his salvation that he did not spare his own Son for the sake of man. Nor does he ever cease to work, trying every possible means, until he has raised man up to himself and made him sit at his right hand.[v]

Catechesis

Can you tell I’ve been reading the Catechism? Actually, I’ve been delving into the Catechism of the Catholic Church with the “Catechism in a Year” daily podcast, not only reading what’s written in the Catechism but also exploring the meaning and ramifications of the words with Fr. Mike Schmidt’s commentaries. Yes, Fr. Mike, whose daily podcast on the entirety of the Bible I listened to last year, filling me with wonder and inspiration, and giving me good courage at a time when I really needed it.

Now going through the Catechism, I’m already learning more about the Holy Trinity (don’t worry, I haven’t figured that one out yet, which is good because then it wouldn’t be God), the point of Creation, and the meaning of suffering. More on the meaning of suffering in an upcoming post. As you might imagine, that one still needs some digesting, but I think it could be life-changing. It certainly has to do with the point of Creation and the journey of all Creation.

 But for today, I’m reflecting with the Saints upon the intimate beauty and ultimate glory  of what and who God has created.

Heaven and Earth are full of Your glory, Hosanna in the highest!

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Feature Photo by name_ gravity on Unsplash

[i] CCC para. 334

[ii] St. Francis of Assisi, Canticle of the Creatures. Will

[iii] CCC para. 355

[iv] St. Catherine of Siena, Dialogue 4, 13 “On Divine Providence”: LH, Sunday,

week 19, OR.

[v] St. John Chrysostom, In Gen. Sermo II, 1: PG 54, 587D-588A.