Beholding His image

By Luscia Kanneh

There is a joke about a married couple. A wife constantly criticised the neighbour’s laundry, insisting it was always dirty as she viewed it through her window.

One day, she was surprised to see the laundry spotless. Her husband pointed out that he had cleaned their windows. We cannot see clearly through dirty windows, just as we cannot see our reflections accurately in a dirty mirror.

Created in God’s image

“God created man in the image of himself…” (Gen 1:27). An image is a likeness. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: “The divine image is present in every man” (CCC 1702). Do we recognise God’s image when we look in the mirror? Do our brothers and sisters see God’s image in us?

What obscures the image

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (Jn 10:10). The lenses through which we see ourselves and others are often muddied by trauma, painful experiences, and lies spoken to and about us. These rob us of a clear sense of our God-given dignity.

“You have failed to make weak sheep strong, or to care for the sick ones…on the contrary you have ruled them cruelly and harshly” (Ezek 34:1–4). Some images are clouded by disordered and broken relationships, including those with persons in authority. Those entrusted with our care sometimes act out of their own woundedness.

“All have sinned and lack God’s glory…” (Rom 3:23). Our identity is also distorted by sin and disobedience. The further we stand from a mirror, the harder it is to see our reflection. Likewise, as we drift from God, we cease to see ourselves or others as His artwork. Our identity becomes distorted. We search for meaning in the wrong places. Yet this deep longing is satisfied only when we know whose we are and who we are in Christ.

Christ cleanses, restores and transforms

St Augustine confessed: “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord and our heart is restless until it rests in You.” God invites us to return to Him, our Creator and source of life. “Through Him all things came into being” (Jn 1:3).

God has given knowledge and wisdom to priests, Religious and professionals—including psychologists, psychiatrists, coaches and teachers—who can accompany us in healing, restoration and the renewing of our minds.

God promises, “I shall give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I shall remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh instead” (Eze 36:26). Christ ultimately cleanses and restores His image in us.

In mathematics, the process by which an image takes on the likeness of an object is called transformation. Spiritual transformation requires a deep and personal relationship with Christ.

Abiding in Christ

Jesus invites us to remain in Him as He in us (John 15:4). Some practices that foster this transformation include:

• Cultivate a daily prayer life
• Pray with Scripture
• Worship through music
• Participate in the liturgical life of the Church
• Encounter Christ’s real presence in the Blessed Sacrament
• Receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation
• Spiritual Reading includes reading the lives of the saints, papal documents, and other sound Catholic resources
• Spiritual direction
• Participating in parish ministries and/or ecclesial communities

A new creation

“For anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old order is gone and a new being is there to see” (2 Cor 5:17). A Religious sister once told me that we are all sinners trying to become saints. The journey of spiritual transformation begins by recognising who we are created to be.

What is one concrete step you will take to begin seeing yourself and others more clearly as God’s image and likeness?

Luscia Kanneh is a clinical psychologist and the Spiritual Director of Alleluia School of Spiritual Directions.