{"id":2976,"date":"2007-09-07T03:56:17","date_gmt":"2007-09-07T03:56:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2007\/09\/imago-dei-invisibilis\/"},"modified":"2024-10-21T10:17:33","modified_gmt":"2024-10-21T09:17:33","slug":"imago-dei-invisibilis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2007\/09\/imago-dei-invisibilis\/","title":{"rendered":"Imago Dei Invisibilis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"manoppello.jpg\"Twenty-Second Friday of the Year I<\/strong>
\nColossians 1:15-20
\nChrist Jesus is the image of the invisible God,
\nthe firstborn of every creature:
\nFor in Him were all things created in heaven and on earth,
\nvisible and invisible,
\nwhether thrones, or dominations,
\nor principalities, or powers:
\nall things were created by Him and in Him.
\nAnd He is before all, and by Him all things consist.
\nAnd He is the head of the body, the church,
\nwho is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead;
\nthat in all things He may hold the primacy:
\nBecause in Him, it hath well pleased the Father,
\nthat all fullness should dwell;
\nAnd through Him to reconcile all things unto himself,
\nmaking peace through the blood of his cross,
\nboth as to the things that are on earth,
\nand the things that are in heaven.<\/em><\/p>\n

Doxological Christology<\/strong>
\nToday\u2019s passage from the Letter to the Colossians is well known to us. Some of you may even know it by heart. It is a hymn inspired by the Holy Spirit, addressed to the Father, in celebration of the mystery of Christ, a wonderful example of \u201cdoxological Christology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanksgiving<\/strong>
\nIn praising the glory of the Father \u2014 the mystery of the Son comes into focus to \u201cenlighten the eyes of the heart\u201d (Eph 1:18). The hymn englobes the whole \u201ceconomy\u201d of God: redemption, creation, the resurrection and lordship of Christ and, at the end of the text, a confession of the mystery of the Cross, radiating peace over heaven and earth (Col 1:20).<\/p>\n

Through Him<\/strong>
\nPerhaps you noticed that, although the whole hymn celebrates Jesus Christ, He is never explicitly named. Instead, all throughout, the pronoun \u201cHe\u201d is repeated again and again. The effect is not at all unlike that of the, \u201cThrough Him, with Him, and in Him . . .\u201d that concludes the Eucharistic Prayer.
\n
\nIndeed Right and Fitting<\/strong>
\nThis is not the only point of resemblance with the Eucharistic Prayer. If you take the text on your own, in lectio divina<\/em>, and repeat it slowly, you will see that it is crafted like the Roman Preface of the Mass. In fact, if you put the traditional opening of the Roman Preface at the beginning \u2014 It is indeed right and fitting, it is our duty and leads to our salvation, that we should praise you always and everywhere, Lord, holy Father, almighty and ever-living God, through Christ our Lord<\/em> \u2014 and if you add, at the end, the traditional conclusion of the preface \u2014 And therefore, together with all the Angels, we never cease to praise and glorify you, as we joyfully proclaim, Holy, Holy, Holy <\/em>\u2014 you have, with very few adjustments, a magnificent Eucharistic text, a rich Christological Preface.<\/p>\n

God’s Human Face<\/strong>
\nThere is, in these eight or nine verses, an inexhaustible richness of content. If I were to linger over a single phrase, it would be verse 15. \u201cHe is the image, the icon, of the invisible God\u201d (Col 1:15). Jesus is, to use the title of Cardinal von Sch\u00f6nborn\u2019s book<\/a>, \u201cGod’s Human Face.\u201d \u201cNo one has ever seen God,\u201d says Saint John the Theologian; \u201cthe only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known\u201d (Jn 1:18). Jesus Himself says, \u201cHe who has seen me has seen the Father\u201d (Jn 14:9), and Saint Paul adds that God \u201chas shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of his glory in the Face of Christ\u201d (2 Cor 4:6).
\n
\nThe Eucharistic Revelation of His Face<\/strong>
\nToday\u2019s message from Colossians moves us to seek the Face of Christ. One who desires to contemplate the Face of Christ needs to immerse himself in the psalms, the prophets, the Gospels, Saint Paul, and the saints and mystics of every age. One who desires to contemplate the Face of Christ needs to spend time, silent and adoring, before the mystery of the Most Holy Eucharist. And so, we go from the ambo to the altar, where \u201cthe Blood of the Cross\u201d (Col 1:20) is given us to drink, and where the Face of Christ, at once hidden and revealed, satisfies the heart\u2019s desire.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twenty-Second Friday of the Year I Colossians 1:15-20 Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For in Him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him and in Him. And <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,17,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eucharistic-face-of-christ","category-holy-face-of-jesus","category-homilies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-M0","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2976"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2976"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25646,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2976\/revisions\/25646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}