June 14, 2005
Being a Human Being
"What is man, oh God, that you care for him – mortal man that you keep him in mind?" (Ps 8:5) This is a humbling Psalm. Humus is Latin for earth. It is the root word in humility, and human. Thus, humility is simply being down to earth; in touch with whom and what you really are. Humility puts us in our place, but what an exalted place God has given us sinful humans! Though "God fashioned man from the dust of the soil", we are nonetheless, "made in the image and likeness of God."(Gen 1:27 &2:7) This is a privilege above all other earthly creatures.
God made us to be like him in that he made us persons. "Being in the image of God, the human... possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone." (CCC 357) So, like the persons of the Trinity and the angels, we are persons. We are persons because we have minds which let us know, and wills which allow us to direct ourselves and to love. Thus, as a person, man "is capable of self knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons." (CCC 357) As wonderful and friendly as my old hound Amos was, he was not a person because he operated off of pure instinct. He never pondered his mortality or expressed himself in art because he didn't have the capacity to do anything more than be a dog. Of all visible creatures, only man is "able to know and love his creator." He is the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake," and he alone is called to share, by knowledge and love, in God's own life." (CCC 356) That is why man was created and why he has such an exalted dignity. The rest of the above Psalm reads, "You made [man] little less than a god/angel." Man, thus, finds himself between angels and animals in the order of creation.
The human person, unlike God or the angels, is made up of both body and soul. The capacities of intellect and will are what make up that intangible something of our selves called a soul. A doctor can't weigh it or see it when he operates on someone, just as he can't weigh or see an idea when he does brain surgery. Yet, we know when a soul is not there; then we say the individual is dead. Death tears the human person asunder. Death is the effect of sin on man. The angels can't die precisely because they don't have bodies which can be separated from their spirits; and, it wasn't until the second person of the Trinity took on a human body and soul, and was crucified, that we could utter that mysterious phrase, "God died." Jesus was dead for the 3 days when his human soul was separated from his human body. This he did out of sheer love for us, to defeat the effects of sin and death. Thus, we can live one day in heaven with him with our bodies and souls reunited as we are meant to be. How humbling it is, that God loves us so much.
Fr. John Anthony Boughton, CFR
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