MEDITATIONS FOR ADVENT: The Creation of Man
Paradise with the Creation of Adam and the Fall of Man
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MEDITATIONS FOR ADVENT:
4. The Creation of Man
“Thou hast made him little less than the angels, and dost crown him with glory and
honor. Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands” (Ps. 8:5-6). So
David sang in memory of the creation of man. And it is true: man, united to a body, is
inferior to these pure spirits, but only a little beneath, for, like them, he has life and
intelligence and love, and he is made happy by what makes them happy. God is the
common happiness of each; and, in this regard equal to the angels, their brothers and not
their subjects, we are only a little less than they.
You have crowned him with honor and glory, according to his soul and according to
his body. You have given him justice, the original righteousness, immortality, and
dominion over all bodily creatures. The angels, lacking bodies, have no need for these
creatures, which confer no good upon them. Yet God has placed man in this sensible and
corporeal world to contemplate it and to enjoy it. To contemplate it, according to the
words of David, “I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars
which thou hast established” (Ps. 8:3), amid the immense night sky that envelops them in
their courses and is ruled by a law of inviolable stability. Man should also enjoy the
world, according to the usages that God has prescribed for it: of the sun, the moon, and
the stars, “for signs and for seasons and for days and years” (Gen. 1:14). All the rest of
corporeal nature is submitted to his empire. He cultivates the earth and makes it fertile.
He makes the seas serve his purposes and commerce. All the animals recognize his rule,
either because they fear him or because he employs them to his various ends. But sin has
weakened this empire and has left us only a miserable remnant of it.
As everything was to have been put into the power of man, God created man after all
the rest, introducing him into the universe as one introduces into a room the one in
whose honor the party is being held, after everything is ready and when the dinner is
served. Man is the perfect complement to the other works of God, and after having
made him as his masterpiece, God rested.
“Let us make man in our image and likeness” (cf. Gen. 1:26). At these words, the
image of the Trinity begins to appear. It shines magnificently in the rational creature. Like
the Father, man has being; like the Son, he has intelligence; like the Holy Spirit, he has
love. Like the Blessed Trinity, he has in his being and his intelligence and his love, one
same happiness and life. There is no way to take one from him without taking them all.
Happy creature, and perfectly similar to God, if he would concern himself only with
God. Then, perfect in his being, intelligence, and love, he would understand all that he is
and love all that he understood. His being and its operations would be inseparable; God
would become the perfection of his being, the immortal food of his intelligence, life, and
love. Like God, he would say but one single word, which would comprehend all his
wisdom; like God, he would produce one sole love, which would embrace all his good,
and all of this would be undying in him. Grace comes in above this foundation and lifts
up nature. Glory is shown to him and adds to his complement of grace. Happy creature
once again, if only he knew how to preserve this happiness!
But man has lost it. O man, where did your intelligence go astray? To what objects has
your love descended? Alas! Return to your source.
Archbishop Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
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