Year A
Memorial of Saints Cosmas and Damian
Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:8
Psalm 90:3-4.5-6.12-13.14 and 17 (R. 1)
Luke 9: 43b-45
Son of Man in the Hands of Men
Today we commemorate the memorial of Saints Cosmas and Damian. These two Syrian brothers who used their medical knowledge and skills to help many people and where beheaded for their faith under the persecution of Diocletian in 303 A.D reminds us of the fact that we are to use our talents and skills to help others.
There is a talent that all humans have in common, being in the image and likeness of God. With this talent we are to heal the world.
Today, Qoheleth is giving his last advice as we are on the last chapter. He contrast the pleasures of youthful age with the disinterest of such pleasures at old age. His stress is that we should remember the Lord God in are youthful age before the evil day comes.
He also adds that whatever we do will be brought to Judgement and to him the judgment is that when we die, the dust which belongs to the dust will return to the dust and the spirit which belongs to God will go back to him. This judgment implies that man goes to his eternal home, because dust will return to dust and spirit will return to God who is the supreme Spirit. Intrestingly also, the dust and even whatever there is comes from God.
In the Gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that the Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men. As a Catholic, I always see the Son of man in the hands of men in the Holy Eucharist. Jesus Christ gave himself to us, the Divine humbled himself to the extent that humans can hold him. So John in his first letter said;
1 John 1:1-3
"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life: For the life was manifested; and we have seen and do bear witness, and declare unto you the life eternal, which was with the Father, and hath appeared to us: That which we have seen and heard, we declare unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us, and our fellowship may be with the Father, and with Son Jesus Christ."
The other way the Son of Man is in human hands is we possessing the image of God. Note that when God created us, he said let Create man in our own image and likeness, and he did just that creating humans (cf. Genesis 1:26-27). Thus the first Adam had the imprint of the Second Adam who is Jesus Christ. We all possess the image and likeness of God. By this, the Son of man is given to us.
Jesus is our standard. Just as Qoheleth reminds us that we should remember our maker in our youthful age before the evil days come, Pope Francis in his "Christus Vivit" reminds us that Christ is eternally a youth. For the purpose of this reflection, I understand youthfulness not only in the sense of being young but in the sense of being alive, because the one who is alive is active just as youths are active, which his Holiness Pope Francis also made it clear his post-synodal apostolic exhortation "Christus Vivit".
So if we are to remember our Lord in our youthful age before the evil days come, then we are to treat his image and likeness he gave to us in which case we are alive and may continue to live eternally if only the image and likeness in us is found worthy in the presence of God when we are to return to him.
There is another way humans mishandle the image and likeness of God, which is found in occultism; where people enter the Catholic Church and receive the Holy Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ and hiding it as if they have eaten it, send it out to go and perform black Mass and desecrate the consecrated Host.
If you are a human, God has delivered himself into your hands, because he has imprinted his image and likeness on you. But remember since the image and likeness is his, you are his and this means he has a responsibility towards you, and you also have a responsibility towards yourself making sure his image and likeness given to you is intact.
Keeping intact his image and likeness is crucial for our Salvation and because of this when Jesus taught us to pray the Lord's Prayer, he taught us to say "Hollowed be thy name." God's name is Holy already so why will we say this? First it is to praise and worship him, but the second reason is that, since he has given us his image and likeness, his name is in us.
Just as when a husband puts his name on his wife, they both become responsible for each other, God giving us his image and likeness has put himself into our hands and we in his.
By Sylvester Amakye-Quayson
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