I’ve been away from the board for a bit, but I see a few interesting questions and topics have been posted.

One thing that is sometimes confusing is how and why our dignity exists, and what it consists of. How are we created in God’s image?

When we refer to ourselves as created in God’s image, and as having a basic dignity or worth, it is those qualities that God intended in the original creation, that is before the Fall. There were gifts that we were to have inherited had it not been for original sin. God in His infinate love looks beyond our sinfulness and into what He created us for, (To know Him, love Him, and be with Him forever). While he does not ignore our sins, or choices to reject His will, He unlike most of us sees beyond them and sends us graces to overcome sin, if we cooperate with His graces.

The essence is that we live in a world that we have in a sense created, not the world that God intended for us to live in, or gave us originally. The world God intended was one of perfection, as Catholics we believe that by a misuse of our free will, we have created illness and desires for those things that distract us from our true purpose, which is Eternal Life with God. We are all called to show the world how we can live a moral life and live it joyfully. While we are also called to treat all with dignity because they are creatures of God, there are three things we cannot do. We cannot overlook or promote sinful behavior, (by heterosexuals or homosexuals) or mistreat someone who engages in sinful behavior, (that would include all of us, as we too are sinners). We must however leave the judgement of a person’s sinfullness to the medicine God gave us, the confessional. We can promote the latter by praying for the graces God sends to help us be recieved and utilized by all, and by our own frequent and worthy reception of the Sacraments, including visiting our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and praying for the gift of repentance and reparation for offences against His will.