The Book of Genesis in the Old Testament tells us how nothing existed in the beginning. Then God created the sea and the sky; the earth and everything upon it.. And then God said, "Let us make man in our own image and likeness." And so, God created man in his own image; in His divine image he created him. The Lord formed man out of the clay of the ground, and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and thus man became a living being. But God also said, "It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him." The Lord God then built up into a woman the rib he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, the man said: "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh..." God looked upon all he had created and found it to be very good.

From the Genesis account of creation we learn that God created mankind in his own image and likeness, and that love is the whole reason for creation — for us and for everything that exists. God is so loving that he wants to share his happiness with us, whom he created in his own image and likeness. He wants to share with us the happiness of loving at a level far beyond our human comprehension.

But God did not have to create anything. God is complete and perfect and infinitely happy within himself, and needed nothing outside of himself. Yet he chose to create us and to share his immense love with us.

Although we are created in God’s image and likeness, and therefore, similar to him, we are still not the same. It’s like looking at yourself in a mirror; the reflection you see resembles you, but it’s really not you, because the reflection has no real life to it. God is spirit, and when he breathed life into the first man, humanity received a part of God. But at the same time, we are not totally like him, because man is also flesh and bone, since he is formed from the clay of the earth. Consequently, God in his great wisdom knew that man needed someone like himself, thus he created the woman to be with the man.

Thus, from the creation account we see that God created man and woman and gave them dominion over all of His creation. He was their God, and they were His people. He loved them and they loved him, and the man and woman lived in harmony with God. Thus, the first covenant with humanity was established. "God looked upon all he created and found it very good."

However, in giving man and woman dominion over all creation, God gave them one restriction — only one. He forbid them to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and bad. And as we know, Adam and Eve, through the tempting of the devil in the form of a serpent, ate the forbidden fruit, and thus, turned their backs on God. Rather than do God’s will, they decided to do it their way. Because of this act, man broke the relationship, which had been established with God. He turned his back on the harmonious relationship that existed between himself and the God of love. By doing so, man condemned himself to eternal separation from God. This then was man’s original sin — the tendency to turn away from the God of love and to turn inward to himself, to become more concerned with worldly pleasures and himself, than with the true and total happiness emanating only from God.

Although man turned his back on God, fortunately, God did not turn his back on us, for God is love and that is not the way of love. Scripture gives us many more examples of how God, in his overall plan of reconciling us to himself, established other covenants with humanity, through such men as Noah and Abraham, and how mankind continually broke each successive covenant by their faithlessness to God.

Even still, God did not abandon us. The Book of Exodus tells us how, when God appeared to Moses on Mount Sinai, and Moses asked who he was, God replied, "I am, who am." At that moment God revealed a little bit more about himself. He revealed that he is the one who was, who is, and evermore shall be. In other words, he is the past, the present and the future. He is the beginning and the end – the Alpha and Omega.

God had picked the Jewish people to be his own special chosen ones. He was to be their God and they were to be his people. To show his immense love for them, God rescued them from their bonds of slavery at the hands of the Egyptians. He led their way out of Egypt. He parted the Red Sea so that they might cross over in safety, and then closed the sea over their Egyptian pursuers, and so destroyed forever those who had held God’s chosen people captive. He then brought the Jews to a new land and gave it to them as their own. He gave them laws — the Ten Commandments — to live by. All this God did because he loved his people. And once again God formed a covenant with man. He was to be the God of the Jews and they were to be his people.

But then the Jews — the chosen people — started to turn away from their God. They began to place their trust and faith in false gods instead of in Yahweh, who had done such great and wonderful things for them. To show them the error of their ways, God sent the Prophets to the Jews, to preach his word to them in an attempt to get them to change their ways. All was to no avail. Once again, the chosen ones of God turned their back on God’s love and broke their covenant relationship with him.

I wonder how you or I might feel, if after countless times of offering our greatest and best possessions to another person, that person merely threw them back in our face?

Fortunately, God is not like us. Instead of saying the heck with you, I’ve given you enough chances and opportunities, God went so far as to send his only son, Jesus, to become one like us in all things but sin, so that we might become reconciled to God the Father through him. In Jesus, God actually became man, and became one like us. The Word of God became real flesh and blood like you and I, and shared in our humanity.

Jesus came to us as the Christ, the Messiah, the one promised through the prophets of the Old Testament. He came to establish a new covenant with mankind, one that would be everlasting — once for all — never to be broken again. He came to reconcile us to God, so that we might once more share a loving relationship with God, as we once had in the Garden of Eden before man’s fall. He came to offer us a share in the everlasting kingdom of heaven. He called us to become the adopted children of God, and to thereby, have a share in His own divine nature. When Jesus came, he taught us that God is a loving Father. He referred to God as "Abba," meaning "daddy." God is our loving dad, who wants to love and care for us, and to share his life with us, the work of his own hands.

In the Gospel of Luke (11:11-13) we read: "What father among you will give his son a snake if he asks for a fish, or hand him a scorpion if he asks for an egg? If you, with all your sins, know how to give your children good things, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him."

If you recall in the gospel story of the Prodigal Son, what was the father’s reaction to his wayward son’s return, after squandering everything that had been given to him by his father? The father did not scold or reproach him. No, rather, he rejoiced that his son, who had been lost, had now returned to him. He welcomed him back with open and loving arms. God, our heavenly Father, does the same with us. Though we may turn our backs on him, He, nonetheless, is always lovingly there, waiting to take us back if we so desire. The key phrase is: "if we so desire," because God created us with a free will. He didn’t create us as mindless robots. Our free will is what got us into trouble in the first place. God never forces us to do anything, even if it’s for our own good. He calls us, and he offers himself to us, but he does not force himself on us. It is our decision to make. Love, after all, is more than just emotion; it is a decision of the will. We can choose to love God, or we can choose not to love God. It’s our choice to make. This is what Jesus taught us about God the Father.

But Jesus, too, is God. He is the Word of God become flesh. He is the only begotten son of the rather. He is the second person of the blessed trinity. He is the Christ — the Messiah. Jesus’ own life — how he lived, what he did, and what he preached — reveals to us the likeness and the glory of our Heavenly Father. As Jesus, himself, told us, "Everything has been given over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son but the Father, and no one knows the Father but the Son — and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him." (Matt. 11:27). And again in John 14:6-7, Jesus says, "I am the way, and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father also. From this point on you know him; you have seen him."

Jesus also taught us about God, the Holy Spirit; the third person of the Holy Trinity. It is the Holy Spirit, the unifying force of love between the Father and the Son, who is the source of life and love for us. Jesus taught us how we are to live, but it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we are actually able to live out this life.

We read in John 15:25 & 26, that Jesus says: "This much have I told you while I was still with you; the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will instruct you in everything, and remind you of all that I told you."

In the Acts of the Apostles we read further, that after Jesus the Christ rose from the dead, he appeared to the Apostles on a number of occasions over a forty day period. But even after that, and after all they had witnessed during Jesus’ lifetime, after Jesus ascended to heaven at the end of the forty days, the Apostles still huddled and hid behind locked doors, afraid to go out. It wasn’t until ten days after his Ascension, on Pentecost Sunday, when the Holy Spirit descended on the Apostles in the form of tongues of fire, that they received the courage to go out and preach to all the world the Good New of salvation that they had received from Christ.

Thus, we have God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit — three divine persons in one Godhead. This is one of the great mysteries of our faith. It is beyond our human comprehension. But this is the God revealed to us by Christ. Three divine persons living as one in perfect unity.

The dictionary defines the word "unity" as: "the state of being one; singleness; and the absence of diversity." The word "community" means to come to unity.

In a religious sense of the word, community means that we are called to share with one another in a common bond of faith, love and interest, through which we individually and collectively strive for salvation. That means since Christ told us that we are to love one another, as he has loved us (Jn. 15:12), and that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matt. 19:19), than we are called to share all that we have: our ideas, our emotions, our feelings, and our very selves with one another — the community — for the benefit of all. In other words, we have to look outside and beyond ourselves. We have to become sensitive to others and to be concerned with their well—being, as well as with our own.

We are all members of the one Body of Christ. God created all mankind, and calls each of us to be reunited with him through faith in Jesus Christ, his Son. Since we are members of this community — the one Body of Christ — which is made up of the many members, we, therefore, have a responsibility to help one another. As St. Paul aptly describes it (1 Cor. 12:12-26) in relation to the human body: "…does not each of the many members of the body — the head, the arm, the hand, the leg, the foot, and so on, each serve the whole body by its particular function; and does it not also have a responsibility for the well—being of the whole? If your hand was being burned in a fire, does not your mind tell you, and does not your arm pull out the hand? The same is true of each of us, as the many members of the one Body of Christ.

Each of us as individuals have been given our own very special talents and abilities. They are gifts from God. We are not all given the same gifts, but we all have our own share. Some are given more than others, it is true, for reasons known only to God; but that also means they have a greater responsibility to bear as well. What God freely gives us is not given for ourselves alone. What we receive, we are expected to share with one another for the benefit of all; for the building up of the community. We have to remember, that the time will come when each of us will stand before Christ — the just judge — and have to answer to him as to how we used the gifts we were given.

As I have said, we are all members of the one Body of Christ, with each of us having our own special gifts and talents which we are called to use in the building up of the Body of Christ. But we have to remember that although we are members of the Body of Christ, which is the large community, at the same time, we are also members of a number of smaller communities. For instance, we are members of our family community; we are members of workplace community; we are members of our parish community, and so on. Another example can be this Charismatic Prayer Group community. It is comprised of many different members, with differing talents and gifts, coming together to form the one body, with the purpose of sharing a faith experience.

Thus, just as each of us here in this Prayer Group community are sharing ourselves with one another in various ways, each of us can and must share ourselves in the other communities in which we live. It might be by being more loving, understanding or considerate with family members. It might be by taking some kind of active role in our parish community. Or, it might be by somehow sharing your faith with co—workers in some fashion. Whatever form it may take, will again, depend on what has been given to you and how well you respond to God’s call. But the central point is that what is required is some type of action by you, for the benefit of more than just self.

This form of action is most perfectly exemplified by Christ, himself, who, although he was God, lowered himself to become one like us, so that we might have a new life. He did this by suffering and dying on the cross for our sins.

Christ did not have to suffer and die for us, but he chose to and did so willingly, because he loved us. God is love and love is God. And we are called to become one with God. Love, then, is a decision of the will and not just emotion. Love is, also, action.

Jesus said (Jn 15:13): "There is no greater love than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." And this is what Jesus did, he laid down his life for us. And he told us further (Jn 15:14-16), "You are my friends if you do what I command you...I call you friends since I have made known to you all that I heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, it was I who chose you to go forth and bear fruit."

Thus, love requires action and people. There cannot be love without people. We must love one another as Christ loved us. God is love. God loved us first. Where there is love, then there is God. God is love. God is also a community of love. Where there is true community, there is God.