36th Sunday After Pentacost
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory Forever!
35th Sunday After Pentecost
January 19, 2025
Sat 1/18/25 4:00pm Vigil Divine Liturgy Sunday After Theophany +John Kavchak by Drew Moniot Divine Liturgy
Sun 1/19/25 9:30am Divine Liturgy Sunday After Theophany +Hans Peter and Berglijot Bergh by Ole and Hans Edward Bergh
Wed 1/22/25 7:00pm Liturgy for Healing +Steve Olin by Cindy Hills
Fri 1/24/25 7:00pm Moleben to Jesus
Sat 1/25/2025 4pm Vigil Divine Liturgy +Lori Stewart (40th Day of Passing) by Dorothy DeFoggi (Sister)
Sun 1/26/2025 9:30am Divine Liturgy +Susan Herman by Jeanne Sheffer
Variable Parts Tone 2 - Pages 130 - 131
Epistle 1Timothy 1:15:17
Gospel Matthew Luke 18:35-43
Memorial Candle Request - No Candle Request
Epistle Readers 18-Jan Annabelle Bistransin 19-Jan Hans Bergh 25-Jan Mary Troyan 26-Jan Mike Dancisin
Please Pray for: Ole J. Bergh, Erik Bergh, Liz Moyta, Fr. Michael Huszti, Fr. Laska, Susie Curcio, Teresa Milkovich, Robert Saper, Anna Habil, Martha Sapar, Mike Dancisin, Karen Smaretsky Vavro, Diane Sotak, Anna Pocchiari, Larry Hamil, Beverly Jones, Marilyn Book, Maryann Russin Schyvers, Nick Russin, Ken Konchan
Attendance: 1/11 — 24; 1/12 — 85; 1/5 (Vigil of Theophany) — 45; Collection: 1/11 & 1/12 — $2,130.00
Gibsonia Schedule
Sun 1/19/25 11:30am Divine Liturgy 35th Sunday After Pentecost
Thu 1/22/25 7:00pm Divine Liturgy
Sun 1/19/25 11:30am Divine Liturgy 36th Sunday After Pentecost
Bible study group - We will join this year Bible study group in Gibsonia. It is 24 week course and will take place in Gibsonia and via Zoom as well. The details will be published in the next bulletin.
Robert Zero - In the charity of your prayers, please remember the soul of Robert Zera who recently passed. May God grant him blessed repose and eternal memory!
Conference - Scott Hahn/John Bergma Conference: There will be a conference presented by Drs. Scott Hahn and John Bergsma on Saturday, January 25 at St. Ferdinand Church, 2535 Rochester Rd., Cranberry Township. The cost is $10.00 with code, "divinegrace". Register at: https: / /stpaulcentcr.com/pittsburgh2025/ #schedule Those unfamiliar with Dr. Hahn can find an excellent interview with Scott Hahn on the January 14 episode of the Lila Rose podcast on YouTube.
Tax statements - there are tax statements ready for you at the entrance of the church. Please take your envelope; we will mail those statements that are left.
The opening chapter of the book of Genesis famously records God's decision to "make man in our image, after our likeness" (Gen 1:26). But what precisely do the words "image and likeness" mean? And are humans the only creatures who fit this description?
Something worth realizing from the outset is thatthe language of Nmages" (Hebrew, tzelamim) was common in the Ancient Near Eastern milieu in which the book of Genesis was composed.The rulers in this region would often have their tzelamim (portraits) placed around the empire as symbols of their authority. Analogously, therefore, we should understand that the human race, beginning with Adam, is stamped with divine authority.
A further clue in the biblical text comes a few chapters later in Genesis 5:3, when we are informed that "[Adam] became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image" (Gen 5:3). This is striking because it is a repetition of the language already used to describe Adam's relationship to God. The implication? The language of image and likeness is the language of sons/zip. As human beings we aren't the natural children of God, obviously, but we are invited to become children of God through divine adoption, which is what takes place in our souls at baptism.
What more can we say here? Taking a philosophical approach, we should remember that a key part of what it means to be created in God's image and likeness is that we are persons, i.e., living creatures possessing intellect and will, capable of knowing and worshiping God, and gifted with creative powers. The Catechism of the Catholic Church sums it up this way:
Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who is not just something, but someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and offreely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. And he is called by grace to a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response offaith and love that no other creature can give in his stead. (§357)
Traditionally, theologians have also drawn a subtle distinction between "image" (Latin, imago) on the one hand, and "likeness" (Latin, similitudo) on the other. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, image is more closely connected with rationality, personhood, and the ability to know—and therefore love—God in an intentional way.
Likeness, by contrast, can be thought of as the perfection of the image; likeness is what is expressed and developed through virtue, whereby we perform good deeds, grow in love, and become ever-greater participants in the divine life of God.
We need to be careful with these distinctions, however, because image and likeness are very much intertwined, and even our "imaging" of God can become stronger or weaker depending on our moral state. As the Catechism notes, "It is in Christ, Redeemer and Savior, that the divine image, disfigured in man by the first sin, has been restored to its original beauty and ennobled by the grace of God" ( 1701).
Through our sin, we diminish our likeness to God—meaning we no longer image Him as perfectly as we did at the moment of our Baptism. Here we can think of our souls as being like a mirror. The mirror is always there; no amount of evil can change the fact that we exist as imago Dei, and therefore possess an unparalleled dignity. But the mirror can become dirty and cloudy, meaning we no longer reflect the goodness of God as perfectly as we ought. This is why we need the grace of repentance and sacramental confession.
What about angels and demons? As persons, these spiritual beings are certainly created in the divine image. In the case of the demons, however, the divine likeness has been eradicated; they continue to exist in God's image insofar as they possess intellect and will, but they totally lack that likeness to God which comes through the pursuit of virtue. As for the angels, Aquinas notes that there is a sense in which they image the Holy Trinity even more closely than we do, given their superior intellects. On the level of likeness, however, it seems that humans are called to surpass the angels, since it is given to humans alone to "become partakers of the divine nature" (2 Pet 1:4).
