Our name, the Image of God Institute, is derived from two realities that are critical to understanding the human person in Sacred Scripture, the teaching of the Church, and the minds of Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.
- Genesis 1:27: Man and woman are created in the image and likeness of God
- 2 Cor. 4:4 and Col 1:15: Jesus is the image of God.
Saint John Paul II sums up these passages of Scripture in this way:
“Man became the image of God not only through his own humanity, but also through the communion of persons, which man and woman form from the very beginning.” (General Audience November 14,1979, in John Paul II, Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body, p. 163)
“Man created in the image of God acquires, in God’s plan, a special relationship with the Word, the Father’s eternal Image, who in the fullness of time will become flesh….The truth about man created in the image of God does not merely determine man’s place in the whole order of creation, but it already speaks even of his link with the order of salvation in Christ, who is the eternal and consubstantial ‘Image of God’ (2 Cor. 4:4), the Image of the Father. Man’s creation in the image of God, from the very beginning of the Book of Genesis, bears witness to his call. This call is fully revealed with the coming of Christ.” (General Audience April 9, 1986, in John Saward, Christ is the Answer: The Christ Centered Teaching of Pope John Paul II. p. 78)
Because we are made, as male and female, to be a communion of persons in the image of God, we have a dignity that far surpasses that of any of the universe’s other created beings. The Theology of the Body Retreats offered by our Institute are an in-depth, experiential explanation of these teachings and their practical implications for our lives. From the original Greek text of Scripture, the word “image” in 2 Cor. 4:4 and Col 1:15 is eikon, which can also be translated into English as “icon.” Jesus is the Image of God, the Icon of the Father. The retreats that we offer are most foundationally an intimate encounter with the Image of God, Jesus Christ. We can fully know what it means to be human only by gazing at Jesus Christ, by entering into prayer with Him. “The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light. For Adam, the first man, was a figure of Him Who was to come, namely Christ the Lord. Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear” (Gaudium et Spes 22, Second Vatican Council).