The Work of Human Hands

By Scott Ferrier, MJ • Phoenix, AZ

Creation was the created gift of the Uncreated Gift of the Triune God—the reciprocal Love (Holy Spirit) of the Father and the Son. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” and “saw that it was good” (Genesis). Out of His Goodness and His Love, God made man and woman “in His image and likeness.” The Hebrew words for ‘image’ and ‘likeness’ used here by the sacred author give a profound, intrinsic meaning to God’s creation of man: that of a royal authority, “a divine pattern” and relationship implying “sonship.” Their corporeal nature of matter and spirit was also constituted by their Creator to have an intrinsic ‘nuptial’ meaning, making them each visible signs of God’s truth and love for humanity—the primal sacrament—a communion of persons, as Pope Saint John Paul II taught in his Theology of the Body. 

God crowned His gifts by placing them into a covenant of kinship. He elevated their nature with divine grace, endowing them with holiness and justice. He had placed the first man, Adam, to serve as priest, prophet and king in the garden of Eden with the command “to till it and keep it” (Gen 2:15), giving our first parents an exalted destiny and end—life with God Himself. The Hebrew words here include the word avad and are liturgical, indicating divine service. God reveals to Adam and Eve the purpose of the world—to be the temple of His indwelling on earth, giving them a share in the rhythm of work and Sabbath rest which by their worship, adoration, and service is returned to God with love and eucharistic thanksgiving for His gift of creation. An ancient Hebrew tradition viewed Eden as “the Holy of Holies.”

As lay people, created in the image of God, we share by our work in the activity of the Creator and we share, too, in His Sabbath rest in communion with Him. When Adam and Eve were expelled from Paradise after the original sin, they would suffer and their work would be a punishment and a toil. But the Paschal mystery has inaugurated into history the Kingdom of God which will endure on earth until the Lord comes. United with the Cross of Jesus, the work of our human hands becomes a redemptive, sacrificial offering. It is our sublime dignity to participate in Jesus Christ’s priestly, kingly, and prophetic mission as members of His Body, the Church.