The Readings 18th Saturday after Pentecost (30 Sep 23)
IC XC
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NI KA
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
1 Corinthians 15:41
IN THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER there is one of what seems to be the most beloved quotes on the internet:
In our world,” said Eustace, “a star is a huge ball of flaming gas.”
Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C. S. Lewis, 1955
“Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is, but only what it is made of.”
I say “most beloved” because Google completed the quote for me as I typed out “even in your w…” And whilst it would be engaging to go down a faith and science route (q.v. the Faraday Institute) naturally my Thomist brain grabs on to the distinction between is and made of. And yes, it is interesting to weave in the Biblical Cosmology where it is evident that stars are beings with vocations in the divine plan, while yet they are also swirling balls of fire. But that’s not where I’m going.
As human beings there’s a world of difference between what we are (is) and what we are made of. The elements of the body (just the actual atoms of iron or water, etc) are worth about $2,000 however your body – the DNA, the organs – that’s worth about $46 Million! That all seems a bit pricey. This $160 makes more sense.
On the other hand, what a human being is is worth the price of Glory. The Son of God became a human. You are a human as God is. The Human Being is created in the Image of God and so, in some real way, God looks like you. St John Damascene says that “For the honor which is paid to the image passes on to that which the image depicts” and so, in a very real way, “What I do to the least of his brethren, I do to him”. “Shall I not reverence and worship Him, through the honor and worship of His image?” That’s your value: that is what you are: the divine image.
Your value is infinitely greater than your elements and, in the end, your value – your isness – will even transform the elements of which you are made! Your body shall, by God’s grace, shine with the divine light and you will be made in the image of our transfigured Lord, the Son of God, in whom you will be a Son or Daughter of God. You are not what you do. You are not your desires. You are not what your cravings or sins or even virtues and strengths happen to be. You are a living image of God.
That is the value of you.
That is also the value of that being next to you. And so we close with another Lewis quote:
It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.
The Weight of Glory
Orthoparadoxy 
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