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10 Feb 2019 - Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

A popular television show a few years back featured ordinary people who have decided that their physical appearance was so lacking it was negatively affecting their entire life. So they left their family and friends and jobs for a number of months. They had extensive plastic surgery. Their teeth and smile were reconstructed. They got makeup lessons and new haircuts. They were put on diets and exercise regimes. They were dressed in a new wardrobe. And once the transformation was deemed complete, they went home and made a grand entrance to waiting family and friends who had gathered nervously to see the results. The crying and hugging gave us the message that we really are only as good as we look. While there is nothing wrong with looking your best, society has set an unacceptably and unrealistically high standard of perfection that few of us will ever reach. Throughout the show, just the external person was dealt with. And we are much more than our appearance. We need to admit that we are imperfect and “unclean,” the “least of the apostles,” “sinful”—all as scripture points out. It is when we’re honest with ourselves that God will reshape us. Our very imperfections could be the instruments used to bring us to God. If we obsess about ourselves, we leave no room for God to work. After all, we are all made in God’s image. We smudge up that image with our sinfulness, for sure. But God will always work with us so that we can reflect God’s being with us.

Authors Father Dominic Grassi

Appearances imperfections god's image makeovers

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Homily stories

09 Feb 2025 - Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C

A popular television show several years ago featured ordinary people who decided that their physical appearance was so lacking, it was negatively affecting their entire life. So they left their family and friends and jobs for a number of months. They had extensive plastic surgery. Their teeth and smile were reconstructed. They got makeup lessons and new haircuts. They were put on diets and exercise regimes. They were dressed in a new wardrobe. And once the transformation was deemed complete, they went home and made a grand entrance to waiting family and friends who gathered nervously to see the results. The crying and hugging gave us the message that we really are only as good as we look. While there is nothing wrong with looking better, society has set an unacceptably and unrealistically high standard of perfection that few of us will ever reach. Throughout the show, just the external person was dealt with. And we are much more than our appearance. We need to admit that we are imperfect and “unclean,” the “least of the apostles,” “sinful”—all as scripture points out. It is when we’re honest with ourselves that God will reshape us. Our very imperfections could be the instruments used to bring us to God. If we obsess about ourselves, we leave no room for God to work. After all, we are all made in God’s image. We smudge up that image with our sinfulness, for sure. But God will always work with us so that we can reflect God’s being with us.

Authors Father Dominic Grassi

imperfections god's image

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