A very old portrait

We were made "in the likeness of God." But in the course of time that image has become obscured, like a face on a very old portrait, dimmed with dust and dirt.

When a portrait is spoiled, the only way to renew it is for the Subject to come back to the studio and sit for the artist all over again. That is why Christ came—to make it possible for the divine image in man to be recreated. We were made in God's likeness; we were remade in the likeness of his Son.

To bring about this re-creation, Christ still comes to men and lives among them. In a special way he comes to his Church, his "body," to show us what the "image of God" is really like.

What a responsibility the Church has, to be Christ's "body," showing him to those who are unwilling or unable to see him in providence, or in creation. Through the Word of God lived out in the Body of Christ they can come to the Father, and themselves be made again "in the likeness of God."

—Saint Athanasius (293-373)

A reader sent the following related YouTube video called "Jesus Painting." It is nine-minutes long, but quite fascinating: