By Father Joseph Chan Wing-chiu
Anyone who knows me knows I used to have a short haircut, the so-called “buzz cut”. So I could go out in the morning without having to look in the mirror and comb it. But lately, I have neglected my haircut, so I have to spend some time every morning fixing it.
When hair is short, I don’t have to worry too much about being neat because the shape of the head determines the shape of the hair, and it doesn’t change much. But when hair is long, you need to be concerned about whether it is neatly groomed. No wonder the Chinese have a saying: there are 3,000 strands of trouble. But is it really 3,000 strands of hair? I have not looked into it. All I know is that God has counted every single one of them, and in recent years, it has become easier to count them! Whenever I look at myself in the mirror, I think of the popular images of Jesus, and I say to him, “You’re lucky, you have so much!”
As I continue to look at myself in the mirror and focus on my eyes, I find another reflection of myself in the reflection of my eyes. At this point, the words of St. Paul in echo in my heart: “At present, we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12].
There is a great difference between today’s mirrors and the bronze mirrors of more than 2,000 years ago. Although we can see more clearly in today’s mirrors, we can only see the outer appearance or shape of our reflection in the mirror, but never our true inner selves.
Watching our reflection in the mirror, we only focus on the superficial and see whether we look good. From Paul’s reminder, I was willing to look a little deeper, to focus a little on myself beyond the mirror. Although my eyes, ears, mouth and nose are partly like those of my parents, they are in fact ‘created’ in their original configuration. I carry the image and likeness given to me by the blueprint of Creation, which I believe is the Son of God, the Word of God, born as a human being.
The birth of Jesus Christ, his infancy and childhood, his seclusion in Nazareth, his life of preaching the Good News, his suffering and death and resurrection, were all a preparation for, and a reaffirmation of, the truth in the gospel; a decision that God made from the beginning of time: God is willing to be with us [Emmanuel]. And to bring it to completion, he let us be baptised and confirmed so that we can receive the divine life.
We are all living witnesses to the Gospel in the image and likeness of the beloved Son. I love to see myself in the mirror, to see the face of Jesus without the beard and long hair, and from there, I can also see each one of you, who are unique but with the same likeness.
