Exploring The Space Between God And Man

On the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, central to the other artwork there, is Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam.”  Central to this artistic piece, then, are God and man (Adam).  And central to these two figures (or more precisely their index fingers), is a small spacial gap.

In true Michelangelo form, the muscular arms reach toward one another, with Almighty God extending Himself out toward His most precious creation and Adam…who almost tries to … possibly thinks about … well, maybe (yawn) extending his finger … just a bit to … almost reach out to the Creator of All Things.

I am not many things, and an art critic is one of those things … that I am not.  However, this piece always infuriated me, especially in my youth.  Every time I looked at the painting, I was at first awestruck by it; followed immediately by me wanting to reach into the painting and break Adam’s finger, just to make it stretch out a bit further to touch the finger of God.  And so it was for a time.

Yes, this brilliant piece of art infuriated me…until I realized that Adam was the image of me; so content am I to lay about in my creation and give God a small portion (sometimes) of my love back to Him who created me (if only He would work a bit harder to reach me).

Having come to this sad yet insightful realization, this masterpiece then depressed me.  And so, as I gazed upon the space between those two fingers frozen in creative history, I realized that it was there that all of my wasted time; all of my pride; all of my lust and greed; envy and sloth had gathered and pooled.  It was in that small, seemingly empty space between the fingers of God and man that my lost potential rested.  And so it was for a time.

And then I was struck with another realization; that in that small space between the fingers of God and mankind, so central to everything in that artistic depiction of God’s covenant with mankind, is where our salvation rests. 

It is there that we work to realize God’s kingdom come and His will be done.  It is that open space, untouched by the artist’s brush, that cries out to the generative spirit in each of us to have an impact for God and Church. 

It is in that sacred space that the Liturgy of the Mass has its place and the Eucharist rests.  It is there that the infirmed are healed and the hungry fed.  It is precisely in that hallowed emptiness where God and man unite to such a degree that one is not, and cannot be, distinguished from the other.

It is there, in humanity’s greatest potential for failure, that we each rise up to create humanity’s grandest accomplishment … the unification of Creator and His created.

If only we can.  If only we can raise our fingers slightly higher.  If only we can raise our souls slightly higher, so that even in our weakness and our most human and naked states, we can fully become the sons and daughters that God stretches His very sinew and muscle to behold.

If only we can … then no space, great or small, will separate us from the One Father who stretches Himself out for us, so that we might be glorified in His great glory.