Anyone who studies the intricacy of the human body will come to know God as the true Designer. Read this beautiful excerpt from Venerable Louis of Granada to discover how man is a microcosm of all Creation.
The reason why man is called a microcosm or little universe is because everything found in the greater universe is also found in some way in man. Man possesses being, as do all the natural elements; life, as do plants; sensation, as do the animals; and understanding and free will, as do the angels. For that reason St. Gregory calls man “every creature” because in man the nature and properties of all created things are to be found.
God created man on the sixth day, after He had created all other things, for He wished to make man a compendium or summa of all that He had previously made. Much the same thing is done by those who, at the termination of a detailed account, place a summary or schema of that which has been treated previously in many pages. For that reason we can more quickly and more easily see in man the traces of the divine perfections than if we were to scan the vast reaches of creation, which would take a long time. So also, map makers are wont to make charts and maps wherein they indicate the principal parts and nations of the world so that in a brief glance one can obtain a comprehensive view of the entire earth.
The Miracle of a Single Seed
Of all the wonders and works of God, let us consider the power that He has placed in the seeds of plants. In the tiny seed of an orange, for example, He placed the power to become an orange tree, and in the kernel of the acorn, the potentiality of becoming a mighty oak. But these things are very insignificant when compared with the power that He has placed in the material used for the formation of a human body. From the seed of a plant come the roots, trunk, and branches of the tree or shrub, with their leaves and fruit; but from the substance used in the conception of a human being come a variety of members of the human body: bones, veins, arteries, nerves, and numerous organs. The various parts of the human body are so well adapted to the ends of human life that if a man observes all the particular uses and functions and providential benefits which they impart, he will be amazed at the wisdom and providence of the Creator who could produce such a variety of effects from such a simple substance.
The Miracle of the Human Body
There is nothing about the human body that does not cry out continually: “Who but God could have done this?” Who but God could have fashioned the womb of a woman as a fleshly house for the unborn child? Everything about the human body proclaims that it is a work fashioned by infinite wisdom. Thus, it is said that there are more than three hundred bones in the human body, so that on each side of the body there are approximately one hundred and fifty bones. Moreover, each bone has ten properties: a certain shape, position, connection with others, hardness, blandness, and so forth. Consequently, if we multiply these properties and attribute them to each of the one hundred and fifty bones, there are fifteen hundred properties in the bones of each side of the human body.
From all that we have said, it should be evident how ridiculous is the opinion which states that our bodies were made by chance. Things that are made by chance rarely turn out well and at most they turn out perfectly in only a few instances. But a body composed of innumerable parts and organs, so perfectly constructed that it surpasses all created intelligence, could not have come about by chance; it must be the work of a supreme intelligence. Would it not be the height of foolishness to say that on removing a mass of metal from a furnace, one could expect to find a perfectly fashioned watch, with all its wheels and parts in perfect balance? How much more foolish it is to state that the human body was fashioned by chance in the womb of the mother, when the bones and sinews and other parts of our body are much more numerous and more complicated than the parts of any watch?
For that reason, students of anatomy rightly maintain that this study is a certain and secure guide to lead us to a knowledge of the Creator and of His perfections or attributes as manifested in His creatures. Hence, the human body is sometimes called a book of God, because in every part of the body, however small, one can read and observe the supreme artistry and wisdom of God. Although art and the created universe may help us to arrive at this knowledge, this happens only now and then or when we come upon something rare and extraordinary. But in this microcosm which is man there is no vein or artery or bone, nothing so small that it does not proclaim the excellence and artistry of Him who made it.
ooo
This article is taken from a chapter in Summa of the Christian Life Books I-III by Venerable Louis of Granada, OP which is available from TAN Books.
