Dec. 19: Finding Your True Self

The need to fit in has increased since the advent of social networking sites such as Facebook, where a person’s worth may be measured by how many friends they have.  However, as Catholic New York columnist Mary DeTurris Poust wisely notes, “Life is not a popularity contest.”

“Too often we think becoming successful or holy means becoming someone different than the person we are created to be,” DeTurris Poust continues.  “Truth is, we are loved exactly as we are, by a God who holds us in the palm of His hand no matter how many Facebook friends we have.”

DeTurris Poust’s point is simple: since God loves us, just as we are, so should we also love ourselves.  Trying to mold ourselves into what we believe others think we should be only drives us further from the images of our true selves, and from God as well.  Trappist monk Thomas Merton is quoted as stating that a life is “shaped by the end” it strives to reach.  So long as we make Christ our ultimate end, we have nothing to fear—and everything to live for.

For the Lord will be your confidence.  (Proverbs 3:26)

Messiah, may everything in our lives draw us closer to You.