Almighty God,
Thank you for reminding me today through the gift of this most beautiful sacrament that Holiness, Beauty, Humility and Suffering are all united and brought together in one simple thing: right relationship with You.
Thank you for reminding me that holiness and perfection is not about something that I am not, or am ‘not yet’, but that holiness and perfection is about being exactly who I am in each situation and context you give me, and in accepting myself and Your love from exactly where I am.
Thank you for reminding me that I am perfect and holy in your eyes, precisely because that is how You have defined holiness. And to grow in holiness is simply to continue to accept myself and Your love in each context I find myself in.
Thank you for reminding me that humility is accepting who I am and each role I am meant to play in each different context I find myself in. Humility does not deny any gifts you have given me any more than humility pretends to have more than you have given.
And Beauty… Beauty is to be admired in all its facets (great intelligence, aesthetics, passion, wisdom, nature, sounds) for YOU are beauty. And that as long as I admire and love beauty in people and things in their proper relation to You and to me, I should delight and rejoice in beauty and have no fear.
As for suffering, though there can be so many different kinds, thank you for reminding me that the kind of suffering I experience the most often is actually a gift from you – to help me be aware when I am not accepting myself as I am, or others as they are, in right relationship to you. For in holiness and humility, there is peace. Where there is no peace, there is unrest and turmoil in my heart, and therefore suffering.
Thank you, Lord, for showing me today why you gave us this Sacrament – and how powerful a tool it can be in aiding our growth in faith and holiness.
Journey of the Heart 