Our Divine Longing for Dignity

 

July 9, 2024

Hi!  How is each and every one? How do I begin? This post is taking time just because I couldn’t start it.  Last Monday I gathered the images for this post.  Then we entertained a group of political science graduates accompanied by their professor.  We had lunch together and after lunch we watched short videos on the activities other students have initiated and participated in.  The professor suggested that the group talk about the possible NGOs each one chose and researched on.    

The next day I was moved to plant more of those sappy plants that thrive without much care and yet look good though they are not flowering ones.  I have learned to value them and like them.  I have not been successful with other plants. 

A while ago I received two unidentified calls which I rejected thinking that if it is urgent I will receive a message.  True enough I did and it goes:  I am sending you TODAY some Tagalog veggies freshly harvested from our garden. Please ask your kitchen staff to cook for you…hehehe. 

How thoughtful!  Who is she?  I suspected must be somebody close by and I searched through my smart phone directory and compared the number.  Yes, she was the one.  I vibered her and thanked her for her thoughtfulness. Then the door bell rang and her gardener was at the door with the plastic bag of veggies.  

Surprises do come and they always add joy to one’s day. We thank God for sending them and we thank the persons who God enables to do His will.  That is how I see everything that happens, don’t just happen by themselves.  God allows them to happen.  That is how Divine Providence works.  That is how you and I experience God’s love for each one of us.        You and I need to experience love and recognize love in everything that happens during the day in our life.  Not everything will definitely happen to our own liking but upon reflection in the presence of God and with God, you and I will realize it is love in different forms.  That love is a Person and a person.

Following is from the next chapter on our divine longing for dignity (From Broken Gods, Hope, Healing, and the Seven Longings of the Human Heart, Gregory K. Popcak, Ph. D. Ch 5).

Satisfying the Divine Longing for Dignity

Human personhood must be respected with a reverence that is religious.  When we deal with each other, we should do so with the sense of awe that arises in the presence of something holy and sacred.  For that is what human beings are: we are created in the image of God.—U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Economic Justice for All.

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If you could only see how much you are worth in God’s eyes!  Take a moment to imagine the person you love the most.  Imagine all the reasons you love them, everything about them that brings you joy.  Do they really know how loved they are?  Wouldn’t you give anything for them to know how precious, how valuable, how important they are to you?

If needed, you and I can ask God to show you and I can also ask Him to show me and ask His help to see our worth in His eyes.  But you and I know it very well, that in his great love for you and me, God sent His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ to be born amongst us, to suffer and die on the Cross to redeem us from the sin of disobedience of our first parents that you and I may become His adopted children and heirs to His kingdom in Heaven.

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Jesus reminds us that everything we feel toward the ones we love, everything that we desire to give to them, our heavenly Father desires for us a hundredfold (Mt 7:11).  Each one of us is of unfathomable worth and value in God’s eyes.  Our dignity is not rooted in what we do or accomplish or are capable of.  Our dignity is rooted in the fact that we are loved by God.

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Let us explore the parable of the Pearl of Great Price (Mt 13:45-46) as a way of illustrating how God’s plan to make us partakers in his divine nature is the most precious gift he can give us.  Specifically, I’d like to imagine us looking at this story from God’s point of view.  In the story a merchant finds a perfect pearl that will command a great price, so he sells all that he has to acquire it. In God’s eyes, you are that pearl of great price.

Dominican Sisters of Hope

 The Word of God emptied himself and became a man.  He sacrificed everything to purchase your freedom and claim you for himself.  Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price on the cross so that you would never doubt how much you are loved.  On the evening of the Last Supper, he said to the apostles, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13).

As if this great act of love on the cross was not enough, Jesus tells us directly how much we are worth in God’s eyes when he tells us that we have nothing to fear or worry about because the Father in heaven watches over each and every one of our needs:

        Notice the ravens:  they do not sow or reap; they have neither storehouse nor barn, yet God             feeds them.  How much more important are you than birds!...

Notice how the flowers grow.  They do not toil or spin.  But I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of them (Lk 12:24, 27).

How true, how true, how true, indeed!!! I invite you to look around you.  Look at your garden or your neighbour’s.  Aren’t the plants happily growing their green leaves and the flowering plants are healthily be-flowered?  Even the plants give glory to God and joy to man by sprouting new leaves showing their joy as well.  You and I can only sigh with gratitude to God for sending down rain.  You are truly wonderful! Thank you, Lord.

Let us make it a point to lift our hearts and minds to God each and every time you and I experience the joy of being loved by Him in little things and in big ones.  They are usually little things and hopefully we grow more aware of those little things that you and I are made of, that usually you and I take for granted.  Love is shown in little things because you and I are little compared to God’s greatness.  And since you and I will and can never be capable of doing great things, let us do these little things with love for God because it is love that makes little things great and valuable. Only God can do great things.  He does not expect great things from you and me.  He looks into the love for Him and effort we put into little things for love of Him.

See you in the next post, “May tomorrow be a perfect day; may you find love and laughter along the way; may God keep you in his tender care; ‘til He brings us together again.”

Affectionately,                    

Guadalupinky