491st Meditation
“Have the courage to be as I have created you and as I want to form you. Then I will live in you and take form in your life” (Inner Word).
It is not uncommon for people to feel pressured by various expectations that others have of them, of how they think they should be. But these ideals, whether of certain people or of society in general, are not necessarily helpful in finding one’s own identity. One may also have created images of how one thinks one should be in the eyes of others. All these expectations can become a great pressure, especially if it is a fictitious identity that does not correspond to the deepest essence of the person. Thus, the person can reach the point of living in the constant tension of having to fulfill an ideal that is not their true identity. This can also happen in the religious sphere.
Our Father, on the other hand, shows us another way, because our ideal must not be an artificial identity that ends up being alien to our being.
Our Father knows our true identity because He created us in His image. In a loving relationship with Him, we become what He wants us to be and we discover our true identity.
It takes some courage to let go of the artificial identities or standards that the world sets for us and simply place ourselves in God’s hands. But it is precisely in this way that we overcome human respect and no longer have to constantly prove ourselves to others. The more natural our relationship with our Father becomes, the more He will be able to shape us and take form in our lives.
Our worth comes to us from God, and as we internalize this certainty, we will cease to seek it in the praise and affirmation of human beings. Our deepest value is to be His beloved children, as our Father reminds us in a beautiful passage of the Message to Mother Eugenia: “Raise yourselves to the dignity of children of God and learn how to respect your own greatness. I will then be your Father more than ever, the most lovable and merciful of fathers”.