This morning a particular homeless man again showed up here at the Catholic Worker House. I'll call him "Ben." Whenever we see Ben, we are reminded, by what he does and says, that he is addicted to a certain substance. Today as usual he was under the influence of this substance.
He was distraught. He shared with me that sometimes he gets very angry at himself. He said he knows that he needs to work on accepting himself.
I gently said to him, "You have to love yourself."
He softly replied, "I know."
Don't crucify yourself. When you crucify yourself, you crucify Jesus. Jesus already died for our sins. When you choose not to love, you sin. When you decide not to love, you separate yourself from God. When you refuse to love yourself, you separate yourself from God.
God wants us to return to Him, but to do so we must accept ourselves. To love ourselves, we have to open our own hearts to acknowledge our own self-worth.
When we close our hearts to others, we close our hearts to God. When we close our hearts on ourselves--when we refuse to become who we have always been meant to be, when we refuse to try our best--we close our hearts to God.
When we close our hearts to God, we refuse joy. When we close our hearts to each other, we refuse joy, since we are choosing not to love our neighbor, which God created us to do. When we close our hearts by not loving ourselves, we are deciding not to be joyful, since we are refusing to be loving human beings, who God created us to be.
God wants us to be happy. God wants us to love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength,* and to love each other as ourselves,** and therefore to love ourselves.
God loves us. God loves us more than we can comprehend. To be able to love God, we must love ourselves.
God wants us to love each other. To be able to love others, we must love ourselves.
God wants us to love ourselves.
* Mark 12:30; Deuteronomy 6:5
** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14
He was distraught. He shared with me that sometimes he gets very angry at himself. He said he knows that he needs to work on accepting himself.
I gently said to him, "You have to love yourself."
He softly replied, "I know."
Don't crucify yourself. When you crucify yourself, you crucify Jesus. Jesus already died for our sins. When you choose not to love, you sin. When you decide not to love, you separate yourself from God. When you refuse to love yourself, you separate yourself from God.
God wants us to return to Him, but to do so we must accept ourselves. To love ourselves, we have to open our own hearts to acknowledge our own self-worth.
When we close our hearts to others, we close our hearts to God. When we close our hearts on ourselves--when we refuse to become who we have always been meant to be, when we refuse to try our best--we close our hearts to God.
When we close our hearts to God, we refuse joy. When we close our hearts to each other, we refuse joy, since we are choosing not to love our neighbor, which God created us to do. When we close our hearts by not loving ourselves, we are deciding not to be joyful, since we are refusing to be loving human beings, who God created us to be.
God wants us to be happy. God wants us to love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength,* and to love each other as ourselves,** and therefore to love ourselves.
God loves us. God loves us more than we can comprehend. To be able to love God, we must love ourselves.
God wants us to love each other. To be able to love others, we must love ourselves.
God wants us to love ourselves.
* Mark 12:30; Deuteronomy 6:5
** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14
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