God is Love.
God is Light.
God is Goodness.
God’s arch-enemy, is determined to destroy all of God’s Creation – determined to destroy God’s love, His light, His goodness.
Humans are made in the image and likeness of our Creator. Therefore, it would stand to reason we are Love, we are Light, and we are Goodness.
And, Satan can’t stand that!
So, he’s been busy… trying to send us messages that we aren’t love, we aren’t light, and we aren’t goodness. He tries to convince us we aren’t able to be loved, aren’t able to shine lightness toward others, and that we can’t be good.
Nowhere is this more clear than the covert messages Satan sends women. Using media and social pressures, he tries to convince us that we are no good – to ourselves, to each other, and to our families. He creeps into our psyches, grabs hold of our insecurities, and illuminates them – to others, and more importantly, to ourselves.
We begin to doubt our Love…
… our Light…
…our Goodness.
We begin to doubt our own self-worth.
In his “Letter to Women” Pope Saint John Paul II stated, “Thank you every woman, for the simple fact of being a woman.” This came after he thanked women in every vocation of life. Pope Saint John Paul II recognized the inherent beauty of all women – the beauty and strength that too often, we have difficulty recognizing on our own.
And, as a culture, we have overlooked these messages of positive qualities women bring to their homes, their families, their lives.
St. Thomas Aquinas is credited with saying,
As Christ hung on the Cross dying, He despised the sin we would be tempted to commit. He despised the choices we would be tempted to make. He despised the messages we would internalize about our self-worth, and our contribution to this world… to our homes, to our families, and to our lives.
He despised how we would doubt, even for a second, His love for us.
As Christ hung on the Cross, dying for our salvation, He was doing so out of love for us.
He was dying for us because
He believed in us;
He had hope in us;
He loved us.
Over two centuries later, He still despises the sins we are tempted to make. He still despises the messages we internalize.
And yet, more than two centuries later,
There is no past-tense with God. Every morning, He begins His love for us fresh and renewed. He eagerly awaits for us to see the beauty He sees in us.
He waits for us to recognize the Love He sees in us.
He waits for us to recognize the Light He sees in us.
He waits for us to recognize the Goodness He sees in us.
We can buy into Satan’s empty promises and his attempts to overlook God’s Love, Light, and Goodness shining through us. We can buy into the messages that we aren’t worthy or good enough for our homes, families, and lives.
Or, every. single. day we can commit to reminding ourselves of a quote often attributed to St. Teresa of Avila – may we trust God that we are where we are meant to be!
We are made to see God’s Love, Light, and Goodness shining in ourselves!
We are also made to take God’s Love, Light, and Goodness to others – to let Him shine through us!
Christ saw our Love, Light, and Goodness shining forth as He gave His life.
So, whenever we are tempted to buy into Satan’s lies that we are not worthy of our homes, of our families, of our lives, remember,
For we are all beloved daughters of a most beautiful, merciful, gracious King… we are all beloved daughters of God!
