Dear Friends,
Last Sunday at Mass I quoted those lyrics from Sarah Kroger’s song, Belovedness. Here are few more of those lyrics:
You’ve owned your fear and all your self loathing. You’ve owned the voices inside of your head.
You’ve owned the shame and reproach of your failure. It’s time to own your belovedness.
You’ve owned your past and how it’s defined you. You’ve owned everything everybody else says.
It’s time to hear what your Father has spoken. It’s time to own your belovedness.
Yes! In these days of so much chaos, division and hate, it is more important than ever to do the fundamental work: own your belovedness. That is not sentimental; it isn’t “soft.” In fact, it is Jesus’ message revealed in his baptism at the Jordan and repeated constantly in his preaching and parables and in his actions. Watch for it as we read the Gospel of Matthew now in Ordinary Time.
Jesus knows his Father intimately. Jesus knows he is the beloved of his Father. And he lives certain that he can never be separated from his Father’s love. And because of that, he sees everyone else as they are—not as a stranger, not as a “competitor,” not as a threat, a scapegoat, or anything other than a person who is also a beloved of his Father caught up in this divine relational flow of energizing love.
Ilia Delio, referring to Dons Scotus, calls this unique love that God has for each of us our “thisness.” She says, “The more we know our unique thisness, the more we know God. The deeper we go into our irreplaceable individuality, the closer we come to the God who loves us precisely in our particularity.”
She goes on to say, “The divine essence [which is Love] is woven into the mystery of my life and expressed in the particular way I live and love. My uniqueness is not secondary to my life in God; it is God’s life in me, a gift to celebrate and offer to the world.”
And that point is so important: my unique thisness doesn’t separate me from others; it is the gift God created me to be for others! And their thisness is their God-given gift for others. These gifts benefit the ongoing creation and evolution of the God’s world.
When we know our beloved thisness, we live with a desire to share in the upbuilding of our world. When we don’t know our beloved thisness, we end up becoming bullies and bums who are brash and full of braggadocio and never move beyond self-interest. They see others as enemies to be conquered, lesser persons to be dominated. Hmmm. Know anyone like that? You know, like the present government administration. It seems abundantly clear that from the top down, they know nothing of their belovedness. (And, honestly, the resultant insecurity masquerading as pomp and pride and arrogance, makes it hard for us to see their belovedness.)
I don’t say that to judge; nor do I say it to offer an excuse for the ugliness with which they mar our nation. But I do say it because so many people are hurting and frustrated and confused and angry about what our nation seems to have become. And because of that, more than ever, it is vital for us to know our belovedness so that in the midst of an ugly, mean and brutal and broken world, we bring beauty and kindness and gentleness that heal and help others to flourish.
So, for your own good, and for the good of our world, take it from Jesus: own your belovedness.
Father Liam