Reflection
Each of us is a work-in-progress. The spiritual practice of you challenges us to become all we are meant to be as God’s beloved sons and daughters. We are, after all, co-creators of the Great Work of the universe. By attuning ourselves to what in different traditions has been called the image of God, the everlasting soul, or the higher self, we are able to fulfill our mission in life.
All the world’s religions refer to the civil war that rages inside us when self-absorption meets self-regard and selfishness clashes with selflessness. The spiritual life requires that we think enough of ourselves to believe we can serve others without putting ourselves above them. You are much more and much less than you probably think you are. The ideal is to live with both our strengths and our weaknesses.
Spirituality and Practice
Prayer
May I be true to myself and useful to others.
Action
Identify your special gifts and the talents or skills you have developed. Reflect on how well you are living them out.
Suggested Reading
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord.“plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jer 29:11
I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 10:10
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Philippians 4:8
God is the light that illuminates the darkness, even if it does not dissolve it, and a spark of divine light is within each of us. Although the life of a person is in a land full of thorns and weeds, there is always a space in which the good seed can grow. You have to trust God.
Pope Francis
Our God dwells within us and the only way we can become
one with our God is to become one with our authentic self.
Maurice Blondel
The best way to know God is to be like God.
St. Gregory of Nyssa
You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself.
Swami Vivekananda
O God, help me to believe the truth about myself no matter how beautiful it is!
Macrina Wiederkehr
Follow the grain in your own wood.
Howard Thurman
To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.
William Shakespeare