ACCEPTED BY HIM
John 8:6-8 Jesus bent down and started to write on the
ground with his finger. When
they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any
one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."
Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began
to go away one at a time…
A wise man once said that a truly intelligent person is
one who has learned to be happy with himself. The secret of self-acceptance,
often hidden from the wise and clever, the Ph.D.’s and power brokers of this
world, is the way of integrity born of fidelity to the dream. When we are
comfortable with ourselves, a new-found freedom blossoms. Am I free? If not,
why not?
“When
we accept ourselves for what we are, we cease to hunger for power or the
acceptance of others because our self-intimacy reinforces our inner sense of
security. We are no longer preoccupied with being powerful or popular. We no
longer fear criticism or contradiction because we accept the reality of human
limitations. Integrated, we are no longer plagued with the desire to please
others because simply being true to ourselves brings lasting inner peace.”
The
risk-taking disciple who dares to listen to his feelings, rather than to the
voice of authority or to the majority, may quickly discover that his inner
echoes do not resonate with the vox populi. He finds this is unnerving
to himself and disturbing to the palace guard.
The
risk-takers, who listen to the Spirit speaking through their feelings are ready
to chance something, fully aware that the history of Christian spirituality is
not one of obedient conformity, however much some people prefer to view it that
way. Rather, as Francis, Dominic, Ignatius and others saw, it is a history of
fidelity to the dream, writing the gospel afresh for one’s own generation, and
imaginative response to the needs of the Church.
A Stranger to
Self-Hatred: A Glimpse of Jesus
by Brennan Manning, pgs.103-105.