Beautiful. Loved.

Greetings and peace to you!  I hope you have been well.  It has been a long time since my last post, and although I haven't been very active, I had not forgotten about this little project of mine.  The fact of the matter is that there has been so much to post about that I often lost my train of thought as I tried to write about one thing or another.  More often than not, I found myself writing in response to some new thing said by the president or some new atrocity that affected our human family.  To each of these, I recognized that I could not be the mediator of grace if I were to react out of the daily news cycle.  That said, there has certainly been a lot in the news and so much of it leaves one with the drained sense of helplessness and loss of hope.  I myself have felt as though I stare into the abyss with no hope of comfort at times, but this is not the truth!  From a very basic perspective, the truth is that no matter who we are and what we've done, where we've been or what we've seen, we are people who are beautiful and loved.  The very basic message that I hope to convey today, through this little project of mine, is that these are two truths that cannot be shaken or taken or moved!  YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL and YOU ARE LOVED!  Let those sit with you for a bit, what does that feel like to you?  What does it sound like?  Are there other voices that contradict this message?  If so, where do they come from?  As with anything, there are always those voices of dissent that speak loudly in protest of those things that are good in our life.  Sometimes they come from people close to us, sometimes from some stranger on the street, and more often, they come from our very selves.  They nitpick the smallest, most insignificant thing about ourselves and make us believe that it is an insurmountable truth that erases all value from who we are.  Yes, sin is real, and it affects us each in particular ways, but the more profound and ancient truth is that insofar as we are, we are loved and we are beautiful.  Think about that again, just for a bit.  What does it mean to be a person with such worth that nothing can diminish who you are?  What does it look like to recognize those truths about yourself that are unshakeable even when we feel lost?  What does it feel like to walk in the confidence that I am beautiful and that I am loved?  If you're anything like me, it feels like walking along the base of the Grand Canyon.  I see these beautiful walls and feel the safety of being surrounded by these immense truths that cannot be shaken.  Even as others may attempt to move them, they will not budge!  Each side of that canyon is stamped with the words Loved and Beautiful and they allow me to move into tomorrow and face each day with a confidence that I couldn't even begin to explain.  In so many ways, these truths are born from a very deep and archetypal place that cannot be explained but cannot be ignored.  They are not meant to make us feel good or to serve as consolation prizes, instead, they are meant to remind us of the fact that we are created in Love and developed in Beauty.  It is the very precise things that make us feel different that represent the unique giftedness of who we are and which make real the fact that our beauty and our belovedness is something far richer than we can ever imagine.
Every single day, we hear more bad news from all around the world.  Perhaps we fear or we get angry, maybe we cry or feel helpless, and all of these things are valid, but in all of this, please always remember what I have already stated You are beautiful and You are loved.  Thank you for who you are and know that you are in my heart.  Be loved.  Be Beautiful. 
Fr. Rick