“The God, who is greater than God, has only one thing on Her mind, and that is to drop, endlessly, rose petals on our heads. Behold the One who can’t take His eyes off of you.” -Fr Gregory Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion
Love is everywhere in our tradition. Deuteronomy tells us to love the Lord with our whole hearts. Jesus’ Gospel teaches us to love our neighbor, which radically includes all of God’s children. 1 John declares provocatively that God is love. Dwell in Christian life for even a moment, and you’re sure to find a deep well of love.
That deep well extends above us, worshipfully loving the source of our being. It extends around us, encouraging us to see God in the faces of both friends and enemies. We Christians have so much love for everyone and everything, but do we have enough love for ourselves? We teach our kids that they are beloved, fearfully and wonderfully made by a God of unconditional love… but do we believe it ourselves?
What would it mean for you to trust in your own belovedness?
The above quote from Father Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit priest and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, is one I hold close to my heart. I know, on a rational level, that I am a child of God—made, held, and sustained in the love of my creator. Fr. Boyle’s poetic language helps me take that surface-level understanding of my belovedness and delve deeper—to a level of feeling that is richer than rational thought. I would encourage you to meditate on it at some point this week, and see what glimpses of love, of belovedness, it reveals to you.
Imagine God’s grace as falling petals, given forever and always, gently caressing you as they cascade to the ground. Feel the joy and delight that God must take in such extravagant love for you. And on the best of days, maybe you can accept God’s love and grace and joy and delight as the child of God that you are. And on the days that such acceptance comes more difficulty, maybe you can at least take comfort in the whisper of the petals.
Sometime around this prayer—whether it is before, during, or after—I encourage you to take some time to look in the mirror and really see yourself. Keep looking just past when it is comfortable. If you can’t see yourself clearly with your own eyes, try seeing yourself through God’s eyes.
Dear God, thank you for the gift of being human. Thank you for the ways you extravagantly, endlessly, extend yourself to us. When we call you Emmanuel, our With-Us God, help us to believe it. Help us to see the glimpses of You in the faces of friends, of enemies, and also of ourselves. Embrace us with a touch as soft as rose petals and with a love as old as time, that we might in turn share that love with a world in desperate need of it. In the name of your Son Jesus we pray, Amen.
This reflection was written by C.J. Fowler.