Remember your dignity

Drawn by Mary Grace Thul, OP

How awful not to be recognized for who I am. And yet, it seems from history to be a common occurrence. In Matthew 17:10 we read about the disciples questioning Jesus about the prophecy that said Elijah must come before the Messiah. Jesus replied:  I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. (17:12).

We suffer when others do not recognize who we are. Worse, we suffer more when that person is our own self, when I do not recognize my own worth.

Empowerment  means breaking free from false conceptions, and the real enemy is ignorance of the dignity we carry within, a dignity that needs to be honored. Let us remember a phrase from Isaiah that says, On high I dwell--with the crushed and dejected in spirit. To revive the spirits of the dejected, to revive the hearts of the crushed (Isaiah 57:15).


The image we often disown and deny is the image of a wounded and vulnerable self, because we fear to appear needy. But that is the self that holds dignity and honor, the self that the Most High desires to dwell with.

Jesus was rejected because of his human stature. Those waiting for the Messiah were looking for something, someone different than Jesus. He was rejected because he was too human.

Let us not do the same to our own soul.