Saturday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time
1 Maccabees 6:1-13; Luke 20:27-40
I remember back when a photograph was just that: a photograph. Someone took your picture, and however you looked, that was it. Now, at the click of a button, a computer program whitens your teeth, removes blemishes, even takes off pounds. It has become routine for photographers to offer a variety of “retouching” services, so people can appear in ways they find more appealing.
This is really nothing more than a modern variation on one of mankind’s oldest temptations; namely, finding a way to shine the best possible light on ourselves. As we know, pride will even drive some to unrealistic extremes. For example, we heard Antiochus Epiphanes on his deathbed, confessing that he had pictured himself as kindly and beloved. As we know from Maccabees, the facts paint a quite different picture; he was a cruel, despotic monarch. The gospel, while more subtle, is no less an indictment. The Sadducees saw themselves as the enlightened few who knew the real truth about God, like which books He inspired and which He didn’t. Thus, they scoffed at angels and life after death as the wishful dreams of the unenlightened. How ironic that their encounter with the Light of the World only left them in a deeper darkness.
Giving in to the temptation to see what we want to see leaves us open to at least two problems: Either we overestimate ourselves, like Antiochus, or we underestimate others – even God – like the Sadducees. Why we do it is hard to say. Perhaps we’re driven by fear that our real selves aren’t good enough for God or others, and without some kind of deception we are doomed to rejection and failure. Of course, the opposite is true; we alienate people when we pretend to be who we are not, for eventually the truth will out, and God is never fooled and wants nothing more than for us to be who we were created to be. In either case, the only way out is coming to see ourselves as God sees us, and living as true to that image as we can.
That requires self-examination and confession, but those lead to yet another temptation: avoidance. That is easy, but the more we do it, the more we get comfortable with it, and the more we risk falling into the sins against hope: despair or presumption. The frustration of dealing with habitual sins can tempt us to despair. We think, “Why bother going to confession any more? I’m only going to do it again. It’s futile.” But this underestimates God; the only person who cannot be forgiven is the person who refuses it. On the other hand, we might presume on God’s mercy, either by refusing to ask Him for help because we think we can fix our problems alone, or because we believe that, since God loves us unconditionally, He forgives us no matter what, so we don’t need to ask. Either way, we deceive ourselves; both despair and presumption fail to understand God’s merciful love for us.
To get a better understanding of that, think of your children, your spouse, your parents, anyone you have really loved. Their weaknesses might hurt you, even deeply, but when did they ever prevent you from loving them? We don’t always accept their behavior, but we always accept them. In fact, we’re much more likely to show compassion, to suffer through their problems with them, than ever to abandon them. This is the kind of love our Lord wants us to have for each other, ourselves, and Him.
Self-awareness leads not only to inner healing, but to “other-awareness” as well. As we come to acknowledge and openly accept our own weaknesses, we become more aware of and sensitive to the struggles of others, and we come to better appreciate the merciful love of God, who is with us through all of them, and whose grace strengthens us to work our way past them.
That is the best image of ourselves, and it isn’t one that human hands can retouch, for it is the image and likeness of our Creator. Let us ask God to give us the humility to see ourselves and others in His image, and the courage to show it to the world.
Mark 10:45 
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