Have you ever been in a Fun House Mirror Hall in a festival? A Fun House is filled with mirrors; some would make you look very fat, some mirror would make you look very thin, and some mirrors would exaggerate a physical quality, often distorting your own image. Mirrors could tell the truth or mirrors could lie about us. Well, there are many “mirrors” in society that tell lies about us, and when I say this, I am not talking about mirrors made of glass. Some of these mirrors could be people around us who we consult to measure our own self-worth, or some of these mirrors could simply be the social values and mores we buy into in order to define who we are.
The difficulty is when these mirrors tell lies about us. Some tell us that we are nobody unless we make enough money, or have the right job or education. Some tell us that we are nothing unless we have reached the lifestyle of the rich and famous. Some tell us that we are not worth the time unless we have some political clout or prestige. Some tell us that we are not beautiful unless we look a certain way, unless we have a right skin or hair colour or a certain body build, or unless we wear the right clothes and the right brands. Which mirrors do you consult? What do they say about you? Do they say that you are a beautiful person, or do you come away with a feeling of low self-worth?
The ancient Church Father, Basil of Caesarea, once said, “The human being is an animal who has received the vocation to become God.” This is the truth we hold. We have been created to become “like” God. We believe that when God created us, we were created in the image of his Son who is both human and God. Created to be the image of the Son, God willed it that we would become like the Son in that you and I, each one of us, all of us will all share in the divine life of God. Our ultimate destiny, our ultimate calling is, through grace, to be like God. There is no higher or lofty or glorious view of humanity than this. What we say is that to reach our true humanity, to be truly human is to be truly like God.
To remember our own beauty, we must look at our true Mirror, Jesus the Christ.
Solomz