A brave young lady delivered her speech in front of hundreds of people at a graduation ceremony and proclaimed: "Someone will always not like you … I am not religious … what matters most in the end is that you like yourself." She stated that in life, you must be who you are no matter what anyone else thinks of you and no matter how much pressure is placed upon you to be someone else. Her Good News that she wanted to share is summed up in "It is good to be you".
She delivered her speech with conviction, courage, and a strong sense of self knowledge. These virtues are lacking today among many of our young Christians. Her words must inspire us to be truly who we are, not more and not less. Boasting by words or actions about how pious we are is as much a spiritual error as being embarrassed of our beliefs and way of life. Being true to ourselves is being who God created us to be: "Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire" [St. Catherine of Sienna]
Her words "Someone will always not like you" are echoed in our scriptures "You will be hated by all" [Matthew 10:22] and in the life of our God who was furiously hated up to the cross of death. Her words are echoed in today's world by how we destroy ourselves. Yes, in this world someone will always hate you and in the end it is important that you like yourself, but a true Christian can never stop here. A Christian must go further and believe that in the end One will always love you and like you unconditionally. And that with this One you can count on the graced Christian to also love you and like you unconditionally, even if you have no faith, or share a different faith, or live a different way of life, or are a source of persecution to this Christian and to others.
The human eye is a great tool, but without the light that comes from above and enters within it, it cannot fully be what it is intended to be. You are intended to love and in order to love to your full potential you must freely let the light enter you and overflow within you, and yes, it is good to be you.
