Catholic science teacher blog

Tuesday, July 1st

I am finishing packing for Krakow and caring for my son who is not feeling well. In the previous post, I wrote about empirical truth as being the truth that brought me the most clarity, especially in the first half of my life. There is another type of truth though and it’s a truth that I have discovered in my faith. I don’t know what the official term for it is (I am not trained in theology), but I am going to call it relational truth.

This morning, the gospel was about Jesus calming the storm (Matthew 8: 23-27) and I know on some of the retreats, they have shown us the Rembrandt picture of Jesus in the storm and asked us which character we were in the storm? Were we the person far away from Jesus trying to control everything, or the person close to Jesus relying on his strength to give us strength.

In the pandemic, so much was lost for so many people. It was a time of great suffering and pain. For me, it was also a time of discovering the relational truth of my identity in Jesus Christ. So many of us, myself included, have insecure attachments because of the imperfections of those who have loved us imperfectly. Yet, I discovered during that time because of the quiet and the slower pace of life and some intense suffering that had come my way, my true identity as a daughter of a very loving Father who loved me unconditionally. It was a love that my heart craved. Embracing the truth of my relational identity set me free in a way that no other therapy session, self-help book, or even wonderful earthly friendship ever had. Knowing this truth set my heart free to love.

And being raised Catholic, I am lucky to have access to adoration chapels where I could spend time in the loving embrace of the God who created me and desires intimacy with me. I discovered the “truth” of my relational identity and all the healing that follows after fully embracing that truth.

Everything changes when you know deep in your heart, you are a beloved daughter(son) of God….it truly changes everything….it changes how you love yourself and it changes how you love others, even the most difficult people in our lives.