Because You Are Beloved
I was still praying to
the Lord, my God, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, presenting
my petition concerning the holy mountain of my God – I was still praying, when
the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision before, came to me in flight at
the time of the evening offering. He
instructed me in these words: “Daniel, I have now come to give you
understanding. When you began your
petition, an answer was given which I have come to announce, because you are
beloved."
The above passage was part of the Office of Readings last Wednesday, and those four words, “because you are beloved,” hit my heart in a unique way. That day, I left on our Rector’s Pilgrimage, in which my senior class travelled with our rector Fr. Samuel to St. Louis and Chicago.
Throughout this time, we visited seminaries, churches, landmarks, and Starbucks (nine times, to be precise), and we encountered the richness of the Church in its many forms. What was striking was the vastness of cultures in the places where we stopped, including French, Irish, Hispanic, Polish, Lithuanian, German, and Iraqi. We met priests, religious, laity, and even a bishop, and it was tremendous to grow together as a class in so many ways, whether it was by deep conversations or trying to navigate through rush hour traffic.
It was an extremely blessed trip, but I kept wondering to myself, “Why is it that I am able to see all of this? How was I called to be part of this incredible Church? Why was I given these true friends? Why is it that I am even here in seminary?” In all of this, God gave me the same answer: because you are beloved.
It is only by God’s love that we are able to receive or accomplish anything. When we lose sight of this love, we fall into self-sufficiency, loneliness, temptation, and despair, but when we receive His infinite love, we truly possess all we could ever desire.
In all things, may we always remember that we are beloved.
-
Daniel
9:20-23
The above passage was part of the Office of Readings last Wednesday, and those four words, “because you are beloved,” hit my heart in a unique way. That day, I left on our Rector’s Pilgrimage, in which my senior class travelled with our rector Fr. Samuel to St. Louis and Chicago.
Throughout this time, we visited seminaries, churches, landmarks, and Starbucks (nine times, to be precise), and we encountered the richness of the Church in its many forms. What was striking was the vastness of cultures in the places where we stopped, including French, Irish, Hispanic, Polish, Lithuanian, German, and Iraqi. We met priests, religious, laity, and even a bishop, and it was tremendous to grow together as a class in so many ways, whether it was by deep conversations or trying to navigate through rush hour traffic.
It was an extremely blessed trip, but I kept wondering to myself, “Why is it that I am able to see all of this? How was I called to be part of this incredible Church? Why was I given these true friends? Why is it that I am even here in seminary?” In all of this, God gave me the same answer: because you are beloved.
It is only by God’s love that we are able to receive or accomplish anything. When we lose sight of this love, we fall into self-sufficiency, loneliness, temptation, and despair, but when we receive His infinite love, we truly possess all we could ever desire.
In all things, may we always remember that we are beloved.
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| St. Louis Old Cathedral |
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