I volunteer for a few hours each week at one of our local hospitals as a Chaplain. One of the things I have noticed in so many of those I visit is often anxiety. This is to be expected; hospitals make anyone uneasy, not because of the care or the hospital itself, but because it brings our personal mortality close.

We do not like to think that our health and everyday life may be altered. As the Chaplain, I try to relieve some of the awkward anxiety. Bring a little brightness and levity to a state often marked by nervousness and uncertainty. Prayer and reassurance of God’s love are frequently just what they are looking for to help them cope. But I have noticed another troubling symptom in many that I visit.

They seem, how should I say this, not to be counted as people. They perceive themselves as unimportant. This is troubling. Frequently, this poor image is due to poor choices in their lives, economic restraints, bad habits, failed marriages, etc. Piles and piles of choices that lead to a person without hope. This has nothing to do with age, although as we age, we see our lives in perspective. But the young are equally full of contempt and loss of hope, perhaps because the direction of their lives has no focus. They wander, looking for who they are. They try one persona after another, looking for a comfortable fit.

It seems to me that one thing they fail to see is that they are children of God. Each of us is brought into this world to play a part in Salvation history. Each of us has something to do. This very life we have, where we are, was called into existence by a loving God, who needs our help to complete His plan for humanity. We are each of us essential and have been given free will. We have been given grace, we have been given reason, to help us see and embrace the will of God. As we say in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

To be a real person is to activate the gifts we have been given and to follow the path Jesus gave us. Love one another as I have loved you, that is the command. We must see others, not only ourselves. In serving others, we learn who we are, what we can do, and what we can suffer. What good things can we share? Selfishness isolates us. Selfishness leads us to find things we can participate in; often, these actions feel comfortable, so at first, we feel satisfied. But in the long run, they deceive us and fall so short of what we thought was so crucial to our lives. Love and the sacrifice it demands are often trying and uncomfortable, but in the end, they complete our journey. It brings us joy and the triumph of being who we were created to be.

So much of our culture right now offers all kinds of definitions as to who we are. There is hardly a day that goes by when we don’t see a new lifestyle, we could follow to be our true selves. Being true to oneself is one of the cultural mantras we have today. But there are all kinds of life choices, and with the Internet, you can join almost any group you think will offer a complete pathway to understanding yourself. You are first a Child of God; you have been created in the image of a loving God. You have been given what you need to see your

life as meaningful. Jesus has redeemed you. Turn to Him and follow. You are important because he gave His life for you. You have grace to draw on and His love to help you through dark days. You were created for light, and the darkness tries to grasp it. Do not let the world fool you into thinking that you are unimportant or just dust passing without merit or meaning. As St Paul says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39). YOU ARE IMPORTANT. Every single one of us, no matter who we are, where we are, or what we have done in our past, God loves us, forgives us, and wants to share eternity with us.

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:14)