Today, the pressure on men and women to fit society’s ideal standards of manhood and womanhood can be nearly unbearable. Whether it’s the pressure to look a certain way, to be more “body positive,” or to adjust your personality, people both young and old are often bombarded will competing definitions of what men and women should be.
If you’re struggling with your body image or sense of self, let these words from St. Catherine of Siena sink in:
“What is it you want to change? Your hair, your face, your body? Why? For God is in love with all those things and he might weep when they are gone.”
Father in heaven, I know that you have made me with the greatest care and attention. Not one detail has been left to chance. I ask today for your grace to see myself the way you see me. I ask especially that you draw my attention to the part of myself that I do not value enough, and I ask that you redeem my understanding of it. I know that you value me and love me far more than I can comprehend, and I trust in your healing power today. Thank you, Father, for creating me with such love and attention. Amen.
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