One of my sisters likes to post on Instagram stylized pictures of Jesus. He is often depicted as a King and the “soul” as a princess. There is something endearing and captivating about this artistic way of depicting something so true about who we are: we are adopted into the family of the King. With our baptism we truly are royalty. We are princes and princesses who are loved by the King of Kings.

So amazing! Yet this reality, this truth that is hinted at on every page of God’s word, is so hard to remember about ourselves and about others. Jesus, the Son of God, loves us. Jesus chooses us. We belong to the King of Kings and the Lord of the Universe. In Isaiah there is more than a hint:

“You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord,
    and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

…You shall be called My Delight Is in Her” (Isaiah 62:3, 4).

And in the Psalms there is a beautiful psalm that speaks of the marriage of the King and the princess:

My heart overflows with a goodly theme;
    I address my verses to the king;
    my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.

You are the most handsome of men;
    grace is poured upon your lips.

The princess is decked in her chamber with gold-woven robes;
    in many-colored robes she is led to the king (Psalm 45:1-2, 13-14).

And in the Song of Songs we hear the voice of the King and Bridegroom as he speaks to his bride:

You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride,
    you have ravished my heart with a glance of your eyes,
    with one jewel of your necklace.
How sweet is your love, my sister, my bride! (Song of Songs 4:9-10)

These prophetic words are fulfilled in Jesus who says in the Gospel of John: “You did not choose me but I chose you. I have chosen you out of the world” (John 15:16, 19).

“Remember you have been made a ‘partaker of the divine nature’….”

Baptism is what makes us royalty. I follow the royal family in Great Britain. There people are born into royalty. We, instead, through Baptism, having no claim on being a part of the Royal Family of God, have been made a “partaker of the divine nature,” member of Jesus Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “Baptism … makes the neophyte ‘a new creature,’ an adopted son of God, who has become a ‘partaker of the divine nature,’ member of Christ and co-heir with him, and a temple of the Holy Spirit” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1265).

“Baptism is God’s most beautiful and magnificent gift. . . .We call it gift, grace, anointing, enlightenment, garment of immortality, bath of rebirth, seal, and most precious gift. It is called gift because it is conferred on those who bring nothing of their own; grace since it is given even to the guilty; Baptism because sin is buried in the water; anointing for it is priestly and royal as are those who are anointed; enlightenment because it radiates light; clothing since it veils our shame; bath because it washes; and seal as it is our guard and the sign of God’s Lordship” (St. Gregory Of Nazianzus, Oratio 40,3-4:PG 36,361C., quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1216).

One thing that will help you become the Child you are…

This old adage is actually not true: “The memory is the faculty that was made to forget.” Yes, the memory forgets a lot, a lot of the time. But it was not made by God to do that. That wouldn’t make sense.

We were given a memory so that we could remember God and remember who we are. Instead, it gets really good at remembering past hurts or grievances, has little recall of how God has been present in our life and how he has shaped us and our lives in his love. We have hardly the focus and intention to call to mind that the infinite and transcendent God is always calling us to become more, to become our true identity, united with Christ in God’s own life. We are called to union with and within the divine life itself.

These things just seem to vanish from my mind. It doesn’t help that the Enemy is determined to wipe away any remembrance of God’s mercies from our mind, and to fill them with distractions and remembrances of grievances. I have to really work at using my memory the way it was made to be used. Do you find this to be true?

One thing you can do then is simply this: remember! Read these passages of Scripture and the Catechism over and over again day after day. At the beginning of the day visualize the situations you know you’ll encounter and picture yourself going through them as royalty. At the end of the day bring clarity to your soul by clearing out any memories that don’t reflect the truth of who you are and renew your commitment to live as one who is loved.

I have loved you with an everlasting love;
    therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you (Jeremiah 31:3).

Image Credit: Photo by Church of the King on Unsplash