This past Sunday we talked about the fact that we all carry burdens. We have things in our lives we wish were not there. But when we come to church, we feel like we have to hide those things. I was reading one of my favorite authors (Thomas Merton) this morning and ran across this passage in New Seeds of Contemplation:
For me to be a saint means to be myself. Therefore the problem of sanctity and salvation is in fact the problem of finding out who I am and discovering my true self.
Trees and animals have no problem. God makes them what they are without consulting them, and they are perfectly satisfied.
With us it is different. God leaves us free to be whatever we like. We can be ourselves or not, as we please. We are at liberty to be real, or to be unreal. We may be true or false, the choice is ours. We may wear now one mask and now another, and never, if we so desire, appear with our own true face. But we cannot make these choices with impunity. Causes have effects, and if we lie to ourselves and to others, then we cannot expect to find truth and reality whenever we happen to want them. If we have chosen the way of falsity we must not be surprised that truth eludes us when we finally come to need it!
Merton is talking to believers. God gives us a choice to be the person we were created to be – the person God intends – or to be someone else. We have a tendency to want to make people believe we have it all together as if to show who we really are would be less attractive or would be less lovable.
The community of believers has to be a real community. None of us are perfect – so why do we want others to believe it is so?
My challenge to each of us today is simply this: Be Yourself – Be REAL!
Clay in the Hands 
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