Because our world is filled with Wicked Queens and Kings whose self understanding and self image is wounded and broken.
Some of them have their own magic mirrors that help them keep their hyper-critical demons (psychological and otherwise) alive: denial of truth, dogma, and doctrine, along with gossip, alcoholism, drug addiction, unbalanced quest for wealth and business success, sexual conquest and addictions (including pornography and affairs), cutting, eating disorders – to name only a few.
Most of these folks suffer deeply, deafened by the voice of the Accuser who speaks lies over their lives and convinces them that a holy and loving God could never love them. These men and women have moved beyond simply a sense of feeling guilty and come under the bondage of shame.
Guilt says “I made a mistake,”
Shame says “I am a mistake.”
There are a great number of our brothers and sisters who are convinced that there is something essential about themselves that makes them unlovable, beyond the reach of God’s salvation.
I would say that a redeemed self-image is the number one thing that people who come seeking prayer for healing need.
As men and women concerned with spreading the Gospel of Jesus, we recognize the profoundly wounded self image functions as “rocky soil,” it is a barrier that prevents the seed of Divine Love from taking root in our hearts removing the shame in our hearts.
For those shamed, it is so difficult to receive the mercy and love of our Eternal Father. We are absolutely convinced something is entwined into our very being that makes us feel unlovable.
The heart of the Sermon on the Plain directly contradicts the lies which bind the wounded self image to shame.
God created us out of abundant love – not from deficiency or need. He created us good, a gift of his love.
Human beings were the only part of God’s creation that He brought into being for their own sake. Everything else was created to serve us. That is why some of the angels rebelled. They were created to serve us so we could serve God. This reveals the divine dignity we have despite sin.
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI put it so powerfully:
All is created from the Word and all is called to serve the Word. This means that all of Creation, in the end, is conceived of to create the place of encounter between God and His creature—a place where the history of love between God and His creature can develop.
The history of salvation is not a small event on a poor planet, in the immensity of the universe. It is not a minimal thing which happens on a lost planet. It is the motive for everything, the motive of creation. Everything is created so that this story can exist—
the encounter between God and man.
Reflect on this for a moment. Be amazed. We are loved into being so we may love away our sins and be restored.