Do You Know Your Dignity?
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Too often we think of our lives as boring, unimportant or worse, that it wouldn’t matter if we existed or not.
We vastly underestimate the truth and the dignity of human existence. First dignity is vague and misunderstood. Dignity is human greatness insofar as it demands respect from oneself and from others. The last document of Vat II, Guadium et Spes, outlines the three levels of human dignity. We have a natural dignity since we are made in the image of God with an immortal soul with the three powers of intelligence, passion and free-will. We have an acquired dignity that comes as a result of the capacity and talents that God has given us that we have then developed and perfected: some area of expertise or experience, a family we have raised or business venture we created or an office or area of leadership that has been cultivated. Most importantly, as baptized Christian, we have infused supernatural dignity.
2 Peter 1:4 tells us that through Baptism we have come to share in the divine nature. We have become an entirely new creation, an adopted son or daughter of God, an heir to the Kingdom and one who will reign with Christ forever and ever.
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Every person in the state of grace is a potential god or goddess as C.S. Lewis writes in the Weight of Glory writes:
“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption, the kind of thing you meet only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal (passing) But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit— immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
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We must protect the three-fold greatness of the human person especially from the threat of sin. In fact, our own sin is the only threat against our dignity. Why? Because nothing can take from you that which makes you in the image of God – intelligence, passion and your free-will and nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus or take from you your supernatural share in God’s life making you a child of God and heir to the Kingdom except sin. By sin we can throw it all way. Therefore sin is the only real threat to our dignity.
Each and every sin is an afront to our human dignity because every sin attacks the greatness of the human person in thought word and deed and that is why it is a failure to respect the dignity of the person. The practice of virtue on the other hand builds up the dignity of the human person because virtue perfects the excellence of the person. To protect our dignity we fight against personal sin and we strive with all our might to practice virtue.
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I think one of the best practices to be more aware and appreciate your dignity is to do what Mary did. She proclaimed: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…for he who is mighty has done great things for me…”
When you thank and praise God for what He has done for you, you feel better about yourself, you treat yourself with a greater dignity and you uphold the dignity of others. So look back over the last ten years and see all that God has done for you. Be amazed and thank him. Look back at all the good God has done in you and through you. Has he freed you from some vice or trauma or fear? Has he brought you through something you thought would be the end of everything, but it wasn’t? Have you accomplished something that ten years ago was just a pipedream and now it is reality? Has anyone said to you thank you? Do you see just how interesting and important you are? God does! And no matter how boring, unimportant or insignificant you think you are, God will work even more marvels which will totally astound you in hindsight ten years from now because that is your dignity since you share in His divine life and you are His co-worker.
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The practice of two virtues will help us be aware of our dignity- humility and magnanimity.
Humility is just living in reality. The reality is that we are not God, we are not perfect, we cannot do all things and we have limitations.
But that is just half of it.
The other half of humility is that w all have a three-fold dignity with natural acquired and supernatural gifts.
Magnanimity recognizes that by God’s grace we are wonderous. We share in the life of God. And because we have God living and working through us we can do wonderous things. Because God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit live in us we are incalculably good and powerful and we can astonish the world. All the saints lived these two virtues, they knew they were noting apart from God but with God living through them they did things that astonished the world. Because God has done great things for me he will do great things through me. That is what the virtue of Magnanimity is – anticipating and striving for God doing great things through us.