AUTHENTICITY
Oh soul, you who are groaning
within me,
yearning to be
what you truly are
in the depths of your being.
Why do I want to feign what I am
not,
seeking to be appreciated and
loved by human beings,
when I have the Love of my Divine
Beloved,
who embraces and transforms me,
loving me just as I am,
with all my defects and
weaknesses,
in my misery and selfishness?
Why do I want to live in my image,
like someone important and
valuable,
appropriating all the gifts
that my Divine Beloved has placed
in my being,
in the nothingness of my “self,”
made in His image?
Why do I want to interfere with
the flow of life
–the manifestation of Love–
with my mental schemes of good and
of evil,
in my pride-filled “self”?
Why am I constantly thwarting the
impulses of my soul,
my liberty,
that wants to manifest itself with
sincerity and authenticity
and thus to fly and return to its
true being?
Why are I selling my soul
in order to buy the appreciation
of men
and in order to avoid, in my sensitivity,
their criticism and rejection?
Why am I enslaved to the creature,
the gift,
when the Giver has come forth to
meet me,
freely offering me his Love,
without my meriting it,
accepting me just as I am,
without considering my “merits” or
defects?
Why do I go, like a hungry beggar,
chasing after the “crumbs” of
human love
when my true food
is to do the Will of my Divine
Beloved?
Oh souls, orphan of Love!
Why do you go seeking life, love,
in the filthy puddles of our
egoism,
imitating the enemy of old,
the serpent eating his own tail,
wrapped up in himself,
swallowing the “tail” of his own
being,
in a total absence of love?
Enough of this!
I want to be my Reality,
spark and explosion of the loving
manifestation
of the Active Force of my true
Being.
I want to seek my Divine Beloved,
in my inner silence,
in the emptying of the
denial-of-self
in order to hear His “voice,”
letting myself be carried by Him,
like the dry leaf that I am,
ceasing to be me so that He may be
in me;
thus I will find a peace,
a happiness and a Love
that nothing and no one
will ever be able to take away
from me.
Francis Elmo
