Reflections | FILLED WITH FAITH

Sometimes our actions are based on feedback from others. Msgr. Don Fischer reflects on how faith and confidence in our goodness can save us from that fragile trap.

Good morning. I'd like to talk to you about something that is crucial to living a life that is full and rich. And it's called self-confidence. Confidence. Confidence is being filled with faith. We're told that we have to have faith in God, faith that exists. And that's essential. It's true. We do. And we have to believe in the God as he truly is, which is a hard task in a way.

But we're always listening to find him in the depths of our being because we know him already. We just have to find the image of him that's buried in there. And awaken it. But it's self-confidence that I'm going to talk about for a minute, because without it, there's an emptiness. There's a hole inside of us. And what do I mean about belief in oneself?

It's not belief that you are capable of achieving greatness or capable of achieving perfection. No, no. Self-confidence has a deep conviction. Buried in it that the person you are is exactly who you are intended to be. And the more you embrace that, the more you accept it and believe in it, the healthier you are. 

And you know what we do instead of that. It is so scary to me. We put ourselves out there almost like a performance, and then we wait for feedback. We wait to see how we did. And, you know, that can be so subtle and so unconscious that we're living that way that we are constantly looking for affirmation for who we are from somebody else. 

And here's the danger, and I learned this from Dr. Roberts Cardillo, a great therapist, for me. And he was saying, look, the reaction people have to you is more about them in their history than anything you're saying or doing. So if you're counting on finding your confidence by people's response to you, you're in a very fragile place because chances are their reaction is not really you, it's about them.

So find that core inner peace by simply believing in the goodness that God has created in you, even though you don't see it or feel it, know it's there, and then defend yourself against those critics outside because the critic outside and inside is the enemy. Watch out for the critic and find the confident sense of self that is your God given gift. And it's your inheritance, every day.

Have a good day.

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Kyle Cross