Loving Thyself

This was part of a homily at sunset mass over the weekend and here's my take on it.

To love thyself, as Father Gerard preached, is to do so in a wholesome way. I think what he meant is not to practise self-indulgence. The most apt example is to use the 7 Deadly Sins. Sloth, gluttony and lust are the 3 most suitable ones out of all. When we eat too much, laze too much and give in to our sexual desires too much, that's not loving ourselves. We're overstepping our boundaries.

To add on to this topic, I feel that when we love others at the expense of selves, that's giving away our love and opening ourselves to others. We're giving ourselves an opportunity to let people into our lives and hearts. That's also loving ourselves, is it not?

When people ask us to do things to please themselves, we agree out of friendship but sometimes, we've to draw a line at this. It's one thing to love others at our expense but it's another to give in to peer pressure and deprive ourselves of personal time when we need it. By giving in to pleasing others, we're not loving ourselves enough to give ourselves rest.