On the second episode of the Power of Personhood Series, Fr. Louis Merosne and Dr. Greg Bottaro, joined Brian Mundackal at the Cathedral of St Ignatius Loyola in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida to pick up the conversation of growing into our Personhood and being made in the image of God.
Fr. Merosne, serves in Haiti in the Diocese of Anse-à-Veau and Miragoâne under Bishop Pierre-André Dumas and who oversees several schools in Haiti, makes a point that without God, there is no humanism. While giving back to our own communities, we need God to be the center of our intentions. Otherwise, any attempts of trying to understand and ground humanity will be lost and not free. Dr. Bottaro approaches Personhood from a psychological perspective as he formed the CatholicPysch Foundation, a practice committed to providing services and resources based on the integration of faithful Catholic anthropology with sound psychological science to help people become who God created them to be. Stemming off of St. John Paul II’s Love and Responsibility, Bottaro states that everyone has individual stories and should enter into those stories by encountering people as they are. Then, gently through love guide them to the objective truths.
Through prayer and discernment, it allows us to realize we are made in God’s image and that He is consistently accompanying us through our journey in life. One of the greatest wonders is how God has human nature and took on flesh to save us because His love for mankind is so great that we cannot fathom how unconditional His love and mercy is. His love is the kind of love that goes beyond words that can’t be spoken and is contained into one human heart and poured out to each and every one of us individually. As a result, one comes to the question: How can we possibly accept that type of love? We need to become that witness of God and embrace that He is with us, even through all of the pain and suffering where all seem lost, there is always hope. From there, we can spread that hope and love to our brothers and sisters while lifting them up as they experience faith and dignity while growing into their personhood.
