You Are Not A Statistic—You Are Beloved

It’s tempting to feel like nothing but a statistic these days.

1 in 3 women have experienced porn addiction

1 in 3 women have been sexually assaulted, abused, or mistreated

1 in 5 women have experienced bullying

1 in 4 women have a miscarriage at some point in their lives

I have been all these women. I have been the 1.

And it’s easy to focus on the 1 in those sentences. To feel singled out, set aside. It’s easy to focus on the fact those things are a part of your story, and forget there’s another sister in 6, 8, or 10 women who has gone through the same.

But Jesus doesn’t see us as the 1, He sees us as us: His daughter, His beloved, His sister, a mother to His people. 

Jesus doesn’t see us as part of the statistic because He sees all of us, not just an isolated event or season of our lives. 

Jesus also doesn’t see us as a statistic because He lived these statistics Himself.

He experienced temptation, even to lust.

He was abused, assaulted, and horribly mistreated.

He was bullied and accused of things He didn’t do.

He lost those He loved—Lazarus, Joseph, John—and saw His mother suffer unspeakable levels of pain, sorrow, and suffering.

Jesus came and lived in the human condition in all things except sin. This means everything we’ve suffered—every tear we’ve cried, every moment of anger, every despairing thought—He experienced with the full weight of human emotion and bodily limitation. 

But He didn’t just come to experience our condition, He came to redeem it. 

He came to open the doors to an eternal reality where all of us are intimately known, loved, and cherished by the Holy Trinity—face to face.

Jesus doesn’t see us as the 1 in a statistic. He sees us for the destination we were made for. He sees us as saints in the making.

St. Mary of Egypt was a prostitute for 17 years—she’s known and loved by the Lord.

St. Agostina Pietrantoni forgave her attacker on her deathbed—she’s known and loved by the Lord.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux was bullied so much at school she would hide away and cry—she’s known and loved by the Lord.

St. Gianna Beretta Molla miscarried two children before giving her life for the last—she’s known and loved by the Lord.

You are destined for sainthood—you were made for the Beatific Vision.

Don’t focus on the 1. Focus on the community of 1s around you, all striving for Heaven together.