When I was growing up—and even still at age 21—my mother would say to me, “You are beautiful on the outside and on the inside.” From a young age she instilled in me the importance of inner beauty.

In the first reading for this Sunday, the Lord speaks to Samuel and says “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.”

Whenever I pray, I hold my hand to my chest and over my heart. I cannot see God, but in my deeper moments of prayer, I can feel God’s love and closeness from within. I am his dwelling place on earth. My inner beauty is revealed because of my closeness with the Lord.

In the Gospel reading, Jesus heals the blind man so that he can see clearly and proclaim that Christ is Lord, the Son of Man. This is an important moment where Jesus reveals that he is God; and, it is in such a compassionate way. Jesus heals the blind man; he opens his eyes to see clearly so that he can believe.

There is a saying “seeing is believing,” but in the case of God not seeing and believing is what is important. It is faith.

A few years ago my good friend Rachel became Sister Rachel and joined the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Miami, Florida. Rachel is the type of person who has a special glow about her that makeup would never be able to create. She loves God so much, that her inner beauty turns outward for those around her to see. Through her faith, she is able to reveal the beauty of the Lord to others (like me) and help them to see and believe.

I hope to be someone like Rachel, to be the light of Christ to others and help them to see the Lord through me. I want to “live as [a child] of light” and reveal God’s “goodness and righteousness and truth” to others. I want for my beauty to come from God, who is the definition of beauty.

I hope that this Lent, my sacrifices and prayers will help me to know the beauty of the Lord and to intertwine myself with his grace and love so that I can truly be “beautiful on the outside and on the inside.”