When the Significant Other says we are good, then we are good indeed. That’s what it means, psychologically speaking, to be liberated and loved by God. Anyone else can say it, but we will always doubt it, even though it temporarily feels good, and is the necessary “bottle opener.” Salvation is only secondarily assuring us of an eternal life. It is, first of all, giving us that life now, and saying, “If now, then also later,” which becomes our deep inner certitude. If God would accept us now, when we are clearly unworthy, then why would God change the policy later? We can then begin to rest, enjoy, and love life.
— from the book Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality by Richard Rohr, OFM, page 41
