Rejected Stones

A Reflection on the Psalm for Sunday, April 12th, 2025:
Divine Mercy Sunday

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Psalm 118

R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever. 

Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” Let those who fear the Lord say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” 

R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever. 

I was pushed hard, so that I was falling, but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation. There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous. 

R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever. 

The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. 

R. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever. ​

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

“The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.”

Who among us has no fear of rejection? 

It haunts us—childhood playgrounds middle school lunch tables, the dating scene of young adulthood, the ruthless world of job applications, relationships that fall apart, and most painfully, in our families and among those who are supposed to love us unconditionally.

When I was a young adult, freshly graduated, I found myself at a healing retreat without really knowing why I was there. I had a healthy childhood with two loving parents, great career prospects, and a close-knit community of friends. But as the weekend unfolded, the speaker talked through several wounds that might trace a pattern over the course of our lives and continue to rear their ugly heads: abandonment, rejection, powerlessness, confusion, fear, shame, & hopelessness. And every time he mentioned rejection, my heart stung.

I felt rejected in many small moments throughout my life, like many of us do, but I never realized how the devil had used those moments to weave a pattern of lies into my heart: “You’re reject-able. Even if people love you now, they may reject you later. People-pleasing is your only hope at being loved—if you make yourself small, they won’t see enough to reject you.”

That’s a painful place to be. 

But look at what God has to say about rejection in our psalm today: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”

Jesus is the stone that the world rejected. He had nothing to offer. He was a nobody: a carpenter with no pedigree, no formal religious training, no apparent merit. His teaching was unexpected and subversive; not people-pleasing, to put it mildly. Jesus was rejected. 

But He is the cornerstone—the straight and strong stone which is measured against all others, upon which a whole world of grace is built. His rejection by men does not prevent the Father’s work to make Jesus the firm foundation of our souls. 

This Divine Mercy Sunday, He invites us to be transformed in Him. My brokenness can be pierced by the power of God. My pain is an opportunity for mercy to penetrate and transform my soul. The rejected places can become the cornerstone of a new life of grace. 

That weekend at my healing retreat, I surrendered my wound of rejection to the Lord. I renounced the lie that I was “reject-able”, and proclaimed truth over my soul: that my Father loves me, has chosen me, and will never reject me. He has proved His love for me, because while I was still a sinner, Jesus died for me.

I am not yet perfect, alas. But that healing retreat was a turning point in my identity. I rest on a foundation of love more than on a fear of rejection. My people-pleasing tendencies aren’t gone, but they appear less and less often, and I can see them more clearly when they do. 

Rejection (or shame, abandonment, powerlessness, confusion, fear, or hopelessness) do not have the final word. The stone the builders rejected can become the cornerstone of your life; it is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Praise God for His mercy.




Becca O'Hara 

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