I Take off the MASK!

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.” – Mother Teresa

Don’t think you’re doing a small job, because you can always do a small job in a great way.

Because it’s not just the job you do that matters. It is the person that you are that adds real value to whatever it is that you are doing.

Go ahead. Do that extra mile. Be courteous. Be respectful. Know what your client really needs and take care of them. Have the initiative to be helpful. Wear a warm smile that could brighten someone else’s day.

You are not your job after all. You are what’s inside of you and what you allow yourself to offer to the world.

And what is it to work with love?
It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart,
even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.
It is to build a house with affection,
even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.
It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy,
even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.
-Kahlil Gibran

“And whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord, and not for men…” – Colossians 3:23, WEB

“May we always try to listen not only with our ears, but with our hearts. “ – Jocelyn Soriano

Much of the really important words often remain unsaid. Out of the many things we say, we reserve what we really mean within our own hearts. I guess this is one reason why we often fail to understand each other.

If only we had the honesty and the courage to say how much we really love another. If we only had that childlike simplicity to voice out what we really need or how we really feel. Maybe then we’d get to know each other better, deeper. Maybe we could finally give each other what we really need – whether it be space, apology, encouragement or affection.

Today, let’s try to listen, really listen to what other people are saying. Because somewhere beneath the anger, somewhere beneath the pride and the noise and the laughter, there is that part that longs to be really heard.

If I knew you and you knew me,
If both of us could clearly see,
And with an inner sight divine
The meaning of your heart and mine,
I’m sure that we would differ less
And clasp our hands in friendliness;
Our thoughts would pleasantly agree
If I knew you, and you knew me.
-Nixon Waterman

“Today, many people are angry and hurt not because they are not loved, but because they don’t really know how much they are loved.” – Jocelyn Soriano

You may not know it, but you are loved. You may think you’re alone, but you are not. You may feel like you’re worthless, but you are priceless in someone’s eyes.

Why can’t we see it? Why can’t we see what we so badly need?

Why do we feel as though we’re being judged instead of being cared for? And why do we think we’re being condemned when we’re actually being saved?

Love saves. Love heals. Love pursues us, but we so often run away.

Are you running away? Are you looking for love in all the wrong places? Are you willing to wait and stand still to see the one who’s been looking for you all along?

“Seeing with the eyes of Christ, I can give to others much more than their outward necessities; I can give them the look of love which they crave.” – Pope Benedict XVI, God is Love

“The cross is like a touch of eternal love upon the most painful wounds of man’s earthly existence…” – St. John Paul II

“Watch for the new thing God is going to do!” – Jocelyn Soriano

This is a new day. Let the wounds of yesterday be healed. Let your past fears be swept away. The sun has risen! A new day has begun.

We need not remain in the shadows of the night. We need not remain in the darkness of our hurts.

Let your sorrows fade away and let your songs of grief depart. It is time to sing a new song. A song of hope. A song of new beginnings.

You have been chosen to witness this day, to receive life and strength and breath this very hour. Forget what has put you down. Look up! You will have everything you need to start again.

“Do not cling to events of the past
or dwell on what happened long ago.
Watch for the new thing I am going to do.
It is happening already—you can see it now!
I will make a road through the wilderness
and give you streams of water there.
-Isaiah 43:18-19, GNT

“When we are too proud to admit our mistakes, we often lose something that is utterly more important than our useless pride.” –Jocelyn Soriano

Let not pride make you pay an utterly high cost. Let it not take you away from those you love. Let it not stop you from reaching out and admitting your mistakes. Let it not rob you of many years of friendship for a short moment of misunderstanding.

A single word can often bring back what was lost. A simple gesture of apology can often heal a hurting heart.

What is pride but being alone in our own self-made prison, beyond the reach of those we love? What is pride but an illusion of victory, where in truth we suffer the defeat of not having what we truly desire?

“Never suffer pride to reign in thy mind, or in thy words: for from it all perdition took its beginning.”-Tobit 4:14, DRA

“Humility makes men angels, and pride makes angels devils.” – St. Augustine