One can test whether a thing is good or not in this way:
If it causes you to lose interest in life
and thereby wish to cease in existence,
such a thing is not good for you.
If it gives you interest and enthusiasm,
if it ignites in you the desire
to live your life as you have never lived before,
such thing is good.
Be not deceived however,
for there are things
we cling on to
not so much as to live life
but to have a means of escape from it,
to make us forget
how dead we really are within.
Author: Jocelyn Soriano
See her books like "Questions to God", "Mend My Broken Heart", "To Love an Invisible God", "Defending My Catholic Faith", "Of Waves and Butterflies: Poems on Grief" and more - click here.
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(You may freely quote excerpts from this website as long as due credit is given to author Jocelyn Soriano and the website itakeoffthemask.com)
Categories
Of pain and pleasure
Pain and pleasure, both seem to tempt us
distracting us from our true and lasting joys.
Pleasure alone, brought by the senses
cannot make us truly happy.
They accompany us for a while,
but are soon forgotten
and we weep not for loss of their memory.
Pain on the other hand inflicts our soul
and we cry out for justice,
we seek for God’s goodness.
What makes us happy then
if not the passions of our flesh?
It is the thought we render
upon whatever sensations that come our way,
the light by which our souls perceive true beauty,
by which love is revealed unto us,
changing us,
etching eternity unto our hearts.
It is thus that pain and pleasure become meaningful
even to be vehicles of good
It is thus when pain
reminds us
of the frailty of our pleasures
and how we should seek the things
that will truly last.
It is thus when the pleasure
of seeing a beautiful rose
sinks deep into our soul,
for then a rose is no longer just a rose,
but a gift most warmly and generously given,
always to remind us
how sweetly
and how strongly
we have been loved.
a world that’s filled with fear
is a world that’s covered with darkness
unpenetrated by the light of love
what frightens you?
your physical survival?
your fragile relationships?
the failure of your dreams?
Take heart and see
that the Light of God covers the entire world
embracing you
strengthening you
loving you
if only you will let Him be
How do you wash your soul clean
at the end of each day?
First, you rest unto the strong arms of Jesus
you gaze upon his kind and shining face
Then you take his gentle hand
and you allow His peace to flood over you
like a soft cool breeze that touches your heart
And you cry your pain away
and you cry your anger away
and you rest your worries and your anxieties
and you believe that things will be okey
and things will be okey
because love will shine thru once more
because your desires will be crystal clear
because you know what really matters
and there is nothing you can do
to take you away
from the One that matters the most to you
I’ve heard once more about the on-going persecution of Christians in China. Hearing the testimony of the victims, how they were subject to the most gruelling conditions in prison, two ideas could easily come into mind of believers. One, that there is really a God whom these people serve with all their heart and whom they cannot let go even at the cost of their own life. Two, that God did not help those people escape the most heart wrenching sufferings they went through. And to this, even believers might ask the question “WHY?”.
I myself have asked many questions:
What if these Christians retract their faith in the midst of their tortures, would God be saddened by such a decision? Is God not saddened seeing them suffer that way?
On the other hand, why do Christians persist in defending their faith? Is this some legalistic concept of salvation? Is this some heroic act of defending an invincible All-Powerful God?
The understanding of such conditions depends on the premise one takes. If one takes the worldly point of view, one can’t help but think there is really no benefit gained by such Christians from their suffering and that the God they worship is either not really present, or not a loving God at all to be able to allow such inhuman treatment to be inflicted upon the ones He professes to love.
It is only by taking the premise of love that one can have some insight within the hearts of these brave men. If one sees that these people have really loved God with all their heart, as a lover does, one can understand how they have found in Him something more precious than anything else in their lives. Losing such a thing is synonymous to losing their lives and living a life apart from Him cannot even be imagined as they have become one with Him, being empty without Him, being lost, being dead.
Now as to the reason why God does not intervene in this matter (apart from spiritual Grace), there are such Laws that even God cannot break and will not break, seeing the better good that will arise out of it all.
It might be beneficial to first review what causes suffering in the world:
- sickness of imperfect body
- death of others due to imperfect body
- pain inflicted by sin of others
- pain inflicted by sin of self
In other words, suffering is caused by imperfect body and soul, by SIN that brings about death.
Now how to remedy it?
- Sickness and death eradicated thru resurrection, by way of being born into the new incorruptible body Paul mentioned in the Bible.
- Emotional pain caused by others relieved thru forgiveness and total surrender to the God.
Now, going back as to why couldn’t God intervene more
- As to remedying sin, Love cannot be forced
- As to remedying physical death, it would be a curse to give immortality to those who have not learned of love.
What might happen if He does intervene?
- God stops us from getting sick
- God stops us from dying when attacked by others
- God stops us from sinning
- God stops others from sinning against us
As a result, the world we know today will no longer be the same kind of world. Freewill shall no longer be. God would dictate everything and we succumb to the level of a slave or a robot instead of a lover who can freely respond to His love.
This world is not yet perfect. This isn’t heaven yet. Ours is a world of duality, of both light and darkness, of love and hate, of bliss and suffering, and of the many choices in between. God can surely pull out the weeds, as the Gospel says, but He will not do so for fear of pulling out even the good wheat, of the many good things this world can accomplish for our eternal soul. In patience then do we wait and in joy do we live for the moment given us here, growing in virtue and in love, shining forth what little light we can give, until the seasons of the earth are over, and the night shall be no more.