Category: Spirituality

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Spirituality

Have You Had Your Glimpse of Heaven Today?

There are times when we’re facing so many problems that we tend to forget the happiness that’s waiting for us in heaven. Little by little, we lose sight of our our hope. We lose that kind of joy that should always be within our hearts.

It isn’t that we should altogether disregard our earthly affairs, for we all need to live our lives here for a while. It is also in our earthly existence where we gather eternal treasures we could never lose.

But no matter how busy we are and no matter how dark our days may be, we should always set aside time to take care of our heavenly hope. We must remember the great promises of our Lord and the mansions He has prepared for us. We should nourish our souls with thoughts that would lift us up and give us the strength again to accomplish our many chores.

Look towards that day when you shall see your departed loved ones again. Try to imagine that place where you shall finally see God face to face!

Remembering heaven would expand our perspective. It helps us see beyond the irritations, delays and frustrations we meet each day. It also helps us visualize the kind of future in store for the people we love the most.

Are there some people you want to help but you feel powerless to do so? Do you find it almost impossible to imagine how their condition could change for the better?

Lift them up in prayer and let the Lord bring grace upon your spiritual eyes that you may see. He may allow you to see how one day, God can bring out good from all that seems so bad. God can heal all the wounds we think could no longer be healed. And out of much darkness, He can still create beauty that never fades.

“Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honourable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report: if there is any virtue and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” — Philippians 4:8, WEBBE

“In light of heaven, the worst suffering on earth will be seen to be no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel.” — St. Teresa of Avila

“Son,’he said,’ ye cannot in your present state understand eternity…That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, “No future bliss can make up for it,” not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory.”? C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

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Spirituality

The Perplexing Role of Emotion in Our Spiritual Life

Image by wal_172619 from Pixabay

There was a time when religion seemed to play a larger part in regulating people’s emotions. It may even be claimed by some that it came to a point when this resulted in suppressing one’s emotions in order to avoid occasions of sin.

As a result, many people view religion as something that goes against our human nature. It was seen as something that hinders not only one’s freedom but also one’s happiness. Do we not have negative stereotypes about the saints? Many people see the saints as those who hardly smile, those who repress their feelings and who could hardly relate to our humanity.

These days, however, many people are attracted to religion or spirituality because of the good feeling that is evoked in them. People cry out of gratitude for miracles that happen to them. We hear stories hear and there of those who have believed in God because they were touched by a certain sermon, a line from a book or a scene from a religious film. Instead of an unapproachable God, we try to imagine a friendly God who can laugh with us and who will never look angry or frightful no matter what we do.

But is this latter approach, the correct view? In my opinion, both extremes fail to show the true role of emotion in our spiritual life.

The first one failed to see that God respects our humanity and that emotions aren’t evil by themselves. Saints need not be sad all the time. They can also be filled with joy! In fact, their joy is something beyond the happiness the world could feel.

On the other hand, the second view of placing too much emphasis on feelings fail to show that spirituality is much more than the happy emotions we wish to maintain at all costs. We can be sad and still have hope and peace. We can cry without losing the joy of God’s salvation.

Our spiritual life includes all of our humanity, including our emotions. But there is something even beyond the emotions we desire to feel. Love is like that. The kind of love that can only come from God Himself, the source of all goodness, beauty and joy!

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Spirituality

Why Showing People Hell Can Never Bring Them To Heaven

There was a profound lesson I’ve learned while watching the Korean Series “Hellbound” on Netflix. In the said series, people who have committed serious sins were given notice by an angel of the exact time that they will be taken into hell. When that time comes, dark beings come to kill the person in a horrifying way for all to see. Since people don’t know where those beings come from, they assume they’re from God and they form a sort of religion out of it saying it is God’s justice to bring righteousness on earth.

While we may think that such events could transform people and make them turn away from evil, just the opposite happens. Each person assumes he or she has the right to judge other people and even take upon their own hands such judgment. More people become evil instead of being good.

The series made me think of the reason why God has not shown the torments of hell to those who are still living. Maybe now we think that showing it to the world would change people, and even St. Jacinta, one of the children in the apparition at Fatima who saw hell once said:

“Why doesn’t Our Lady show hell to sinners? If they saw it, they would not sin, so as to avoid going there! You must tell Our Lady to show hell to all the people.” — Fatima in Lucia’s Own Words

But God’s wisdom is such that He knows what is best for us. God knows that even showing hell to people won’t change people’s hearts. In a way, it could even make people more stubborn in their sin.

Why then has He shown hell to many saints? Perhaps the saints don’t need to see it to believe in heaven and in God. They already have the faith. They were shown hell so they could make sacrifices for the conversion of sinners. They have also been chosen as witnesses to tell people about the truth. And as in all matters of faith, it is up to people whether to believe or not. This is not the same as actually showing people the horrors of hell.

In the book Revelations to St. Bridget, we get a more direct reason why God does not show hell to people:

“For if I wanted, I could speak my words so that the whole world hears them. I could also open up hell so that everyone may see its torments, but this would not be justice, since all men would then serve me out of fear, when they should serve me out of love. For no other than the one who has love shall enter the kingdom of Heaven.” — Jesus to St. Bridget of Sweden

Heaven is not about fear as it is about love. We may be able to avoid some sins out of fear of punishment, but that does not establish a loving relationship with God. And only that kind of love could ever save our souls and give us joy for all eternity.

“If My death has not convinced you of My love, what will? …There are souls who despise My graces as well as all the proofs of My love. They do not wish to hear My call, but proceed into the abyss of hell. The loss of these souls plunges Me into deadly sorrow. God though I am, I cannot help such a soul because it scorns Me; having a free will, it can spurn Me or love Me. You, who are the dispenser of My mercy, tell all the world about My goodness, and thus you will comfort My Heart.” — Diary of St. Faustina

“It is not because I have been preserved from mortal sin that I lift up my heart to God in trust and love. I feel that even had I on my conscience every crime one could commit, I should lose nothing of my confidence: my heart broken with sorrow, I would throw myself into the Arms of my Saviour. I know that He loves the Prodigal Son, I have heard His words to St. Mary Magdalen, to the woman taken in adultery, and to the woman of Samaria. No one could frighten me, for I know what to believe concerning His Mercy and His Love. And I know that all that multitude of sins would disappear in an instant, even as a drop of water cast into a flaming furnace.”? St. Therese Lisieux of Lisieux

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Spirituality

God’s Tenderness and Our Blessed Hope

Image by Luisella Planeta Leoni from Pixabay

I was reading Mother Angelica’s book “What is Heaven?” when I came across a Bible passage that touched my heart like it never did before. Here is the Bible verse:

“Behold, God’s dwelling is with people; and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more. The first things have passed away.” — Revelation21:4, WEBBE

Out of the said passage, the sentence that stood out for me the most was, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

I can’t remember how many times I have read that passage before, but this time, I was struck how it speaks so much about the tenderness and love of God. Is there any other god who would do such a thing? How many mighty kings would wipe away the tears from the eyes of their people?

It is not only that God is All Powerful and He could very well take away our pain, but that He is also Infinitely Merciful that He would do so for His people.

In my mind’s eye, I see a Father who cares so much for His children and who seems to say, “Don’t cry anymore. I am here. Everything will be alright.”

I can also see a Lover who sees and feels the hurts of His beloved. At long last, He could tell her, “Our time apart is over. I’m here and we could finally see each other face to face.” He then wipes away her tears ever so gently, and her face shines with a joy so radiant it could only come from grace.

Are you undergoing a difficult time right now? Are you losing hope that things could ever change for the better? Lift up your eyes and look towards heaven. God sees you and God cares. God promises a day when He shall wipe all your tears away.

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Spirituality

Can Single People Love Deeply, Too?

“Celibacy is not the absence of a passion; it is rather the intensity of a passion.”? Fulton J. Sheen

The problem with the single life is that no matter what you do, it will always seem insignificant. Even if you love, that love will always seem little as compared with what other people give.

For how can one ever match the love that parents give to their children or the devotion spouses render to the other? Even one’s love for God may fail to measure up once compared to the love of priests, nuns and other people consecrated to God.

But can a single person not love deeply, too? Is the love for one’s mother or sister or friend not among the kind that should be given due worth? Is love for God deep only if consecrated through a religious life?

I have been told that God loves little children. They are precious in His eyes even if they can’t accomplish something big, even if all they could do is give thanks for all the blessings they have been given and sit upon Jesus’ lap as they gaze upon His face.

Are we not like little children too, whose worth is never measured by what one can do or by how great one can be in the eyes of the world?

Being single is not a curse, it is a great gift from Him who wants you to be as free as you need to be to receive the fullness of His love.

There is a vocation for everyone. To some, it is to receive that love from a beloved spouse. To others, it is to receive it spiritually from their Heavenly Spouse. As for you, it is to be ever present before His gaze, as the sea before the face of the sky until that time when He draws you ever closer unto Himself in the same way as He draws the clouds to heaven.

“May you be content knowing you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.”
?Teresa of Ávila