Category: Words of Wisdom

We may not be aware of it, but we choose either heaven or hell all the time.

Everytime we choose to hope, everytime we choose to forgive and to let go of our resentments, we choose heaven, we choose life.

But everytime we choose to hold on to our anger, everytime we decide to seek revenge and to hate, we are choosing hell, we are choosing death.

We can choose to dwell in darkness or we can choose to seek the light. We can choose to wallow in our anguish, or we can choose to find healing for our souls.

We can choose heaven today. We can choose to free ourselves from all the things that burden our hearts. We can choose to be happy. We can choose to love.

…I received a deeper understanding of divine mercy. Only that soul who wants it will be damned, for God condemns no one. – St. Faustina (Diary, 1452)

Behold, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and evil…
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants… – Deuteronomy 30:15, 19 (WEB)

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says, We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love him….. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called “hell.” (CCC #1033).

“Being patient … This is a process – allow me this word ‘process’ – a process of Christian maturity… A process that takes some time, that you cannot undergo from one day to another: it evolves over a lifetime arriving at Christian maturity. It is like a good wine.” – Pope Francis

Love is patient. Being patient with others, as well as being patient with yourself.

All too often we want to achieve things in haste and in great violence. We forget that everything has its own phase, its own time.

We forget that love is not only meant to be strong, it is also meant to be gentle. And in this gentleness is kindness and patience and every sort of good fruit that blooms in its time.

Let us do what we can each day, and the entrust the rest to God. We may not always succeed, but we can keep on trying. And for as long as we really do try, one day we shall see how God has supported us and kept us safe every step of the way.

Love is patient and is kind. -1 Corinthians 13, WEBBE

Remaining little’means—to recognise one’s nothingness, to await everything from the Goodness of God, to avoid being too much troubled at our faults; finally, not to worry over amassing spiritual riches, not to be solicitous about anything. – St. Therese of Lisieux

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” – Maya Angelou

I like stories of broken people and how they rose again. They remind me that no matter how damaged you may have been, your life can still have purpose, some meaning you did not see before. They give me hope. They allow me to see that it is indeed possible to be healed, to be whole again, to be even far better than you were before.

The truly inspiring stories are not those with people who never fail. The most inspiring ones are about those who got really lost but somehow found their way again, those who got really sad but somehow found a way to try smiling again. These are the ones that tell us it is not yet too late for us, and no matter where we are right now, we can start over and build our dreams again.

I am weary with my groaning.
Every night I flood my bed.
I drench my couch with my tears.
My eye wastes away because of grief.
It grows old because of all my adversaries.
Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity,
for the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping.
The LORD has heard my supplication.
The LORD accepts my prayer.
-Psalm 6, WEBBE

But when God hides, He hides in order that he might be sought the more, as if to draw out a deeper love. – Fulton Sheen

What greater happiness is there than to regain something you thought you have lost forever? What deeper love than the return of a beloved you thought would never come back anymore?

We never get to value things so much as when we have almost lost them. All the while that they were just within our reach, we may have just ignored them, thinking they’ll always be around.

The moment we lose them, however, we’re able to see how truly valuable they are. We suddenly wish we could turn back time so we can take possession of them again, so we can take care of them while we still had time.

How happy we are when we are given another chance, we are so much more happier than if we had never feared losing them at all!

By night on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him. I will get up now, and go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him. The watchmen who go about the city found me; “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”
I had scarcely passed from them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go… -Song of Solomon 3:1-4 (WEB)

Anger and wrath, these also are abominations,
yet a sinner holds on to them.
-Sirach 27, NRSVCE

What makes us hold on to our resentments? Why do we hold on to so much anger that eventually consumes us and poisons our very hearts?

Maybe we think we are justified in doing so, and maybe we are. Maybe we got hurt really bad that we’re afraid of being hurt again. Yet along the way, as we keep these thorns within our hearts, they continue to hurt us even more.

Even as we pray, we can’t find healing. Even as we ask for God’s love, we are still left in the dark.

But let us remember that love cannot be received in halves. You either surrender to it fully and let it wash over your soul or you try to hinder its flow as you allow your resentments to block your healing.

Which will it be then? What will you choose?

Would you allow your resentments to rule over you, to rob you of happiness and to lead you farther and farther into the dark? Or will you allow love to heal you, to bring you joy and to lift you higher into the light?

I had to conclude that God’s mercy and forgiveness have nothing to do with Divine wrath; instead, mercy and grace diminish human wrath and gradually destroy it. – All Shall Be Well