Category: Words of Wisdom

“What people revere, they resemble, either for ruin or for restoration.” – Greg Beale

Who we are is far more important than what we do, but quite often, it is the things that we do that turn us into the kind of people that we are.

Let us be careful then with the things we allow to fill our lives – the thoughts we think, the words we say, the habits we form, the things we worship and love. Little by little, we are changed by such things, and before we know it, we have been turned into another kind of person. May it be the kind of person we’d like to be and not the other way around.

We become what we love
and who we love shapes what we become.
If we love things, we become a thing.
If we love nothing, we become nothing.
Imitation is not a literal mimicking of Christ,
rather it means becoming the image of the beloved,
an image disclosed through transformation.
This means… we are to become vessels
of God´s compassionate love for others.
-St. Clare of Assisi

They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped a molten image. Thus they exchanged their glory for an image of a bull that eats grass. -Psalms 106

Know that as often as you come to Me, humbling yourself and asking My forgiveness, I pour out a superabundance of graces on your soul, and your imperfection vanishes before My eyes, and I see only your love and your humility. You lose nothing but gain much. -Divine Mercy In My Soul

1. Prepare. Avoidance is still the best defense. The time of peace is the best time to prepare for war.
2. All grace comes from God. Pray to receive grace to overcome temptation.
3. Fill your mind with good thoughts. Remind yourself of the things that give the most meaning to your life.
4. As yourself: Is this something you’d be ashamed of? Then don’t do something you’d be ashamed of.
5. Ask yourself: Do you somehow know it’s not right? Then don’t do it, period. Stop talking, bargaining or reasoning with a deceiver.
6. Ask yourself: What is it stealing from you?
7. Ask yourself: Whom are you offending or hurting?
8. Ask yourself: What kind of person is it turning you into?
9. Keep on fighting even if you fall. Do not despair. Trust in God’s infinite mercy.
10. Ask for help whenever possible. Avoid isolating yourself.

1 Corinthians 10:13 (WEB) No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.” -St. Augustine

The truth on faith is that it does not and should not depend on our feelings. Because though by faith we are given grace for each moment and strength for every trial; though we are at peace and we are grateful for the incomparable blessings given us; we are still human beings bound with our frailties, trying to make our way each day through all the ups and downs of real life.

The truth is that there are days when we could hardly remember the feeling of consolation in prayer or the joy of our first revelations, when we could barely recall the sweetness of the many glimpses of heaven we once knew.

The truth is that there are days when we just feel tired and lonely and aching and we could hardly get up from bed; days when we see more darkness than stars, more rain than sunshine, more tears of sorrow than of bliss.

This is the truth. And this is the faith that conquers even when by our own strength, we’re already at the point of breaking or giving up. Not everything will be to our liking, but all things will be for our good, though all that we can see for now are days so ordinary there are no miracles except those that have been concealed from our eyes.

… though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved in various trials, that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ— whom, not having known, you love. – 1 Peter 1:6-8, WEB

For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul? – Mark 8:36, DRB

At the end of our lives, many of the things we gave importance to won’t matter anymore. The things that stressed us so much, the tasks that worried us, the issues that we argued so much about, how much of such things do we think would still stand vital in that moment?

It wouldn’t even matter then how rich we are or how popular we’ve been. It won’t matter how much power we possessed or how many people are there to do our bidding.

At the end of our lives, what would surely matter is whether we have lived a meaningful life, whether we have loved well. Have we done all that we could to spread laughter and understanding and compassion? Have we tried to alleviate other people’s pain instead of causing it? Have we been men of peace instead of enmity and division?

For it is there at last that we will reap what we have sown. It is there where we can finally see the true fruits of our labors. At the end of it all, only truth, goodness and beauty shall prevail. If we have much of it, then we have lived rich lives indeed.

At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by “I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in. – Mother Teresa

For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I married you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ. – 2 Corinthians 11, WEBBE

Is it even possible? For God to be jealous over me? His love, I can still grasp. His mercy, I can accept. Yet how can I even start to think about Him being jealous over me?

It is not the kind of jealousy that is self-serving and is borne out of pride. It is not the kind that is whimsical or vengeful.

But it is the kind that yearns the total devotion of the other. The kind that expects all because it gives all. It is the kind that is borne out of purity, simplicity and holiness. The kind that desires nothing else but my complete happiness and wholeness and that would never rest until it is certain that I am able to love true and without end, that I am able to love without letting anything to ever take me away from my true joy.

God is jealous over me! It would take eternity for me to even get a good idea what that is all about.

The human soul can have only a single Bridegroom… This is why, if it is God who is this Bridegroom, His love is jealous. It is necessary that God, it is necessary that Jesus be the Only Beloved, the Only One loved with mad, boundless love. “How can I prove my love to Him? — By giving myself to Him from the bottom of my heart, in such a way that no other love ever dwells in it. -Jacques Maritain