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Poems Words of Wisdom

What The World Needs

“Dare to be glowing saints, in whose eyes and hearts the love of Christ beams and who thus bring light to the world.” – Pope Benedict XVI

You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden. Neither do you light a lamp, and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand; and it shines to all who are in the house. Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. – Matthew 5, WEBBE

THE WORLD NEEDS SAINTS

What does the world need right now?

We need more saints who are not afraid,
saints who are not afraid to speak the truth
where truth is needed,
saints who are not afraid to give
even their very lives
for the sake of compassion
for those who are lost,
saints who are not so easily disheartened
with the evil that they see,
knowing that it is God
who will have the final say
and God’s will
shall always prevail.

What does the world need right now?

We need more saints who are merciful,
saints who will not so easily judge
or cast away or condemn,
saints who know suffering
and who can honor the pain of those who hurt,
saints who can understand grief,
who can understand loss,
who know how it is to be empty
and poor and forgotten,
to be without love
just when you need it most.

What does the world need right now?

We need more saints who are humble,
saints who are not always concerned
about themselves,
for they know that God is
already concerned about them;
saints who know the truth,
who know their own misery and lowliness
before the perfection and purity of God;
saints who boast not of their own righteousness,
knowing that every good thing that they may have
comes from God only, comes only from His love.

What does the world need right now?

We need more saints who are lovers,
saints who are not only concerned
with fulfilling the commandments or avoiding sin,
saints who are more like Good Samaritans,
willing to go out of their way,
so they can help those in need;
saints who have seen God’s Face
and who bear His image
for all the world to see.

For this is indeed, what the world needs right now,
saints who have seen Him,
saints who let Him live within them,
ready to give as He gives,
to live as He lives,
to love as He has always loved!

“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks [with] compassion on this world. Yours are feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.” – St. Teresa of Avila

Categories
Poems Words of Wisdom

The Works of God

There’s a certain kind of beauty in the works of God. We recognize it when we see it. We know that something has come from God.

There is in it both grandeur and a certain kind of simplicity. It is unique but it is never out of place. There is modesty, there is space, there is rhythm. There is nothing forced about it. Nothing that is superfluous. Nothing that is without purpose or better end.

The beauty of His works proclaim His glory. It proclaims His power and His generosity.

But it also reflects His tenderness and humility. It shows us He cares for the little things as much as He cares for the great ones.

There is not a tiny detail to life that God has ever forgotten. There is not one stroke of His works that is done without love.

God did not invent death, and when living creatures die, it gives him no pleasure. He created everything so that it might continue to exist, and everything he created is wholesome and good. There is no deadly poison in them. No, death does not rule this world, for God’s justice does not die. -Wisdom 1, GNT

THERE ARE NO SQUARE STARS

Come to think of it, when have you ever seen the following?

A square leaf
A square fruit
A square tree
A square raindrop

Coming to think of it, nature, unlike man, does not produce

Square moons
Square suns
Square planets
Or square galaxies

There are no square rainbows
Nor square flowers
Nor square heads
that could fit inside a square box

Yet more often than not, that’s exactly what we do.

We try to put everything inside a box
We try to make all things black and white
We try to make everything spic and span
as though we could put a square peg inside a round hole
and then congratulate ourselves for the feat we have done

Since the dawn of man-made technology,
we have certainly lived in a world of squares:

square houses
square buildings
square computer screens

We write on square papers using square tables
We sleep on square beds and enter upon square doors

Where has all these taken us?

These square things have made a war with our own hearts
And against all mysteries that enrich and empower us

The next time someone tries to put your immortal soul inside a small box

Kindly remind yourself:
There are no square stars in the Universe.

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Words of Wisdom

He Lived Among Us

helivedamongus

“Christmas – that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance – a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved.” – Augusta E. Rundel

It is often hard to believe how God can be with us if we cannot even see Him. How many times have we sighed, “If we could only see Him, everything will be alright.”

But could God really be so far away?

We may not always realize it, but God is near, within your heart, and with every heart that knows how to love.

He is in friends that talk to you when you are sad, in families that make sure home is always there for you at the end of the day.

He is in every hand that lifts you up, in every smile that cheers you, in every word that tells you how special you really are.

We may not always remember, for the distractions of this world often make us forget.

But in Christmas, we are given a chance again to realize the things that are truly important in our lives.

We remember once more the many people that gave us a glimpse of God’s face. That gaze of love that made us whole again and strong again. That helped us carry on no matter how great our burdens were. That helped us dream again no matter how many times we fell.

Behold! God Himself came down from heaven to be with us. He revealed His face in the innocent face of a little child.

Out of the darkness He called us and blessed us with His Presence that we may know, that we may never forget. God lives, and for as long as we live in love, He lives today in you and in me.

The Word became flesh, and lived amongst us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:14, WEBBE

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Words of Wisdom

God Is With Us

godiswithus

Christmas Eve was a night of song that wrapped itself about you like a shawl. But it warmed more than your body. It warmed your heart…filled it, too, with melody that would last forever.- Bess Streeter Aldrich

I think that there is no other faith that is as unthinkable as the one that could believe in God coming down from heaven to become man. A faith that insists we need not remain in darkness because Light Himself has pierced through our shadows to illumine our path.

But as Christians, that is just what we believe, and Christmas reminds us of all that.

Christmas reminds us that it isn’t our failures that matter, because there is One who can save us and make us whole again.

Christmas reminds us that it isn’t our wounds that should overwhelm us, because there is One who can heal us and give us life.

Christmas reminds us that no matter how empty and alone we may feel, no matter how deserted by the world we think we are, we need not be alone.

God Himself has reached out to us from heaven. God Himself has walked the night to accompany us towards a new day. We are not on our own anymore because God has come, God is with us!

“Behold, the virgin shall be with child,
and shall give birth to a son.
They shall call his name Immanuel;”
which is, being interpreted, “God with us.”
-Matthew 1:23, WEBBE

Categories
Poems Words of Wisdom

The First Christmas

thefirstchristmas

“A God who became so small could only be mercy and love” – St. Therese of Lisieux

This Is Christmas

God could have come in all His glory,
with trumpets and angels and all,
blazing like fire,
dazzling like lightning
as terrible as the raging of the seas!

But on that Christmas Eve,
He came as a newborn child,
small and gentle,
humble and innocent
as harmless as a dove.

Why He came like this
I didn’t know,
until I looked at my own fears
and wounds.

How could I have come to Him
had I been so afraid?
How could I have even
looked at His face?

But as that babe,
I could cradle Him in my arms,
I could whisper to Him my heart’s desires
I could look upon His eyes
without being judged
without being cast away.

And I love Him more
because He chose to come that way.
Because though He came for the whole world,
He also came for me,
and He knew me,
He knew how I longed to be loved.

But more than loving me,
He allowed me to love Him
and to care for Him,
to carry Him
even though He is actually the One
who carries me.

This is Christmas
This is Holy Night.
In that simple stable
silent and small,
I was saved,
I was healed,
I have been found.

For a CHILD IS BORN to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God the Mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace. – Isaiah 9, DRA