Category: Words of Wisdom

The first duty of love is to listen. – Paul Tillich

We have always wanted people to listen to us, to really listen. To listen not only with their ears, but with their heart.

Yet few are those it seems who know how. Few are those who can look beyond our words, beyond our tone, beyond our outward arrogance and anger.

How fortunate indeed to find one who can listen even to our silence, even to the words we fail to say. They see not only the words we wanted to say, they see our souls, they see who we really are.

If I Didn’t Listen

Forgive me if I didn’t listen well,
If I didn’t hear you when you spoke.
Forgive me if I blocked and hindered
The thoughts you wanted to share.

I was more occupied with my thoughts
Than with your thoughts,
I was more concerned with my feelings
Than I was with yours.

I was not able to hear
What you truly wanted to say.
I was not able to know you better,
I wasn’t able to value who you are.

Forgive me for I should have shown more compassion,
I should have respected you.
I should have opened up my heart,
So you could have opened yours.

Forgive me for I have made you feel more alone,
I have not listened to your fears or to your pain.
I was so absorbed in my own defenses,
In my own hurts and fears.

Forgive me for I have not listened well,
I should have known we’re not so different after all.
If I had only listened,
I may not have felt so alone.

So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger… – James 1:19, WEBBE

We cant always be strong, but sometimes, we have to risk trusting others with our tears so they’d have the chance to wipe them all away. – Jocelyn Soriano

The most terrible thing to feel in the world is not to be weak. The most terrible thing to feel is to know that even in your strength, even in your riches, even in your possession of power, you are alone.

Therein is our poverty, therein is true anguish. And in that poverty, there is nothing we can do but to risk ourselves all the more and make ourselves vulnerable. No one can join us while we are enclosed. No one can see us while we remain hidden.

By opening ourselves to others, we risk getting hurt more. But it is only by this risk that we also invite others to come and to be the friend of our souls.

Why do we hide our tears from the world?

We hide our tears –
because we don’t want to appear weak
because when we appear weak, other people would avoid us
because they don’t want to be affected by our weakness
and when they leave us, we just become even lonelier than before

We hide our tears –
because we don’t want to lose our credibility
with the people who trust us and depend on us
because when they see us crying, they’d think we’re crumbling
and when we crumble, they’d have no one to lean on to anymore

We hide our tears –
because we don’t want to appear hurt
because when our loved ones see how hurt we are, they’d get hurt as well
and we don’t want to see them hurt
because we’d only get hurt the more

I’ve hidden my tears for quite a while, ‘til there came a time when I surrendered, and I set them free – I let them overflow, and I’ve realized, I don’t want to hide my tears anymore.

I don’t want to hide my tears anymore –
because I want to show others how much I understand their tears,
and in so doing, help them feel they’re not alone;
because I want to show one doesn’t have to be perfect all the time,
just so you can be strong;
because I want others to understand me,too, in my hurts,
trusting they can also be strong, and that they could also love me for who I am,
not for who I could be or pretend to be.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. – Psalm 34:18

“…and all my tears flowed silently toward the Heart of Him who alone understands what pain and suffering is.” – St. Faustina

Prayer joined to sacrifice constitutes the most powerful force in the history of man.” – Pope John Paul II

We often encounter frustration not because there is lack of support from God, but because we have relied upon inappropriate instruments.

There are things we cannot accomplish by force. There are arguments we cannot win by mere eloquence. There are souls that cannot be won over by words.

But what force cannot achieve, gentleness often can. What arguments fail to prove, friendship often can express. And what words cannot win, the witness of our lives often can.

Yes, it is true, there is much evil in the world today. Evil holds dominion over worldly affairs, over earthly riches and positions of power. It holds sway over channels of communication and influence.

But there is a far greater power that often remains untapped. It is the power of the spirit. And that power can only be access by much prayer and the unselfish sacrifice of our lives.

“Teacher, I brought to you my son, who has a mute spirit; and wherever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth, and wastes away. I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they weren’t able.”

“You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!” Having cried out, and convulsed greatly, it came out of him. The boy became like one dead; so much that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand, and raised him up; and he arose. When he had come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?” He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing, except by prayer and fasting.” – Mark 9, WEB

“First we form habits; then they form us. Conquer your bad habits or they will conquer you.” -Robert Gilbert

Any bad habit associated with intoxicating pleasure is difficult to overcome due to the intense sensation felt by the person every time he engages in such a habit. During such a time, everything else seems to fade away, even right thinking, even far reaching consequences in the future, even loved ones.

Afterwards, when the pleasure or sensation has left, one can begin to see the damage it has done to himself and to others. In a way, one repents, and desires to leave behind such a harmful vice. But one’s resolve quickly breaks as soon as the sensation starts to creep in again and lays hold upon him, becoming its slave. The cycle never seems to stop until there is full destruction of a life bereft of every good.

But is there hope? Can one be free?

The answer may seem too simple, but the answer is Him who sets prisoners free and heals those who are wounded, both in body and in soul. It is grace that can empower us, grace that can assist us when even our very best is never enough.

This does not mean however that we do nothing. Grace is strength, but we must use that strength that is given us. God opens the prison doors, but we must choose to walk outside so we can truly be free.

The struggle for many may not be instant. It can be a daily battle where one rises and where one falls again. But the important thing is to always get up, never letting go of God’s Hand, God’s strong yet gentle Hand that will always be there for us, guiding us, until all that is lost has found its way again.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people. – Luke 4, GNT

How sweet is the way of Love! True, one may fall, one may not be always faithful, but Love, knowing how to draw profit from all, very quickly consumes whatsoever may displease Jesus, leaving naught but humble and profound peace in the innermost soul. – St. Therese of Lisieux

Quite often, I wonder why God doesn’t transform us immediately into perfection the moment that we believe in Him and truly desire from within our hearts to be His forever. Why couldn’t we be good once and for all so that we may finally avoid hurting other people and making so many mistakes? Why couldn’t we overcome our bad habits at once? Why couldn’t we be relieved from our suffering of being sinful, of being the cause of darkness instead of being a channel of His light?

I’ve realized that though God can well do so, He sometimes allows many of us to be perfected through many seasons of trial and healing. In this way, our humility is established, and we know more who we are by ourselves without His grace. In this way also, we get to know more about the patience of God, how He bears with us, forgiving our many trespasses and blunders, and waiting patiently for that day when we shall finally be like Him, holy, loving faithfully, and pure.

But you are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and didn’t forsake them. Yes, when they had made themselves a moulded calf, and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed awful blasphemies; yet you in your manifold mercies didn’t forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud didn’t depart from over them by day, to lead them in the way; neither did the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way in which they should go. – Nehemiah 9, WEBBE