Category: Words of Wisdom

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. And of some sinful pleasure they say ‘Let me but have this and I’ll take the consequences’: little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin. Both processes begin even before death. The good man’s past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven: the bad man’s past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness. And that is why, at the end of all things, when the sun rises here and the twilight turns to blackness down there, the Blessed will say, ‘We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven,’ and the Lost, ‘We were always in Hell.’ And both will speak truly. – C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce

There are times when we ask ourselves how long must sorrow last? How long must the poor and helpless suffer? How long must those who hunger yearn for bread? How long must orphans ache for a Father’s love?

We look around us and all that we can see is suffering. There is injustice everywhere. There is pain. There is grief we cannot even put into words.

We then look towards heaven and we wonder how far indeed could it be? When will that blessed day come when heaven finally comes down upon us? When those who thirst shall thirst no more? When those who are misjudged are condemned no more? When those who have fallen rise again and walk into the arms of a Father who will wipe away all of their tears?

We don’t know how long, and many times, all we can do is sigh. But we must believe that it will never be too long. God knows our pain and our cries. He will never come too late for those whom He loves.

How long, LORD?
Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul,
having sorrow in my heart every day?
How long shall my enemy triumph over me?
Behold, and answer me, LORD, my God.
Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death;
lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed against him;”
lest my adversaries rejoice when I fall.
But I trust in your loving kindness.
My heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing to the LORD,
because he has been good to me.
-Psalm 13, WEBBE

Stamp out the serpent envy that stings love with poison and kills all joy… Give me humility in which alone is rest, and deliver me from pride which is the heaviest of burdens. And possess my whole heart and soul with the simplicity of love. – Thomas Merton

Our hatred for evil is different from our hatred for something good.

Our hatred for all evil things stem from our natural desire for goodness. It is supported by our conscience and our sense of justice. It is remedied by compassion and mercy for our fellowmen who fall.

But our hatred for goodness is warped and unnatural. It is a form of envy and makes us lie to ourselves, to who we are supposed to be. What remedy is there to satisfy those who hate good men when the only desire of that will is to see good men fall?

Some good men may indeed fall. But by God’s grace they can rise again. Goodness always has a way to triumph in the end.

Let us therefore examine our hearts and pray that God may purify our thoughts and our desires. We are weak and sinful. But with God’s mercy, we can be healed. We can be whole. We can rise again!

The heart is deceitful above all things
and it is exceedingly corrupt.
Who can know it?
“I, the LORD, search the mind.
I try the heart,
even to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his doings.”
-Jeremiah 17, WEBBE

“The devil is no fool. He can get people feeling about heaven the way they ought to feel about hell. He can make them fear the means of grace the way they do not fear sin. And he does so, not by light but by obscurity, not by realities but by shadows; not by clarity and substance, but by dreams and the creatures of psychosis. And men are so poor in intellect that a few cold chills down their spine will be enough to keep them from ever finding out the truth about anything.” – Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain

Great evil first comes in small doses. – Jocelyn Soriano

Evil is really powerless against goodness. But it works through malice and deceit. It works by pretending it is good and attractive and beautiful until you fall for it and lie to yourself that darkness is light and light is indeed darkness. Evil works by manipulation, by hiding in the shadows while whispering its many temptations until you let yourself off your guard. And after everything it has done to you, it leads you to think all is hopeless until you believe more in your misery that in the power of God’s mercy.

Never let evil triumph over you by letting it lure you to its many tricks. Always be vigilant! Never let it talk you into giving up what is truly precious and good.

And if in times you fall and succumb to its darkness, never lose hope. It is not in despair that you can find solace but in the infinite love and mercy of Him who has always loved you and who always will. No misery is greater than His love. No darkness is ever powerful enough to put out His Light!

But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. -2 Timothy 3, WEB

See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. – Matthew 10:16, NRSVCE

Much of the world is covered with darkness because those who are good are often afraid to shine their light. While wicked men plot about evil, good men fall into indifference. While those who are evil commit every sort of injustice, good men keep silent as though it is a sin to speak against what is wrong.

Tolerance of evil is never a virtue. Neither is cowardice something to be strived for. Good men should be wise men who are not easily deceived or abused.

While it is true that we are called to forgive, to love and to be patient, we are also called to be courageous, to be strong and to overcome evil.

Let us be meek as doves indeed as we strive not to cause harm to others. But let us also be wise and discerning, able to distinguish between right and wrong, and ever prepared to fight for what is right.

“We ought to speak, shout out against injustices, with confidence and without fear. We proclaim the principles of the Church, the reign of love, without forgetting that it is also a reign of justice.” – Blessed Miguel Pro

…for no one loses in this battle but he who ceases to fight and to trust in God. He never ceases to help His soldiers, although He sometimes suffers them to be wounded . Only fight, for all depends on this. There are remedies at hand for healing the wounds of those warriors who look to God and to His help with confidence ; and, when they least expect it, they shall find their enemies dead. – The Spiritual Combat

There are times when you don’t know how to carry on as you see the number of odds against you. As the enemy advances from every side, you are tempted to give in to fear. You see their stature and their great number and you are tempted to despair. Everything seems to point out to a losing battle and your hopelessness seems to sap your strength away.

Deep within you however, you know you can’t just give up. To retreat would be to accept immediate defeat. To surrender is to give up fighting for a cause that is higher than even your own life.

So you go on, and you fight. And you entrust everything to Him who alone can determine the true victors of the battle. You look up to Him and you give everything that you have. It doesn’t matter anymore no matter how small or weak you think you are. The battle belongs to God and it is His unfailing strength that will carry you through.

See now that I, I alone, am he, and there is no god besides me. It is I who bring both death and life, I who inflict wounds and heal them, and from my hand no one can deliver. For I raise my hand to the heavens and will say: As surely as I live forever, When I sharpen my flashing sword, and my hand lays hold of judgment, With vengeance I will repay my foes and requite those who hate me. I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh… Exult with him, you heavens, bow to him, all you divine beings! For he will avenge the blood of his servants, take vengeance on his foes; He will requite those who hate him, and purge his people’s land. – Deuteronomy 32, NABRE