Sacrifice

Grief and Healing - Download the eBook

There are things God allows us to have not that we may retain possession of them, but that we may have something to offer as a sacrifice of love. – Jocelyn Soriano

Why do we have to lose the most important things? The most important people? Why do we have to suffer such a terrible heartbreak? Such a terrible terrible loss?

We love, we give it our all. We hope, we put everything we’ve got in it. And in one moment, everything is lost! Everything becomes meaningless.

Was there ever a meaning to everything we’ve gone through? Was there ever a worth to the love we gave, to the love we have received?

If everything’s supposed to end this way, what’s the meaning in all that?

But you tell me to trust in You, O, Lord. You tell me to have faith. You tell me to hope still amidst all hopelessness. And you tell me to go on loving even though my heart would eventually break from the pain of it all.

And even though the pain still lingers. Even though I still couldn’t understand a thing. I will let You hold me and lead me. I will trust the Heart that has been wounded too, out of love.

Lead me each step of the way for I fall. I’m blind though I walk with the Light.

I will trust that though I walk now through the valley of the shadow of death, you will never leave me alone.

The king said to Araunah, “No; but I will most certainly buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing.” – 2 Samuel 24, WEBBE

Be Free

Out of my distress, I called on the LORD.
The LORD answered me with freedom.
-Psalm 118, WEBBE

There is something within us that rebels whenever we are prevented from doing something. The human spirit, it seems, does not want to be restrained, but yearns to be free. Free to do as we wish, free to roam as we desire.

Yet even the highest of freedoms do not free us from the consequences of our choices. When we choose one door, we reject another. When we choose to be bound in one direction, we reject the freedom to go the other way.

Which paths then shall we choose? In which shall we truly be free?

Are we not perhaps all afraid in some way? If we let Christ enter fully into our lives, if we open ourselves totally to him, are we not afraid that He might take something away from us? Are we not perhaps afraid to give up something significant, something unique, something that makes life so beautiful? Do we not then risk ending up diminished and deprived of our freedom? . . . No! If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great. – Pope Benedict XVI

I See Your Beauty

“whatever you do
be gentle with yourself.
you don’t just live
in this world
or your home
or your skin.
you also live
in someone’s eyes.”
-Sanober Khan

Behold, you are beautiful, my love.
Behold, you are beautiful.
Your eyes are like doves.
-Song of Solomon 1, WEBBE

BEAUTIFUL YOU

You must learn
To love yourself
If you can’t love you for you
I hope that you
Can love you for me

If you say you love me
If you really feel you do,
Then give me you
Give me all of you
The worst and
The best of you.

See how I see you
Believe how
I treasure you
And how I want you
From the very core
Of who you are.

I am not asking you to change
Or to give up anything
If it would destroy you,
Beautiful you.

If you must change,
If you must give anything,
Do it because you want
To spread your wings
And soar,
Because it would help
Make you
Even more beautiful
Than before.

Then I couldn’t be happier
I couldn’t be more joyous in love,
For my happiness is
To see you happy
And my life
Is to live
Knowing you have become
The very best
Of who you are!

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

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.