I Take off the MASK!

Grief and Healing - Download the eBook

Said the Robin to the Sparrow:
“I should really like to know
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so?”

Said the Sparrow to the Robin:
“Friend, I think that it must be
That they have no Heavenly Father
Such as cares for you and me.”
– Elizabeth Cheney

You can’t control everything. Try as you might, plan as you might, you’d still encounter things that never even crossed your mind.

So don’t waste time fretting. Quite often, the things we feared don’t happen at all. On the other hand, things happen that we never even feared.

Why waste your strength for what you could never even predict? Conserve your powers so you may have the ability to deal with what you will truly face.

In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:6-7 (WEB)

We live only to discover beauty. All else is a form of waiting. – Kahlil Gibran

…we too often focus only on the negative aspect of life, on what is bad. If we were more willing to see the good and the beautiful things that surround us, we would be able to change our families. From there, we would change our next-door neighbors and then others who live in our neighbourhood or city. We would be able to bring peace and love to our world which hungers so much for these things. – Mother Teresa

We live to seek what’s beautiful, and once we find it, our desire is to keep it, to preserve it forever if we could.

That’s why we take so many photographs. That is why we paint and do sculptures and so many works of art.

We want to capture that moment of beauty where we transcend the mundane and leap at once from time to eternity. We want to enter into that magical realm where we become free at last, where we not only touch the beautiful, but where we become one with it, and in finding the beautiful, we also find ourselves.

Leisure (By: William Henry Davies)

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty’s glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

Finally, brothers, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report; if there is any virtue, and if there is any praise, think about these things. – Philippians 4:8 (WEB)

For each man will bear his own burden. – Galatians 6:5, WEB

We were never meant to carry the cross of other people. We were meant to carry only our own. When we become overly responsible for others, we fail to love ourselves enough, and we also fail to love others by not helping them to grow and to be strong.

Let us never forget that no matter how well intentioned we may be, we can only do so much. There are some things we can accomplish, and there are some things we cannot. There are some things we are responsible for, and there are some things that are already the responsibility of other people.

In the end, God is the One who bears the burden of the whole world. Even though our strength is often insufficient, even though we make many mistakes along the way, we can have faith in the God who makes the sun to rise each day and who makes all the stars to shine through the night. Nothing will happen without His consent. Not one hair of yours or mine shall fall without His will.

Do not be overly anxious then as though you were the only one who can do something, as though the world would fall without your care. God honors us by giving each one of us a burden meant for us alone. Let us carry it with love and leave all else to Him who has counted the stars and knows each one by name.

“What I can do, you cannot; what you can do, I cannot. But together we can do something beautiful for God.” – Mother Teresa

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins. – Isaiah 43:25, WEBBE

We can get so used to doing our very best that we can feel a bit of suffocation sometimes when we run out of strength and we make mistakes along the way.

We may feel then that the eyes of everyone have suddenly turned towards us, ready to cast a blame, even ready to condemn us just for that one error we never wanted to commit.

Have all our prudence come to nothing? Wasn’t it enough to have tried and given everything we’ve got?

When that time comes, remember that love, if it be true, leaves enough room for understanding and forgiveness also. Love knows how much we’ve tried, and love accepts us both in times when we’re radiant as well as in times when we’re really miserable.

Love has left a room even for your mistakes, even for your sins. Love goes with you not only when you stand, but even when you fall, especially when you fall. It does not laugh. It does not cast a look of sarcasm.

Love instead casts a look of faith and is ready to help you rise again.

Genuine forgiveness is participation, reunion overcoming the powers of estrangement… We cannot love unless we have accepted forgiveness, and the deeper our experience of forgiveness is, the greater is our love. – Paul Tillich

If I, His poor little creature, feel so tenderly towards you when you come back to me, what must pass through Our Lord’s Divine Heart when we return to Him? Far more quickly than I have just done will He blot out our sins from His memory. . . . Nay, He will even love us more tenderly than before we fell. – St. Therese of Lisieux