I Take off the MASK!

Grief and Healing - Download the eBook

There is no need to be dismayed if love sometimes follows torturous ways. Grace has the power to make straight the paths of human love. – Pope John Paul II

Let us not grow weary if our efforts of love do not bring us quickly the fruits we desire. Love has its own time, its own course. It may seem slow in accomplishing its task, but we must never lose faith in it. It is still our best option, and many times, our only chance. For though we may not see how it works, it will certainly act in favor of good. It alone can change and touch the human heart. In its own beautiful time, it will accomplish more than we could ever expect it to do, creating miracles along the way and moving even mountains to make way where we thought there could never be a way.

For as the rain comes down and the snow from the sky, and doesn’t return there, but waters the earth, and makes it grow and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so is my word that goes out of my mouth: it will not return to me void, but it will accomplish that which I please, and it will prosper in the thing I sent it to do. – Isaiah 55:10-11,WEB

“Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.” – St. Augustine

Anger need not always be destructive. Anger can be useful if it pushes us to defend what is good and right.

We need not remain as mere observers of all the wrong things in the world. We can be angry about it and we can do something to make a change for the better.

Those who accept the evil around them sooner or later experience a depression in their souls. Depression comes because hope is lost.

We can regain that hope and do something instead. We can find the courage to make a difference, to make things good again.

Many times, it takes but a few men of courage to make a great change, men who are not afraid to stand up for what is right and to fight a good fight while not succumbing to the darkness around them.

And I sought for anyone among them who would repair the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. -Ezekiel 22:30, NRSVCE

“I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are wise and very beautiful; but I have never read in either of them: Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden.” – St. Augustine

There are many times when we just feel so tired and exhausted. We were told to do our best and we did, but there still seems a very long way to go. We were told to give our all and we gave everything, but we have reaped nothing for all our years of labor and pain.

In times like that, we can look to Him who knows how hard we have already tried. To Him who has compassion upon us. To Him alone who can refresh us and give us rest.

O, weary one, you need not carry your burden alone. You need not feel you’re on your own. For you have a Father who cares for you, who is ready to catch you when you feel so weak that you’d fall.

Rest upon Him and let Him carry you through. Let His love empower you. Let His kindness soothe your every ache and pain. Upon His strong and loving arms, your burden becomes light and even your bitterness becomes sweet.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11, WEB

“Earth hath no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.” – St. Thomas More

The death of a loved one may fill us with a sense of deep loss and grief. It is a time of parting, a time of looking back and a time of sensing a vacuum in the future. Our hearts may be filled with a mixture of emotions – longing, regret, bitterness, pain.

Yet in all these, it is quite possible to also have consolation. It is possible to still have hope.

For though this day be a day of parting on earth, it is also a day of rejoicing and triumph in heaven. Though this day is a day of emptiness here below, this day is also a day of fullness up there where our loved one finally meets Him who alone can give eternal rest and joy.

Let every parting then be not only a day of loss but of consolation. Let every pain be healed with hope. For in God there is life far better than one we could ever imagine to be. In His arms there is bliss and healing and peace.

The righteous perish, and no one lays it to heart. Merciful men are taken away, and no one considers that the righteous is taken away from the evil. He enters into peace. – Isaiah 57, WEB

“God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them.” – St. Augustine

Oftentimes, we wonder why God hasn’t answered our prayers, why He hasn’t given us what we desire. We were taught that we only need to ask to receive and that we only need to seek to find, but we have asked so many times and sought for so long, but we still fail to find what we were looking for.

Could we have forgotten something else? Could God have forgotten our prayers?

Many times, the answer is not whether God is willing or not to give us what we need, but whether or not we are ready to receive His many blessings.

Could we be asking for all the wrong things that won’t do us any good? Could we be refusing greater blessings because we just couldn’t let go of what we think we want?

God is more than willing to give us great things, He desires it for us much more than we could ever desire them for ourselves! But He is waiting for us to open our hands and receive them. He is waiting for us to let go of what little we think we have, so He can bless us with more, to finally be empty enough to be truly full!

I am the Lord, your God… Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. – Psalms 81:10, WEBBE