I Take off the MASK!

Grief and Healing - Download the eBook

He who trusts himself is lost. He who trusts in God can do all things.- Saint Alphonsus Liguori

We live in a world where we are constantly told that we can believe our own truths, and no matter what that may be, we can fight for it as a right that ought to be given us. We are taught that the world revolves for our sake alone, and that the only thing we must value is what can give us pleasure in this short life that is ours. We have been robbed of faith. We have been deprived of hope.

Must we be surprised then that we find no true meaning to life? Must we be perplexed that we can find no lasting joy in all the pleasures and desires we have sought? Must we be amazed that we feel so worthless even if we exalt ourselves to be the children of a great and vast universe we live in?

I tell you, we mustn’t be surprised at all. For this universe we boast about isn’t something that could love us and know us as we are. These rights and pleasures we seek are not the things we really need so we can be found. Though we boast of our strength, it will fail. Though we exalt our knowledge, it cannot understand. For we have blinded our eyes to the Truth. And we have preferred darkness because we are afraid of the Light.

He who walks in darkness, and has no light, let him trust in the Lord’s name, and rely on his God. Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who adorn yourselves with torches around yourselves; walk in the flame of your fire, and amongst the torches that you have kindled. You will have this from my hand: You will lie down in sorrow. – Isaiah 50, WEBBE

For you formed my inmost being.
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks to you,
for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
-Psalm 139, WEBBE

Revealing ourselves for who we really are comes with it the risk of being unloved.

When you reveal your heart and open yourself, you may be accepted, or you may not. You may be loved or you may not be loved.

But unless you give yourself and others the chance to love you as you are, all the affection you would ever feel will only be superficial and skin deep. This is because you know that what other people love is not the core of your being but the mask you wanted them to see. Do you really desire to be loved as somebody else and not as you really are?

“Don’t waste your time dreaming of being someone else. Don’t try to be someone else. Work and pray at being yourself. Be who you are, where you are. Concentrate on the little everyday problems and pains that beset you. Reserve your best efforts; expend your spiritual energy on what is right before you. This is what God asks of you. Listen closely. This is very important – and very misunderstood – for we all prefer to do what is to our personal liking. Very few of us choose duty first, or the will of God. Don’t cultivate someone else’s garden. Grow where you are planted.” – St. Francis de Sales

I see now that my deeds which have flowed from love are more perfect than those which I have done out of fear. – St. Faustina

There are many reasons why we do the things we do.

There are things we do because we have a duty or a moral obligation to do them.

There are also things we do out of fear. We’re afraid that certain things might happen if we do not perform certain actions so we act out of our need to address our fears.

We can also add to this the things we do out of guilt. There may be some people who can hold our hearts hostage and we do what we can not to disappoint them or cause them pain.

It would be hard to create a sure formula to determine the things we must and mustn’t do. We all need God’s wisdom to show us the way. There will also be times when we must do those things we take no liking or pleasure in.

But through it all, let us not forget the most important reason for our actions, which is LOVE.

More than fear or guilt or duty, may we find ourselves doing more and more things out of love.

Let all that you do be done in love. – 1 Corinthians 16, WEB

For you will light my lamp, Lord. My God will light up my darkness. – Psalms 18:28 WEBBE

Our eyes are not made to focus on more than one direction at a time. We can only focus on one.

The same is true with spiritual things. We can either focus on the bad and be driven down, or we can focus on the good and be lifted up.

When we try to focus on evil, our spiritual eyes find nothing but darkness. No matter how justified we feel we are, dwelling upon the thought of sin pulls us down. It sooner or later infects our hearts as with a poison. It blocks our view of the light of God, which is our joy and our peace.

Thinking about sin, whether our own or another’s , creates a spiritual fog that robs from us the sight of God’s beauty. Instead, we should seek God’s healing and strength on behalf of us all, and when we look at another who has fallen into sin, we should focus only on compassion and our own brokenness, longing for God’s healing for us both. Without this attitude, our own souls will trip and stumble into sin. Compassion is our protection.– All Shall Be Well by Ellyn Sanna

Sometimes, God leads us into a place of weakness so that we may know everything we have ever accomplished was only by God’s grace strengthening us and guiding us through. – Jocelyn Soriano

It is not by our strength alone that we accomplish great things, but by God’s strength. Without Him, we can accomplish nothing.

All our gifts, our talents, and our resources came from Him who loves us and knows our needs even before we ask. He supplies us all the days that we live and everything we could ever do is because of His grace.

In times when we reach a place of weakness, let us remember where our hope really is. It’s not upon our strength alone but in God’s strength. We need not be afraid, because all these years we thought we were able to make it through on our own, God was really with us, carrying us upon His shoulders.

Let all our feelings of helplessness draw us closer to Him who is the fountain of our refreshment and strength. Let it remind us that we need not think we are orphans because we have a Father who loves us and cares for all our needs.

You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. He humbled you, allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know, that he might teach you that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the LORD’s mouth. – Deuteronomy 8, WEBBE