I Take off the MASK!

Grief and Healing - Download the eBook

We know we found something of infinite worth, when for the sake of it, we stop counting the cost of our efforts and we start to give everything else away. – Jocelyn Soriano

Recent times have taught us to weigh the cost of almost everything. We invest something in order to get a desired profit. We give in order to receive. We love in order to be loved.

But is this really what true love means? Is love something we can weigh or measure in any way?

For if we truly love, why do we count each effort that we do for love? And why do we continue to keep a record of wrongs?

In counting the cost of everything, we fail to find that which could never be counted. In seeking what is visible, we fail to find what exists beyond what the eyes can see.

If we truly desire to find love, let us try to reach for something beyond what we can count or measure, something beyond what we can command or control. Sometimes, it’s when we seem to lose everything that we gain what’s truly valuable. It’s when we empty ourselves that we are truly filled.

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. – Matthew 13, NRSVCE

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we would find in each person’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It is very difficult to see the good virtues of people who have just hurt us. At the moment of pain, all we can see is the evil they have done, an evil for which we may suffer our whole lives through.

But if we can only see through the eyes of compassion, we may begin to see that behind the frightening masks, there are people like you who have also been hurt. People who may not even know what they are truly doing because they are so lost in their own darkness and pain.

This is not to lessen the weight of their sins nor to ignore our own suffering. But to be able to find compassion for those who have hurt us is to help us release much of the wrath that weighs us down.

To see a brother or a sister instead of seeing an enemy is to find a place for love. It is in this very place where we can begin to find a ray of hope for our own healing and peace.

Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” – Luke 23:34, WEBBE

At times how hard it seems to forgive! And yet pardon is the instrument placed into our fragile hands to attain serenity of heart. – Pope Francis

Forgiveness is not only for the person being forgiven, it is also for the one who is able to forgive. It is in forgiveness that one begins to let go of the past so that one can finally face the future. It is in forgiveness that one can stop dwelling upon the pain in order to begin the process of healing.

For we are not healed by revenge or by holding on to our resentments no matter how justified we think we may be. We are not healed by forever repeating the tragedies we’ve been through. We are healed when we seek our wholeness where it can truly be found.

Our healing is not within the power of our offender. It is in the power of Him who heals all hearts, in Him who heals both body and soul.

By always looking back, we deprive ourselves of the chance to look to Him who can lift us up, who alone can restore all that we have ever lost.

It is never easy. But we need to make that necessary exchange – to let go of our bitterness to receive the sweetness of peace; and to offer up all our miseries to receive the healing we’re yearning for.

Does anyone harbor anger against another, and expect healing from the Lord? – Sirach 28, NRSVCE

Forgiveness breaks the chain of causality because he who forgives you – out of love – takes upon himself the consequences of what you have done. Forgiveness, therefore, always entails a sacrifice. – Dag Hammarskjold

No matter how people try to explain forgiveness, there will always be a part of it that is hard to understand. Forgiveness is never an easy thing. It is not resolved through a given formula. It is not achieved by sheer willpower and strength.

For people who have been terribly hurt, forgiveness will always beg the question for justice. When an offender is forgiven, who will pay then for the damage he has done? It is this element that often bewilders our hearts and our minds. Must forgiveness mean the absence of justice for the one who has been hurt?

But justice must never be missing. It may remain invisible to our eyes, but it is there. In forgiveness, it is a justice that is veiled in mercy, a mercy that comes from love.

In its highest ideal, it is love itself that pays. It is love that makes the necessary sacrifice.

For while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man. Yet perhaps for a righteous person someone would even dare to die. But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:6-8, WEB

Let no person, no matter how well intentioned he may be, prevent anyone from approaching the Mercy of God. – Jocelyn Soriano

There is a simple solution to many of our troubles – MERCY. Mercy alone mends the heart that hurts. Mercy alone keeps us from despair. Mercy alone gives us the freedom to forgive.

Through mercy, God sends us hope, and our faint hearts are revived. Through mercy, our understanding and compassion for others is extended, and we are relieved from the wrath that poisons us from within.

Man has made a very great fall. But there is no fall so great that the cross could not remedy. By God’s mercy, even heaven and earth are bridged and reconciled, and the people living in darkness are able to see a great light.

Whoever will cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if he were thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around his neck. -Mark 9:42 (WEB)