I Take off the MASK!

Once we see how horrible evil really is, we’d be horrified!  We’d be repulsed so much that we wouldn’t want to have anything to do with it.  The problem is that evil wears a mask.  Unless we take it off, we remain blind, we fail to see  what evil really looks like, and we continue to be deceived.

1. By asking for the grace of God
to protect our souls from harm and
to do the good which we cannot do on our own

2. By looking through the eyes of mercy
mercy for those who do not know yet what they do
mercy for those who, knowing what they do
will merit eternal separation from the love of God

3. By forgiving and allowing God to heal us
for the pain caused by these evil,
and not expecting the one who caused us pain
to be the same healers of our wounds

4. By firmly believing that God is truly and indeed
the One who is still in control, and
good will certainly triumph in the end.

“Merely to resist evil with evil by hating those who hate us and seeking to destroy them, is actually no resistance at all. It is active and purposeful collaboration in evil that brings the Christian into direct and intimate contact with the same source of evil and hatred which inspires the acts of his enemy. It leads in practice to a denial of Christ and to the service of hatred rather than love.” – Thomas Merton, Passion for Peace; Reflections on War and Nonviolence

It is  the divine maternity of Mary which explains both her perfect excellence and her perfect holiness. It is the key to all her gifts and privileges. For the excellence of each creature is to be found in the degree in which it resembles its Creator. . . . Mary was made as like to Him [Christ], as being a mere creature, she could be made. For, having no earthly father, our Lord bore the human likeness of His mother in all His features. Or rather, she bore His likeness…

For He was formed by the Holy Ghost of her flesh. And His blood, that saving blood which redeemed the world, was taken from her heart. And whilst the Godhead dwelt bodily in Him, He, for nine months, dwelt bodily in her. And all that time . . . the stream which nourished the growth of life in Jesus flowed from the heart of Mary, and, at each pulsation, flowed back again, and re-entered His Mother’s heart, enriching her with His divinest spirit. How pregnant is that blood of His with sanctifying grace, one drop of which might have redeemed the world. . . . Next to that union by which Jesus is God and man in one person, there is no union so intimate as that of a mother with her child. . . .( William Ullathorne)

I believe in the elect, that God has predestined some for His Glory. None can snatch them away from the Father’s hand. Yet except by Divine Revelation, how can we be assured that we are amongst the chosen ones? How do we know if we have ‘truly believed?” For it is easy to say that we believe in Jesus, that by His death He has redeemed us. Do we not also say in our daily lives how we believe in certain things yet change our minds later on and realize we haven’t really believed in them? When we are lost and we are given a map, and we say we believe in that map to help us find the way, do we stop there? No, we prove that we really believe by following the directions the map gave. There may come a time though, when after following a map and one still seemed lost and exhausted, one may say that maybe that map wasn’t right after all, so he’d just throw it all away. Did he really believe in the first place? But wasn’t it that at that point of receiving the map, he thought with all his heart that he really believed in it?

May the Good Lord grant us the grace of final perseverance.  May we never despair but hold on to the living HOPE that we have. May our hearts not be filled with fear, but with trust and gratitude upon His Infinite Mercy.  And may we never boast on our presumptions, but with all humility, acknowledge the supreme wisdom and authority of God, who alone knows all things.