I Take off the MASK!

Grief and Healing - Download the eBook

Better are the wounds of a friend, than the deceitful kisses of an enemy. – Psalm 27:6, DRA

We must be true in our relationships. We must be able to trust. And whom can we trust but those who tell us what is true?

By living in truth, we are able to live closer to each other’s hearts. We learn to love more. We feel less alone.

It isn’t always easy to tell the truth. But through the struggle along the way, we build stronger relationships, we make better friends. Our relationships do not become a mere tool to flatter our egos. They become a sturdy bridge we can walk on for a lifetime.

Those who tell the truth love you. Those who tell you what you want to hear love themselves. – Mother Angelica

If we are, in fact, now occupied in good deeds, we should not attribute the strength with which we are doing them to ourselves. We must not count on ourselves, because even if we know what kind of person we are today, we do not know what we will be tomorrow. -St. Gregory the Great

Let God be the one to praise your good works. Hide them from others. Hide them even from yourself if you could.

For our good works come only by God’s grace. Without Him, we would have remained lost in the dark.

If others are lost therefore, pray that they may be found. Never look down on anyone because he who is lost today may be the very person who will help you tomorrow.

Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each man will get his praise from God. – 1 Corinthians 4:5, WEB

I have learned that the greatest power is hidden in patience. I see that patience always leads to victory, although not immediately; but that victory will become manifest after many years. Patience is linked to meekness. – St. Faustina, Divine Mercy in My Soul 1514

There is power in patience. Without patience, we lose so many things that could have been ours. We fail to reach so many dreams. We fall short of accomplishing our heart’s deepest desires.

It is patience that helps us not to settle for lesser things. It is patience that helps us decide in choosing the wiser path. Without it, we choose things that can’t really make us happy. We regret being lost and we lose more time trying to make things right again.

When we wait, we show how strong our faith really is. We also prove the depths of our love.

When we wait, we allow God to work in His own time. The seeds grow. The flowers blossom. And the trees bear fruits full of sweetness and of love.

But the time is coming quickly, and what I show you will come true. It may seem slow in coming, but wait for it; it will certainly take place, and it will not be delayed. – Habakkuk 2:3, GNT

“He loves, He hopes, He waits. If He came down on our altars on certain days only, some sinner, on being moved to repentance, might have to look for Him, and not finding Him, might have to wait. Our Lord prefers to wait Himself for the sinner for years rather than keep him waiting one instant.”-St. Julian Peter Eymard

Who am I that the Lord who made the heavens should wait for me? Who am I that He who made the mountains and the seas should stand at the door as I linger on, frightened to accept His call?

Yet He waits. He knocks. He calls.

Day after day He stands unmoved, His love undiminished.

He knows that I need Him. He knows that deep within my soul, I thirst so much for His love.

God grant me the grace to have an open heart that I may finally listen. God grant me true humility that I may finally see how lost I am without Him. God grant me faith that I may believe He is truly there, waiting all along for me.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me. – Revelation 3:20, WEB

“Give something, however small, to the one in need. For it is not small to one who has nothing. Neither is it small to God, if we have given what we could.”-St. Gregory Nazianzen

Never let the measure of others hinder you from giving what you can. Give of your all. Give to everyone you desire to help. God will never belittle your gifts. He honors every sacrifice done out of love.

If He wanted to receive great gifts only, why has He chosen to be among the poor? If He wanted to praise fine offerings only, why has He chosen to be born as a helpless child?

He became poor for us. He became little for us. Even a small child that needs His mother’s care!

There is no small gift to Him who sees the purity of one’s heart.

Jesus sat down opposite the treasury, and saw how the multitude cast money into the treasury. Many who were rich cast in much. A poor widow came, and she cast in two small brass coins, which equal a quadrans coin. He called his disciples to himself, and said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, this poor widow gave more than all those who are giving into the treasury, for they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on.” – Mark 12:41-44, WEB