I Take off the MASK!

Grief and Healing - Download the eBook

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

We may have experienced times when people got unduly angry with us without us knowing why. We may have been judged for things we didn’t do or even intentions we never even thought about.

In the same way, we can apply this to others who may offend us one way or the other. We may try to think that they don’t really know what they are doing or that they don’t intend to really offend us.

There may be certain exceptions to the matter, but much anger can be avoided if we do not judge hastily, if we can pause for a while and give others at least, the benefit of the doubt. This is the same thing we want for ourselves. That we not be so easily judged by others, but given time to explain ourselves and our true intentions.

“If I see people do anything which clearly seems to be sin, I cannot make up my mind that they have offended God; and if I dwell upon this at all, – which happens rarely or never, – I never can make up my mind, though I see it plainly enough. It seems to me that everybody is as anxious to serve God as I am. And herein God has been very gracious to me, for I never dwell on an evil deed, to remember it afterwards and if I do remember it, I see some virtue or other in that person.” – St. Teresa of Avila

Your life is ruled by that which occupies your mind. – Jocelyn Soriano

Be very careful what you allow to occupy your mind. What fills your thoughts often manifests in your life. For if your thoughts are filled with things dark and twisted, your life will be troubled as well. But if your thoughts are filled with thoughts of peace, you will also live in serenity and calm.

You choose what things you think about most. Will you think only of material riches that fade away and are easily stolen away from you? Or will you fill your mind with things of eternal value and lasting joy?

At the end of our days, we will realize how well we spent each moment we had. And the time given us begins with the time we use to think about that which matters most in our lives.

What was sown amongst the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. – Matthew 13:22, WEBBE

And when God forgives, he forgives like a Father and not like an official in the law court who reads out the verdict saying: ‘Acquitted for lack of evidence.’ He forgives us from within his heart. He forgives because he loved that person. – Pope Francis

“Come now, and let’s reason together,” says the LORD:
“Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.
Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
-Isaiah 1:18, WEBBE

When God forgives, He forgives us completely, He forgives us with love.

He does not hold any resentment towards us. He doesn’t keep on reminding us of our faults.

He purifies us completely and looks at us seeing only His beloved child, not our past sins, not our previous shame.

The world may judge us. And even if someone forgives us, we may feel always guilty before his eyes.

But with God, all that remains is His love for us. A love so great it washes away every trace of darkness from our hearts, replacing it with the purity of His light.

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins. – Isaiah 43:25, WEBBE

Love… bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. – 1 Corinthians 13:4,7 (WEB)

This life is full of beautiful things, though it is also full of suffering and pain. Many times, no matter how strong we are, we hurt. We cry from the depths of our soul and our spirit groans as we lift our prayers to heaven.

In such times, the last thing we need is for someone to come by and say that we have no reason at all to be sorrowful. The last thing we need is for someone to neglect our pain as though it didn’t matter, as though none of the things we went through were real.

Pain is real. We bleed sometimes. Though we all want relief from the pain, we also want deeper consolation.

There at the cross, we see all pain and darkness conquered in such a way that it is defeated forever. Not by disregarding it. Not by denying it. But by giving value even to our tears. By loving everything about us, including our very worst hurts.

How do you wipe away pain? You don’t. You put in tenderness, compassion and joy. You cling to hope and then you offer everything to God. And you wait, with faith you see all things anew – light shines out from darkness, happiness grows through every pain, and all things become indeed so very beautiful in His time.

He who who cannot be angry with evil cannot truly be capable of loving what is good. – Jocelyn Soriano

Anger has its place. We don’t have to be filled with thoughts of revenge or of uncontrollable wrath. But we don’t have to forego anger either.

Anger can move us to recognize what is evil, to see how injustice is being done to our neighbors and to do something about it. Anger can urge us to take action to defend the oppressed, and to find justice for those who are exploited.

Leaders who cannot be angry with the wicked are weak. They allow others to be abused. They become instruments of chaos instead of peace.

Let us learn to be angry with the right things at the right time and in the right way. We don’t have to be ruled by our emotions, but we can allow our natural human instincts to remind us when we need to be strong in order to defend the weak, and when we need to fight evil so that we can see the triumph of what is good.

They came to Jerusalem, and Jesus entered into the temple, and began to throw out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and overthrew the money changers’ tables, and the seats of those who sold the doves. He would not allow anyone to carry a container through the temple. He taught, saying to them, “Isn’t it written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations?’ But you have made it a den of robbers!” – Mark 11:15-17, WEB