I Take off the MASK!

Blessed are those who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
-Matthew 5:4, WEB-BE

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into various temptations, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. – James 1:2-4, WEB-BE

But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. – 1 Peter 5:10, WEB-BE

Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory; while we don’t look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. – 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, WEB-BE

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed towards us. For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body. – Romans 8:18-23, WEB-BE

Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope: and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. – Romans 5:3-5, WEB-BE

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the assembly; of which I was made a servant, according to the stewardship of God which was given me towards you, to fulfil the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden for ages and generations. But now it has been revealed to his saints, to whom God was pleased to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery amongst the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory; whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus; for which I also labour, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily. – Colossians 1:24-29, WEB-BE

But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. Our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that, since you are partakers of the sufferings, so also are you of the comfort. For we don’t desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life. Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us out of so great a death, and does deliver; on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us; you also helping together on our behalf by your supplication; that, for the gift given to us by means of many, thanks may be given by many persons on your behalf. – 2 Corinthians 1:6-11, WEB-BE

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written,
“For your sake we are killed all day long.
We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from God’s love, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
-Romans 8:35-39, WEB-BE

The sick, the elderly, the handicapped and the dying teach us that weakness is a creative part of human living, and that suffering can be embraced with no loss of dignity. – Pope John Paul II

Our dignity does not come from our own strength or from our own power. It is not lost with sickness. It isn’t lost with poverty or persecution or even the insults of men. It isn’t lost with suffering or even death.

God gave us this dignity, the dignity of being made into His own image.

One day He is going to complete the good work He has begun in us and we will finally see Him. We will also know fully our great dignity of being His children.

Here on earth however, we suffer from our weaknesses and from the sins of others. We also suffer from our imperfect physical bodies and from various emotional and spiritual struggles. Many times, we suffer involuntarily. At times, we suffer for the sake of those we love. But through all these, we are assured, that for as long as we suffer with the love of God, we do not suffer in vain.

On the contrary, when we suffer with love, our dignity is raised, and we reach our true dignity as human beings created in the image of God. When we suffer in love, we become like Jesus Himself, who offered His own life in order to save many. Can there ever be a dignity greater than this?

Surely he has borne our sickness,
and carried our suffering;
yet we considered him plagued,
struck by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for our iniquities.
The punishment that brought our peace was on him;
and by his wounds we are healed.
-Isaiah 53:4-5, WEB-BE

“God created through love and for love. God did not create anything except love itself, and the means to love. He created love in all its forms. He created beings capable of love from all possible distances. Because no other could do it, he himself went to the greatest possible distance, the infinite distance. This infinite distance between God and God, this supreme tearing apart, this agony beyond all others, this marvel of love, is the crucifixion.”- Simone Weil, Waiting for God

He who loves purity of heart and speaks gracefully is the king’s friend. – Proverbs 22:11, WEB-BE

“A clean heart is a free heart. A free heart can love Christ with an undivided love in chastity, convinced that nothing and nobody will separate it from his love. Purity, chastity, and virginity created a special beauty in Mary that attracted God’s attention.”- Mother Teresa

“Only the chaste man and the chaste woman are capable of true love.”-Pope John Paul II

“Purity prepares the soul for love, and love confirms the soul in purity.”-John Henry Cardinal Newman

“He alone loves the Creator perfectly who manifests a pure love for his neighbor.”- Saint Bede the Venerable

“Holy Purity, the queen of virtues, the angelic virtue, is a jewel so precious that those who possess it become like the angels of God in heaven, even though clothed in mortal flesh.”- Saint John Bosco

“A pure soul is like a fine pearl. As long as it is hidden in the shell, at the bottom of the sea, no one thinks of admiring it. But if you bring it into the sunshine, this pearl will shine and attract all eyes. Thus the pure soul, which is hidden from the eyes of the world, will one day shine before the Angels in the sunshine of eternity.”- Saint John Vianney

“Chastity is the lily of virtues, and makes men almost equal to Angels. Everything is beautiful in accordance with its purity. Now the purity of man is chastity, which is called honesty, and the observance of it, honor and also integrity; and its contrary is called corruption; in short, it has this peculiar excellence above the other virtues, that it preserves both soul and body fair and unspotted.”- Saint Francis de Sales

“The state of grace is nothing other than purity, and it gives heaven to those who clothe themselves in it. Holiness, therefore, is simply the state of grace purified, illuminated, beautified by the most perfect purity, exempt not only from mortal sin but also from the smallest faults; purity will make saints of you! Everything lies in this!”- Saint Peter Julian Eymard

“Chastity, or cleanness of heart, holds a glorious and distinguished place among the virtues, because she, alone, enables man to see God; hence Truth itself said, ‘Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.’”- Saint Augustine

God desires from you the least degree of purity of conscience more than all the works you can perform.-St. John of the Cross

“Deep within yourself, listen to your conscience which calls you to be pure . . . a home is not warmed by the fire of pleasure which burns quickly like a pile of withered grass. Passing encounters are only a caricature of love; they injure hearts and mock God’s plan.”-Pope John Paul II

“Many live like angels in the middle of the world. You, … why not you?”-St. Josemaria Escriva

“Everyone who has this hope set on him purifies himself, even as he is pure.” – 1 John 3:3, WEB

It was not to the wise nor to the strong that Jesus promised the heavenly vision. It was to the PURE that Jesus spoke of when He said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

Why purity? Is it not possible to remain corrupted in some way and still see God? Is it not possible to be impure somewhat and still love?

We know from experience how it is like to be betrayed. We know how to be hurt by those whom we love. By those who reserve some parts of their hearts for their own selfish ends. By those who express their love for us one day and then withdraw it from us the next day.

Unless love be pure, it could never be sincere. Unless love be pure, it could never be given in full.

We are afraid that heaven is a bribe, and that if we make it our goal we shall no longer be disinterested. It is not so. Heaven offers nothing that a mercenary soul can desire. It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to. – C. S. Lewis

“And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” – John 13:34, GNT

I do believe that if we really learn to love another person truly, we would eventually learn also to love God. Why do I think so? Because when we learn to love another person with all sincerity, we begin to do all we can for their sake. We try our best not to hurt them. We give them everything in our power to make them happy. And if we remain honest with ourselves, we find out that the only way to do all these is to seek God’s help. By ourselves alone, we hurt the ones we love most. Left to our own powers, we can’t shield them from every want or pain.

We may see ourselves as good people. We may even consider ourselves as loving and kind. But are we kind enough? Is our love always far from our own selfishness and insecurities? If we truly love another, we can only find true hope and assurance if we can entrust them in God’s loving, all powerful and merciful hands. We can only avoid hurting them if we allow God to heal us from our own pain, if we let Him change us more into His own likeness.

Only with God’s love in me can I love you unselfishly and unafraid. Only with God’s love can I love you with a love that you deserve, a love that can truly make you happy!

“There are times when the burden of need and our own limitations might tempt us to become discouraged. But precisely then we are helped by the knowledge that, in the end, we are only instruments in the Lord’s hands; and this knowledge frees us from the presumption of thinking that we alone are personally responsible for building a better world. In all humility we will do what we can, and in all humility we will entrust the rest to the Lord.”- Pope Benedict XVI, God Is Love