I Take Off the Mask

Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay If you woke up this morning not feeling fine, If you ever woke up thinking you may not have the strength to do all the things you need to do, If you ever woke up with aches and pains all over you, and you just can’t spend the day just like you wanted to, know that it’s alright. It’s alright to spend a few more minutes in bed, and it’s alright to miss the routines you’ve rehearsed all over in your head. You can cancel your plans if you want to, you know you need to, for there are times to work but there are times to rest, and there are days so gray you can’t be at your best. Still if you can hang on, and if you can breathe, if you can endure each moment that you live, you’d have survived the day, you’d have paved the way, to wait for tomorrow when you can leave all your sorrows, and you can begin again, for a brand new day.

There was a time when I received one of the most serendipitous gifts on my birthday. It’s a customized notebook from my sister where one of my own quotes had been inscribed on the cover. This is the quote that’s complete with an attribution to my name: “Don’t give up now. For all you know, your dreams are just about to come true!” – Jocelyn Soriano It was a very timely message that I needed to read. And I couldn’t help but be struck with the awesomeness of it all. It was something I had written long ago, and it came back to me right when I needed to remember it most. Have you ever experienced something like that? Something like a happy coincidence just when you thought you’ve given up all hope? What do you do when you feel like giving up? Mother Angelica had this very amazing quote. She said, “I am not afraid to fail, I am scared to death of dying and having the Lord say to me. ‘Angelica, this is what you might have done had you trust me more’.” Maybe one of the...

Image by Gabriel Alva from Pixabay “The role of a clown and a physician are the same?-?it’s to elevate the possible and to relieve suffering.”-Patch Adams It is far easier to talk about suffering than to bear it. When we need to endure so much pain, sometimes all the knowledge we think we have seem to disappear. All that we can think about is how much we are hurting.  It’s as though time passes by ever so slowly and our suffering would never end. Where do we find relief from our suffering? How do we somehow alleviate the pain? Here are some of the things that have helped me endure suffering: 1. Person It is having that person whom you can depend upon that helps you endure the most difficult sufferings in life. Just knowing that you are not alone already lightens your heavy load. You endure the pain with them and for them. Many times, it is your concern for them that allows you to forget much of your sufferings because instead of focusing on them, you care about the peo...

Image by congerdesign from Pixabay Everybody’s aching. Everybody’s searching for a little bit of comfort and of hope. These days, however, it seems politically incorrect to tell others about your faith, especially when your faith is about Jesus. When you share your faith, it’s as though you’re immediately judging and condemning other people. But sharing my faith is also sharing my hope. If I truly believe that Jesus has the remedy to this seemingly meaningless existence, why should I not share the answer I have found? Why is it wrong to share the most important thing that ever gave meaning to my life? Everybody seems to be looking for some kind of relief. And we’re allowed to seek it for as long as we don’t seek it in Jesus. Again, I’d like to ask, “Why?” Why should I keep to myself something that I believe to be true? If I see souls dying each day, souls that do not know where to turn to, should I not lead them where they can finally be satisfied? Should I not point the way w...