Solitude

It is necessary for us to enter into solitude in order to know and to celebrate who we are.

Father

The most daring thing we can ever do is to call God "Father". But I bet God is very happy when we dare to do so.

Looking for joy

I have often wondered why people want to amass so much money than they can spend in their lifetime ...
or why people march behind the battlecry "freedom to do what I want" ...
or why people engage or remain in abusive relationships and habits ...
or why people spend a good deal of their time and energy in running after success, accomplishments and recognition ...
I think that at the root of each of this is really the cry of the human heart to be happy. In whatever age or situation, we look for joy. Even our faith in God is, to a great extent, motivated by the quest for joy.
The problem is, we forget about this "end" of our searching. We focus on the means, the ones I've listed above. Like blind persons running around in circles, we accomplish them yet we crave for more. We are never satiated because we forget, in the first place, what we are looking for: it's not money, nor beauty, nor health, nor success... It's all about joy, the real one.
I think we should shift gears. We should stop running after things, people, fleeting pleasures, etc. because our very experiences tell us that they will never give us true joy.
Instead, we must acquire the eyes of a child that is capable of awe and wonder in front of the most ordinary, everyday thing.
Joy is always before us, within our grasp, through the most unexpected ways.
We must let go of our adult, sophisticated ways and become like children.

"I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike." (Mt 11:25)
"Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." (Mt 18:3)

Hope

Hope springs from a heart that remembers with gratitude.

We shall overcome

I recently watched a television interview of a man who, fourteen months ago, lost his eldest daughter in a terrible accident. Six months before that, his wife died. So this eldest daughter was practically like a second mother to his youngest son.
He is a permanent deacon, so it was understandable that he talked about how faith has sustained him throughout the whole ordeal of waiting until the definitive news that his daughter’s body has been found. It is still faith in God that colors his everyday life. He said, “I believe that it is part of God’s will, though it is not always easy to understand”.
What has struck me the most, however, were not his words but his eyes. I cannot describe them. Even without saying anything, his eyes would have communicated a certain depth that has been reached only through the royal road of suffering. It wasn’t sadness I saw in those eyes, but joy tempered by the awareness of one’s fragility. It was something quiet and silent, a joy that has been tamed by pain and the experience of brokenness.
His eyes seemed to tell me, to tell us that in the midst of the most terrible pain, something good can come out; that God is faithful, though He doesn’t take away the suffering and the pain.
Here was a man who live each moment and each day with gratitude and trust that God never fails even when He seems silent. He will never fail us. We just need to trust.
And I believe him because of his eyes.

Gift

One of the first things I do in the morning is to open my personal emails especially after I have sent a message to some people. I guess it is but normal to expect a response from them. So I get so excited when I see a response, or disappointed, to a greater or a lesser degree, when I don't get one. Sometimes I would reason out that the other person should have at least acknowledged receipt of my message.
But come to think of it, who would want to read or to receive anything from anybody who did it only out of a sense of propriety or breeding? Instead, we would want that the gift or the favor come from the goodness of the other person's heart. Let me put it this way, we would enjoy the message or the favor if we know that the person is happy in giving us this favor.
I think this is one of the secrets of joy: to see everything as a gift that comes from the goodness of God and of people.
When I deal with people on a tit-for-tat basis, I become attached to "what is my due" that I look at people with suspicion. Instead when I let go of "my claims", then I look at everything as a gift.

Holiness

Holy people focus on God, not on their own perfection.

Pollyanna

Pollyanna introduced the so-called "Glad game". It goes this way. In whatever situation, one should find something to be glad about.
I have always been a very positive person, an optimist, someone who always saw the glass "half full". But something happened and for a long time I found it difficult to just go through each day and remain a decent person, much less to find anything positive about everything.
Now I have gotten back my smile. It is not a boisterous and exuberant joy. Rather, it is a feeling of lightness in my heart because I believe that there is always something good. It may not be big or obvious, but there is always something good.
I do not know how I have managed to arrive at this point. I cannot give any advice on how to overcome the long and terrible periods of darkness that each person must pass in their life.
All I know is that it was a gift, a grace from God.
I guess that is the secret in finding always something to be glad about, something to be grateful for. When I look at life with gratitude, it means that I recognize that there is something good. When I look at the small blessings that make up my every day life, then there is really something to be glad about. And each day I can always find so much to be grateful for.