Unpleasant Memories
May 16, 2023
How is each and every one?
The title of this post may sound negative but the past is a reality in life that contributes to the maturing process or maturity of a person. I remember the words of St. John Paul II in his
apostolic letter
Novo Millenio Ineunte: “I will
remember the past with gratitude; I will live the present with enthusiasm; and
I will look forward to the future with confidence.” (cf. Family
Occasions, Speaking Heart to Heart, 25th Anniversary Edition).
Indeed, you and I should be grateful for the past without which
you and I wouldn’t be the way each of us is at this present moment, that is, hopefully without
any doubt a better person grown in wisdom, grace and stature.
One needs humility to be
able to keep on learning from the past and move on to the present as one who
is converted/changed, able to acknowledge her own faults and not the others’,
her personal mistakes and not the others’.
Pride makes a person argue her way out of her own mistake or misgiving
and focus more on what the other person to her view should be doing
instead. Her pride is her freedom. Instead of leading people to the right way,
she will lead them to her own way, which obviously is hers and not what she is
tasked to do.
Her frequent logic is God
will understand, is merciful and forgiving and she is forgetting that God looks
into hearts and sees through the corners of the person’s intentions. She can
fool herself and others but never God in whose image you and I are made and
meant to be up to the end of life. This person in her pride is willing to
suffer the consequences of her pride in Purgatory while many others pray and
apply the means to skip Purgatory.
The Prelate of Opus Dei has
these words to us, “No hay camino mas seguro
que darse a los demas mirando a Jesucristo” (There is no surer/safer way
than to give oneself to the others looking at/to Jesus Christ).
But eventually other people
are wiser and more discerning. In the
end, they recognize the North Star who truly leads and lights the way for them. She herself who lords it over the others, if
she is humble enough to think things through will realize “the empress that she
thinks she is has no clothes”.
Following is an excerpt on
memories and memories are always from the past.
We remember both pleasant and unpleasant memories and hopefully we learn
from both. Pleasant memories make us
grateful; we remember our blessings more than otherwise. Unpleasant memories make us sorry, repentant and
regretful but in the end we realize they are also blessings that cost us more
tears, more struggle, more humiliations, perhaps (From Joseph
Tissot, How to profit from your faults
pp. 102-103).
Finally, the last advantage to be drawn from our
faults; it lies in recalling the remorse they have left in us, the torments
they have caused us, and the reparation that we have been required to carry
out. Let us make use of our disgust at
having to submit ourselves to these unpleasant details, so that we keep ourselves
from falling again. Let us tell ourselves
at the time of temptation: “My soul,
remember the troubles created by these faults, when you had the misfortune of
previously committing them.” Remind
yourself what it has cost you to abandon them, to efface their trace, and to
make reparation for the consequences.
Remember the anguish and torture caused by the weight of your sins, the
terrors that crushed you then at the thought of the judgments of God, as well as
the shame you had to overcome before admitting them at the holy tribunal. Remind yourself of all this and spare yourself
the trouble of experiencing these pains, torments, and humiliations, by being
more generous and faithful.
Doubtless such motives
are far from being perfect, but rather have more to do with fear than with
love. Nevertheless, they can still be
put to profit and deserve to be mentioned among the efforts listed in the “art”
of profiting from our faults. Our good
Saint Francis de Sales hardly insists on this but does not omit it. “Love is courageous and is strong enough to
sustain itself because of the place where it finds itself; namely, the human heart,
which is ever changing and subject to rebellion. That is why love uses fear in combat and also
to make the enemy retreat” (Treatise on the
Love of God, 11, 17).
Spend time in your quiet
moments of conversation with God in prayer, and go through the words of the
prayer of contrition, O my God, I am heartily sorry for
having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of
heaven and the pains of hell; but most of all because they have offended Thee,
my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace
to confess my sins, to do penance and to amend my life. Amen. Beautiful prayer, don’t you think so? Listen to what He tells you. And experience
His love and mercy at the same time.
Go to Mary, Our Mother
and tell her your concerns. We still
have the half of the month of May to do a pilgrimage to Our Lady in one of her
shrines or make time to pray the Holy Rosary that she loves and recommends. Another
way is to consider Mary’s life and self giving in your moments of rest in
prayer during the day. For example:
(from the Handbook of Prayers, Charles
Belmonte-James Socias)
1. Mary is The Mother of God
2. Mary
is The Most Excellent Creature of God
3. Mary
and The Blessed Trinity
4. Mary’s
Holy Family, The Trinity on Earth
5. Mary
and Her Immaculate Conception
6. The
Annunciation: Mary is the First
Tabernacle
7. The
Visitation: Mary Sings of The Love of
God
8. The
Birth of Our Lord
9. Mary
Welcomes The Shepherds
Mary Presents Jesus in The Temple
1 Mary
Welcomes The Magi
Mary
Flees to Egypt With Joseph and The Child Jesus
1 Mary’s
Hidden Life With Jesus
1 Mary
Loses and Finds The Child Jesus
1 Mary
in Cana
Mary
at The Foot of The Cross
Mary
The Sorrowing Mother
Mary
is The Co-Redemptrix
Mary’s
Faith
Mary’s
Hope
Mary’s
Prayer
Mary
Ever Virgin
2 Mary
Queen of The Apostles
Mary
Help of Christians
Mary
Our Mother
Mary
is the Way to Jesus
Mary
is the Mother of Fair Love
Mary
is Taken Up to Heaven
Mary
is the Queen of Heaven
Mary
is the Channel of Grace
Mary
is Our Model in Ordinary Life
See
you in the next post, “May tomorrow be a perfect day; may
you find love and laughter along the way; may God keep you in his tender care;
‘til He brings us together again.”
Affectionately,
Guadalupinky
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