Quotes of the Day for April 30, 2025 – Thoughts on God’s love and mercy amidst our pain and failure

“In shame, the only thing we accept is our failure and the idea that we deserve perpetual punishment….The shame we are speaking of is a long-lasting, deep-rooted sense that lingers in many of us. Once it takes root in our soul, it quickly spreads to all areas of our spiritual life…Shame can be the great denier in our life. If it is active in us, it can prevent us from accepting our own affirmations, such as that we are a child of God made in His image, or affection and affirmation from others. Like the loss of trust, it can cause us to doubt God’s providence toward us.” (Fr. Joshua Makoul)

“Regret is a terrible, unforgiving master..behind all of this is a reality: we never “get it right.” We are hard-wired for caution and a bit of fear. In the normal course of a day, that hard-wiring is useful. It reminds us to look both ways before crossing a street and tells us not to follow too closely the car in front of us. In that the world is always a dangerous place, a lack of caution and the absence of fear would be a ticket to sudden death. That same hard-wiring is also the source for many of the torments that dog our thoughts. Any number of life events have a cumulative effect of turning up the volume on our caution and fear. For many people, the noise and nagging of caution and fear become a steady back-drop for the whole of their daily lives. Their minds replay their failures over and over as the accompanying shame swallows up hope and threatens to control their whole world. But…we never get it right.” (Father Stephen Freeman) 

“This advice is especially valuable for people with a high sense of sin or who struggle with self-loathing or the inability to forgive themselves. Very often we think we’ve got to keep all this ever in mind. While awareness of sin and transgression has its place, it must nevertheless be set aside if growth in humility is to continue…We have to let go of everything, even our sense of being a miserable failure.” (Martin Laird)

“ ‘Jesus, you are life in my death, strength in my weakness, light in my darkness, joy in my sorrow, courage in my faint-heartedness, peace in my agitation, obedience in my prayer, glory in my dishonor, and deliverance from my dishonor’ [Akathist]  One of the gifts of God to us is that we don’t each have to be perfect to attain the Kingdom of Heaven. We can be lacking in some spiritual gifts, or failing in some virtues, succumbing to a temptation or in other ways falling short of what God has called us to, and yet Christ’s love and presence will still be in our lives. As the hymn above notes we can have in our lives death, weakness, darkness, sorrow, faint-heartedness, agitation, dishonor, and yet Christ loves us and welcomes us into His Kingdom. In all our failures, faults and foibles, Christ can still be invited into our lives. The Holy Spirit can still abide in us. As our Lord says to us after His resurrection: “I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matthew 28:20).” (Fr. Ted Bobosh)

“One of the reasons we ourselves need to understand and grow in God’s love for us is to be able accept and receive His love and to then express this love to others in both words, and more importantly, actions. We, all of us, most often experience God through other people. When people know they are loved by others, and I mean really know, then they experience and know that God loves them. This is our responsibility to each other and what God expects from us because of how He loves us. Christ said, “Love on another as I have loved you” (John 13:34, 15:2). There is so much freedom in this way of being, freedom from toxic shame, guilt, pride and all kinds of other weapons of the enemy that we wield all too often and readily.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)

#FrJoshuaMakoul #FatherStephenFreeman #MartinLaird #FrTedBobosh #SacramentalLivingMinistries