Life-Transforming Sacrament

        Communion experience. The Holy Eucharist is the Lord. It is sweet, fragrant, and tonic to the soul. This is the Blessed Sacrament God has given us to be united to him as one.

*Be Ready for God

        Let your heart and mind be a blank ready for God to imprint whatever words, thoughts, pictures, or impressions he wishes upon them for your edification and joy.

What Turns God Off

        Beginning yesterday, we heard Jesus' denunciation of the scribes and Pharisees read from Matthew 23 at Mass. The Lord starts out with the strong words "Woe to you" in many of his accusations. What offended him most was their hypocrisy ~ phoniness in modern day language. Since God already sees everything in our hearts, thinking that he wouldn't know what we are hiding directly insults his omniscience. A hypocritical person cannot possibly experience true peace in his heart. And God loves an honest, sincere, soul with no duplicity.   

*God Does Love Us

        Suffering in this life is caused by our sins. The fact that we can get to heaven shows that God loves us.

*I Live on Forever Too!

        What is infinity? Is the universe infinite? These questions bugged me ever since I was a little boy. The concept was impossible for my finite mind to comprehend, until I found God. Of course, God cannot have a beginning, an end, or is limited in his power someway. With an infinite God, an infinite universe is totally logical and possible. And I thought of my own soul which God had created at some point and now it lives on forever like him. In this sense, I have also become infinite. Then realizing that I shall live on forever with my God in heaven becomes absolutely overwhelming, making me grateful for his mercy. How can you not possibly rejoice when you have such a caring Father?

Either We or God

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 23, the last two verses, 11 & 12, struck me the most: "The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted." Obviously, the ego has no place before God. The choice is between serving ourselves and serving God. The battle goes on continuously until we give in to God totally. This is fully consistent with what Jesus had said earlier in the Gospels: "Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will safe it." It would do us good to remember these sayings of the Lord.

Seeking Unlimited Freedom

        I cannot be happy living on any planet of finite size. Would you be happy to live on a sphere, say just 10 feet in diameter? Well, our earth is, of course, a lot bigger, but it's still limited in size. I want to live in the Lord because his space is infinite. Only in him can I experience unlimited freedom.

Protecting the Soul

        Give God your soul, which was created by him in the first place, then you will overcome all evil, keeping the soul safe, throughout you whole life on earth. 

Recipe for Peace, Freedom, and Joy

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 22 at Mass, Jesus gave us the greatest and first commandment and the second like it. They read:
        You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
        You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
        If we obey these commandments, we shall have heaven on earth.

On Knowing Jesus

        Knowing about Jesus is not the same as knowing him. You can know all about him but still do not know him. An example I have in mind is a tour guide I met in the Holy Land. He knew every story in the Bible, but he was not a Christian. Normally, you get to know Jesus after learning something about him. Once you know the Lord intimately, you have him and no longer care about knowing about him.

Ways of Surrendering to God

        (1) Let the majesty, beauty, and pure love of God overwhelm you.

        (2) Be completely open to God to receive whatever he wants to give you.

        (3) Abandon yourself to God.
        They all lead to union with God.

Compelling Jesus

        Communion experience. Jesus' love, his humility, his glory, his invitation to us, his messages, his promises, his desire to be one with us... are all most compelling. Surrendering to him is basically letting him overwhelm us with his perfection, holiness, and beauty. 

God's Invitation

       In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 22.1-14, Jesus told the parable of the wedding feast to teach what the Kingdom of heaven is like. A king gave a wedding feast for his son. He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. A second time he sent other servants to invited them to the banquet that had been sumptuously prepared. Some ignored the invitation and went away. The rest laid hold of the servants, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged and sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then the king sent his servants into the streets to invite to the feast whomever they could find, bad and good alike, and the hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to meet the guests, he saw a man not dressed in a wedding garment. He ordered his attendants to bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside.

        This is a poignant story which revealed the following to me:       

       (1) Jesus said at the end of telling the parable, "Many are called, but few are chosen." This has been true to this very day.

        (2) God's invitation is to everyone.

        (3) We must take his invitation seriously or suffer serious consequences.

Safeguarding the Soul

        When our health deteriorates, there is only so much we can do. Eventually, we lose the battle and die. But losing the body one day is normal and expected. It's the soul that we must protect and never lose. This is where Christ comes in. Accept, believe in, and follow him faithfully is the only safeguard we need. There is no other assuring way. 

Love Still Imperfect

        Sometimes we genuinely want to help others. When they do not quite listen to us or have misunderstood our intentions, we feel unappreciated and get annoyed. This is because our love is still not perfect ~ we are still concerned about our own feelings. Pure love thinks 100% of the person you wish to love with only God present within you.

Compellingly God

        Look at Jesus. Let's say that he is not God. Let's even ignore the fact that he performed so many miracles and rose from the dead himself. Then we see a man who was meek and humble, willingly let others lead him to crucifixion, and still prayed from the cross that God the Father would forgive those who took part in putting him to death. Not another human being would have behaved like that or the subject would have been considered to be the strangest or weirdest person that had ever lived. On top of all this, Jesus admitted that he is God ~ that makes him delusional as well. You decide.

Dealing With God

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 20.1-16, Jesus told his disciples what the Kingdom of heaven was like via a parable. A landowner went out to hire laborers for his vineyard throughout the day. They all agreed to work for the usual daily wage. When it was evening, the owner had the laborers summoned to give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first. At the end when the first saw that everyone got the same usual wage, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, "These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day's burden and the heat." He said to one of them in reply, "My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?"

        There are a number of things we can learn from this parable. 

        (1) God is generous to all.

        (2) He is entitled to do whatever he wishes.

        (3) We should be happy that he rewards us for our labor.

      (4) How others are rewarded is not our business. (In heaven, would you still grumble that someone up there had an easier life than you on earth?)

        (5) Being envious of others shows that we are not satisfied with God.

        (6) We are not in a position to question the Lord.

        (7) Be grateful to God for his mercy to all.

*Better Way to Go*

        It is much better to live a life as holy as possible with God's help and be assured of entering heaven speedily after death than living it your own way most of the time and hoping that a lot of Masses and prayers will be offered for you after you die. To be sure, Masses and prayers can only help those in purgatory. If you don't make heaven, there is nothing anyone can do about it! Think ahead, be smart, and choose the better way now.