A Timeless Moment

        I am referring to the moment you receive the Lord in the Holy Eucharist.  Since God is timeless, when you receive him, you become one with him and time stands still for you to become timeless for a brief moment too.  

Don't Always Tell the Truth

        What?  Let me clarify.  If what you have to say is true and will glorify God or at least be harmless, then go ahead.  If what you have to say is true and saying it will simply feed your ego or unnecessarily hurt others in some way, then keep quiet. 

Pray for the Disadvantaged

        Early today I was in a big city away from home and came upon an impressive-looking Catholic church.  I went in to check it out and found that almost half of the the interior was occupied by the homeless ~ obviously, they had spent the night sleeping inside the church and were now packing up to leave for the outside world.  I knew that they would be back again tonight.  I just felt the Lord's great compassion and pity on them.  The story of Lazarus in the parable of Luke 16 came to my mind.  I won't be surprised if more of these disadvantaged children of God end up in heaven than their advantaged counterpart ~ percentage-wise, that is.  I myself felt quite helpless to alter the sad situation.  The least we could all do is not to forget praying for the disadvantaged in our world.  

Perfection Through Imperfection

        Many have seen Royce Hall, UCLA's emblematic building that looks somewhat like a castle, either on the UCLA campus or in some old movie(s).  When I saw it years ago, I noticed that the two front towers did not look the same, ruining otherwise the perfect symmetry of the building.  I asked about that and someone on campus explained to me that the architect deliberately designed it that way as he believed that only God is perfect.  That was certainly a humble gesture.

        I used to be somewhat a perfectionist.  I only felt good when things turned out perfectly.  Then the Lord made me see that what I had was a form of sickness and due to the lack of trust in him.  Being able to humbly accept all imperfections after I've done my best is actually a form of perfection.  That realization opened my eyes and freed my heart.  Thanks be to God.    

Spiritual IQ

        This has nothing to do with the ordinary IQ.  One who has high IQ (ordinary) usually becomes highly educated and knowledgeable, possesses a lot of self-confidence, and is proud of what s/he can accomplish.  Unfortunately, this intelligence often gets in the way of finding God because it can blind the person from seeing that it is impossible for a creature to be greater than the creator and that all intelligence comes from God.  Basically, the more one thinks highly of himself, the more he becomes a nobody before God.  The one who has high spiritual IQ is the one who remains humble and becomes somebody in the eyes of God.  All this brings us to what Jesus had said, "Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, but whoever humbles himself shall be exalted."   

The Lord Is Joy!

        Received the Lord already during the Prayer Vigil for Life this morning.  Went to vigil Mass (Assumption of the Blesses Virgin Mary) and received the Lord again.  I felt I could die right then in the Lord.

Suffering for Jesus

        Joined the Bishop for the Prayer Vigil for Life this morning; deeply sensed that if I want to follow the Lord, I must be willing to suffer for him ~ that's OK because suffering for the Lord is never bitter, only sweet.

        Inside, the soul cries out: "When will you be coming, Lord, to straighten out this crooked generation?" 

Tip on Married Life

        If you are already married or still looking for someone to get married, fall in love with Jesus first, then you'll experience married happiness at the level that, unfortunately, very few in this world know or can even conceive.  This tip is absolutely dependable.  

        God's love always makes all beautiful things infinitely more beautiful.

Enjoy Mass

        This is what I heard the Lord say during my prayer  before Mass started this morning.  He meant taking full advantage of the opportunity presented.  I was to go before the One who forgives sins and has inexhaustible riches in store.  When I receive him, I could ask for sanity to be restored, growth in holiness, love for enemies, peace of mind, freedom of the heart, greater devotion to God, and so on.  It's inconceivable that the the Lord could or would deny such requests all for his glory.  No matter how high you aim, you cannot possibly exhaust his supply of graces ~ that's certain.  Again, cause for rejoicing!      

The Ego Game

        So far, only a few of my friends know about my blog.  I gave them the URL because they were either still searching or just beginning to believe.  In such cases, my story might be helpful to them.  The thought of telling all my other friends about my blog did occur to me.  I know that most of them will at least get curious about what I am writing.  Besides, it wouldn't hurt to get more daily hits.  Seemingly, dropping the news now and then shouldn't do any harm, yet the Lord made me see that I still had some intent on promoting myself in my heart and that I should keep mum.  Of course, he is always right.  

        Again, this morning during Mass, a number of ideas suitable for blogging popped into my mind and I got a little excited.  Then the Holy Spirit made it clear to me that he can give me as many as ideas as he wishes or dry me up with nothing to say and I am to be content.  That sobered me up.  

        To play the ego game, you'll have to be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit.  Hunt the ego or its remainder down and turn it over to the Lord.  It can be very satisfying when you succeed.