In Psalm 25, today's Responsorial Psalm, the psalmist asks the Lord to teach him his paths. Teaching is the word here. The Holy Spirit is the greatest teacher there is, and spiritual growth is so much more important than gaining physical strength or intellectual knowledge. The Spirit teaches one by revealing "secrets" of God's love to the heart. All schools and teachers in the world can make you more knowledgeable about things of the world, but only the Holy Spirit can make you holier and more pleasing to God.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Best Gift for God
Again, it's Christmas gift-giving time. In today's 1st Reading from 1 Samuel 1, Hannah the mother gave Samuel the child to the Lord.
What would be the best thing for us to give to God? It's easy to give what we don't need or from our surplus without hurting ourselves the slightest bit. I think the best gift we can give to God would be ourselves, for he deserves what's most precious to us. A side-benefit: once we surrender ourselves to God, all subsequent giving becomes easy and painless.
Keeping Jesus in Us
As Christmas comes closer, we anticipate the coming of Jesus. When we pray or sing "Come, Jesus," we express our yearning for him. For us Catholics in the state of grace, the Lord is already dwelling within us. We only need to pray that we'll be holy enough for him to continue his dwelling happily in us. Receiving the Lord himself in the Holy Eucharist every time only serves to intensify and deepen this union with him. (I consider this the greatest privilege we have in this life.)
Using Our Free Will
As I drove to Mass this morning, I realized that God is capable of doing anything, except that in our case the free will he has given us can prevent him from doing what he wants to do with us. We can use this free will to either keep him out or let him in ~ it's our choice.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Wonder of Wonders
Although I believe in God without any doubt, I still find it hard to get over how God can love us so much that he willingly died in our place. Then I think about how we who believe get to know God intimately and become his adopted sons and daughters. Wonder of wonders!
Curing "Stupidity"
This morning I recalled many of the "stupid" things I did in my past. Those were the days when I did not know the Holy Spirit well. Now I know that God wants everything we do to be motivated by love. The stupid things I did before were all motivated by me with no concern for God.
Since the voice of the Spirit is always gentle, we must learn to listen carefully with our hearts. At any rate, the more we unite with the Lord (through receiving the Holy Eucharist and prayer), the more we become Christlike, and the clearer the promptings of the Holy Spirit will be to us. In time, doing God's will becomes our second nature ("our only nature" would be even better).
Monday, December 20, 2010
God with Us
Isaiah prophesied: "...the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel." Emmanuel means "God with us." So, as we commemorate the birth of Jesus at Christmastime, let's also remember that God actually decided to become a human being to live among us, and that he'd be with us always as he had promised.
Be Open to God
Be open to God to let him enter to accomplish what he wants done in or through you, just as Mary opened up to the Holy Spirit for her to conceive and bear a child, our Lord. Nothing is impossible with God!
Think Before You Sin
When you sin, it's like putting up an eviction notice asking the Lord to get out of you. How do you think he would feel? Can you bear not having him staying with you? You'd better think twice before you sin.
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