Today I heard the verse before the Gospel reading about Jesus being the vine and us the branches. This gives me another picture of union with the Lord. We are grafted to him, thereby becoming part of him. Cut off from him and we die. United with him, we get fed and continue to grow. How nice it is to flourish right before his eyes!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Charity Begins at Home
We often act nicer to those outside of the family than we do to members of our own family. To the outsiders we want to create a good image because of pride, whereas at home we freely show our true colors as there's not much to hide anymore. Well, the Lord makes me see that this shouldn't be so. Everyone must be treated alike with love, respect, and patience. The saying "Charity begins at home" takes on a new meaning.
Chance for Heaven
Last thought as I came home from Mass. No one looks perfect in this world. We can be ugly, have wrinkles on the face, scars on the body, bad teeth, crooked smiles, and so on. After we die, we all turn into bare skeletons. Lucky for us is that when we apply for admission to heaven, the Lord totally ignores our appearance and looks at our heart only ~ so we stand a good chance getting our application approved.
Clear Choices to Make
In today's Gospel reading from Mark 11, Jesus asked the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders whether John's baptism was of heavenly or human origin. (John refers to John the Baptist.) Of course, it was either one or the other. Then I thought that with Jesus and the Church, it's the same. Either Jesus is true God or a false impersonator, and his Church of divine or human origin. We are either saved or not. Hopefully, the fact that there is no muddy middle ground to stand on will not delay us in making the right choices.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Two Astounding Facts!
(1) Jesus who is God, became man so that we could get to know God intimately. Astounding!
(2) Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist so that we may become one with him. You could say that this is how we get to get inside God. Again, astounding!
"Desire Nothing"
This was what I received from the Lord during prayer after Mass and I tried to understand what it meant. I believe that it means "we are to conform to God's will and beyond that there's really nothing for us to desire."
How to Ask in Prayer
In today's Gospel reading from Mark 11, Jesus counseled "all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours." Again, faith is requisite.
I started thinking: how shall we ask in prayer? If I ask to win the lottery and believe that I will win, will it happen? Then I realize that whatever we ask must glorify God. Therefore, ask the Holy Spirit to teach us how to ask before asking. Basically, we must always ask out of love for God. We ask not to have our way but to have God's will be done. Looking at it this way, I see that asking is also a form of listening to God, a way of discerning his will to which we must conform.
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