The Loveliness of God

        After receiving the Lord in Holy Communion, I felt the loveliness of the Lord.  It's an indescribable loveliness only the heart can "see."  I know that God has created us so that our heart will not rest until it has found rest in him.  Now I believe that God has also created the heart for us to see his loveliness. 

Keeping Conscience Clear

        I went to vigil Mass today.  The first reading is taken from Genesis 2.  Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  So we all now have a conscience.  The thing is that as we sin more and more, our conscience gets muddy and dull.  But if we submit ourselves to God, the Holy Spirit will wash it clean and sharpen it to the point that we don't ever wish to offend God anymore.  With a clear conscience, we can bask in the glorious light of God, enjoying his presence.

Healing the Subconscious

        During my waking hours I feel continuous peace, but I do have less peaceful dreams.  So I asked the Lord to cleanse my subconscious as well. This morning I had a dream in which I got so terrified and panic for whatever reason that I called on Jesus (aloud) for help.  And I woke up with a great calm.  I hope that from now on, I shall have continuous peace in my sleeping hours too.   

No Accidental Incidents

        Yesterday I had the great joy to share Christ with someone.  The opportunity just came up naturally and I did not force anything on the person ~ I simply shared my own experience.  He shared with me too.  It turned out that he believed in God, but not in any particular church.  When he was around 6 or 7, after some tragedy struck in his family, he got really angry and looked up into the sky and yelled at God "Why did this happen?" or something like that.  Then he heard the rumble of a thunder and it was on a clear day.  I told him that the Lord was probably letting him know that he heard him. 

        I have heard or read other similar stories.  You just don't forget incidents like that and eventually the person comes back to the Lord and/or the Church.  There are no accidents!

Wake Up and Repent

        Today's big, horrific news is that earthquake and tsunami suddenly hit Japan, resulting in massive damage.  When will the world (this country included) wake up, realize that we are at the mercy of God, repent, and turn to him for salvation??  This is no new message (I could hear John the Baptist preaching) and people just don't get it!!  The need to pray for God's mercy on all has never been so urgent.

Jesus Makes Loving Meaningful

        Leo Buscaglia is well know for his talks on living, loving, and learning on Public Broadcasting Service.  A lot of his sayings are quite beautiful, but it just strikes me that any talk about love without ever mentioning God sounds somehow empty.  True you can  be a great humanist and know that to love is the way to go, but how long can you keep that up?  Do you love in order to feel good about yourself?  I also tried self-hypnotism to make myself feel happy ~ the effect never lasted long.  I also practiced being aggressive in dealing with others, believing that I would get my way.  Some people practice the power of positive thinking.  To put it bluntly, believing that you can do it without God is basically fooling yourself.   

        Then Jesus came along and showed us the way to live.  He gave us purpose in loving and we finally understood.  There is now a greater power than us to inspire us and a perfect example for us to follow.  Jesus has come and made loving meaningful. 

To Choose Abortion Is to Choose Death

        From the first reading from Deuteronomy 30 at Mass, I heard, "Choose life, then... by loving the Lord, your God."  Yes, to choose Jesus is to choose life, as the Lord had made it amply clear. 

        Then I thought of the pro-choice (meaning pro-abortion, according to the dictionary) people who don't like to be known as being anti-life and don't want to hear that abortion is murder.  Surely, to choose abortion is to choose death ~ you can't deny that.

        Place the two above-mentioned choices side by side.  Remember that Jesus said that for anyone to follow him, he must deny himself and take up his daily cross and also that the greatest love is to lay down your own life for another.  Now, try to reconcile these two choices with each other.       

Jesus Is True God

        Today's Gospel reading is taken from Luke 9.  Jesus told his disciples that he was going to suffer, be rejected and killed, and be raised.  Than he told all,  “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it."  If Jesus were a pure man and not divine, this kind of talk just wouldn't make any sense, unless he was a lunatic or someone who just didn't know what he's saying.  Then you read about him in all the Gospels and you just have to rule out that possibility.  Now, if you believe that he was speaking as the true God, then after the first shock is over, you know that he's speaking the truth.

        I am most grateful to the Lord for revealing himself and laying out his plan of eternal salvation for me so clearly.  This is a tremendous blessing indeed. 

Speech Watching

        Here's an afterthought after the last posting.  We looked at not doing anything to gain personal attention.  I notice that this may be hard to observe in speech, especially in a social situation.  It's just so easy to want to say something to show that you are knowledgeable, you are witty, you can be the life of the party, or you have something to say too like the others.  Of course, you may tell jokes, say things that can get you attention, or to express your personal opinions.  All I am saying is that let whatever you have to say come out naturally and be not ego-oriented.  If you miss the chance to tell the best joke, that's OK.  Always be humble, honest, and genuine, and you'll be refreshing.  

Live Secretly in God

        In today's Gospel from Matthew 6, Jesus advises his disciples to do good deeds always in secret.  If we perform them to have others notice us or to win their praise, then we get our reward already. 

        This is an excellent way for us to learn humility (and become holy).  Basically, we do not do anything to feed the ego; we just do it for the love of God.  We don't need to desire that God will notice us either because he knows what's going on anyway.  It comes down to letting love alone motivate everything we do.  This may not be easy, but no doubt about it ~ it's the way to peace.     

        Live a secret life in Jesus, secretly, and he will reward you in secret.