Learning from the Holy Spirit

        This morning before Mass started, I was filled with the desire to learn from the Holy Spirit.  I remember that in one period of my life, I discovered the beauty of mathematics and started taking correspondence study courses from two universities.  I finished seven courses in two years in my spare time ~ I was that hungry for math.  Now I don't need that kind of knowledge anymore ~ what I thirst for is the wisdom for me to live right and have life in the Lord, which the Holy Spirit provides.  Perhaps studying pure math was my way of getting close to God.  Now that I've known him intimately, what better and more satisfying way is there than going directly to the source for enlightenment?

Jesus Is Joy

        Jesus is the cause of our joy.  He is with us and fills us with hope.  He is delightful.  He loves us and awaits us when life in this world ends.  Jesus is joy. 

Death Is a Nonissue

        Tomorrow is Memorial Day, a holiday to commemorate all U.S. soldiers who died in wars.  For true Christians, death is no longer an issue.  By the promise of Christ, we shall live forever with him in heaven after death and by the power of Christ, we shall be resurrected one day.  If death is about the death of the old person, then we have already died and begun living a new life in Christ.  No matter how you look at it, death has been overcome and needs no longer be an issue.    

We Are Truly Special

        We are the only creature (1) that was created in the image of God, (2) who can conceive God in our mind, (3) made to feel restless until we find God, (4) whose form God chose to let his Son take, (5) for whom the Son dies out of love, and (6) who is capable of understanding that God is love.

        Before God, we are nothing; yet we are also everything.  We are special!   

The Joy of the Holy Spirit

        The joy of the Holy Spirit is different from any other joy one experiences in the world.  Since the Holy Spirit dwells deep within the soul, his joy orininates from our inmost interior, welling up like water from a spring.  It intoxicates our whole being and is impossible to repress.  Like the wind, it comes and goes at the will of the Spirit.  

Known by God

        Just saw a TV program on the old cemeteries in San Francisco.  Many of the buried were well known, distinguished personalities.  So I started thinking that it is a common desire for us to want to be known while we are alive and   remembered after we are gone.  Then obviously, to be known and remembered by the whole world for even a billion years is worth nothing when compared to being known and loved by God alone.  And God just happens to know every single one of us intimately and will never forget us.  Embrace him and his love now and cast away all your other cares.

Start Living in Heaven Now

        The goal is to achieve union with the Lord, and the Holy Eucharist makes it possible if you'll let it do the work.  Receive the Lord in the Holy Eucharist with great reverence and all your love, and ask him to transform every part of you, every fiber and molecule of you, with his love.  Then think every thought, speak every word, and do every deed as one with the Lord.  You are now starting to live in heaven.  When you get there, there won't be much adjustment you'll need to make.              

Being Christian Is Special

        I just caught the TV program Do Not Go Gently on PBS.  It shows the benefits of creativity among seniors.  Some of them continue to use their God-given talents to teach others or create more works for themselves.  I did catch one senior expressing his uncertainty that there's a God.  I felt sad that such a great talent did not know where his talent came from.  If you have immense creativity, keep busy, and enjoy tremendously what you are doing, but do not have Christ, then you are still earthbound and working in vain.  Being Christian is absolutely special because Christians have unchangeable vision and know exactly where they are heading.  They do not just work to keep going; they know that life is not transitory and is full of meaning.  Christ has made the difference. 

Be Pruned to Bear Fruit

        In today's Gospel reading from John 15, Jesus says that he is the true vine, his Father the vine grower, and his disciples the branches.  The Father prunes the branches so that they may bear fruit.  Whoever remains in the vine will bear much fruit and anyone who does not will be thrown out like a branch and wither.
        This is a beautiful depiction of discipleship.  If you haven't asked the Father to prune you yet, do so now.  Get all that are weak, diseased, and dead pruned away so that you may become true disciples of the Lord, bearing much fruit and glorifying the Father.
        A footnote.  The pruning process is like a good body massage.  You feel some pain when you are worked on, but you feel great afterwards.        

Being Fed from Heaven

        I was getting a consecrated host this afternoon to take to a homebound person.  As I knelt before the tabernacle on the altar, I knew that I was going to get the bread that came directly from heaven.  Every time I receive the Holy Eucharist myself, I am being fed from heaven.  The journey toward heaven has already started on this earth.