Achieving Peace of Mind

        How to have peace of mind?  It obviously has to do with the mind.  As long as you have a lot of thoughts, good or bad, going through your mind, you will not experience peace.  "No thought" is the answer.  What I really mean is allow only necessary thoughts and not clutter the mind with any useless thoughts.  Naturally, the most necessary thought is the Lord.  Think of him first always before all other necessary thoughts and you'll have peace. 
        1 Corinthians 2.2: "I resolved that while I was with you I would think of nothing but Jesus Christ, and him crucified."              

Start with Union with God

        In today's first reading from Romans, Paul advises his listeners to do this, to do that, not to do this, not to do that ~ altogether twenty separate pieces of advice.  And there are so many other counsels we must remember as Christians.  Then I realize that the more we achieve union with the Lord, the more following these counsels becomes automatic.  When we achieve total union, doing all these things will be our second nature.  Aim for union with God and all will work out fine. 

        In case you haven't read my previous posts, union with God is achieved by asking the Lord to transform you, making you Christlike, through receiving the Holy Eucharist. 

Mind God's Business Alone

        As members of God's family, we must mind his business alone.  Our life must revolve around pleasing him.  Doing his will must be our sole goal.  The rewards are living a life with purpose; knowing that our eternal destiny is all set; freedom of the heart; and inner peace as promised by Christ.   

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.