Sign of Spiritual Progress

        As one becomes more Christlike, sin becomes more and more repugnant to him. He feels more the hurt that sin inflicts upon the Lord and wants to do whatever he can to lessen it. He cries out to the Lord and begs for mercy, and the Lord hears and consoles him. 

The Death Penalty

        Personally, I am against the death penalty. It is general knowledge that China is not lenient on criminals ~ sentencing and execution can follow quickly, but the legal system is changing. Recently, 13 crimes have been removed from the list of capital offences and cases that are considered fit for lenient treatment are given leniency. One judge even commented, "A life could end in the twinkling of any eye after a trial. I'd say this is also very cruel. It's also a means of getting rid of evil deeds through an evil deed. Since the death sentence for criminals is itself a violent act, then we should abolish it. However, I don't think our country is ready yet." Interesting!

The Sweet Power of God

        After you taste the Lord, all else becomes flavorless. After you know Jesus, all things of the world grow tiresome. After the Holy Spirit fills you, any other learning is no longer exciting. Such is the sweet power of God. 

Whence Comes Peace?

        Inner peace does not come from enjoying good health, having no family problems, enough money to acquire anything you want, success in all your pursuits in the world... True peace comes from having trust in God, a heart that's totally lifted up to him, and a mind that's emptied of everything except Christ. 

Reminder for Us to Be Humble

         This verse was read from 1 Corinthians 1 at yesterday's Sunday Mass: "For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength." A good reminder for us to remain humble.

To Really Know Jesus

        You can learn spiritual lessons from even secular programs on TV. One Korean film titled Poem on Netflix shows the poetry teacher introducing poetry to a new class. He shows the class an apple and asks if they have seen one before. Naturally, everyone has seen one ~ the point is if they really know one. He continues by saying that to really know an apple, one must be interested in it, understand it, converse with it, gaze at it for a while, observe its shadow, feel its every curve, turn it around, take a bite out of it, imagine the sunlight absorbed in it... Then it's really seeing it. Well said. I thought of knowing Jesus ~ it works the same way.

A Picture of Union

        When we say we decrease in Christ, we are referring to the old, sinful self. To vanish in Christ is to decrease the old self to nothing and let the self be renewed in Christ. The transformed self is now totally immersed in Christ, indistinguishable from him. This is one way of describing the perfect union with God.

Enjoy God's Holiness

        The Mass this morning started off with a song reminding all that we were on holy ground and that where God is, we have his holy presence. Since we are temples of the Holy Spirit, the most holy Lord dwells within us. With this thought, we must be holy to honor his presence ~ reverting to any sinful way is out of the question. Once we see this clearly, the Lord will keep us holy and we shall immensely enjoy his presence. 

Advantage over the Apostles

        The Apostles followed Jesus, but they did not understand everything fully until after the Resurrection of the Lord. We have the advantage because all that Christ had revealed to us has been made clear by his Holy Church. In addition, we are able to learn more about the truth from the writings of the great saints throughout history.

Bad-Happening Blessings

        Today's Gospel story at Mass was the familiar parable of the lost (prodigal) son. The younger son, after squandering his inheritance on a life of dissipation, got himself into a desperate situation. He finally came to his senses and returned to his father, repentant of his sins against God and his father. Here a bad situation turned him around. A fellow parishioner and good friend told me that he remains faithful to God because every time he strayed, something bad happened. In my own case, when I deviate from God's will, my inner peace leaves. Bad happenings can be blessings.