Jesus, the Conqueror

        In praying the Stations of the Cross with others at church after Mass, we read that Jesus has conquered the world at one of the stations. To me, it means that Jesus has come and redeemed us, he has conquered death and risen, and has completed the work of salvation. Although looking around the world, you still see disorder, unrest, and stains of horrific sins in every corner of the earth, Jesus has done all the necessary work in the background and the path to eternal life has been paved, waiting for us to tread on.   

Consecration for Everyone

        Thoughts at Mass this morning. The religious consecrate their lives to Christ and take vows openly before others. It seems completely appropriate that we who love God no less should also consecrate ourselves to Christ and make our own comparable vows in private.

Too Hard on Ourselves?

        Sometimes we are harder on ourselves than on others. For example, if someone does a better job than we in performing a certain task, we can accept that because the other person is better. But if our performance by ourselves falls short of our own expectation or goal, we get really disappointed. The Lord showed me that I shouldn't distinguish between the two. In either case, pride is involved. As long as we do God's will or at least have good intentions, we should be content and let neither success nor failure affect us.  

Returning to God

        As I was looking at the beautiful blossoms on a flowering tree, I thought of the source of all beauty, God. This made me want to return to him. I believe that he made us with the intention for us to be with him always, for he is love. Our journey is not complete until we back with him. On earth, it's as if we are at a junction, facing the choice of taking the road on the right or the one on the left. Perhaps this is what makes life interesting, but the correct or wrong choice makes all the difference. For me, I know that following Christ will leads me back to God in heaven.

Abortion Abhorrent

       I had posted about abortion quite a number of times. A search should bring up all the past postings. Two thoughts came to me today.

       (a) Pro-abortion people argue that women should have the right to do whatever they want with their body. The fact that they don't want to have the right to cut off any true parts of their body such as the fingers, ears, tongue, legs, etc., proves that the unborn baby is not really part of their body.

      (b) By God's design, the precise reason that the infant needs to dwell in the womb of the mother for nine months before its birth is so that it may be fed, nurtured, and protected by the mother. Therefore, to terminate the pregnancy is to go directly against God's will.     

God's Words

       Today's Gospel reading at Mass is Matthew 5:17-19. I am not going to comment on the message; but rather, I want to share that as the Gospel was read, I came to appreciate greatly all that Jesus had said to us. His words speak to the soul, impart wisdom, refresh the spirit, light the way to set us free, and give us new life. They are most precious.

Beautiful Journey

        It was raining this morning as I arrived at church for Mass. A few others just got there too and I watched them leaving their parked cars and walking toward the church entrance. It was a beautiful sight because I saw them on their journey to heaven. The faithful already possess the kingdom of heaven, but they have not entered heaven yet, but the journey is a continuous one. As one journeys toward God, he finds the journey increasingly more beautiful and will find the greatest beauty at the end, heaven. (I am tempted to add that heaven is the most beautiful place on earth or that it's the most beautiful place under heaven, but neither one makes sense.)   

Planning Beyond Death

        Saw the National Geographic program Moment of Death on TV yesterday. It deals with how to determine that a person is truly dead. Interestingly, toward the end it showed two cases in which the subject came back to life and described how he or she experienced going through a tunnel with light at the end and one case in which the person during a heart operation left the body, looked down and saw exactly what the doctors were doing to him on the operating table. At any rate, if this proves anything, it's that there is a soul and life after death. 

        The program made me think how fragile and precarious life is. We must look beyond things like buying life insurance for the family, getting a will ready, and buying burial plots in advance. We should plan first our eternal destination ~ to be or not to be with God. 

Intimate Prayer Is...

pouring your heart out to God and baring your soul before him.         

More on Forgiving Others

        This morning's Gospel reading from Matthew 18 ~ The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, is on how Jesus wants us to forgive others, not seven times but seventy-seven times. 

        I always wonder if we should forgive someone who is not remorseful at all. Let's look at how our Father forgives us. Since his mercy is infinite, he is ready to wipe away our sins any time we repent. If we don't repent, then he can't do anything. Obviously, getting ourselves condemned is not saying that he's no longer forgiving.  Perhaps it's more correct to say that we should be willing to forgive anyone, regardless of whether the person is remorseful or not, as God is willing to forgive us always.