True Humility

        Yesterday I saw that if one has true humility, then he must be willing to accept any suffering the Lord sends his way. Jesus' Passion makes this clear, a point I really never looked at this way before. In any case, to be truly humble is willingly accepting anything the Lord sends you. 

Freedom of Speech

        Recently, an anti-Muslim film came out, causing worldwide protests and the loss of many lives. Is freedom of speech a good thing? It must not mean that you can say anything you want. For the average person, this freedom must be guided by good common sense. For disciples of Jesus, freedom of speech is a nonissue, for they follow the Holy Spirit in what they say; that is, they let love dictate what they say. (Read James 3 to learn how to tame our tongue.)  

Certainty About Jesus

         Early his morning the sky looked striking. It was filled with soft, fluffy, white clouds in hues of grey and pink, produced by the rays of the early sun. The sky was more cyan than blue. Anyhow, each color complemented the others perfectly ~ I knew that I was seeing a beautiful sight. If someone told me that what I saw was really ugly or that the scene was in black and white only or that it was really an illusion, I would instantly knew that he was wrong. 

        Then I thought of Jesus. I know that he is divine, he loves us, he is truly beautiful, and he is our Lord and God; but there are plenty people who do not believe in God or cast doubts upon him and discredit or even ridicule Jesus. We hear about the prehistoric man, our evolution from the monkeys, whether Jesus ever existed, the de Vinci code story, and just in the news the discovery announced by Karen King, a professor at Harvard Divinity School, that Jesus might be married, based upon what's written on a tiny scrap of papyrus she had (King is the author of The Gospel of Mary of Magdala, What is Gnosticism?, The Secret Revelation of John and other books on what's considered to be heretical literature). Just as I was certain about the beautiful sky I saw this morning, I am certain about what I believe about Jesus. Therefore, anything else said about him becomes totally inconsequential.        

A Most Private Moment

        Today's Communion experience. After receiving Christ in the Holy Eucharist, I felt that I was having the most private moment of my life. If I were all by myself, that would only be a most lonely moment, not a private one. But being totally with the Lord alone ~ that is private.

Impure Motivation & False Humility

        I've been advocating letting God enter us to take away our struggle in making spiritual progress. Of course, this does not mean that we don't do anything besides opening ourselves up to God. A couple of things I've recently sensed and would like to share: (1) Pure motivation is something we have to work on. It's easy to respond and say to others the way we normally do, but they are times I still detect that my response is motivated by some self-centeredness. (2) False humility is sometimes more difficult to discern. If God has a message for us to share, we should do it for his glory. If we are concerned that we might draw attention to ourselves, that could be false humility. Basically, we do what the Lord wants us to do and not be concerned about whether people are going to praise or criticize us.   

Thinking About Jesus Alone

        People think about the past, not because they enjoy doing it, but because unhappy events and experiences haunt them, keeping them unhappy. People also think about the future with worry or hope. Since the future is never certain, always an unknown, they feel unsettled. So what should we think about? Jesus, of course, for the Lord is an eternal joy! Dwell on or in him and we'll have interior peace.

Living for God Alone

        People do not know us as God knows us. If we are concerned about what people think of us, we can't help being dishonest or hypocritical at times. Therefore, we should be concerned about what God thinks of us only, he who knows everything about us already. By living for him alone, we remain honest and genuine at all times. 

Rejoicing in Being Called

        Today's Gospel reading from Matthew 9 records how Jesus called Matthew to follow him. Of course, Matthew didn't know what's really in store for him yet, but we now know that when God calls us, it's because he loves us, the Father has chosen us, and he is ready to bestow upon us the greatest honor of our life. It is a time appropriate for great rejoicing ~ jumping up and down and shouting for joy are not out of place.

God Can Make Us Holy

        Continuing reading St. Teresa's Life has convinced me further that when God grants us a favor, it's impossible for us to resist. Without his help, we'd be struggling all our lives trying to be holy; but when God lends a hand, it's done for us! In today's first reading at Mass from Ephesians, Paul urged all to be humble and gentle with patience, to bear with one another through love, and to strive to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. His advice is good, but to be able to follow it is another matter. Of course, there has to be the faith in Christ to start out with. Then help from the Lord is absolutely necessary to guarantee success. Again, seeking union with God will satisfy all requirements.

Yearning for God

        Today is the Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle. Before Mass started, I felt that the Lord was asking me, "What do you want of me?" (I felt like asking him the exact, same question?) What I want of God is all of him to satisfy my yearning for him. A little bit of him is just not enough because he is just too beautiful! If you call that greed, then it is a holy greed, a good greed. God is someone you can never get tired of having more and more of.