Communion Joy

        During the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass, I saw the moment of consecration of the bread and the wine as one at which Jesus declared his love for us. After receiving him, joy, peace, and contentment filled my entire heart. They all came from within, proving that God dwells in the heart. I actually felt both the "heat" and the "weight" of the joy, perhaps caused by the sheer amount I experienced. 

God All-Knowing

        At Mass, the Lord made me see that for everything we do for his glory, we shall be rewarded, for nothing goes unnoticed by him. 

Reason for Rejoicing

        Today is the Solemnity of All Saints. The readings at Mass were so beautiful that they gave me extra joy. Reading 1 came from Revelation 7. In St. John's vision one of the elders revealed to him that those wearing white robes present were the ones who had survived the time of great stress, and had washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. This is a powerful image. Consider it a miracle that red blood can actually wash the robes and make them white. If you know that you are wearing such a white robe, rejoice!  

        Reading 2 came from 1 John 3. St. John wrote: "Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." Again, if you know that you are already one of God's children, rejoice!

        The Gospel was the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5. The Beatitudes are beautiful in both words and content. When I heard them, I heard the powerful, loving voice of the Lord in my ears. After the last Beatitude, Jesus said, "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven." Anyway you look at it, you see reason for rejoicing.

Union Strengthened

        Joined 40 Days for Life this morning outside an abortion clinic for a couple of hours. As I thought about how much abortion pains the Lord, I experienced a tiny fraction of his sufferings on the cross and our union was strengthened. By the way, one car entered the clinic parking lot, turned around and came back out ~ due to the presence of eight of us holding signs and praying, the pregnant mother changed her mind. One life saved ~ praise God! 

On Loving Our Enemies

        God's love is pure love, uncluttered and detached from everything else. As I drove home after morning Mass, I suddenly understood why he could teach us to love even our enemies. Since he created all of us, he must then love all of us equally. Therefore, if we are to receive his love, we must promise to love everyone equally too.

God Speaks to Us

        With Hurricane Sandy, the largest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic, pummeling the U.S. East Coast causing unprecedented devastation and chaos, let's pray for all the victims who suffer great personal losses and property destruction. But let's also pray that we as a nation will realize that God has an important message for us in every single event, for nothing can happen without his permission. As the saying goes, there are no accidents. Catastrophic events are usually severe warnings. His intention is always to get us to return to him, to accept his love, to believe in him, and to love each other on earth ~ all these acts are long overdue!

To Know the Beauty of Christ

        I do not have any desire to travel to see new places anymore. I suppose that one of the reasons is because I have already "seen" the incomparable beauty of Christ. A friend of mine still tells me that one scenic place she had visited was so beautiful that I must go see it. I believe her, and I know that I'll never truly understand what she experienced if I don't go there myself. The same can be said about the beauty of Christ. You can hear me tell you about it ten thousand more times, but you still will not know it unless you enter him yourself. 

Letting God Live Your Life

        In life, there are just two choices: to walk with God and to walk away from God. To choose the latter is easy, but you are going to lead a tough life because you are now on your own in a world filled with all kinds of traps ready to snare you. To choose to walk with God is harder, but once you've made that choice, your life can become heaven. The best thing about it is that now the Lord does everything for you, for all you want to do is his will. I want him to draw me close to him and he does just that. I want him to heal my soul and he accomplishes that too. This is letting God live your life for you!    

On Submitting to God

        My last post talks about our unwillingness to submit ourselves to God. In today's first reading at Mass from Ephesians 5, St. Paul urges all to be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. Then I realize that when Jesus became one of us and died on a cross, it was a clear case of submitting himself to us in order to save us. When he consecrated the bread at the Last Supper, saying: Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my body which will be given up for you, he made his submission to us clear. So who are we who are not willing to submit ourselves to God?

Ranking Matters

        It becomes clear to me that people do not believe in God simply because they have ranked themselves No. 1, putting themselves ahead of their creator. This is, of course, a colossal mistake that can be fatal. Making yourself more important than the Lord is definitely a bad idea; just by changing your ranking from No. 1 to No. 2, your margin of safety will go way up. If you really want to play it safe, then be as humble as the saints, who don't even consider themselves worthy to be ranked before God.