Transformation in a Nutshell

        It occurred to me that we are still very much like little children no matter how old we get. We love security and feel good when someone cares about us. We look for food when we are hungry. We want things and get unhappy if we don't get them. In other words, the little kid is still in us, even though our appearance has changed. The only thing we do not retain is the childlike belief in things we do not see. Then we find God and he starts to transform us. Our basic desires and behaviors change from being self-centered to centering upon God and the childlike faith is restored. We are now a new creature in God.

We Are Lost Until...

        Yesterday I ran into the website http://www.tumblr.com. The blogs you find on it are amazingly creative and often interesting, but the sad part is that when you check out some of the visual works or the sayings on some of the blogs, you sense or know that they came from souls who live without aim and/or lead a somewhat surrealistic existence. One particular post that saddens me is from a teen who tries to tell people that a mother who chooses abortion is happier and much better off ~ she just does not see the other side at all. We, including all you creative and talented ones, are lost until we seek and find God the truth.

Giving the Soul Back to God

        Communion reflection. My soul was made by God and is not for sale. It belongs to him, so I gave it back to Christ right after I received him in the Holy Eucharist. Besides, God had already given himself completely to us, so that had to be the least I could do. By the power of the body and the blood of the Lord, my soul is now purified and protected from all evil. 

Incredible Leap

        Sin separates us from God. To close the gap, we must humble ourselves and beg for God's mercy, ask for his pity ~ there is no other way. The great news is that we can surrender to God and go all the way to become one with him through the Holy Eucharist and all sins will be forgotten. This is truly an incredible leap!

World in Fast Motion

        I see the world in fast motion as in a film ~ I just hit the Fast Forward button and soon we'll come to the Second Coming of Christ, the Day of Judgment. In fast motion I could make out people eating, drinking, marrying, buying, selling, planting, building (yesterday's Gospel reading from Luke 17), floods, hurricanes, landslides, earthquakes, fires, wars, killings, deaths, mass destruction, rebellion against God, sacrilegious acts, blasphemies, persecution of the Church ~ chaos all the way through, and then everything comes to a standstill and the Lord is here.    

Ready to Go in Peace

       Today is the Memorial of St. Elizabeth of Hungary and this had been my Communion experience.

           At the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the temple Simeon, to whom the Holy Spirit had revealed that he should not see death before he had seen the Messiah of the Lord, took the child in his arms and blessed God, saying: "Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation." When I received the Holy Eucharist, I had exactly the same feeling that I am ready to go in peace. I was most grateful that the Lord had made me see, changing my whole life. Outside, the wet cold wind howled, but I felt totally secure. This last sentence paints a good spiritual portrait of me.  

Life Is Making Choices

        Jesus has made it clear that we cannot serve two masters ~ we must choose to serve either God or mammon. In everything we do, whether we are aware or not, we make the choice to glory God or ignore him. The world competes with God for our attention. Do we put God ahead of us or it it the other way around? Dying for Christ or living for ourselves? Do we choose the challenging, uphill climb toward heaven over the easy, downhill slide toward hades? We don't think about it, but it's also choosing whether we want to be rewarded now or later. Basically, it is all about choosing life or death.      

Christ Alone Worth Keeping

        I just found out that a book, which is valuable because it has something to do with my grandfather who was very close to me, was most likely lost forever due to someone's fault. Of course, I could stress about it. Then I looked within myself and saw that Jesus was still dwelling in me ~ he's not missing, and I was happy. As I believe, there are no accidents. The loss now seems to be more like a blessing. Some people have the right attitude ~ they see that the loss suffered wasn't worse. Think about the people who lost their entire homes recently in Hurricane Sandy. Nevertheless, when you have Christ, the everlasting loving truth, everything else is already "worse" relative to him. Paul could have said, "Once you know Christ, everything besides him is rubbish and not worth keeping."   

Quiet Way of Increasing Faith

        Today's Gospel reading at Mass came from Luke 17, the beautiful story how Jesus cleansed ten lepers. As Jesus traveled through Samaria and Galilee toward Jerusalem, he was entering a village and ten lepers met him. They stood at a distance from him and raised their voice, saying, "Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!" When he saw them, he said, "Go show yourselves to the priests." As they were going they were cleansed. And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, "Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" Then he said to him, "Stand up and go; your faith has saved you."     

        The obvious lesson is that we should not forget to thank God for being good to us, but what I want to focus upon is that last sentence "your faith has saved  you." The faith as demonstrated by the grateful leper is simply believing in God and obeying his word. I recently posted that I felt helpless in increasing my own faith ~ I was right because I was barking up the wrong tree. Now it's clear to me that to increase my faith, I only need to believe and obey the Lord in all that he tells me to do ~ it is the quiet way. Yes, be like the leper.   

Union of Hearts

        Today during Mass I realized that when we are in union with God, our heart and God's are in union too. Therefore, what we wish to pray for, the Lord instantly knows. Likewise, whatever he wishes, we know too.