My Shortlist of Saints

         (1) St. Mary ~ If you love Jesus, how can you not love his mother? She is the greatest saint and our mother in heaven. I love her especially for her obedience to God.

            (2) St. John the Apostle ~ I love him because he knew that Jesus loved him.

            (3) St. Therese of Lisieux ~ I love her because of her total abandonment in God.

            (4) St. Gemma Galgani ~ I love her for her willingness to suffer for God.            

Patience Needed

        We must never rush into action. Let the Holy Spirit initiate all things. Therefore, patience is a virtue to acquire. When someone tells me a story, I have the fault of prematurely assuming that it's not worth listening to, before I had a chance to hear the rest. Impatience is insufficient love. This quote from St. Teresa of Avila is good: "Let nothing disturb you, let nothing dismay you. All things pass; God never changes. Patience attains all that it strives for. He who has God lacks nothing: God alone suffices."

Fount of Our Joy

        The "J" in the name of Jesus has to be associated with joy. The following is a partial list of joys that accompany the Lord.

           (1) Hearing his word, his voice

           (2) Talking and writing about him               

           (3) Following him closely

           (4) Calling upon his holy name

           (5) Waiting for him to speak

           (6) Asking for his forgiveness

           (7) Enjoying him in silence

           (8) Receiving him in Holy Communion!        

           (9) Suffering for him
           (10) Dying for him

The World and Us

        The entrance antiphon at Mass, Galatians 6.14, reads: "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Here Paul showed his complete detachment from the world ~ a total severing between the two. This is understandable because after seeing the glory of Christ, the world would be about as attractive as a heap of dung. We face the same choice: the cross of Christ or the world.

This Numb Generation

        In today's Gospel reading at Mass from Matthew 11, Jesus let the crowd know that their generation was unresponding and "hard to please." He said, "John (the Baptist) came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, 'He is possessed by a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, 'Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'" Their generation sounds just like ours ~ we look but don't see and hear but do not understand. Alas, our total immersion in this world has both blinded and deafened us, making us numb to the gospel truth.

God Alone Is Trustworthy

        Today is the Memorial of St. John of the Cross, priest and Doctor of the Church. He was also a great Spanish mystic and Carmelite friar. As a reformer of the Carmelite Order, for a period he was imprisoned and harshly treated by other Carmelite friars who opposed the reform ~ it was Christians against Christians. All the more we see that God alone is worthy to be trusted because he alone is holy.

Persist in Your Race

        A lot of things not really pleasant came up which I must attend to. It just shows that life never remains the same. St. Paul likened living for Christ to running a race. You're in it to finish and win an imperishable crown. Joy comes from the Lord, but tests too. Many saints (St. Teresa, St. John of the cross, St. Gemma, Blessed Mother Teresa, and others) all went through dark nights. What the Lord showed me is that we must absolutely persist even to the point of serving him mechanically if we do not feel his presence. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me" (Psalm 23). Before you know, life will be over. And if you haven't run a good race, you are likely to look back with sadness.

Making a Beautiful Connection Is...

talking to God from the heart.

Listening to God Is...

always doing his will.        

Forsaking Happiness in This Life

        In Luke 14, Jesus taught, "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, and the host who invited both of you may approach and say, 'Give your place to this man,' and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, 'My friend, move up to a higher position.' Then you will enjoy the esteem of your companions at the table."

       We can apply this lesson to our expectations in life. To avoid disappointment, it's better not to expect happiness in this world because things can go bad at any time. But we can certainly expect great happiness in the next world if we remain faithful.