Happiness, Momentary or Unending

        [It you do not believe that there is life after death, you may skip reading the following.] It is true that we in the world seek pleasure, fun, entertainment, recreation...so that we can have a good time, forget our troubles and be happy. The desire is inherent in us. I see that all the temporal happiness we seek are for the moment only. For example, you go on a week's cruise ~ after the week, the enjoyment is just memory. Personally, I don't see how such passing happiness can be truly satisfying. To me, only unending (permanent) happiness is meaningful. If I know in advance that I won't be happy in the next life, then I don't think I can truly feel happy in this life anymore. On the other hand, if I know that I'll be happy for all eternity, then whether I am happy or not in this life becomes rather unimportant. Last, if we are only concerned about being happy in this life, we can easily forget planning for our eternal future ~ this then would be a  huge oversight.

God Is Extreme

        God loves us with the greatest possible love and his mercy is infinite. So it should be easy for us to get to heaven. All we need to do is to obey him. If we follow Jesus' commandment "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind," we love God to the extreme. With extremists on both sides "working towards" the same goal, success is assured.  

Life Is Frail

        I sound like an old man when I muse on life, but I am old. When you are young and healthy, you don't think about the frailty of life and that is unfortunate. Just a few days ago, we prayed at Mass for one husband who suffered a massive heart attack in his 50's. As you age, you hear more frequently that someone you knew has passed away. Only the Lord knows how long each of us will live. Life is frail also in the sense that it is unpredictable. Holding onto God is only and sure way of securing ourselves for all eternity. It's really a no-brainer.

Best Place to Be

        Communion experience. The union makes me want to put myself totally under his care and direction. There is just no better (more beautiful) place to be than in Christ.

40 Years After Roe vs. Wade

        Today is the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. Forty years ago today, the Roe vs. Wade decision was passed by the US Supreme Court and abortion was ruled a fundamental right. The Knights of Columbus has planted fifty-five crosses on our church lot, symbolizing the fifty-five million abortions that have been performed since the day of that decision. I have posted against abortion in the past a number of times. On this memorial day, I just want to ask: How dare we ask God to bless this nation when we as a nation are still committing this horrendous sin against him? (By the way, Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff Roe in the lawsuit, had turned pro-life in 1994 and been received into the Catholic Church in 1998.)  

Setting Lifetime Goal First

        Before morning Mass started, I had time to see that I must in the overall scheme of things set my lifetime goal first and then let all my thoughts, my words, and my actions henceforth manifest that goal. And that goal should be loving God with all my heart, with all my strength, with all my soul, and with all my mind. 

Detachment from the World

        Right now I have a problem with the wall oven at home. After spending time and money on repairs, the problem remains. How should I deal with it? I recall Jesus' counsel to love our enemies, and human enemies have got to be even more annoying than oven problems and such. Therefore, I should "love" my oven problem too, meaning that I should not let it affect me. Another helpful thought: What if today is my last day on earth? Basically, detachment from the world is the answer, and only loving and trusting in God can get me there.

Journeying from Head to Heart

        For most of us who search for God, we start out with a head journey. That is, we read about the Lord, ask questions, etc., until we are more of less convinced that we should believe. Then the heart takes over. In my own conversion story told at the beginning of this blog, I read about Catholicism for over a year before I decided to join the Church. I have seen many whose search journey remained a head one and they never found God. As we fall in love with God more and more, our journey transforms more and more into a heart one. Only when we journey with all of our heart will union with God be within our reach. 

The "In" Feeling

        Today's Communion experience: I am totally in God's hands. I no longer exist on my own ~ I am in Christ. I am "in"!

Responding to God's Call

        I am one of the parishioners in the ministry of visiting homebound elders. Recently, I visited a lady already placed under hospice care. It wasn't a scheduled day of visit, but somehow I felt drawn to go see her. I had a chance to share with her the joy of knowing Jesus and how much he loves us for about half an hour, with her daughter also present. She passed away not very long afterwards. Then I got a call from a friend asking for her mother, also under hospice care, to receive the last rites. I informed my pastor at the next morning Mass and she was taken care of right after Mass. Four days later, she also passed away. What I want to say is that when the Lord calls, even if it's about doing something quite small, we must get going. The small things can be critical and are often very much remembered and/or appreciated by others, in my two cases, the two daughters. When Jesus called those to be his disciples, they dropped everything right away and followed. Every call from the Lord is important ~ it is a call to bring others to him so that they may have eternal life.