Anticipating Christmas

        Today's Communion antiphon (Revelation 3.20) at Mass: Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if anyone hears my voice and opens the door to me, I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me. Christmas is less than two days away. How tender and sweet Christ is, enabling the receptive soul to willingly live and die for him ~ O come, Emanuel!

More Soulmates

        On December 16, I blogged about Jesus as soulmate. When he becomes our soulmate, all souls in heaven become our soulmates too because of the Communion of Saints. By the same token any two persons on earth in union with God are soulmates, as their love for God supersedes any difference between them.

God's Fitting Role

        Yesterday I blogged that because only God can forgive sins, he is the only one who can transform us. By the same token, he is only one qualified to judge us.       

Love for All

        In Matthew 5, Jesus told all to love their enemies. He pointed out further: If you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? Jesus came to die for all, not for only those who loved him. Therefore, we must do the same. In this sense, love is to be blind. As Christmas approaches, this is a good time to start loving without discrimination. 

Joined to Christ

        Today's Communion response ~ I remained totally open and rested in Christ. How good it feels that there are absolutely no barriers between me and God ~ the branch is integrally joined to the vine.

Our Only Transformer

        To be perfect as Jesus has commanded, we cannot do it by ourselves nor by anyone else in this world. The only one who can transform us is God because he is the only one who can take away our sins ~ one cannot be perfect if sins still remain.

Death Thought, a Blessing

        Nothing can prevent us from dying. Living is just the minuscule beginning portion of our continuous journey toward eternity. We tend not to think about this when we are feeling well. Then one day we don't feel too well and death seems possibly imminent ~ this is a blessing because we see the reality of life and our dependence upon God. 

Lesson from Dreams

        I sometimes have certain recurring dreams, indicating that certain people have emotionally affected me in the past. This teaches that we must be responsible for how we treat each other, for what we do can haunt others and ourselves too. May the love of God always reign in us. 

On Responding to God

        Today's Gospel came from Luke 1. The angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and informed him that his wife Elizabeth would bear him a son, to be named John. Since the couple were already advanced in years, Zechariah did not believe the words of the angel and he was rendered speechless. This got me thinking: we are responsible for my responses to God. In fact, every thought, word, and act coming from us would get an appropriate response from God!

Most Wondrous News

        In our disordered, pitiful world, we do hear good news from time to time. During this Advent season, I realize that the most wondrous news of all has to be the Incarnation, the coming of Christ into the world. It not only is an earthshaking groundbreaker, but also forever rejoices the heart.