It's overwhelming to think about how Jesus suffered so excruciatingly for us from the Last Supper to his Crucifixion. It's even more overwhelming to realize that God ever had the intention of sacrificing his only Son for our salvation! Our God is most incredible.
Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Choices of Life
Life comes down to two choices: (1) To be holy for God and (2) to seek happiness on your own in the world.
Union with Perfection
Yesterday's Communion experience. (I am posting it today because yesterday the modem broke down and I could not get online.) Receiving Christ in the Holy Eucharist was receiving Perfection into me.
Our Clear Role
In Luke 5.1-11, Simon Peter and his fishing partners had worked hard all night and caught nothing. Nevertheless, he obeyed when Jesus asked him to put out into deep water and lower the nets. And they caught such a great number of fish that their nets started tearing. I particularly like what Simon Peter did after he saw this ~ he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man" ~ for astonishment and fear had seized him and all those with him. Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.
This reading brings me great consolation. It shows that the Lord knows us and everything that's going to happen to us. Our role is to trust and follow him faithfully.
Back to the Basics
In everything that happens to you in life, good or bad, see the opportunity to examine your personal relationship with God, improve it, and move on.
Mercy Requires Surrender
In the first part of the Mass, we always ask God to have mercy on us in preparation for the Liturgy of the Word to begin. In praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, we repeatedly recite "Have mercy on us." It seems that if we truly mean it, we must surrender ourselves to God, for how can we ask for mercy if we don't even wish to submit ourselves to him?
Monday, March 16, 2015
Your Enemy Is Your Brother
The Parable of the Lost (Prodigal) Son (Luke 15.11-32) is teaching me to see how we are to love our enemies. In case you are unfamiliar with the story, here's a quick going-over. A father has two sons. The younger one, the lost one, took all the money, left home and squandered it all. He is left with no hope but to return to his father to admit his wrongdoing and beg for mercy. The father was elated that his son has returned and celebrates the occasion with him. The older son finds out and is angry that he's been faithful to the father all along, but never been treated like this by him. The father says to him, "My son, you are with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found."
Since we are all children of God, I see my enemy as my brother. Even if I do not like him, I must pray for his conversion to please God the Father. Wishing God to inflict harm on him is obviously out of the question. If I remain with God the Father, everything his is mine and that surely would include protection from all my enemies.
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Great Consolation
Communion experience. The Communion hymn was I Am the Bread of Life. The lyrics of the song are based upon Jesus' Bread-of-Life Discourse from John 6, with Jesus promising eternal life to whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood. The song is beautiful! Receiving the Holy Eucharist, the living bread from heaven, was indeed one great consolation.
Draw Your Line
All the sins are connected in the sense that they are all sins and committing small oness can lead to committing bigger ones. Therefore, we need to draw a clear demarcation line between living in sin and being holy and choose the side we want to be on.
A Tall Oder
Life should be cleaned up, and lived effectively and with purpose. Since our time on earth is limited, all the more we need to be watchful. Sinning is the worst way of squandering away time. Not only do we need to remain pure, but also be fruitful for God. It sounds like a tall order, but all is within reach when you become one with the Lord.
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