Learning to Love 2

        To love meaningfully, you must have the Lord in your heart. Seek union with him for rapid progress. Love God first and he'll make you love others.

Learning to Love

        Christ is love. If you want to learn to love, follow his example. Let Christ be reflected in every little gesture of yours, in responding to others ~ starting with members of your own family. Do not skip any opportunity and you'll be storing up treasures in heaven.

Conditions of Discipleship

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 14, we hear three of the most challenging statements from Jesus. To the gathered crowds, he said: "If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple." "Everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple." How do you react? Of course, surrender yourself to Jesus and all conditions are removed.

Evengelize, We Must

        Today is the memorial of St. Charles Borromeo. The Gospel acclamation, 1 Peter 4.14: If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of God rests upon you. We must be bold in bringing the gospel to others, not to worry about whether we might offend anyone or not. Of course, we should abandon ourselves in the Holy Spirit first and root what we say in love always. We are not doing our work, but doing God's work for him, leaving the outcome to him.  

Heart, Our Core

        God knows us thoroughly because he knows our hearts. To know God, we must also know his heart. Consecrating yourself to his Most Sacred Heart is a good start. God hears us only if we pray to him from our hearts, and we do not hear him if we harden our hearts. To convert others is to let God convert their hearts. Without a heart, I would be speaking gibberish to you now.

Perfect for Us

        There is no blood relationship between God and us, yet God the Father is our perfect father, God the Son our perfect brother, and God the Holy Spirit our perfect comforter. God is perfect for us.

Jesus Most Inspriring

        If I have a best friend and find out that he is also the best friend of some other people whom I don't even know, I probably would feel betrayed and may even get angry with him. With Jesus as our friend it is completely different. Even though I know that he loves everyone else just as much as he loves me, I still feel that he is my most personal friend. How come? I believe it's because he loves us selflessly and this love makes us selfless too. In fact, I want everyone to experience his love. Moreover, I'd be elated if everyone else loves him even much more than I love him. You see, his selfless, personal love makes us forget about ourselves to center upon him alone. What a great, inspiring Savior!        

Discerning Voices

        When God the Holy Spirit speaks to us, your hear his gentle voice in the quiet and stillness of your heart and you are humbled. By contrast, when the Evil One speaks to you directly or through some false prophet, he boosts your ego to make you believe that you are the important one and will be rewarded. This is the difference.

Being Tested

        Our life is a test period. How we perform during this period determines if we qualify for heaven or not later. The Holy Spirit who dwells within the Church guides us. Christ judges us at the end. And the Father gives out the reward or punishment.

Seduced by the World

          I have just begun praying the Novena to St. Jude for a special intention. I read in the Meditation part that in the Epistle of Jude, the Apostle denounces the heresies of that early time and warns the Christians against the seduction of false teaching. So many of our Christians today have been seduced by the teachings of so many false prophets. I thought of those who tend to overlook their minor sins by not even repenting them ~ they have been seduced by what the world teaches, and this is not OK. One should never be sloppy in living the spiritual life. God's mercy is infinite, but it is not to be abused.