On Following Jesus

        Communion antiphon was taken from John 8.12: "Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life, says the Lord." Through my experience, I know that I no longer walk in darkness. Through my simple eyes, I see that following Jesus will lead me straight to heaven. I defy anyone to show me that following Jesus is wrong, if you are not the problem. 

Healing of the Soul

        Communion experience this morning. I always remember the story of the woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind Jesus, with great faith touched the tassel on his cloak, and was immediately healed (read Luke 8). As I received the Holy Eucharist, I knew that the Lord was going to immediately heal my soul too. A healed soul is a spiritually-healthy soul, even more desirable than having a healthy body.  

Longevity Not My Concern

        BBC News has an article online this morning on the science of long life. Almost everyone wishes to remain eternally young if possible. We think that a stress-free existence should prolong life, then one study done by the University of California at Riverside shows that the opposite is true. In fact, it says that a little worry is a good thing! Go figure. A Dr. Gary Small, director of the University of California Longevity Center in Los Angeles, concludes that the idea is to stay engaged, to stay involved, to enjoy your life, but when your time comes, to accept that and not be afraid of it. This seems like sensible advice, although that last part may be easier said than done if you don't have any faith in God. At any rate, I feel blessed because how long I live concerns the Lord and not me; in the meantime I live in peace, stress- and worry-free.  

Book Idea

        After posting more than 2,500 times, perhaps I should write a book summarizing what the Lord has taught me. This thought did surface in my mind, but it must get a clear go-ahead from him. If I do get going, the book could be titled How to Achieve Union with God (not creative enough), God Wants You! (remember those Uncle-Sam-Wants-You posters? ~ but it doesn't seem quite appropriate here), What God Can Do for Us, or something else. So far that last title is closest to what I want to tell. We can do a lot of things on our own, but that is not good enough. We let God fully into our lives and he starts making living a holy life easy. He finally takes away all our struggles, completing our transformation in him. Only he can draw us into full union with him, thereby obtaining his own request "So be perfect, just as your Heavenly Father is perfect." In the whole process, the Holy Eucharist plays the essential role.

God and the World in Contrast

        Communion experience. Receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist is such a great honor that no honor of the world can compare with it. It means that I have been specifically chosen by God. I can receive what is deemed by the whole world to be the greatest possible honor and it will only serve to boost my own ego. But receiving Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament makes me forget all about myself and appreciate only his love. Again, the contrast between what the Lord gives and what the world gives makes the right choice crystal clear.

Forgetful Lovers

        First reading at Mass came from Hebrews 10. Paul quoted from Jeremiah what the Lord said in making the new covenant with the house of Israel: "Their sins and their evildoing I will remember no more." When we are in love with God, the journey of following him becomes extremely beautiful because in the presence of our beloved, we forget all our troubles, problems, and even our sins. It is true that lovers in love with each other become mutually forgetful of everything else.

God and Satan in Contrast

        When Jesus draws us, we feel his love and his peace. We experience complete freedom because he is always gentle with us, never holding us against our will. On the other hand, when Satan lures us and succeeds in trapping us, we will experience great emotional turmoil and feel chained and shackled. If it's a deep sin we fall into, it would be virtually impossible to free ourselves without asking for God's help. Both God and Satan can be attractive, but their intentions couldn't be further apart from each other. Stick with God always, for he loves you always.

About Doing God's Will

        Today's readings at Mass were all about doing God's will. In the Gospel reading from Mark 3, Jesus told the crowd, "Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister..." I believe that people do not like to hear about doing God's will because they have many misconceptions such as "doing God's will is for saints only," "doing God's will is not fun," "doing God's will must be boring," "doing God's will restricts my freedom." The fact is that doing God's will is a beautiful feeling; it brings you peace and freedom of the heart; it brings you close to God; and now you know, you become brother or sister to Jesus.  

Cause of All Evil

        Two weeks ago, French opponents of gay marriage and adoption staged one of the biggest demonstrations the country had seen in years. Some 340,000 people, according to police, marched through central Paris to oppose a government bill that's going to go before the National Assembly. The spokeswoman of this broad-based "citizens" movement states that her arguments are not directed at gay people, but at the proposed law, as framed. She says, "If what was on offer were a law that further enshrined rights for gay couples, that enriched their unions, and got rid of the discrimination and injustices that undoubtedly still exist ~ then I would support it." However, the opponents of gay marriage are aware that their chances of blocking France's law are small at best. Both "Catholic" countries Spain and Portugal have recently adopted gay marriage.

        If we do believe that marriage is the exclusive union between a man and a woman and that it is instituted by God, then how do we fare as a nation? In the last half century or so, thanks much to the celebrities, living together as an unmarried couple has become so common and widespread that it's now an accepted lifestyle ~ marriage is already mocked! Most people look upon marriage as an experiment that has nothing to do with God. As for married couples, the statement "50% of all marriages in America end in divorce" is roughly correct. (In reality, the divorce rates all across the globe have been rising rapidly.) If morally we are in such bad shape, how effective can we be in telling others that same-sex marriage is wrong?

      This brings me to the fundamental point. All disorderliness and moral chaos are caused by godlessness. God is our creator and if we get into trouble because we fall away from him, then he is the one who can restore order and peace if we go to him asking for help. Again, the same conclusion I drew in my post "How to Convert the World" of two days ago applies: "Our only hope is to live a holy life by seeking union with God and be completely obedient to his will, whatever it may be."

To Be Free of the World

         I have started reading the Gospel of John again. Chapter 1, verses 2-4: "The Word was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race."         

       I am living in this world because my physical body dwells in this physical world. Spiritually, I am living in Jesus. My physical body will die one day, but I shall live on forever in the Lord. While in him, he "insulates" me from the world, shielding me from all evil. In him, I conquer the world, since he has conquered it. This is being free in the world and not of it.