To Know God Is . . .

to know your inner self.

Our Greatest Therapeutist

        Communion experience. God is the one to whom I can safely bare my inner self completely. I can go to him to empty any junk, trash, and filth in me, spill forth all my emotions and feelings, and get myself cleansed, healed, and revitalized. Accepting the fact that there is nothing I can possibly hide without his knowledge is greatly therapeutic. Shall we say that being totally honest with God is the best policy?

The Golden Rule

Jesus said all the following:

Matthew 6.14-15: "If you forgive others their transgressions, you heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do no forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions."       

Matthew 10.12-13: "Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father."

               

Luke 6.37: "Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven."

Luke 6.38: "Give and gifts will be given to you . . . the measure with you measure will be in return be measured out to you."

Matthew 7.12: "Do to others whatever you would have them do to you." This pretty much sums things up with God taking part also. 

*Secret of Inner Peace

        Lesson from today's Gospel reading from Luke 14. Jesus went to dine at the home of a leading Pharisees. He said to the host who invited him, "When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment. Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." Indeed, before we invite someone to eat with us, we even consider if that person has ever invited us or if he has, how many times, how good the food was, etc. The same consideration is given when giving a gift. (This reminds me of the "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" saying.) Where is genuine generosity? What Jesus has taught is that we must do good from the heart and not for the sake of repayment. Love must be unconditional. To summarize it further: we must be completely selfless and do good for the sake of pleasing God alone. As a matter of fact, this is the secret of inner peace, when we exclude ourselves (our own egos) from the equation. 

Making Love Meaningful

        Loving others for love's sake may be meritorious, but only loving others for the sake of God who loves us makes it meaningful.

Joy of Perfection

        Communion joy. The grace we receive through the Holy Eucharist is sufficient to make us perfect. It is pure joy to be made as perfect as can be by God.

Our Biggest Pitfall

        Unfortunately, much of the world does not realize that if they do not humble themselves before God, they will never know the true God. Again, ego or pride is our biggest enemy, blinding our way to God. Beware.  

Known by God

        God knows everything about us. What about it? For me, if my God doesn't know everything about me, then he is unqualified to be my God. I rejoice that he does, so that he may know exactly how to help me with my needs and guide me to keep me on track, avoiding falling into Satan's traps. What a blessing! 

To Feel Free

        It took me a long time to see that feeling uneasy when I performed some task before others was because I was concerned about what others thought of me. Therefore, when we care only about what God thinks, we lose our self-consciousness. Aim to please God alone and we are set free.

Where Charity Begins

        One test of holiness is how well we get along with our own family members. By getting along, I mean no shouting, no arguing, no blaming, no getting angry at others, but listening, communicating, forgiving, admitting we are wrong when we are, seeking reconciliation, and making peace always.