Don't Always Tell the Truth

        What?  Let me clarify.  If what you have to say is true and will glorify God or at least be harmless, then go ahead.  If what you have to say is true and saying it will simply feed your ego or unnecessarily hurt others in some way, then keep quiet. 

Pray for the Disadvantaged

        Early today I was in a big city away from home and came upon an impressive-looking Catholic church.  I went in to check it out and found that almost half of the the interior was occupied by the homeless ~ obviously, they had spent the night sleeping inside the church and were now packing up to leave for the outside world.  I knew that they would be back again tonight.  I just felt the Lord's great compassion and pity on them.  The story of Lazarus in the parable of Luke 16 came to my mind.  I won't be surprised if more of these disadvantaged children of God end up in heaven than their advantaged counterpart ~ percentage-wise, that is.  I myself felt quite helpless to alter the sad situation.  The least we could all do is not to forget praying for the disadvantaged in our world.  

Perfection Through Imperfection

        Many have seen Royce Hall, UCLA's emblematic building that looks somewhat like a castle, either on the UCLA campus or in some old movie(s).  When I saw it years ago, I noticed that the two front towers did not look the same, ruining otherwise the perfect symmetry of the building.  I asked about that and someone on campus explained to me that the architect deliberately designed it that way as he believed that only God is perfect.  That was certainly a humble gesture.

        I used to be somewhat a perfectionist.  I only felt good when things turned out perfectly.  Then the Lord made me see that what I had was a form of sickness and due to the lack of trust in him.  Being able to humbly accept all imperfections after I've done my best is actually a form of perfection.  That realization opened my eyes and freed my heart.  Thanks be to God.    

Spiritual IQ

        This has nothing to do with the ordinary IQ.  One who has high IQ (ordinary) usually becomes highly educated and knowledgeable, possesses a lot of self-confidence, and is proud of what s/he can accomplish.  Unfortunately, this intelligence often gets in the way of finding God because it can blind the person from seeing that it is impossible for a creature to be greater than the creator and that all intelligence comes from God.  Basically, the more one thinks highly of himself, the more he becomes a nobody before God.  The one who has high spiritual IQ is the one who remains humble and becomes somebody in the eyes of God.  All this brings us to what Jesus had said, "Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, but whoever humbles himself shall be exalted."   

The Lord Is Joy!

        Received the Lord already during the Prayer Vigil for Life this morning.  Went to vigil Mass (Assumption of the Blesses Virgin Mary) and received the Lord again.  I felt I could die right then in the Lord.

Suffering for Jesus

        Joined the Bishop for the Prayer Vigil for Life this morning; deeply sensed that if I want to follow the Lord, I must be willing to suffer for him ~ that's OK because suffering for the Lord is never bitter, only sweet.

        Inside, the soul cries out: "When will you be coming, Lord, to straighten out this crooked generation?" 

Tip on Married Life

        If you are already married or still looking for someone to get married, fall in love with Jesus first, then you'll experience married happiness at the level that, unfortunately, very few in this world know or can even conceive.  This tip is absolutely dependable.  

        God's love always makes all beautiful things infinitely more beautiful.

Enjoy Mass

        This is what I heard the Lord say during my prayer  before Mass started this morning.  He meant taking full advantage of the opportunity presented.  I was to go before the One who forgives sins and has inexhaustible riches in store.  When I receive him, I could ask for sanity to be restored, growth in holiness, love for enemies, peace of mind, freedom of the heart, greater devotion to God, and so on.  It's inconceivable that the the Lord could or would deny such requests all for his glory.  No matter how high you aim, you cannot possibly exhaust his supply of graces ~ that's certain.  Again, cause for rejoicing!      

The Ego Game

        So far, only a few of my friends know about my blog.  I gave them the URL because they were either still searching or just beginning to believe.  In such cases, my story might be helpful to them.  The thought of telling all my other friends about my blog did occur to me.  I know that most of them will at least get curious about what I am writing.  Besides, it wouldn't hurt to get more daily hits.  Seemingly, dropping the news now and then shouldn't do any harm, yet the Lord made me see that I still had some intent on promoting myself in my heart and that I should keep mum.  Of course, he is always right.  

        Again, this morning during Mass, a number of ideas suitable for blogging popped into my mind and I got a little excited.  Then the Holy Spirit made it clear to me that he can give me as many as ideas as he wishes or dry me up with nothing to say and I am to be content.  That sobered me up.  

        To play the ego game, you'll have to be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit.  Hunt the ego or its remainder down and turn it over to the Lord.  It can be very satisfying when you succeed.       

The Golden Rule Modified

        "Do to others what you would have them do to you."  This is the Golden Rule given by our Lord in Luke 6. 

        Today's Gospel reading from Matthew 18 tells us how the Lord wants us to forgive others always (seventy times seven times).  Then Jesus told the story about a king who punished one official because he, after the king had forgiven him, did not in turn forgive his own fellow servant for the same kind of misdoing.  At the end the Lord warned that "My heavenly Father will treat you in exactly the same way unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart."  From Luke 6, 37-38 and the Lord's Prayer, we hear the same message.  Hence, we may safely replace the word "them" in the Golden Rule with "God." 

        We have now: "Do to others what you would have God do to you." 

A Big Choice

        I posted the last message because the idea had been in my head for a few days.  Now this post is similar in that it also presents a choice, but in a way nullifies that post. 

        It happened at today's Mass, the memorial of St. Clare.  As I was going to receive the Lord in the Holy Eucharist, I saw that LOVE was going to enter me.  And this gentle, yet all-powerful love is stronger than fire because it's going to permeate the core and every pore of my innermost self, consuming all the dross and impurities in my soul and melting my heart to conform to his.  This purifying process is readying me for heaven.

        The alternative is to wait until I get to purgatory and let the fire there do the job.

        I can't imagine that anyone would rather choose the alternative.      

Believe Early

        The Lord is always trying to speak to us, but we sometimes don't or don't want to hear him.  It's easy to put him on Hold or the Ignore list.  Then pretty soon the only way for him to get your attention is to shock you in some way, as a last resort maybe.  One relative of mine did not return to Church until he had lost his job.  There are many others who came back to God only after some tragedy struck.  This is learning it the hard way!  

        It would be so much better to believe early to make it easy for the Lord, pleasing him at the same time.  And if shocks do come later, you'd be better prepared to deal with them too.        

Taking a Break

        Time flies like an arrow.  ____ flies like bananas?  You fill in the blank.  (Hint: sA selpicsid fo eht droL, tahw era ew detcepxe ot raeb?)

Happy Is...

the one who hears God's voice and steps aside for God to work through him/her freely.

Jesus, Thank You for...

        (1) showing us what our Father is like,

       (2) showing us that you are what we should be like,

        (3) sending us the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, to guide and comfort us,

        (4) revealing the mystery of the Holy Trinity to us,

        (5) last but not least, revealing how great God's love for us is by laying down your own life for each one of us.     

Love Must Come First

        This morning someone at home required my attention, so I decided that I should skip morning Mass.  I really miss not receiving the Lord, but that's OK, because...  I remember the story of Juan Diego who had an appointment with Our Lady of Guadalupe that morning.  Then his uncle got sick and needed his attention, so Juan Diego just skipped his appointment with Mary and went to his uncle's house instead.  Obviously, that would be a difficult choice for some, but not to Juan Diego.  It turned out that Mary didn't mind at all when they met the next time.  Perhaps Juan Diego was being tested.  The lesson to me was that love must come first, even if it means missing a meeting with the Lord.

        My last thought is that we should be more like Juan Diego, a simple, honest, and humble person.  The trouble is that we live in a sophisticated, well-educated, and basically secular society; and we learned to advance and take care of ourselves first and make our decisions by weighing reward against cost to us.  We need to re-form ourselves.  I feel sorry for the children born into our world ~ it's going to be an uphill battle all the way for them.  The need to have God in our lives is more urgent than ever.        

The Joy of the Holy Spirit

        There are pleasures to be experienced in this world, so how are they different from the joy of the Holy Spirit?

        (1) EFFORT.  To experience the pleasures of the world, one must make the effort to seek them out; while the joy of the Holy Spirit is given to you by God.

        (2) SOURCE.  The worldly pleasures are experienced through external stimulants, while the joy of the Holy Spirit wells up like a spring from within the innermost recess of your soul.

        (3) EFFECT.  Here's probably the best part.  With worldly pleasures, you enjoy them less and less each time and can even become sick of them, while the joy of the Holy Spirit refreshes you each time you experience it and you can never tire of it.   

Life Is Continuous

        This morning the Lord let me see that the afterlife is a mere continuation of the present life and that I should not live them separately.  There are those who live only the present life without paying much attention to the afterlife.  And there are those who are tired of this life and wish to enter the next life soon.  Let me elaborate upon the latter case a bit.  If you feel miserable in this life, it's understandable that you hope to end this life sooner.  Then there are those who have somewhat tasted the joy of heaven and got weary of the world and yearn to go to the Lord.  Even though this seems natural, the Lord still wants us to live our life joyfully in him in this world.  In other words, there should not be any discontinuity separating the two lives.  We should start living our faith, loving our Lord, from this moment on in this life, and proceed smoothly into the next life to be with our God forever.