Awesome Responsibility

        The Gospel reading for today is the Parable of the Silver Pieces from Matthew 25.  A man disbursed silver pieces to his three servants before going on a journey.  During his absense the two industrious servants invested what they had received and doubled their money, while the timid and lazy one simply buried the money he had received.  After the master came home, the two dependable servants were rewarded and the worthless one was punished.  

        My thoughts are: What we have received from God is far more valuable than silver pieces ~ every one of us has received God's infinite love!  It follows that we have an awesome responsibility to bear.  Are we to keep this love just to ourselves?  Are we to spread it a little bit?  Or are we to multiply this love for widest possible distribution??         

Satisfying God

        Today is the Memorial of St. Augustine.  Father Matthew celebrating the morning Mass passed on this remark that's going to stick in my mind forever: "God is easy to please, but he is very difficult to satisfy." 

        Indeed, whenever you do a little good deed, you put a smile on the Lord's face; but he's not satisfied because he wants all of you!  We are supposed to love him with all our heart, all our strength, all our mind, and all our soul.  He loves us so much that he wants to possess us totally ~ that's why. 

Joy Follows Sadness

        We are not to obstruct or impede God from carrying out his will.  Peter was scolded by Jesus when he expressed that he didn't want to hear that Jesus was going to die.  We must step aside and let the Lord freely do as he wishes.  Today, while meditating on the 5th sorrowful mystery of the rosary, I could hear the pounding of nails into the Lord's hands and feet at the scene of crucifixion.  I knew that I must not interfere, but I just couldn't help wanting to yell out as loud as possible to those doing the hammering: "What are you doing to my Lord???" 

        Thank you, Jesus, for dying for us.  I know that I should rejoice.

A Most Happy Sound

        I am referring to the crisp sound you hear as the priest breaks up the consecrated hosts into smaller pieces before distributing them at Mass.  The multiplication of the loaves and fish to feed the hungry crowd comes to my mind.  Now, the Lord is ready to feed us who hunger for him.  A welcome sound to hear. 

Achieving Intimacy with God

        Get in touch with the Holy Spirit dwelling within you to ask him to form and shape your conscience to his heart's content and you will experience a great intimacy with God. 

The Proper Focus

        If you have done something good, don't rejoice in that you have done it.  Rather, rejoice that you and the Holy Spirit are now another step closer.

Two Sides of God

        It seems that we always have two sides to everything.  In today's Gospel reading of the Parable of the Ten Virgins from Matthew 25, the five foolish ones were not ready when the groom arrived and were barred from entering into the wedding in the end.  God loves, but he also judges.  I pray for those who believe that God loves them, but forget that he's also the judge.  Being ready is critical if you want to make sure that you don't get shut out in the end, for you don't know when the Lord is going to arrive.   

Link Between Cross & Love

        Today is Friday.  As I prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries, I saw deeply that to truly appreciate the depth and breadth of the love of Jesus, we must first ponder upon the Cross to fully understand its meaning.  It was through the Cross that Love was manifested.

"Do It Anyway"

        Chances are you've already read this poem attributable to Mother Teresa.  Just in case you haven't, here it is:

         People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; forgive them anyway.

         If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives; be kind anyway.

     If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; succeed anyway.

        If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; be honest and frank anyway.

        What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; build anyway.

        If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; be happy anyway.

        The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; do good anyway.

      Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; give the world the best you've got anyway.

       You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway.

Adore Jesus Online

        Go to http://www.savior.org/, see live image of the Most Blessed Sacrament, and adore.  (It may take half a minute or so for the image to appear.)

Our Mission Is...

to spread the love of Christ to everyone.  The more we give away his love, the more he fills us with his love ~ a miracle.

Why Believe in Jesus?

        Seeing the various problems in my life that I still have to deal with, I ask this question as a sort of review.

        First, since I have come to believe that Jesus is the truth, I have no choice but to believe in him.  

        Secondly, if I had believed that all my problems would go away once I believed in him, then I would've been totally mistaken.  Jesus made it clear that there would be crosses for his followers to carry.  The problems of life will always be there.  In fact, being a follower of the Lord may even bring a new set of problems.  But now, we have him to help us carry our burden, and our outlook changes and the yoke becomes easy.  In other words, we now fight battles following an invincible leader who gives us solid backing.

        Last, looking beyond our transitory life, we see eternal life with the Lord if we believe in him.  There will be no more "problems of life."  This is our "long-term" goal.

God's View

        I have taken Holy Communion countless times, so how has that changed me?  I still sometimes expected to do great works for the Lord, then he made me see that I was not to expect anything to happen from my point of view, but to be grateful for and happy about the more important interior transformation which he had brought about.

Mystic and Saint

        I read somewhere once that anyone in love with God is a mystic ~ I am not sure about that.  What I am sure is that anyone who does everything cheerfully for the love of God is a saint.  (Look at St. Therese.) 

Dying for Others

        Today is the Feast of St. Bartholomew.  One of the first things Father said at the beginning of Mass was that St. Bartholomew, who was martyred, died for us.  I always thought of Jesus dying for us and the martyrs dying for Jesus ~ it hit me that in a way it's also true that the martyrs died for us.  If we are willing to die for Jesus, then we should be willing to die for our brothers and sisters, as Jesus equates loving our neighbors with loving him ~ we should really think about this one. 

        (By the way, the Gospel reading, John 1: 45-51, on the calling of Nathanael Bartholomew is beautiful.)

Emptying the Mind

        Up until Mass time this morning, I had nothing in mind to blog.  So I decided to empty my mind totally and not be concerned about it.  Then I could see that this is really the way the Lord wants us to be like at all times.  With mind emptied, you dispel all worries and become openly receptive.  You wait for him to make the move.  It's really putting into practice our trust in Jesus, not just theorizing, talking or thinking about it.  Jesus told us not to worry about tomorrow, not to be anxious,...  Perfect advice to follow in practice.  He wants us to have peace in all circumstances.    

Be a Channel of Love

        Prayer of St. Francis the hymn starts out: "Make me a channel of your peace."  The image of us being a channel of God's love came to my mind.  Visualize his love flowing through us unobstructed, cleansing us along the way, and coming out touching and reaching all those at the other end.  We should make this the goal and mission of our life.  And we seek no reward on this earth, only wait for our reward in heaven.   

No Longer Earthbound

        Once you become a true disciple of Jesus, you are a new creature.  You are now a son or daughter of God and a brother or sister of Jesus.  You are no longer earthbound, but destined for heaven.  You don't belong to the world anymore.  You are free and death will have no power over you in the end by the grace of God.  You are elevated to a new level of existence.  You become one with God through receiving the Holy Eucharist.  You are essentially home.  I could go on more, but you get the idea.