Another Lesson in Humility

        The other day someone told me that a certain person knew a certain subject very well.  It turned out that I was also well-versed in that subject.  My first reaction was to downgrade that person, thinking surely that I knew better.  Then I realized that how petty, unchristian my thoughts were.  I didn't even know the person!  Why should I even be affected in any way??  Maybe he is more knowledgeable than I, then praise God.  It's that ugly ego acting up again!

        Anyway, how good it is to have the Holy Spirit point out our sins?  Without his guidance, we'd be living in darkness.  We need to pray constantly for God's mercy on us.  Rejoice that the moment we humble ourselves before God, he exalts us.   

Being Detached

        In today's reading at Mass from Luke 14, Jesus makes it clear that one must hate all his own family members and even his own life in order to be his disciple.  Obviously, "hate" is a relative term here.  Jesus wants us to be attached to him alone.

        To me, a detached person is one who       

        (1) is attached to God only and not to all else,

        (2) sees that all his family members belong to God and not to him,

        (3) is not cold but a true realist, seeing through God's loving eyes,

        (4) lives in the present moment, looking forward to eternal life with God, and does not get overly sentimental or nostalgic,

        (5) has all his priorities put in order according to God's will,

        (6) is no longer a slave to himself or the world, and thus free to love God.  

The Lord Nourishes Us

        At today's Mass, I saw myself as parched soil and Jesus as rain.  When I received the Lord, my thirst was quenched and I, the soil, was readied to bring forth fruit-bearing spiritual growths.

How's Your Fighting?

        We are engaged in spiritual warfare against the evil forces.  If you are on the right side, then are you fighting?  If you are, then how hard are you doing it?  Are you letting others bearing the brunt of the enemy's attack or are you also in the forefront leading a charge?  Every moment of our limited lifetime counts. 

The Mass

        This morning while praying before Mass began, I saw the Mass as a feast, a treat, an opportunity of a lifetime because I get to be united with the loving Lord again, a momentous occasion, an awesome privilege, a life-changing grace.

        I remember maybe a couple of decades ago, when there was going to be a stride summit held near my area, I thought that's going to be a once-in-a-lifetime event with five of the best stride pianists in the world getting together to give a concert.  I just had to attend that.  I even took a leave from my work to do it (resulting in a loss of pay later).   

        Today, I'd rather attend one Mass than a thousand of these concerts.  By the way, that concert wasn't really a once-in-a-lifetime event ~ the performers came back the following year to hold a stride summit II. 

Be One with Jesus First

        I've been thinking that if you truly become one with Jesus, then you would have the mind of Jesus, and you would ask for things for which Jesus would ask.  It follows that the Father will not be able to refuse what you ask for.  Therefore, be united with Jesus first and let all good things follow. 

God the Renewer

        The Lord showed me this morning at Mass that he is a renewer.  He makes all things new.  How refreshing!  He's responsible for all the renewals in nature.  Most of all, he loves to renew each one of us, transforming us into delightful, brand new creatures, reflecting his beauty.  Naturally, our cooperation is needed.  So, cooperate and be refreshed.

Passion of Christ

        This is Friday and I meditated on the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary. 

        First, Jesus went through the agony in the garden.  It's safe to say that we all have gone through some agony when we knew ahead that we're going to get into some tough situation or face a dreadful moment.  Jesus knew exactly the terrible events coming to him and the agony must have been almost unbearable.
        Next, the scourging.  How do we feel when someone does as little as jabbing you with his finger in your chest even for a good reason?  What if someone punches you with his fist?  Here, our Lord, totally innocent, received such severe scourging on his body.
        Crowning with thorns.  When I work in the garden, even when a little thorn pricks one of my fingers, I feel the sharp pain.  Now, someone jammed a crown of large thorns on top of his head ~ it's hard to imagine how painful that could be.  And don't forget the hurtful verbal taunts and scorns he also received.   
        Carrying of his own cross.  This is adding insult to injury, an extreme cruel treatment.
        The Crucifixion.  His mission was accomplished.  This crowned his achievement.  He carried out the will of the Father to a triumphant conclusion.  And we are the beneficiaries.  

Best Advice

        At the wedding at Cana, both Jesus and Mary were there.  After the wine ran out, Mary instructed those waiting on table, "Do whatever he tells you."  This gets my vote as the best advice ever given by a human being. 
        Obey Jesus and be amazed as the disciples were when they caught such a great number of fish after Jesus told them exactly where to lower the nets.  (Today's Gospel reading: Luke 5, 1-11) 

Feeling of the New

        Putting on some new clothing makes you feel good.  Driving a new car does likewise.  Welcoming the New Year calls for celebration.  Then there are making new friends, learning new skills, discovering new solutions to old problems, etc.  The feeling of experiencing the new is a good feeling.

        I am saving the best feeling of the new for the last.  This is the feeling that you are a new creature after you put on Christ.  The old "you" no longer lives and it's Christ himself who lives in you.  You're now clean, free, and an adopted child of the Father.

Perfect Relationship

        If you believe that Jesus has given all of himself to us, then we must give all of ourselves to him.  This is the perfect relationship intended by God.

Faith Journey

        Jesus said to Thomas after he saw the wounds on the Lord and believed: "You became a believer because you saw me.  Blest are they who have not seen and have believed."  So we who believe are blessed. The other known part is that God will always lead us to what's best for us because he loves us so much.  The only unknown are the details, exactly how God is going to make things happen.  And it is this unknown part that turns our faith journey into an adventure. 

        From Psalm 23: "Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side..."  I love this verse.  For me, it describes the true faith journey.    

Loving God with No Limit

        Just two weeks ago, I brought up Einstein's theory of relativity.  A little bit more physics today. 
        You probably have heard of Absolute Zero, the temperature of -273 deg C.  We get heat when molecules vibrate.  At absolute zero, all molecular activity ceases and you reach the coldest possible temperature, for you cannot possibly get "deader."  On the other hand, there is no limit as to how high a temperature can go.  The sun is plenty hot, but there's no reason why there shouldn't be something else that burns even hotter.
        All this makes me think of loving God.  To not love God, just reject him, be like the Devil, and you reach the very low limit of spiritual death.  On the other hand, if you love God very much, some saint probably loves him even more.  And even the most loving saint cannot say that he has loved God enough.  So we have an open high end and can say that there is no limit as to how much you can love God.  Well, this is exciting because you can go as far as you want! 

Beautiful Praying

        After the morning Mass, two young ladies remained in the chapel to pray the rosary.  Normally, prayers said aloud can be disturbing to those who wish to contemplate in silence, but today I didn't mind and even joined in.  At the beginning of each decade, you could hear them say their intentions truly from the heart.  Every syllable sounded sincere.  When they expressed their sorrows, you could hear the tears in their voices.  I finally appreciated these two line in the prayer Hail, Holy Queen: "To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve.  To thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears."  After these two sisters in Christ finished the rosary, I almost wanted to applaud.  Yes, praying can be beautiful if it truly comes from the heart!   

The Spirit's Way, Only Way

        It turned out that this morning's first reading was on the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians 2: 10b-16.  Before Mass began, my meditation fell upon the Holy Spirit and the Lord made me see that the way of the Spirit is the ONLY way for us.  What does this mean?  First, the Spirit gave us the mind of Christ.  With his mind, we should view the the world and see all things as he does ~ this is the way of the Spirit. Any other way deviating from it is imperfect.  Anything that happens to us should be "irrelevant" in the sense that we must not let anything affect our way of the Spirit.    

Same Love

        We pray for our loved ones because we love them.  We pray for them because we love God.  And God loves them.  God has already made it clear that we cannot love him without loving others and vice versa.  So it's that same love, God's love, that binds us all.  May this love penetrate every single soul in this world!   

Have God Be With You

        People turn to God only when they feel that they need help. Don't you think that the better way is to have God be with you at all times, to save all the "traveling" to and back from him? Pray that you'll feel his presence at all times.     

Joyful March

        It's almost the end of August ~ time surely flies.  Every Sunday night when I take the garbage out for Monday's pickup, it seems that I just did it yesterday.  We all are moving toward the end of this life.  Someone once said that our heart beats like a drum, accompanying us marching toward death.  That's a pretty grim picture.  But for us who follow the Lord full of hope, our heartbeats accompany us on our joyful march toward heaven.  What a difference faith makes!