Let All Bring God to Mind

        I just couldn't fall sleep this early morning; felt a tremendous longing for the Lord.  What is he up to?  The idea for this post came to my mind: 

        When you see a beautiful day, think of God.       

        When you see genuine love in action, praise God.

        When you hear beautiful music, thank God for the inspiration he gave to the composer and the talents he gave to the musicians.  (Enjoy the music, but don't get attached to it.)

        When you get to drive a nice car, appreciate the engineering, the design, the technology and all that went into making it ~ they all came from God.  (Again, enjoy the drive, but don't get carried away.)

        When you see people get sick, realize how much we need God to pray to.

        When you see horrible things people do to each other everywhere, see how horrible it is to be godless and love God even more.

        Anyway, let all you see and experience bring God to your mind to help you think of him all the time.  He will bless you.

         

Complain to Jesus Only

        James in his Epistle talks about Restraining the Tongue.  He's absolutely right.  The tongue is to be restrained and tamed.  I have no doubt that what comes out of the mouth has started world wars in the past, broken up our families, and is still causing unhappiness every moment to this day.  Sometimes we just express our feelings and what comes out is misconstrued as our intention to hurt someone.  Sometimes we just make one comment and someone takes it personally and starts venting his or her own feelings.  Often what's said is easily considered as a "complaint" by others.  I suppose anything said that's not very positive is fair game for any listener.  I almost feel that when I express myself, I am navigating through a mine field.

        I believe that what we should do is to say less and speak only if we have something loving and positive in mind.  If there are negative feelings, go to Jesus and tell him all about them.  I found very few people will truly listen to you objectively and try to see things from your point of view, but thank God that we have our Lord who loves us warts and all, understand us perfectly, and is always sympathetic.  Even his scolding is sweeter than praises from other humans, because when he chides us, it's for our own good.          

For Love of Christ

        Today is the Memorial of Saints Cornelius and Cyprian.  Many saints have shed their blood for love of Christ.  We may not be called to exactly shed blood, but we must be willing to shed whatever is necessary for love of Christ.  

        The Gospel reading is from Luke 7 about The Penitent Woman.  She, known to be a sinner, washed the feet of Jesus with her tears, wiped them with her hair, kissed them and anointed them with perfumed oil.  She never said a word and Jesus forgave her many sins because of her great love and faith.  So the Lord knows perfectly our hearts.  Let us maintain a clean, pure, and loving heart in us for love of Christ.      

The Beauty of Christ

        How beautiful is Jesus?  I am sure that if he looks at me, my heart is going to melt under his loving gaze.

        His inner beauty is what captures my heart.  He is the embodiment of pure love, a love that's gentle but intense and more beautiful than anything else in the universe.  This is a living love, always inflamed, ready to transform us into smaller flames burning with the same love, if only we are willing to embrace it.  His immense beauty is beyond our comprehension, but can be sensed by the heart.  Once you sense it, you are drawn to it.

        If you ask me why I follow Jesus, in the early days I would have said "because I've found the truth," but today I would simply answer "because he is so beautiful."               

Willingness to Suffer

        Today is the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows. 

        How much we are willing to suffer is proportional to how closely we are united to the suffering Christ.

Thoughts on the Cross

        Today is the Feast of Exaltation of the Holy Cross.  

        (1) The Cross exhibits the great Love of God.  Through the Cross, life was made meaningful and purposeful.

        (2) Pray that the Cross will displace all our worldly pleasures so that we may experience the true joy of Christ.

        (3) What's good for the Lord is good for us too.       

A Reminder from the Lord

        Still a continuation of the last two posts.  I was reminded by the Lord that journeying toward union with him is fine, but we must never neglect doing good works along the way or even after we have achieved union.  Don't miss any opportunity to show God's love.  Love is the whole point for making this journey. 

Journeying Toward Union

        This post continues the train of thought from the last one.  As I have stated on this site, the goal of my blog is to bring all, myself included, to union with God.  Then I must remember that the ultimate goal is to please God, not to feel good ourselves.  I have just started reading The Ascent of Mount Carmel by St. John of the Cross and it doesn't seem that the ascent to union, according to him, is a quick, simple process.  But I do believe that a simple trusting faith I talked about in the last post and a great love and appreciation for the Holy Eucharist can help us go a long, long way.  These two things are within the reach of everyone if we'll just ask the Lord to grant them to us.     

Let's Amaze the Lord

        This morning the Cure of the Centurion's Servant from Luke 7 was read.  When the centurion expressed his unworthiness to have Jesus enter his house and asked Jesus to just give the order for the curing of the servant, our Lord was amazed at his faith.  This got me thinking that we could still amaze the Lord by absolutely trusting in him ~ another lesson for me.  A trusting faith is beautiful.  It shows our obedience and our love for him, and it brings miracles to us.  Furthermore, it sets us free. 

Glad to Be Saved

        Today's Gospel reading is from Luke 15, Parable of Divine Mercy, which show that Jesus came to save his lost sheep, and The Prodigal Son, such a beautiful story showing the Father's boundless love.  I feel extremely grateful that the Lord has called me.  You hear faith spoken of as a gift from God.  This could give the impression that this gift is selectively given, but I believe that God wants to give this gift to everyone, especially those who most need it.  To receive this gift, we must be receptive or at least be curious about it.  Being objective, putting aside any preconceived notions, is also necessary, for God loves a humble attitude.  So far in my faith journey, everything experienced confirms that I have made the right choice and am proceeding on the right path.  This is not any sort of proof, but when you are dealing with faith, this is as good as proof.      

Be "Self-Centered" First

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 6, Jesus said, "Why look at the speck in your brother's eyes when you miss the plank in your own?  How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me remove the speck from your eye,' yet fail yourself to see the plank lodged in your own?  Hypocrite, remove the plank from your own eye first; then you will see clearly enough to remove the speck from your brother's eye."

        The reason we don't have a peaceful world is because everybody is constantly criticizing everybody else.  What Jesus has given us is really a formula for peace.  If we all examine ourselves first and realize how imperfect we are, we probably won't think ill of others much anymore.  Besides, looking inward helps us in keeping in touch with God.    

Is God Fair?

        A lot of people feel that God is not fair to them.  What are we to believe?  I think the parable The Laborers in the Vineyard from Matthew 20 provides some clues.  In the story the workers hired in the last hour got paid as much as all the other workers hired earlier, including the first group who had worked a full day.  When the first group complained, the owner of the vineyard responded: "I do you no injustice.  You agreed on the usual wage, did you not?  Take your pay and go home.  I intend to give this man who was hired last the same pay as you.  I am free to do as I please with my money, am I not?  Or are you envious because I am generous?"  Also, I recall Jesus telling one Apostle to mind his own business and not be nosy about what's going to happen to the other Apostles.

        I can conclude that God wants us to respond to him alone, letting him do whatever he wishes.  Envy is, of course, a sin.  If you mind other people's affairs, then right away you see that some are better-looking, taller, have better health, were born into a wealthier family,... ~ how can God ever be fair?!  If there's no life after death, then you have a point.  Since this is not the case, it makes no difference what your life is like if you end up in heaven.  View it this way: you trade this life, fair or unfair, for eternal life ~ there's nothing unfair about that.  If you knew how happy you'd be in heaven, you wouldn't mind spending a million "unfair" years on this earth.        

God's Blessing Not Free

        Caught Frontline on TV the other day and watched the report on the horrific genocides that took place within the last decade in Rwanda and Dalfur (a region of Sudan).  Altogether, over a million people got slaughtered and millions more became refugees.  The murder, rape, and torture were absolutely shocking.  And we thought that the Holocaust was the last of such horrors! 

        What's equally sad was the fact that the nations that had the power and wealth to do something pretty much didn't do much.  After all, those regions had nothing to offer them.  One Asian power nation voted against doing anything to stop the atrocities in Dalfur because it had business ties with the Sudan government.  Shame, shame, shame!  At the UN, nations talked, discussed, and delayed for years; finally, some troops were sent to Dalfur to protect the civilians only.  By this time the killing was pretty much over.
        I am also ashamed of our own government and presidents.  Apparently, it's easier to accuse other governments of neglecting human rights than doing something to stop the real violation of human lives.  Contrast the lack of action here with the eagerness to invade Iraq.  We are no longer a Christian nation.  At the governmental level, loving your neighbor is no longer considered.  Everything is done with self-interest in mind, not that of the American people either, but of the power elite. 
       Anyway, what I want to say is that we always ask God to bless America, but do we deserve his blessing if we have no intention of becoming a better nation?  To make my point clear, let's look at the extreme case.  Suppose Satan asks God to bless him, do you think that God will comply?  If we want God to bless us, we'd better desire to become more loving and less self-centered.          

Preparation for Union

        Give to God from your heart: yourself, your family, your health, your possessions, your finance, your everything.  There's no point in holding onto them as all belongs to God in the first place.   Throw in your problems, burdens, and worries as well.  Let God take over and you are ready to seek complete union with the Lord.

Eternal Good News

        The world is filled with all kinds of news, and the news of today fast becomes the history of tomorrow.  But we Christians have the eternal good news, the news that's forever fresh and true.  This is the news that Jesus has come and revealed himself as savior of the world ~ happy news for us to rejoice in always. 

Prerequisite for Loving God

        In praying the Hail Holy Queen, we ask Mary to pray for us that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.  At this morning's Mass, I felt strongly that we should pray for all to be made worthy of receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist.  It saddens me a great deal to see people receiving this most holy sacrament so casually. 

        I believe that most Catholics know that the Holy Communion is the true body and blood of Jesus.  Whether they really believe in it is another matter.  I don't see too many people spending time preparing themselves before receiving the Eucharist.  Mind you, this is comparable to meeting the Lord in person!  Why the incessant talking about mundane things on their way to church and even after entering it?  Do they go up for Communion just because everyone else is going up? 

        I am not sure how much the children learn in their preparation classes for receiving first Communion either, because sometimes I don't see any reverence shown.  People just don't stay behind to pray after Mass much anymore.  They want to dash home to watch some game on TV or do their shopping.  

        Going to church, receiving Communion,... all seem to be so mechanically done with no great meaning to the participants.  This is disturbing.  Does "Many are called, but few are chosen" apply here?  Receiving Communion is serious business.  That's why not taking it seriously is just as serious.  If we truly love God, we must start with reverencing, adoring, and worshiping the Holy Eucharist.  It's a prerequisite.        

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.