The greatest and first enemy we face in our spiritual battle are ourselves. If we can conquer ourselves, then everything else becomes easy. The recipe for conquering ourselves involves a surrendering ~ surrendering to God, that is. To conquer ourselves, we need a power greater than us, otherwise it's six against half a dozen. We are so fortunate as to have the loving God ready to join in the battle at our beck and call. (The Christian life is definitely not dull.)
Monday, January 31, 2011
Most Joyful Advice!
Jesus has advised us to do many things. He wants us to deny ourselves or sell all our possessions to follow him, to love our enemies and forgive others, to not be anxious about tomorrow, and many more. These we must follow even though they can sound "harsh" to our ears. Today during Eucharistic Prayers, as I heard the priest quoting what Jesus said at the Last Supper: "Take this, all of you, and eat it: this is my body which will be given up for you" and a little later "Take this, all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. Do this in memory of me," it just hit me that these two pieces of advice had got to be the most joyful advice from the Lord! And I also realized that by taking it, all the other advices can become joyful too.
Lessons Learned from Blogging
So far I have posted 490 times to this blog and on this last day of January, 2010, I don't think I'll hit #500; but that's OK. In the early days I sometimes wondered what I should post next, then I learned to rely upon the Lord and not be concerned about that. If he wants to dry me up, that's fine too; after all, I am not doing it for myself ~ it has to be his thing. Three hours ago, I didn't know what to post today; then during Mass the Holy Spirit triggered a bunch of thoughts in my mind. So, here I am at the computer again.
From blogging, I have learned to cast myself aside, trust in God only, and live one day at a time. Praised be to him!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
We Can Be Transcendent Too
God is transcendent because he is not limited by time nor space. We can also be transcendent is the sense that we can live in Christ and not be bound by things of this world. To live in Christ is the beginning of living the eternal life. It is the transcendent way of living.
On Confession
Confession is the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The risen Christ gave it to us when he conferred on his apostles his own divine power to forgive sins: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (John 20: 22-23). The priest present at confession then becomes the instrument God uses to forgive our sins. Of course, if our sins are venial, we can go directly to the Lord, repent, and ask for forgiveness. What if the sin committed is most serious and you ask for forgiveness from God? How can you be sure that you're forgiven? Well, the Lord totally understands human nature. After you hear the priest absolve you from your sin, you are now certain that you have been forgiven by God because he had given us his word.
To Be Holy Is to Be Happy
I got the following message from the presiding priest at Mass this morning: To be holy is to be happy, content, and fulfilled. This should definitely expel the image in the minds of many who think that a holy person is glum, self-suppressing, and unfree. In fact, anyone who is not happy, content, or fulfilled cannot possibly be holy. To be holy is to live in God, who can only give joy, peace, and fulfillment of the human heart.
On Humility
I was thinking about humility this morning. If we want to imitate Christ, this is the virtue that can help us go a long way toward holiness. In fact, I see humility as being the foremost requisite for becoming Christlike.
This morning's readings at Mass reinforced my thoughts. In Reading 1 from Zephaniah 2, we are urged to seek humility. Reading 2 from 1 Corinthians 1 tells us how God chose the lowly and despised in the world to reduce to nothing those who are something. Finally, the Gospel from Matthew 5 gives us the Beatitudes. In one of them, Jesus declares "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land."
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Jesus Is Always with Us
In the last post, we learned that Jesus quieted the wind and stilled the sea. This was done from a boat when his disciples with him thought that they were going to perish during the violent squall. Father Matthew in today's homily likened our life to being in a boat. When we face the storms of life, we can be shaken; but Jesus is always there in the boat with us. Whenever we are in danger and need his help, he's going to quiet the wind and still the sea for us. A great analogy that gives great consolation.
Jesus, the Lord of All
In today's Gospel reading from Mark 4, Jesus rebuked the wind and quieted the sea during a squall and the wind ceased and there was a great calm. His disciples were greatly awed by the fact that even wind and sea obey him. What they learned was that Jesus is the Lord of all. Subtly and sadly, today all weather conditions are attributed to Nature; our nation no longer believes that God speaks to us through hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. Alas, we are no longer in awe of God.
Beware of Ulterior Motives
The Holy Spirit speaks in a gentle voice, but the Devil is also adept at whispering to your heart. One trick he employs is using your ulterior motives to prompt you to action. These motives may be hard to detect because they often lie beneath or are embedded among your good intentions. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal these motives to you and remove them from your heart.
Please God Always
The Saturday morning Mass I attend starts half an hour later than the weekday morning Masses. This morning I somehow miscalculated; I thought I had time for breadfast before Mass and took a bite of a well-ripened banana before realizing that I would be taking Communion in less than an hour. Since the present rule is to fast for at least an hour before receiving Communion, I skipped Communion at Mass. It was a sacrifice as I longed to receive the Lord; then I realized that by offering it up to God, he'd be equally pleased. I now see that whether we get what we want or not is not necessarily more important than how we deal with the situation. We can please God under any circumstances.
Friday, January 28, 2011
On Praying for Spiritual Growth
We normally ask for the many spiritual qualities, such as faith, perseverance, patience, etc., we think we need. This approach is relatively self-centered ~ we focus upon what we think we lack ~ and involves more of a struggle on our part.
I believe that a superior approach is to rest in God with abandonment. We lie open before him, letting him see what we need and fill us. The focus is mainly on him and not us. Again, save our energy and tap God's power, for he is infinitely greater and wiser.
Learning from the Lord
Last night I had a dream. In it I noticed that a big wall-mounted light fixture was missing from the house (I say "the house" because it's supposed to be my house, but in the dream it didn't look like my home at all) ~ someone must have removed it without my knowledge or permission. I was upset, so much so that I woke up. And the Lord was right there and I heard him (in my mind) asking me if this had happened in real life, how I should react. I knew right away what he wanted to hear, which is "I should not let anything like this upset me." It's good to learn from the Lord at any moment he chooses to teach us.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Most Tolerant Father
In Ecclesiastes 3, we read "There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens." I think of this verse because there are times when I feel a great urgency in praying to God and other times when I know that he has heard me and I do not need to ask anymore. I let the Holy Spirit be my guide. I could twist God's arm, cry, and beg from him, or just smile at him and whisper my wish and let go at that. That's why I love the Father ~ as long as you love him, he is most tolerant with your behavior.
God's Generous Giving
Today's Gospel reading from Mark 4 contains the well known verse "To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” At first reading, you might think that God has favorites and is being unfair. Then I saw that the one who has was the one who loved God and asked for good things from him, while the one who has not did not bother with God in the first place. We must first want to receive from the God whose generosity in giving is limitless.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
A Plethora of God's Gifts
If you believe, love, and trust in God with all your heart, you will receive at least the following ten gifts from him: (1) joy, (2) peace, (3) freedom of the heart, (4) patience, (5) courage, (6) humility, (7) compassion for others, (8) discernment of God's will, (9) detachment from the world, and (10) purity of heart.
In The Fulfillment of All Desire, Ralph Martin, the fruits of union with God include (1) freedom from self-concern and fear of what others will think, (2) a pure heart, (3) an immense fortitude in the service of love, (4) continual prayer, (5) finding joy in everything, (5) rediscovery of the creation in God ~ seeing it as it truly is, (6) heightened sense of seeing good and evil, (7) deep, solid, interior calm, (8) constant peace and joy, (9) the experience of the almost continual presence of God, (10) being dead to every selfish impulse, (11) enjoying habitual sweetness and tranquility, (12) inebriation in the Holy Spirit.
All the above and more can be yours, if you so desire.
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