The most perfect prayer is the Lord's Prayer, taught us by Jesus himself. By extracting "Thy will be done" from the Lord's Prayer, I feel that I have the most perfect short prayer. Saying it meaningfully requires our surrender to the Lord first. To say it is to want to be in union with him.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Alleviating Jesus' Suffering
As I was meditating on the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary after Mass, I felt sorrowful that I couldn't be there to alleviate in any way the suffering the Lord experienced on his way to Calvary. Then he made me see that I still could do it now, since he still suffered. Let's love him even more as the world spurns him!
Seeing One's True Worth
Not knowing God can cause much unhappiness. For example, you can feel lonely and become over-attached to a pet. There are even men who spend thousands of dollars to buy a life-size silicone doll to be their make-belief wife. Others feel self-pity or the emptiness of life and are driven to drink at the bar. Jealousy, envy, anger, intolerance and the like are all symptoms of unhappiness.
The good news is that once you have established a good, close relationship with God, everything gets straightened out. To me, the best part is not seeing that you are now a better or worse person, but that you are important to the Father and you are loved by him.
Ousting Prejudice
The Lord has shown me that I must not harbor prejudices within my heart. If John the Baptist were to appear today, how would I view him? Would I conclude that he is probably mad? When Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth." Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" That was prejudice, all right. But there are often small preconceived notions quite subtle and not readily detectable. For example, I felt less attracted to a saint solely because the name didn't sound as attractive as the names of some other saints (thank God I finally realized). I am certain that many do not come to the Lord or his Church because they are prejudiced or have wrongly conceived notions. We must always search the heart and ask the Lord to remove all prejudices, large or minute, so that we may discern clearly and do his will freely without impediment.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Reason to Live (Back to Union)
In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 7, we hear from Jesus the familiar "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." To ask, to seek, to knock ~ this is what the Lord wants us to do to discover the love of God. Not too long ago, the message was to deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow him. And Jesus wants us to not be anxious about tomorrow nor be afraid. Of course, we must remain humble and not judge others. There are just so many counsels to heed to.
All this brings me back to union with the Lord. If we do become one with the Lord, then we'll be thinking and feeling like him. We'll always ask for the right thing from God. Since we are already in and with him, denying ourselves and following him are no longer issues to deal with. And the cross becomes something to cherish and I suppose that we can find another word for it. Freedom and peace of the heart ensues, and humility and compassion for others grow. To seek union with God is to follow him all the way. Along the way, complying with the Lord's requests will be taken care of.
When you receive the Lord in Holy Communion, it is the perfect time to seek union with him. Let this physical union deepen the spiritual one each time. This is indeed the reason for us to live.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Fire of Love
At Mass after receiving the Holy Eucharist, I felt that Jesus was the sweet fire of love, burning up all that's impure within the soul. What remained was filled with his pure love.
Some Random Thoughts
In view of the possibility of a nuclear disaster in Japan due to the recent earthquake, it seems that God sets limits to how far we should explore on our own. We discovered nuclear fission so we're able to build reactors as well as the bomb and look how much trouble it has gotten us into. Maybe there are things we should not touch, like the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden. I see cloning as one of these areas. The Lord wants us to seek his will, listen to him and follow him, but mankind has taken off in the opposite direction, forgetting that we reap what we sow.
Looking at our earth, a relatively puny, round body in the universe. It's covered mostly with water, so our continents are basically islands amidst the vast oceans. We are like creatures marooned on these islands for a limited period of time ~ how then can we call these lands our home? To just plan for a good education, a good job, and financial security for ourselves in the world but nothing beyond is sheer folly.
Monday, March 14, 2011
See Jesus in Everyone
Today's Gospel reading is from Matthew 25. Jesus speaks of coming in glory to separate the sheep from the goats. He makes it clear that he is in the hungry, the thirst, the stranger, the naked, the ill, and the imprisoned. Whatever we did for one of these least ones, we did for him. Such beautiful and powerful teaching from the Lord is again a cause for rejoicing.
Listening to God Means...
not holding any of your own strong views; rather, it's letting God shape all your views. Listen well and you will speak well.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
On Fantasizing
People fantasize to gratify themselves. The one who knows the Lord lives in reality and is content and peaceful. Therefore, the desire to fantasize no longer exists. The joy of knowing God simply detaches one from all desires for self-gratification.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
The Loveliness of God
After receiving the Lord in Holy Communion, I felt the loveliness of the Lord. It's an indescribable loveliness only the heart can "see." I know that God has created us so that our heart will not rest until it has found rest in him. Now I believe that God has also created the heart for us to see his loveliness.
Keeping Conscience Clear
I went to vigil Mass today. The first reading is taken from Genesis 2. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So we all now have a conscience. The thing is that as we sin more and more, our conscience gets muddy and dull. But if we submit ourselves to God, the Holy Spirit will wash it clean and sharpen it to the point that we don't ever wish to offend God anymore. With a clear conscience, we can bask in the glorious light of God, enjoying his presence.
Healing the Subconscious
During my waking hours I feel continuous peace, but I do have less peaceful dreams. So I asked the Lord to cleanse my subconscious as well. This morning I had a dream in which I got so terrified and panic for whatever reason that I called on Jesus (aloud) for help. And I woke up with a great calm. I hope that from now on, I shall have continuous peace in my sleeping hours too.
No Accidental Incidents
Yesterday I had the great joy to share Christ with someone. The opportunity just came up naturally and I did not force anything on the person ~ I simply shared my own experience. He shared with me too. It turned out that he believed in God, but not in any particular church. When he was around 6 or 7, after some tragedy struck in his family, he got really angry and looked up into the sky and yelled at God "Why did this happen?" or something like that. Then he heard the rumble of a thunder and it was on a clear day. I told him that the Lord was probably letting him know that he heard him.
I have heard or read other similar stories. You just don't forget incidents like that and eventually the person comes back to the Lord and/or the Church. There are no accidents!
Friday, March 11, 2011
Wake Up and Repent
Today's big, horrific news is that earthquake and tsunami suddenly hit Japan, resulting in massive damage. When will the world (this country included) wake up, realize that we are at the mercy of God, repent, and turn to him for salvation?? This is no new message (I could hear John the Baptist preaching) and people just don't get it!! The need to pray for God's mercy on all has never been so urgent.
Jesus Makes Loving Meaningful
Leo Buscaglia is well know for his talks on living, loving, and learning on Public Broadcasting Service. A lot of his sayings are quite beautiful, but it just strikes me that any talk about love without ever mentioning God sounds somehow empty. True you can be a great humanist and know that to love is the way to go, but how long can you keep that up? Do you love in order to feel good about yourself? I also tried self-hypnotism to make myself feel happy ~ the effect never lasted long. I also practiced being aggressive in dealing with others, believing that I would get my way. Some people practice the power of positive thinking. To put it bluntly, believing that you can do it without God is basically fooling yourself.
Then Jesus came along and showed us the way to live. He gave us purpose in loving and we finally understood. There is now a greater power than us to inspire us and a perfect example for us to follow. Jesus has come and made loving meaningful.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
To Choose Abortion Is to Choose Death
From the first reading from Deuteronomy 30 at Mass, I heard, "Choose life, then... by loving the Lord, your God." Yes, to choose Jesus is to choose life, as the Lord had made it amply clear.
Then I thought of the pro-choice (meaning pro-abortion, according to the dictionary) people who don't like to be known as being anti-life and don't want to hear that abortion is murder. Surely, to choose abortion is to choose death ~ you can't deny that.
Place the two above-mentioned choices side by side. Remember that Jesus said that for anyone to follow him, he must deny himself and take up his daily cross and also that the greatest love is to lay down your own life for another. Now, try to reconcile these two choices with each other.
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