Ask the Lord to Make You Well

        In today's Gospel reading from John 5, Jesus saw a man lying by a pool and knew that he had been ill for a long time.  He said to him, "Do you want to be well?"  And because of his helplessness, Jesus cured him. 

        I can't help sensing that at times Jesus asks us this same question too.  If you hear his voice, don't pass up the opportunity to answer yes.  Better yet, ask him to make you well before you hear him ask.

Dealing with Others

         The last line in the poem Do It Anyway attributable to Mother Teresa reads, "In the final analysis, it is between you and God; it was never between you and other people anyway" (see post of 8/27/10). All of us must deal with God in the end. If someone mistreats you, he or she will have to face God. About how we react to that person, we'll have to face God too. Realizing this fact, we can learn to remain cool in dealing with others in all things.

Why Christianity Is Beautiful

        Before Mass I was thinking how beautiful my Catholic faith was.  (I don't even consider Catholicism a religion because to me it's simply the truth.) 

        (1) The message is crystal clear.   God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but have eternal life.

        (2) God's relationship to us is made absolutely clear.  He is our loving Father and Jesus not only our God, but also our brother and our servant. 

        (3) God is Love and Mercy.  You cannot find another god like that. 

A Lenten Prayer

        (1) Help me always remember that there is no profit in gaining the whole world and forfeiting my own life.

        (2) Please make every sin loathsome to me so that I may never offend you.

Follow like the Apostles

        I am thinking that the Apostles had Jesus with them all the time, following him around, absorbing all his teachings, and watching him  perform all the miracles.  We don't have the Lord physically with us, but we can also follow him like the Apostles.  We know that the Lord is with us as he had promised.  He'd given us the Holy Spirit, our Paraclete.  Especially when we receive him in the Holy Eucharist, we reaffirm our oneness with him.  In a way, we are more intimate than following him around in person.  As far as his teachings are concerned, the Church has it all.  He is still doing miracles today among all of us.  Yes, we are absolutely close to him.   

The Light of Christ

        This morning's Gospel reading at Mass was taken from John 9.  The story about Jesus opening the eyes of the man blind from birth is just beautiful.  Jesus declared himself to be the light of the world and then made the blind man see.  We can ask the Lord to shine his light on our hearts too to remove any blind spots he sees.
        As Jesus made it clear to the Pharisees later on, true seeing is not seeing with our eyes ~ it's seeing with the heart.  We can have perfect vision and still be blind to the truth.  O Lord, shine your light upon us so that we may be cleansed of our sins.

Heart for God Alone

        Today's First Reading is taken from 1 Samuel 16.  God lets Samuel know that man sees the appearance but he looks into the heart.  Time and again, I have assessed a person based upon his appearance and even his speech and I turn out to be wrong.  Only God knows what is hidden in the heart.  Our hearts are for God alone to see and examine in secret.  You could say that to become holy is basically a process of preparing and purifying the heart so that it becomes presentable to the Lord. 

How a Christian Should Act

        The current horrible news is that violence has spread in Afghanistan, resulting in the loss of innocent lives and more hatred against the United States and the West ~ all triggered by the people's anger over the burning of the Quran by a Florida pastor.  My thoughts are that a Christian should always act out of love for others and never, never do anything that will turn nonbelievers away from Christ.  That particular pastor obviously doesn't know Christ well and has done something foolish.  Anyone without true humility becomes an easy target for Satan to deceive. 

On Loving God

        In yesterday's Gospel reading from Mark 12, Jesus taught that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength.  When I thought about this, it is really the only logical, sensible way for us to respond or relate to God, for he is our infinite creator, so much greater than us finite creatures.  In addition, he had shown that he loved us so much that he gave his only Son so that we might be saved.  To not love him as we are called to would make us both rebellious and ungrateful. 

Reasons for Loving God

        (1) He is holy.

        (2) He is love.
        (3) He is Jesus.

Doing God's Will Pictured

        I picture doing God's will as riding in a boat with the Lord in it.  The boat may sail smoothly downstream or run into rough water, tossing you about, but you are always safe with the Lord with you.        

Process of Spiritual Growth

        The process of spiritual growth may be depicted in various ways, depending upon what yardstick you use for measurement.  Here's a not-so-precise depiction:         

        (1) You search for God to fill the void in your life.

        (2) You find Christ, believe in him, and life becomes meaningful.  You still learn more and more about him.

        (3) You finally know the Lord so well that there is no more questioning, doubting.  You fully embrace him and he is no longer mysterious to you.  You happily follow him everywhere at all times. 

Unity Is Strength

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 11, Jesus drove a demon out of a mute man and the crowds thought that Jesus did it by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons.  Jesus then said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house.  And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?"  Indeed, strength comes from unity.  And our strength is derived from union with the Lord, who is invincible and against whom only fools will go.

We Must Choose Sides

        Today's Entrance verse: "I am the Savior of all people, says the Lord.  Whatever their troubles, I will answer their cry, and I will always be their Lord."  How I wish that every person will believe.  The world is in chaos, and unbelief and sin are the cause, yet people still feel that nothing bad should happen to them, forgetting that by choosing sin, you reject God.  In today's Gospel reading from Luke 11, Jesus said, "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters."  Yes, we must choose sides. 

Perfect Relationship with God

        I've been thinking about relationships among people.  I dare say that there isn't a single instance in which you feel absolutely close to someone because there are always some differences between any two people.  But with God you can get so close to him that you become one with him.  Basically, I see him as being so great and merciful that we can be totally absorbed by him.  If we repent, any distance between him and us vanishes ~ we're back in the bosom of the Lord like what happened to the prodigal son.  What a great God we have ~ he is all we need!    

The Passion of Christ

        In this Lenten season leading to Easter, we think of the Passion of the Lord ~ how he went through the agony, was scourged and crowned with thorns, etc., ending with Crucifixion.  Then I thought of one excruciating moment: After Jesus had been nailed to the cross, the whole cross had to be lifted up, dropped into the hole, set straight, and compacted to stay in the upright position.  There had to be a lot of violent jerking and shaking of the cross with Christ on it during the process.  Imagine how painful it must have been for him, our most loving Lord!!!  May he be appreciated and glorified forever and more.   

Formula for Freedom

        If you don't care about what others think and do everything only out of love for God, you are truly free.  If you are much attached to the world and concerned about how you appear to others, then you are still imprisoned.  It's all perfectly logical. 

The Body and the Soul

        After Mass during prayer, I became aware of the following.

        God has created this physical universe, but he lives in the spiritual world.  We have our physical body here, but our soul is not to live forever in this physical world.  We are very much aware of the body ~ its weight, the pains and aches, the tiredness, etc.  Even when I pray, I am conscious of the discomfort of the body, distracting me from my concentration.  The body basically is a drag, but we just have to live with it. 

        Then I intuitively see that the soul is a separate entity.  The soul has a life of its own, you might say.  The body and the soul have different demands, each operating in its own world.  In this life, they are merged in one person, but they are so distinct from each other that I see clearly that the soul's home is not in this world.  The body is designed to dwell in this physical universe temporarily and the soul to dwell in the spiritual world for all eternity with God, just as Jesus came into the world and then ascended into heaven.  

        This awareness helps me become even more detached to this world.