Jesus Is Our Joy

        Entrance verse at today's Mass from Matthew 25.34: "Come, you whom my Father has blessed.  Inherit the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world."  Hearing this brings great joy to the heart!  In today's Gospel reading from John 16, Jesus said to his disciples: "Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you."  The Lord wants us to be happy.  How can we not rejoice when we realize that he loves us so much and that he always wants the best for us (what can be better than eternal life in heaven?)  Any time we think about the Lord, ponder upon his mercy, pray to him, or receive him in the Holy Eucharist, we should be like the infant John the Baptist in the womb of his mother Elizabeth leaping for joy at the approach of Mary with Jesus in her womb.  Yes, Jesus is our Joy!    

Jesus Is the Savior

        At Mass this morning, I felt that "Jesus is the only one I need to attach to.  Everything else in the world I can let go.  He's more than sufficient for me.  With him, my life is fulfilled." 

        On the way home over the radio, I heard more bad news as usual.  One story told how a government contractor hired Fiji women by telling them that they're going to Dubai to earn high wages, but in reality shipped them to Iraq to provide service for the military.  Over there they were abused, mistreated, and prevented from leaving.  The story that followed was about how many veterans that have come home are still suffering terribly from their war traumas.  Surely whoever started the war(s) must bear the most responsibility.  What saddened me are the greed, the utter disregard of human dignity and human life, and the lack of compassion for others.  Jesus is still being crucified.  But he is our savior!  People may not love him yet, but how foolish it is to not even worry about eternal damnation! 

        I want to shout to the whole world that we have a savior, who is our only bright hope in the dark world and who's all we need for eternal life.

Jesus to Be Taken Seriously

        I have just finished reading Chapter 6 of the Gospel of St. John and received these thoughts.  With Jesus, you must take him seriously.  You should examine and weigh his sayings and check him out thoroughly.  If you don't, it'd be very easy to walk away from him and go back to your former way of life.  Of course, if he's just an ordinary man, then no harm will come to you.  But what if he's really God?  That's why you must take him seriously before walking away.

Love, a Two-Way Thing

        Between God and us, mercy, justice, forgiveness... flow from God to us only and never in the reverse direction; while faith, hope, obedience, praise, adoration... emanate from us toward God, not the other way around.  Then there is one two-way thing between God and us: love.   

Achieving Peace of Mind

        How to have peace of mind?  It obviously has to do with the mind.  As long as you have a lot of thoughts, good or bad, going through your mind, you will not experience peace.  "No thought" is the answer.  What I really mean is allow only necessary thoughts and not clutter the mind with any useless thoughts.  Naturally, the most necessary thought is the Lord.  Think of him first always before all other necessary thoughts and you'll have peace. 
        1 Corinthians 2.2: "I resolved that while I was with you I would think of nothing but Jesus Christ, and him crucified."              

Start with Union with God

        In today's first reading from Romans, Paul advises his listeners to do this, to do that, not to do this, not to do that ~ altogether twenty separate pieces of advice.  And there are so many other counsels we must remember as Christians.  Then I realize that the more we achieve union with the Lord, the more following these counsels becomes automatic.  When we achieve total union, doing all these things will be our second nature.  Aim for union with God and all will work out fine. 

        In case you haven't read my previous posts, union with God is achieved by asking the Lord to transform you, making you Christlike, through receiving the Holy Eucharist. 

Mind God's Business Alone

        As members of God's family, we must mind his business alone.  Our life must revolve around pleasing him.  Doing his will must be our sole goal.  The rewards are living a life with purpose; knowing that our eternal destiny is all set; freedom of the heart; and inner peace as promised by Christ.   

Learning from the Holy Spirit

        This morning before Mass started, I was filled with the desire to learn from the Holy Spirit.  I remember that in one period of my life, I discovered the beauty of mathematics and started taking correspondence study courses from two universities.  I finished seven courses in two years in my spare time ~ I was that hungry for math.  Now I don't need that kind of knowledge anymore ~ what I thirst for is the wisdom for me to live right and have life in the Lord, which the Holy Spirit provides.  Perhaps studying pure math was my way of getting close to God.  Now that I've known him intimately, what better and more satisfying way is there than going directly to the source for enlightenment?

Jesus Is Joy

        Jesus is the cause of our joy.  He is with us and fills us with hope.  He is delightful.  He loves us and awaits us when life in this world ends.  Jesus is joy. 

Death Is a Nonissue

        Tomorrow is Memorial Day, a holiday to commemorate all U.S. soldiers who died in wars.  For true Christians, death is no longer an issue.  By the promise of Christ, we shall live forever with him in heaven after death and by the power of Christ, we shall be resurrected one day.  If death is about the death of the old person, then we have already died and begun living a new life in Christ.  No matter how you look at it, death has been overcome and needs no longer be an issue.    

We Are Truly Special

        We are the only creature (1) that was created in the image of God, (2) who can conceive God in our mind, (3) made to feel restless until we find God, (4) whose form God chose to let his Son take, (5) for whom the Son dies out of love, and (6) who is capable of understanding that God is love.

        Before God, we are nothing; yet we are also everything.  We are special!   

The Joy of the Holy Spirit

        The joy of the Holy Spirit is different from any other joy one experiences in the world.  Since the Holy Spirit dwells deep within the soul, his joy orininates from our inmost interior, welling up like water from a spring.  It intoxicates our whole being and is impossible to repress.  Like the wind, it comes and goes at the will of the Spirit.  

Known by God

        Just saw a TV program on the old cemeteries in San Francisco.  Many of the buried were well known, distinguished personalities.  So I started thinking that it is a common desire for us to want to be known while we are alive and   remembered after we are gone.  Then obviously, to be known and remembered by the whole world for even a billion years is worth nothing when compared to being known and loved by God alone.  And God just happens to know every single one of us intimately and will never forget us.  Embrace him and his love now and cast away all your other cares.

Start Living in Heaven Now

        The goal is to achieve union with the Lord, and the Holy Eucharist makes it possible if you'll let it do the work.  Receive the Lord in the Holy Eucharist with great reverence and all your love, and ask him to transform every part of you, every fiber and molecule of you, with his love.  Then think every thought, speak every word, and do every deed as one with the Lord.  You are now starting to live in heaven.  When you get there, there won't be much adjustment you'll need to make.              

Being Christian Is Special

        I just caught the TV program Do Not Go Gently on PBS.  It shows the benefits of creativity among seniors.  Some of them continue to use their God-given talents to teach others or create more works for themselves.  I did catch one senior expressing his uncertainty that there's a God.  I felt sad that such a great talent did not know where his talent came from.  If you have immense creativity, keep busy, and enjoy tremendously what you are doing, but do not have Christ, then you are still earthbound and working in vain.  Being Christian is absolutely special because Christians have unchangeable vision and know exactly where they are heading.  They do not just work to keep going; they know that life is not transitory and is full of meaning.  Christ has made the difference. 

Be Pruned to Bear Fruit

        In today's Gospel reading from John 15, Jesus says that he is the true vine, his Father the vine grower, and his disciples the branches.  The Father prunes the branches so that they may bear fruit.  Whoever remains in the vine will bear much fruit and anyone who does not will be thrown out like a branch and wither.
        This is a beautiful depiction of discipleship.  If you haven't asked the Father to prune you yet, do so now.  Get all that are weak, diseased, and dead pruned away so that you may become true disciples of the Lord, bearing much fruit and glorifying the Father.
        A footnote.  The pruning process is like a good body massage.  You feel some pain when you are worked on, but you feel great afterwards.        

Being Fed from Heaven

        I was getting a consecrated host this afternoon to take to a homebound person.  As I knelt before the tabernacle on the altar, I knew that I was going to get the bread that came directly from heaven.  Every time I receive the Holy Eucharist myself, I am being fed from heaven.  The journey toward heaven has already started on this earth.

The Sad State of the World

        There have been so many natural disasters happening around the world, almost continuously ~ earthquakes, tsunamis, storms, tornadoes, floods, mudslides, and at this moment a volcano still erupting.  The occurrences have been more violent than ever, resulting in losses and destruction on an unprecedented scale worldwide.  Does God have a message for us in all of this?

        First of all, nothing can happen without God's permission and God is always trying to speak to us one way or another.  Of course, the disasters have saddened the world, but what's even sadder is the fact that we are not aware or don't believe that God send us messages.  It's so easy to simply attribute all the happenings to nature.  Politically, mentioning God in public is no longer correct.  How often does God come into our minds?  How many Christians actually talk about how the Lord works in their lives?  Why is he always shoved into the background and ignored?  Are we ashamed of him?  Do we care more about what people think of us than what God thinks of us?  A lot more questions.  

        Yet the Father always has us in his mind, on his heart, and under his watchful eyes; but we dismiss him at will.  It's just so one-sided! Jesus, the cornerstone, was rejected by the builders; now the Lord, our creator and savior, gets ignored by his own creatures whom he loved with his own life.  What a sad state we are in!