Recipe for Inner Peace

        Live to please God alone and not care about what others think of you.

Think of God First

        If you see someone sin against the Lord, think first how it must bring sorrow to him, then pray for that person. 

Denying Ourselves Includes...

        being willing to accept sufferings coming our way.

To Counteract Sins

        I have started reading The Life of Anne Catherine Emmerich, a holy, German nun (1774-1824), who took sufferings upon herself to expiate the sins of the Church and her members.  This picture comes to my mind.  Visualize every sin as a filthy raindrop falling on the Lord.  We have billions of people in the world with each of us committing numerous sins each day ~ now imagine how the Lord is being bombarded every single moment by us!  This visualization should prompt us to perform as many acts of love as possible to shield some of the drops from hitting him, providing some comfort.  It's most urgent and our duty to fulfill.

Motivation Purified

        Yesterday I posted that I felt that I was ready to go to Christ.  Today, I started examining my motivation during morning prayer.  Yes, the yearning was there because I love the Lord, then I also detected that deep down there was the desire to escape from some of the things that were somewhat bothersome to me right now.  So I realized that my motivation wasn't that pure.  The yearning can continue, but Jesus wants me to deal with all problems head-on with his help and not to want to run away from any of them.         

We Need to Know God

        God already knew us thoroughly, having created us ~ the question is whether we know him.  If we do, then how well?  The more we know him, the more we understand ourselves and our place before him, and the more we are set free.  Jesus, brighter than all the shining stars, has pointed the way to knowing him, who is God.  To ignore him is to be lost in the universe. 

Mary, Our Mother

        Mary is God's great gift to us.  From the cross, Jesus gave her to us as our Mother.  This makes us brothers and sisters to Christ.  Since the Lord gave her to us, then of course, we can communicate with her.  That's why we talk to her, asking her in intercede for us before the Father. 

        I love Holy Mother for the following reasons:  (1) She suffered greatly for the Lord's Passion.  (2) She's a most special and dear gift given to us by God.  (3) She always brings us closer to Jesus.  (4) She's most holy, most beautiful, and most loving, a perfect model for us to imitate.   

Ready to Go to God?

        I've mentioned that sometimes I feel that I am ready to go to God.  Today after I received the Lord in the Holy Eucharist, I felt that way, then I heard the Lord asking me if I had already lived up to how I felt?  What he wanted to tell me was that if I still had things in this world to cling to, then I wasn't really ready yet.  A good question for me at this time to consider. 

To Be Free for God

        It came to my mind that we all have mementos, things of sentimental value, and, I should include, nostalgic memories.  The Lord has shown to me that all such things are to be detached from us, since knowing him alone is all that matters.  Again, his thoughts are not our thoughts and I know that he's right.  To be free for him, let nothing of the world hold us back.

The Love of Jesus

        At Communion time, I sensed the infinite love of Jesus for us.  This is the most beautiful thing in the world ever, yet the world ignores it ~ how blind, deaf, and heartless can you be! 

Accepting God's Ways

        God's thoughts and ways are different from ours.  For example, the Jewish people had expected a totally different kind of Messiah when Jesus came to us.  Since we don't know God's ways for sure (otherwise, we'd be all-knowing like him), we are to pray, trust, and wait.  A true disciple does not complain to God for any reason either because he knows that the Lord knows better.  

Clear & Direct from Christ

        After watching a program on Tibetan Buddhism on PBS, I came to appreciate my faith in Christ so much more because the message from Christ is totally clear with no ambiguity and we get to know God directly.  Clear and direct as revelations from God should be.  It's true that there are many mysteries about God that we don't understand yet, but what God has allowed us to know is sufficient for our salvation ~ this is all we need to know now.  All the rest will be clear when we see the Lord face to face.  All Christians are truly blessed.      

What's Life All About?

        This post is for those who are not yet believers in Christ or still in the early stages of their faith journey.  I remember myself in those early days.  Just like most others, my goal was to get ahead in life, preferably ahead of all those who knew me.  The way to do it was to learn from friends or books on the subject; believe me, most friends were eager to impart their "wisdom" on survival or dealing with others, and the books were many out there, each touting its effective approaches to reach your goal or achieve happiness in life.  Of course, almost none of these sources ever mentioned God ~ you were really on your own.  

        My question to you: if this is also your present thinking or goal, is this what life is all about?  There is really so much more to it, after I have come to know Christ well.  Concentrating on this life will never bring us true happiness ~ many nonbelievers have found out in time and believers know because they have tasted Christ, the source of true joy and peace.  Basically, God made us this way out of love.  Whether you believe what I've just said is true or not, believe in Christ to find out for yourself.         

Only True Joy for Us

        Christ the Lord, for now and ever.

To the Spiritually Sick:

        When the scribes and Pharisees brought the woman who had been caught in adultery to Jesus, they tried to trap him by asking what he had to say about the case, knowing well that in the law Moses ordered such woman to be stoned.  Jesus paused and then said, "Let the man among you who has no sin be the first to cast a stone at her." 

        People today push away or reject the Lord.  What came to my mind is the line: "Let any among you who are not spiritually sick be the first to push away the Lord." 

We Are the Rebels!

        This message and the next one I'm going to post are inspired by the letters of Elizabeth of Schonau I just read from the book of her works.

        Everything in heaven and on the earth serves God except us.  We have the free will and we rebel, disrupting the harmony of the universe.  This came to me as shocking truth.  Are you helping to restore this harmony before the day the Lord is forced to do it?    

God Most Satisfying

        It is our human nature to search for things that satisfy us better all the time.  For example, we look for better tools, upgrade our computers, find the latest gadgetry, build more comfortable houses, etc.  So, why not go straight to God first, who can provide the most satisfaction?  This is what Jesus talked about: "Drink the living water given by him and you'll never thirst again."  Start at the top end to get the most out of life.  Smart move. 

Jesus Is the Lord of All

        In today's Gospel from Matthew 12, Jesus proclaims to the Pharisees that he is the Lord of the sabbath.  Of course, Jesus is the Lord of everything!  Being meek and humble is his way too.  He has the final say in all things.  We think that we are free to do what we want to do, but we end up before him at the Final Judgment.  We are always at his mercy, as it should be.