No Comparing with Others

        If you are physically more endowed, intellectually more astute, verbally more skillful, artistically more talented, spiritually holier, better educated, more famous or wealthier than others, never compare yourself with them because all that you possess do not belong to you ~ they came from God. Furthermore, remind yourself that you are also inferior in so many ways to others. Your first priority is to please the Lord, and being humble would surely do it.

No Time for Sin

        We sin and we lose interior peace. By contrast, when we are in union with God, sin becomes repulsive. Besides, we'll be so absorbed in God that there is no time left to even think of sin. Now we have peace.    

All About Union with God

        Today is the Memorial of St. Ignatius. The Entrance Song from Galatians 2 starts out: "I am crucified with Christ, yet I live; no longer I, but Christ lives in me." This is such a simple but profound statement. It's all about union with God. It reveals the secret of perfect living and is a recipe for attaining freedom of the spirit.

Islam and Christianity

        I started reading a little bit about what Muslims believe. I learned that they believe that God is in one Person only, so this wipes out the Christian belief in the Holy Trinity. They believe in angels and the prophets of the Old Testament, but Jesus was just a prophet, not divine ~ this wipes out the Christian message of salvation through Christ, and I wonder why he even got crucified. (Later I read that they believe that someone else took the place of Jesus on the cross.) Muslims believe that Muhammad was the prophet with the last word on God's revelation to us. If that were true, then Jesus cannot possibly be a true prophet. They also maintain that messages and revelations from God previous to Muhammad's appearance on the scene had been partially changed or corrupted over time, so what can you say? At any rate, Islam and Christianity are fundamentally different. One can only believe in one, not both. 

Sleepwalking Through Life

        While exercising on a treadmill this morning at a nearby gym, you could hear the background music coming through the constant noises made by people working out on various types of machines. It was rock with a persistent beat and "sung" in indistinguishable words ~ rather annoying. The thought of the world sleepwalking through life, not being aware of the love and mercy of God and the bright hope of salvation there is for us, came to my mind. It's indeed easy to live on and not think about our ultimate destiny with time passing and gone forever. God has sent prophets to his people through the centuries and finally his own Son to all of us, yet so many of us now still sleepwalk through life. What do they truly want? I suppose that when you are sleepwalking, you can't really think about what you want.

Christ Our Best Guide

        Jesus shows us how to think right, to see right, to hear right, to speak right, to feel right, to love right, and to live right. Among all the gurus and spiritual teachers of the world, he is the standard and most trustworthy one because he alone has shown the greatest possible love for us. Besides, he is God!

Feeling Free in the Lord

        During Mass, it just hit me that there is no mystery about Christianity at all. The message of salvation is plain, clear, logical, and based entirely upon God's love. Receiving Holy Communion was a monumental moment for me. I felt deeply anchored in the Lord. I was completely in him, yet feeling completely free ~ another paradoxical fact of Christianity.  

What to Do About Our Future

        When I was shaving in front of the mirror this morning, the thought flashed into my mind that one day I wouldn't see myself like this anymore. Our future in this life is never certain, so what should we do? The best we could do to be guided by we already know to be the true way. John 21:18-22 come to my mind. 

        Jesus said to Peter, "Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when he had said this, he said to him, "Follow me." Then Peter turned and saw the disciple following whom Jesus loved. When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about him?" Jesus said to him, "What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me."

        What we can learn here is that we are not to be concerned about what's going to happen to us in the future ~ we are to just follow Jesus.

Seek Love from God Alone

        When God makes you long for him, he's letting you know that he loves you! Do not seek human love, for human love comes and goes and cannot give peace to the soul. Seek love from God alone, for only his love is pure and everlasting.  

Squaring Ourselves with God

        If we love God, we will love all others. If we reconcile with God, we will be able to reconcile with all others too. If we do not offend God, we won't offend others either. Work on our relationship with God and all our relationships with others will straighten out. 

Longing for God

        Today is the Feast of St. Teresa of Avila. The Entrance Song at Mass consists of Psalm 42:2-3: "As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, the living God." I've been talking about how God plants such longing in our soul. Today he lets me know that he does it so that he can fully satisfy us one day.

On Living Quietly

        As I was praying the Joyful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary this morning, I saw that the Lord lived his life "quietly." After he made a leper clean, he told him not to tell anyone. After he was gloriously transfigured before Peter, James, and John, he did not ask them to publicize what they saw. Jesus did all his deeds quietly without fanfare or any self-promotion, although the Resurrection and Ascension speak loud enough by themselves. This is how we should live. If God be so humble, who are we to be otherwise? Let's imitate the Lord by living quietly in his shadow so that his glory alone may shine among us. 

God Alone Is Trustworthy

        I have learned that anytime I put my trust in people, I am taking a chance. Sometimes they become completely different persons. My conclusion is that when an opportunity arises for them to take advantage of you, they turn against you. So love all sinners, but be careful not to trust to them too much. God alone is worthy to be trusted, for he will never fail us.

A Sweet Cross

        I have mentioned that after you have fallen in love with the Lord, he gives you a great yearning for him ~ you feel that you won't be satisfied until you are with him in heaven. This is a cross you have to bear, but it is a sweet one.

Selfless Loving Called For

        Christ died in our place ~ God always gives all of himself to us. His love being boundless, he becomes completely selfless. That's why Jesus rightfully commanded us to love the Lord, our God, with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind.   

We Mess God Up

        If we leave God alone (imagine that we are not even around), everything will turn our fine. But we love to interfere with his will! We rebel and offend him nonstop ~ no wonder that the world is in disorder. In other words, we mess God up. The only solution is for us to be as perfect as God is, then his will will be done. Again, to quote what Jesus said in Matthew 5.48: "So be perfect, just as your Heavenly Father is perfect." 

Jesus Brings Joy

        I saw the TV program The Family Hearth on EWTN, featuring Br. Fishman telling the story of Elisha and the healing of Naaman the Syrian. Since Br. Fishman is a Jew, I thought how especially satisfying he must have felt when he realized that Jesus, his Savior, was a fellow Jew. This had to be an extra joy on top of the joy of finding the Messiah the Jewish people had been long expecting. 

Not Knowing We Are Finite

        God made all kinds of creatures with intelligence at different levels. God alone is infinite and all creatures are finite with some more finite than others. A dog is certainly more finite than a human being. You feed the dog and he eats the food, not knowing where the food came from. You give him a ride in your car and he joins you, not understanding anything about the car. You take him to the vet when he is sick and he goes along with trust. So the dog does not question, knowing that you are his loving master.

        God is obviously infinitely more knowing than we are and he had come to tell us that he wanted to save us if only we would believe in him. Then, being finite as we are, why do we keep questioning him and not want to trust in him? If we can't do better than a dog, then our ego must have grossly overestimated our intelligence.