Most Beautiful Promise

        Today's Gospel Acclamation at Mass, Revelation 2.10c: "Remain faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life." This is a most beautiful promise for those who are faithful. There cannot be a better reward than the crown of life! Living faithfully is not even a price to pay ~ it is a joy to cherish!  

A Simplified Spiritual Game

        Christ and the Devil are engaged in a tug of war and you are left with choosing the side you want to help. If you help Christ, then he wins and you win too. But if you help the Devil, he wins and you lose.

The Magic of God's Love

        Loving God feels just as good as being loved by him.

Treating God Right

        Some Christians treat God as someone who happens to tag along or even like an afterthought. Whereas he should be No. 1 in our lives; the Lord and King to us; the one whom we live and die for; and the only one we praise, worship, and adore. Making him any less exalted is insulting. This may sound harsh, but can you think of any way getting around it?

Life Meaningless Without God

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 21 at morning Mass, while some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, "All that you see here ~ the days will come when there will not left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down." Indeed, nothing on earth lasts forever. Even the galaxies are not stable as old stars disappear and new ones are born constantly. Moreover, our earth has only limited inhabitable space and thereby cannot accommodate an unlimited number of inhabitants ~ it should be clear that God did not mean the earth to be our permanent residence. 

       Since everything passes, our life can only be made meaningful by including God who is everlasting. Even if I perform the most memorable deeds so that the whole world will know me and praise me, one day I'll be totally forgotten. We admire and look up to a lot of heroes of the past, the souls of some of whom might not even be in heaven ~ this is even worse! The point is that if we live for the glory of God alone, then our lives will become meaningful, and my souls will get to live forever with the one who is everlasting as well. 

Loving God More

        There are things and feelings deep in my heart that no living person can fully understand even if I try my best to explain them. Then Jesus sees and understands everything perfectly ~ that's why I love him so much. Also, when I feel compassion for my own family and others, I know that God's love is the source and cause. And I love him even more. The Lord is my greatest consolation. 

Most Serious to Catholics

        After watching Leah Darrow's coming home story as a revert on EWTN, these thoughts come up in my mind. We consider many serious things in life that affect our well-being. For example, what career should we choose, for whom we should vote to lead our country, etc. But the most serious of all, what really matters to us Catholics, is how seriously do we take Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Thinking that we are OK to receive Holy Communion when we are in mortal sin is most serious. Thinking that we are going to be let off easy while we do not live a pure life is serious. Not following all the teachings of the Church is serious. Living for ourselves and not for the glory of God is serious. To risk losing our eternal life is deadly serious. To all Catholics: God is to be taken most seriously; wake up before it's too late.

Yearning for God

        When you yearn for the Lord, it's not because he hasn't come to you yet. On the contrary, it's because he already dwells in you.        

God's Absolute Perfection

        Communion experience. I sense the absolute perfection of the Lord, making me want to banish even the most minute sins and imperfections. Sweet peace permeated my heart.  

Jesus the King

        Today is the Solemnity of Christ the King. Jesus Christ is the king of kings, the ruler of the universe. He is not a king to some because they expect a king to rule and conquer by might on earth; whereas Jesus rules by mercy alone and his kingdom does not belong to this world. This world will pass away, but his kingdom lasts forever. Conclusion: We are completely at his mercy ~ how fortunate we are that his mercy is infinite. 

To Remain in Darkness or Not

        Darkness is the absence of light. Since God is our light, if we do not see him, we are in darkness. Those who see him but not clearly are in semi-darkness. Those who prefer to remain in mortal sin are the ones who refuse to see the light. Since the light of God will forever be present, we are left with the choice whether we want to remain in darkness forever or not.

Love Makes Union Possible

        Today's Communion experience. The Holy Spirit made me want to surrender to the Lord willingly. No force was ever felt ~ it's his sheer love that overcame me. I am all his! It's love that made union possible.

Most Satisfying Discovery

        When scientists, astronomers, physicists, mathematicians, archaeologists... make a discovery, they get rightly exited. When I discover the solution to any problem, I feel happy too. The last problem, seemingly strange, I had at home was that rain water would drip from the kitchen exhaust hood onto the cooktop. The builder couldn't figure out why; but later I discovered the cause, fixed the problem, and felt good. But the joy of all these discoveries is only temporary. To me, the most satisfying discovery is the realization, not just knowledge, that Jesus Christ is truly God and he loves us, has died for us and can save us. Unlike other discoveries, this realization does not require reasoning on our part ~ it is a revelation given by God to the heart. And the joy of this discovery remains with us for all eternity.

Clear Choices

        Atheism is on the rise. One can believe that God exists or does not. By "clear" I do not mean that the right choice is necessarily clear to the atheists, I only mean that it is clear that these are the only two choices possible. If one believes that God exists, then the next two clear choices are whether you should believe in him all the way or not. The compelling, meaningful choice is to go all the way. This leaves us with just two logical choices: (1) To not believe in God at all and (2) to believe in God all the way. Anything in between is not a "clear" choice.

How We Lose Inner Peace

        One reason, I believe, that people don't have peace is because when things do not turn out their way or to their liking, they are emotional upset. It gets worse when circumstances do not allow them to express how they feel and they keep all their emotions bottled up inside them. On the other hand, those who follow the Lord leave all to him. They may not like what they see, but they are able to maintain their inner peace.  

God's Awesome Holiness

        During Communion today, I sensed the awesome Holiness of the Lord. A sinner does not see how filthy his sins are in the presence of the Lord. Should he realize this fully, I don't think he would be able to survive! On the other hand, if a sinner repents, he is willing to let God's Holiness dissolve his sins and be made clean again. 

Abortion Wrong Again

        I attended Thanksgiving Day Mass this morning and the Scripture reading was on Mary visiting Elizabeth who had conceived a son (the future John the Baptist). [The visit came after the angel Gabriel had announced to Mary that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and she would conceive in her womb and bear a son to be named Jesus.] When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy." 

        The infant already knew that the Lord was near. At this point, the Lord made me see again how wrong abortion is. 

Learning from Secular Sources

        TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is a global set of conferences formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading." You can hear many of these talks on YouTube. TED Quotes is a list of almost 2,000 notable sayings made by the various speakers over the years. Of course, they were not based upon the Scripture or Christian teachings. Nevertheless, they can be meaningful to the Christian. Here are two examples. 

        From Susan Cain: The power of introverts ~ "There's zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas." This is good to know because even though you may not be a good speaker, if you have a compelling message from the Lord to share, you need to share it. And speaking from your heart will make you a good speaker, if I may add. 

         From Nigel Harsh: How to make work-life balance work ~ "There are thousands and thousands of people out there leading lives of quiet, screaming desperation, where they work long, hard hours at jobs they hate to enable them to buy things they don't need to impress people they don't like." Isn't that the truth? From the Christian point of view, these people are not free.