Humility Praised

        Humility has to be the most outstanding virtue among all the virtues. A person with humility thinks nothing of himself, yet receiving full attention from the Lord. A person with humility is secure in the Lord and safe from all evil. Without humility, one will not find God. With humility, he will be shown the doorway to heaven. And it is also the prerequisite for attaining union with God. Look to Jesus, the supreme model of this great virtue.

We Can Be Geniuses!

        There are all kinds of geniuses around. Kit Armstrong, whom you can watch on YouTube, studied piano with Alfred Brendel. At nine, he already performed Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 24. He playing of Bach, Beethoven, and Schubert is most impressive, besides also being a composer and studying higher mathematics. He is definitely a genius. Most of us may be talented, but are not in that category. Then I realize that we do not need any special talent in loving God ~ all we need is an open, willing heart. So why not become a genius in loving God? Furthermore, we also build up treasure in heaven at the same time. Think about it.

A Call to Battle

        The Teens Defending Life  puts out a short, quite powerful pro-life video on YouTube. As usual, you find some outrageous, extreme comments there too. One commented, "god is a lie so removing a fetus that has no understanding of anything in the outside world will not hurt it ... if my mother didnt want me then so be it better to be dead than unwanted by your own mother , also who will look afte the millions of babys if they were all born , not you thats for sure". This is exactly the the way written. I looked up the uploader's background and found out that at least he seems to be still a teenager. Another comment later from a different person was so sickening that I can not even make myself read it again. Jesus, heave mercy on us!

       Anyway, the word "lie" in the first comment got me thinking. God never lies, period. Satan is the big liar and he's got so many others fooled and they all start to lie or talk nonsense. Souls are at stake ~ it's our fight for the eternal survival of all. So, let's join together to fight this critical battle by using all the time we have left in this life to love and serve the Lord to the best of our ability. This is my New Year's call.

Good News for All

        You've heard the Chinese proverb "Every great journey begins with a single step." Nothing is said about the completion of the journey. I have a better one: "Every great journey can be completed with God's help." And there is no greater journey than seeking union with God! The end of this journey may seem so far away as to be unreachable, but anything big to us is nothing to God. Give him the permission and he can get you there fast ~ it's his drawing that does all the work. So my good news for the New Year to all is that to become a saint for God's glory is within the reach of every single one of us, you and me.

My New Year's Resolution

            It is officially 2013...a little closer to Jesus' Second Coming. Will the world ever be ready for it? I just hope that the answer is not a no.

        My resolution for the New Year is let Jesus continue to work on me. Due to decades of living basically a self-centered life, to be thoroughly cleansed of all the residuals of old ways, habits, conditioned responses, etc. takes time. For example, when someone needs the Lord's help and asks me to pray for him or her, I would gladly oblige. Even though I sincerely hope that the prayer will be answered for the sake of the one who requests it, I also detect the thought that I so hope so that the person may think that I am close to God. This realization "horrifies" me, because once I start praying, how effective I am should not be of my concern anymore. Checking just to see how many more people have looked at my blog is another example. If I truly leave all matters in God's hands, then that number should not be of my concern either.    

           It comes down to trusting in the Lord by focusing upon him alone and forgetting totally about oneself. Only such trust leads to complete freedom. 

Truth Hard to Swallow

        I read a comment on a YouTube video. The writer said she left the Catholic Church because she was not comfortable with the teaching on sins, eternal damnation, etc. She wanted to find a religion that makes her feel good. My suggestion would be not to pick any religion, then she could do whatever she pleases. In today's first reading at Mass from 1 John 2, the apostle mentions that many antichrists have already appeared. In the Gospel from John 1 that followed, we heard read, "Jesus came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him." The division had started right from the beginning. It just shows that truth is hard to swallow.

       I don't like to end the year on this somewhat sour note; but again, reality is rarely pleasant. Then the bright and shining hope given to us by God through Christ has made it possible for us to endure it all.

Some Signs of Holiness

        (1) Willing to listen more and talk less to others (more difficult with those you know well).

        (2) Willing to help those who do not love you.

        (3) Not expecting any reward after helping others. 

In God Only We Trust

        We see "IN GOD WE TRUST" printed on the back of all US bills. I'd like to advocate that in God only we trust. This is not saying that all others cannot be trusted or would not help us when we are in need. We still love them, but placing our trust in God alone ensures that he is Number 1 in our lives. When we do this, we eliminate all disappointments in our lives. 

We Become like God

       Today is the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The following thoughts came to me before Mass began.

         Since we were created by God, we belong to God. Then naturally, we should obey God. By obeying him, we then become like him. 

On Using Our Talents

        This is something I have posted about, so here's taking another look at it. I was a pretty good photographer with a unique, personal vision. I reached the point that you could pretty much tell that it was my work when you see it. In those days I spent a lot of time and energy pursuing photography. Like most other artists, I justify what I was doing by telling myself that I was just using my God-given talent. Of course, the motives to become well-known and to make some money were there too. Was I justified?

        This is how I see it in general today: 

        (1) If what I do helps to bring others closer to God in some way, then I am doing the right thing.  

       (2) If not, then no matter how talented I am, what I do is basically self-centered or at most neutral. [If I were still doing photography today, I would do it with detachedness so that it never gets in the way of serving God first.] 

Unique Joy from Jesus

        Jesus also sets the standard for our joy. The joy he gives to the soul comes directly from him, purifying the heart and intoxicating the spirit. All the joys you receive from the world are just not on the same level, if you can call them joy.

A Sad State of the Soul

        Jesus, our ultimate judge, came into this world and showed us clearly what is good and what is evil. Tragically, today there are still so many who sin so easily and are not even aware that they are offending God!        

God to Be Taken Seriously

        It is almost the end of 2012, less than one and a half days away. People have started making New Year's resolutions. Looking ahead, I feel great sorrow when I see the shape our present world is in. Every day you read about terrible, senseless killings all around the globe, resulting in the losses of innocent lives, including women and children ~ does human life mean anything anymore? And I must again mention the evil of abortion. Due to its sheer magnitude and horror, this evil has to be ranked ahead of all other crimes. Of course, besides the obvious killings, there are myriad other, shall we say, subtler sins. One particular example that offends me personally are those TV talk shows on which sordid personal stories are exposed for the sole purpose of entertaining an audience with absolutely no sense of any shame. I hope that they really don't know what they are doing!

        I am neither a prophet nor one of those doomsday forecasters, but I do believe that we cannot go on offending God without any chastisement coming our way. In Luke 17 (and Matthew 24), Jesus said, "In the days of Noah before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all." [I am thinking that the sinking of the Titanic also happened unexpectedly, when passengers were still enjoying the luxuries of the ship. Then those who lost their lives in the recent tsunamis didn't have any idea of what's coming to them either.] Let's also remember the prophecy given to us through our Holy Mother at Fatima during the time of World War I ~ she warned the world that if people did not cease offending God, another worse war would happen, and that was the World War II we had.

        We must absolutely take God seriously or take the consequences.

A Fantastic Leap

        Today's Communion Experience. It amazed me that I could receive the Lord. I am a great sinner and he is all holy. I finite and he infinite. I a creature and he my creator. I totally helpless on my own and he omnipotent. I nothing and he everything. I must learn to love and he is love. Now, receiving the Holy Eucharist actually brought me into union with him! Imagine the Lord reaching all the way down from heaven to lift me all the way up to his heart ~ what a fantastic leap for me!

No Escape from God

        The Lord showed me that not one iota of what we think, say, or do goes unnoticed by him. For whatever we do for love of him, we will be rewarded in this life or if not, the next. For whatever sin, big or small, committed against him, we will be exposed. His mercy is great, but his judgment is precise. Expel all darkness in your heart, mind, and soul now so that you may be ready for the light of the Lord to shine upon you.

A Free, Loving Relationship

        I realize that since God has given each of us a unique soul with free will, he never forces himself on us the way evil spirits take possession of a soul. The Lord will never makes us into his puppets or slaves. Even when we are in union with him, there is always interaction going on ~ we talk and listen to, or even argue with each other, continuing building up the loving relationship.

Love God Under Any Circumstances

        We may never experience visions or ecstasies, we may go through dark nights and not feel God's presence at all, we may win the lottery or lose our shirt, we may become seriously ill or be badly hurt by others...whatever happens, still God is to be loved, as he never stops loving us. 

Attaining Equanimity

        Before we know God, we basically live for ourselves. After we get to know him as love, we begin to live for him ~ the whole emphasis starts to shift. When we reach living fully for him alone, we attain perfect equanimity in the Lord.