On Former Catholics

        There is a mega nondenominational church nearby and a great many of its members are former Catholics. While I don't have the figures, I know that the number of former Catholics nationwide is huge. Is there something wrong with the Catholic Church? I think that the reason so many dropped out is because to be a true Catholic, you have to truly give yourself to the Lord. Truth is never easy to accept, otherwise Jesus wouldn't have been crucified. There are so many other Christian churches around that are easy to join or leave. The stringent requirements of being a Catholic are just not there. As a Protestant, you can shop around for a church you like. Normally, the pastor is the big attraction. So it's natural that those who want to keep more of their own freedom leave the Catholic faith and those who prefer freedom in the Lord remain behind. On the other hand, many Protestant ministers seriously seeking the whole truth have been steadily coming home to the Catholic Church.

Carefree in Christ

        John 1.3: "All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be." So I came into being through Jesus ~ I owe him my existence. I now belong to him; so it follows that my heart, my mind, and my soul all belong to him ~ I can't be more carefree!

Trust Begets Faith

        Today is the Memorial of St. Agatha. Gospel reading at Mass comes from Mark 5. A woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind Jesus in the crowd and touched his cloak. She said, "If I but touch his clothes, I shall be cured." And she was immediately healed. 

       I start to think about faith and prayer again. I see faith as a gift from God because I cannot in any way make my faith stronger by will, but I could trust in him more. It's clear that if I don't trust in God, I have no faith. Therefore, by trusting in God, I should receive faith from him. 

       I also believe that if I trust in God, he will show me how to pray in each situation. If I pray for a miracle and no miracle happens, it doesn't necessarily mean that my faith is weak ~ it could be that I am praying against God's wish.             

      Examples and lessons. (1) This woman in the Gospel really wanted to be healed and believed that Jesus could heal her, so she was healed. Her trust generated the strong faith the Lord placed in her. (2) When I catch an ordinary cold, I pray that I get well. I trust in the Lord, but he normally does not place a desire in me to want to be healed immediately and no miracle happens. (3) I've already shared the time my son was almost dying from a virus attack ~ I prayed for his recovery by his bedside without hesitation as if I was giving a command and he got well in a matter of days. Again, God spontaneously directed me ~ it's not that all of a sudden my faith increased. (4) Most of us probably are praying for some loved ones who no longer practice their faith. I believe that if we truly care and persist in praying for them, the Lord will have no choice but to answer our prayers. Again, let him direct us in how we pray.

     In conclusion, I'll trust in God and he'll take care of my faith, and I'll pray as he directs.

Doing God's Will in the Present

        I have posted about living in the present, since the past is gone and the future is still unknown. If we live every present moment joyfully for love of God, then naturally we'll be joyful our entire life. I bring this up now because I see that if we do God's will also for every present moment and follow him moment by moment as he leads us, we'll have no anxiety but peace.   

Spiritual Vision Needed

        If you believe that life is basically fighting a spiritual battle, then you should try to envision what Jesus would see if he comes into our world today. Would he be interested in seeing New York's skyscrapers, Florida's luxurious beach resorts, Las Vegas casinos and shows...I really don't think so. What I am sure is that he would notice the poverty, suffering, inequality, corruption, hypocrisy, oppression, materialism, the evil of drugs, robbery, prostitution, murder, abortion, etc., in our society. We need to develop such a spiritual vision so that we may also see what the Lord sees. 

No Freedom Without God

        Without God, we can not be free. On our own, we naturally seek our own security and happiness; that is, we become our own god. Since the world we live in is full of such little gods, conflicts and war are inevitable and our goal of finding happiness is doomed from the very beginning. 

       Now, if we live for God and not ourselves, we are no longer involved in seeking our own happiness ~ it is what pleases God that matters. When we and God are one, whatever pleases him pleases us, hence we are free! There will be no more fighting other little gods. This is absolutely true. 

Sin Is Destructive!

        Sin is the cause of man's fall, but this morning at Mass, I became acutely aware of the destructiveness of sin. If sin is not taken seriously, checked, examined, reined in, stopped, or purged, it could lead the soul straight to hell (this is the first time I use this word on this blog; I normally say eternal separation from God which means the same thing). When I was a Protestant way back, I was lead to believe that once saved, you are saved forever. This gave me tremendous relief, but I now know that the belief is incorrect ~ too casual and simplistic. There have been too many who start out as Christians and turn into horrible sinners. St. Paul in Hebrews 12 urges us to rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us ~ there is great urgency here. Also, the Lord said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." (Matthew 7.21 ~ look up and read the next two verses as well). The bottom line is that we need God and need to do his will always to ensure salvation.

Guideline on Discerning God's Will

        Doing God's will is easily said than done. If you see clearly that there is a chance to help someone or bring the person closer to the Lord, then it's no problem. But if there is an opportunity, say, for you to make some money, it might be difficult to discern whether you should take advantage of it or not because the attachment to money and material things can easily surface and cloud your mind. My guideline runs like this. If what you are thinking of doing is going to affect your prayer life, your present work in serving God such as what you do through your church ministries, and/or any evangelization your engage in on your own, you should not do it no matter how strong the temptation. Our union or personal relationship with God must be preserved. It should only grow stronger, not weaker.

Thy Will Be Done

        We say these words every time we say the Lord's Prayer. Since I have control only over my own free will, the most I could do is "I do God's will." In other words, doing God's will must start with each individual. Naturally, if everyone does it, we will have heaven on earth.

Jesus My Rock

        At Mass this morning I saw Jesus not as a rock to lean upon, but as a rock within me, holding me securely in him. He shields me from all external forces and influences that try to distance me from him. 

Warped Conscience

        Two pieces of interesting news I read on BBC this morning. Sergei Filin, the artistic director of Russian's Bolshoi Ballet suffered an acid attack last month and is undergoing operations in Germany for his badly damaged eyes. In his interview with BBC, he says he is certain he knows who is behind the attack. And his response to the last question asked him: "You know, I invited a priest to the hospital to talk about this very subject. He took my confession. I told him that I forgive everyone connected to this terrifying crime. And I sincerely want them to understand that I have forgiven them. Because the Lord will judge them." I think he is going to be all right.

        The others news is so much sadder. Chris Kyle, known as the deadliest sniper in US history, has been shot dead on a Texas shooting range. He was only 38. He wrote last year's bestseller "American Sniper" in which he said that he had killed more than 250 people. In an interview with BBC last year, he said, "Every person I killed I strongly believe that they were bad. When I go face God there is going to be lots of things I will have to account for, but killing any of those people is not one of them." I shuddered as I read this.

       Nations in conflict today all think that God is on their side. In this country, hate groups quote Scriptures to bolster their position. It's as if the Lord has never said "You shall not kill," "Do not judge others," "Love your enemies," "Forgive your brother seventy-seven times,"... Where is humility? A conscience full of pride is a warped conscience indeed. 

World's Sad Ignorance

        Communion experience. Since it is sad that people of the world do not know that God loves them, my experience of receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist today was particularly poignant. 

Our Lost World

        Since God is our judge, he sets the standard. To know him is to know good from evil, right from wrong. Since the world does not know God, it has already lost its way.

More Godlessness

         Today is a sad day. Just four days ago, I posted Cause of All Evil about the large demonstration held in France against legalization of same-sex marriage. Today I read that the French parliament has approved the article of a bill to legalize it. The vote was 249-97 in favor of redefining marriage as being an agreement between any two people. Decades ago, when I traveled in France, I noticed that Sunday Mass attendance at all the churches I went to was sparse and absent of young people, so it's not surprising that this day has come. Most politicians nowadays want to be politically correct ~ they fear man, not God! Ignoring God is utter foolishness. Will the days of France get better?

       I recall what Jesus said in the following scene from Luke 23. A large crowd of people followed Jesus, including many women who mourned and lamented him as he carried the cross on his way to the place to be crucified. Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children, for indeed, the days are coming when people will say, 'Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.' At that time people will say to the mountains, 'Fall upon us!' and to the hills, 'Cover us!'..." 

Our Blind & Deaf Generation

        I exercised on a treadmill early this morning at the gym. Since it's Saturday, only two other members were present, but all ten TV's had already been turned on. By the way, four treadmills even have a small TV screen on them. This made me think that this generation is so overwhelmed with worldly things to satiate the eye and the ear that it has become completely blind and deaf to God's existence. When Jesus was on earth, he healed the blind and the deaf. How we need him now to heal the spiritually blind and the spiritually deaf! 

We Are Vulnerable!

        When we live in a solidly-built house, we normally feel pretty safe. Then every time I look down on the earth from an airplane, I see how vulnerable everyone down below is with no overhead protection whatsoever should, for example, a meteor hit the earth. Of course, we've seen how earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters easily destroy human lives. Today's satellite shots taken from space show even more clearly our bare earth floating in space alone. This leads me to thinking what God sees when he looks down upon us. He would see billions of sinful souls all around the globe in danger of being lost forever, showing how vulnerable we are to evil influences. I hope that this picturization shows how important for us it is to believe in the Lord so that he may keep our souls safe.  

Christianity Most Amazing

        Today is Friday and I prayed the sorrowful mysteries of the Holy Rosary. The Passion of Christ is well-known, but if you do not stop to think about it, it's just one sad story. Imagine the agony Christ felt in the garden when he knew what he would have to go through. There was no fear, just pure agony. Then he was whipped, beaten, mocked, insulted, with thorns pushed into his head, yet he did not complain because he was carrying out the Father's will. What's even worse followed. First, carrying the very cross he was going to be nailed to! Next, the final crucifixion on the cross ~ it would be difficult to imagine the prolonged pains he suffered. He came to show his love and those whom he loved turned against him.  Even from the cross, he prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," showing his infinite mercy. Even then, the rulers sneered at him, the soldiers jeered at him, and those passing reviled him. What a contrast between the loving Christ and the heartless sinners! Before Jesus breathed his last, he cried out aloud, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?", fully revealing his human side. The fact that the loving Lord so willingly suffered to such an extreme so that we whom he loves may be saved is just incredible ~ I tend to ask if this can possibly be true. I believe it is true because only an infinite, loving God can think up such a plan to carry out. Christianity is just too amazing to be untrue. 

To Be embedded in God

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 4 during Mass, Jesus used parables to talk about the kingdom of God. In one he likened it to a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth. But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade. So I picture myself as that mustard seed embedded in the soil that is God. With him nurturing me, I can only grow spiritually and bear fruit. I remain totally content in my embedment and am not concerned about the fruit produced, whether visible or invisible. This is an ideal setup. Later, when I received the Holy Eucharist, I embedded myself in Christ.