What one thing would you be willing to embrace, to hold onto, and to even die for? If I say Love, I believe that you would agree with me that it is the logical answer. Then God is Love. In today's Gospel reading at Mass from Mark 12, Jesus gave the two greatest commandments, the first of which is: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. (The second: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.)
Friday, March 8, 2013
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Most Satisfying "Job"
This evening I attended a holy hour for vocations to the priesthood and religious life at a nearby chapel. The presiding priest mentioned that a survey showed that those who were most satisfied with their job turned out to be clergy and the religious, because their hearts are undivided. Then we who are lay persons can be equally satisfied with living our lives if we devote ourselves to loving God single-mindedly.
Surrendering to God Is...
(1) obeying God always. Each one of us is a prodigal son or daughter, so why delay our return to the love of the Father?
(2) to give Jesus our heart. Where our heart is, there we'll be also. What an excellent way to go to him to be with him!
No Judging for Us
Today's reading at Mass was taken from Luke 11. Jesus drove out a demon that was mute and some of the people thought that Jesus did it by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons. This reminds me of how the press report about the election of a new Pope ~ all they see are politics and intrigue taking place behind the scene.
To judge others is always the easiest thing to do. In both Matthew and Luke, Jesus taught all not to judge others. He asked, "Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother's eye." Therefore, we need to examine (not judge) ourselves first so that we may not judge others.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
The Blessed Sacrament Unifies
In preparation for electing the next successor to St. Peter's chair, cardinals around the world are already in Rome attending the conclave. I was just watching on EWTN the College of Cardinals praying in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City. After they finished praying the Holy Rosary, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (Eucharist) followed. When I watched all the cardinals kneeling before it, worshiping, the Lord made me see at that moment that it's the belief in the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament that holds the Church together! Witness how Christians without the Blessed Sacrament split into innumerable denominations.
All About Life
Communion Experience. When I saw the consecrated bread and wine held high by the priest while saying the doxology, I knew that I was looking at the Lord, the one with whom I am going to spend my eternal life, and all anxieties vanished. As I received the Lord, I knew that I was receiving life itself and felt eternally grateful.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Not Looking at Jesus
Not looking at Jesus is both easy and hard. It is easy because you are doing OK on your own, you don't have time, you don't need someone to tell you what to do, and besides, he may make you feel uncomfortable. It is hard because you do want to know the meaning of life, you do wonder about life after death, sometimes you feel that you need direction and help you don't find in the world, and lastly, you find it hard to ignore him because maybe he is the true God he said he was. Make the right choice and everything will turn out right for you.
Dying to Live
I've started reading Pope Benedict XVI's Way of Cross, trying to do one station a day. The Holy Father quotes John 12:24 in the presentation at the beginning: "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." This is beautiful truth, both simple and profound. Each one of us is a grain of wheat. First, we need Jesus. Then if we meet him, but do not die, we remain the same. If we die in him, we experience great joy because we are born again, being transformed into new, beautiful, creatures in full freedom. To die in Christ once is to live forever!
Learning to Forgive
Today's Gospel reading at Mass came from Matthew 18. Jesus taught Peter to forgive his brother who sins against him not just seven times, but seventy-seven times. Remember in the Lord's Prayer, we say: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us"? Forgiving others can be most difficult, but forgive we must! Here's the solution. Just as realizing the immensity of the universe can humble us, discovering the greatness and beauty of God can makes us forget all our troubles. Therefore, seek union with God and he will make us as forgiving as he. When you experience the peace afterwards, you'll know that you've done God's will!
Man in Contrast to God
In meditating upon the Sorrowful Mysteries early this morning while walking on a treadmill at the gym, I saw Jesus remaining calm, quiet, humble, and obedient to the will of the Father throughout his suffering from Agony in the Garden to his Crucifixion. Then I looked up and saw the commercial being played on the TV mounted directly ahead on the wall, showing a bunch of people dressed in all kinds of weird costumes, acting crazily like buffoons. Since there was no sound, I didn't know what product was being pushed, but what I saw couldn't have provided a greater contrast.
Surrender and Be Transformed
Again, Caryll Houselander wrote in her A Rocking Horse Catholic that ordinary people who are not saints rarely surrender themselves to God wholly. It's likely to be a more gradual process; it may be only after many Communions that they will even begin to know God as He really is, well enough to dare to abandon themselves to and for Him. [Based upon the experiences of the saints, we can confidently surrender to God with readiness.] She concluded that if we offer ourselves and let God transform us into Himself, we shall see the world with Christ's eyes, rejoice in it with His zest for life, and love it with His Heart. [This is what union with God is all about.]
Monday, March 4, 2013
God's Merciful Heart
Communion experience. Again I heard the familiar words of Jesus during consecration of the bread and wine: "Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my body which will be given up for you" and "Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me." These struck me as words from someone with a most selfless, tender, and merciful heart.
Falling in Love with God
In this world we view a couple in love as the luckiest two people ~ they are aware of only each other, ecstatic in each other, so happy that they love everyone else too. Exactly the same thing happens when you are in love with God, albeit the feelings are on the spiritual level. So, be open and let the immense ocean of God's love sweep you off your feet.
Letting God Transform Us
Continuing reading Houselander's A Rocking Horse Catholic, I find that some of her experiences resonate with mine. We both experienced the healing power of the Blessed Sacrament. She was healed of her psychological suffering. We both agree that at the "touch of God," an unhappy person incapable of living fully can recover to live gloriously. Her description of surrendering to God for the saint was quite beautiful: "...a tremendous fling of the heart, comparable to a leap into the fire of eternal Love, to burn with its heat, to take the radiance of its light..." We also concur that once the soul (my word) is healed, we can begin to enjoy life and everything (I would say "enjoy God"). I like her pointing out that this change is as secret and as real as the Body and Blood of Christ; no one sees any change, but what happens is the work of God. Let union with God be his work in us.
Forgotten Commandments
This morning one BBC news story on lethal weapons was titled "Robot warriors: Lethal machines coming of age." The era of fighting wars with killer robots is approaching. This made me realize how far we had forgotten about the Commandment "You shall not kill." I looked at the list of all Ten Commandments and it came somewhat as a shock to see that the other nine were equally ignored by most of the world.
Understanding God's Mercy
The great mercy of God was made amply clear by Jesus in the parable of the lost (prodigal) son. In the true story of the woman caught in adultery, the infinite mercy of God was again clear. When the scribes and Pharisees brought the woman to Jesus to test him by asking what he says to Moses' commandment that such woman be stoned according to the law, Jesus said to them, "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." In response, one by one they went away. Jesus, left alone with the women, asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She replied, "No one, sir." Then Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, from now on do not sin any more."
We see that no matter how sinful we may be, Jesus is not ready to condemn us yet until we've had every chance for repentance and reform. (This is one reason why we should not judge anyone, period.) Since we don't know how long we are going to live nor how we are going to die, it would be wise for us to repent and reform right after sinning each time. Repentance is the key to avoiding final condemnation.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Honesty of the Evangelists
Caryll Houselander was a prolific, popular, Catholic, English writer the first half of the last century. I am reading her A Rocking Horse Catholic, an account of her early life. When she was still a little girl, an adult lawyer friend of hers named Smoky tried to convince her mother that if Jesus Christ was really God and if he did found a Church, that Church had to be the Roman Catholic Church. One piece of evidence he presented was the integrity of the witnesses, the four Evangelists. He said that only absolutely honest witnesses determined to give the facts would have recorded the words of Christ on the Cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" ~ words which could easily have cast doubt on the divinity of Christ. I think he made a good point here.
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