God is perfect, pure, and free, while we are imperfect, sinful, and enslaved. What is amazing is that when we enter union with God, we lose all we have and win God.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Self-Justification Unjustified
For Christians, self-justification has no place in their lives. They are what they are, and God sees all and is the one to judge them. Any self-justification done is simply effort wasted.
The Humility Connection
Today's Gospel reading at Mass came from Luke 18. Jesus addressed a parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. In the story a Pharisee and a tax collector went up to the temple area to pray. The Pharisee took up his position and prayed, "O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity ~ greedy, dishonest, adulterous ~ or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income." But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, "O God, be merciful to me a sinner." Jesus told that the latter went home justified, not the former. Then came the punch line: "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."
It is clear that being self-righteous amounts to self-glorification, succumbing to one's own pride, while remaining humble keeps you connected to God.
The Christian Concern
Since God is love, if we love God, all we need to do is to imitate him, which is, to love as he loves. The only concern we have is whether we love enough.
Duality of Being Christian
A Christian is both timid and bold ~ timid because he realizes that he is finite before God; bold because God empowers him. A Christian is both humble and proud ~ humble because God is great to him; proud because he has God. A Christian is both invisible and visible ~ invisible because he hides himself in God; visible because God dwells in him.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Answering the Vocation of Loving God
How can we love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength? Surely, if we strain with all our might, it's not going to work because it has to come from the heart. And we are blessed that the Lord is our heart specialist. All we need to do is to let him see this sincere desire in our hearts and he will happily fulfill our wish. It's that simple.
Our Overriding Vocation
People consider whether they should become a religious or a married person, an engineer or a lawyer, to go to work or to stay home, etc. The Lord has made it clear to me that the overriding vocation for each one of us is to love God with all our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength. This is not a choice but our duty. It is the purpose of life. We can not be happy and free without fulfilling this duty. And this is absolutely true.
Do What Truly Matters
Now long ago, I saw the documentary on the birth of Silicon Valley in Northern California on PBS TV. It began not long after Fairchild Seimconductor in the late 1950s started revolutionizing the transistor industry and created the first silicon integrated circuit. Within a decade, the company dominated the IC market. Then internal troubles began to surface the company earnings dropped. One by one the original founders of the company left to form their own companies that grew to prominence in the 1970s. Intel was also born in that period. Other entrepreneurs swarmed to the region to start their own businesses and Silicon Valley was born. All this was very interesting and the achievements in the scientific field were impressive. Fortunes rose and fell. The documentary was very much like a movie. What truly matters is not how successful these pioneers were, how they are remembered, or how long there are going to be remembered. Where are they now? My personal aim has been shifted to building up treasures in heaven. In Mt 6:19, 20, Jesus said: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal." This kind of vision reaches infinitely beyond what any brilliant scientist, inventor, or entrepreneur can hope to accomplish because it came directly from God. Aim high to reach high.
Perfect Letting-Go Moment
This is right after I receive Holy Communion with the Lord still melting in my mouth. It is the perfect (easiest) time for me to cast away all my cares and put my entire trust in Jesus.
God, Logical to Love
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.)
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!
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