Warm Welcome to New Holy Father

        I am most happy that we have now Pope Francis to shepherd the flock. He is known to have been a humble person and humility showed when he asked the crowds to bless him before he blessed them. We may have another St. Francis of Assisi here. Humility is what the world sorely needs. In the United States and other relatively affluent countries where people are well-informed, it is easy to form strong opinions about everything. We think we know so much that we stop listening to others ~ you start seeing this in our teenagers. People often remind you that this is a free country and start saying whatever they want to say. The comments you read online on even noncontroversial subjects show how extreme the views can be. The public mentality today is "do not tell me what to do," yet these same people are quick to judge and criticize others. Every nation wants to be No. 1 in the world, but No. 1 to the world could be last place in God's eyes. Then we don't even mention God in public anymore, so who cares what God thinks, right? Humility is no longer evident in the world because the secular world perceives it as a weakness, not knowing that God exalts the humble. The new Holy Father may be the breath of fresh air and tonic we need at this time.

A View on Abortion

        I was holding up signs outside an abortion clinic this morning. I got to talk to some fellow pro-life workers. One Barry points out that Satan's goal is to destroy the Church, so he starts off with eliminating the priests. No priests, no Holy Eucharist, then no Mass, and no more Church ~ this is the order of his plan. Fifty-five million abortions have been performed in this country since abortion was legalized 50 years ago. Perhaps 10,000, 5,000, or at the least 1,000 potential priests have been snuffed out? Whatever the number, abortions is definitely what Satan wants. This is a valid point of view and I agree with Barry. We must fight the evil of abortion. Please pray for life.     

God Must Be Our Lord

        God is to be lord over everything about us. Even the zeal for God placed in our hearts by the Holy Spirit is to be regulated by him. Otherwise, we risk repelling others from God. When there is no more rebellion in us, we can finally enjoy our inner peace.

Let God Teach Us!

        Learning from God is always delightful and uplifting because he shapes the heart and enlightens the mind. If we yearn to know him, he will reveal his wisdom and ways to us, mystically. His teaching has the power of drawing us into his life and his world, and we are never the same again. 

From My Deathbed

        On August 12 last year, I posted "My Funeral Wishes." Now I am posting "From My Deathbed" (not from my deathbed, not yet). Am I being morbid? No, not at all. On the contrary, I celebrate my eventual death because it is my passage to eternal life with the beloved Father in heaven! I imagine I would probably say to my loved ones standing around my bed before my departure something like this: 

        "Dear ones, please be happy that I am leaving for paradise. My most ardent wish is that I shall see all of you again in heaven. Life is short, so choose your destiny early. God's mercy is infinite, but you must accept it. A lukewarm faith is not good enough. Love God with all your heart so that you may not suffer eternal separation from him. Let God's love come over you so that you may experience peace, freedom, and joy ~ to this I can testify. I say all these things because I love you and because the Father loves you; I only want the best for you. Please pray for me, for yourselves, and for the world."         

God Knows What's Best

        In this morning's Gospel reading from John 4 at Mass, a royal official asked Jesus to heal his son who was near death. Without going, Jesus said to him, "You may go; your son will live." The man believed what Jesus said and left. Later he found out that his son began to recover just at the time Jesus said to him, "You son will live." We know that recovery does not always happen when we pray for someone who is ill. There is no question that only God knows and gives what is best for us. Naturally, the best for us has to be eternal life with him in heaven. Therefore, however God answers our prayer, we can be sure that he has this intention.    

On Evil Ego

        You hear said "Money is at the root of all evil," not "Money is evil." Yet I can say that "Ego is evil." Ego wants to make yourself god over God. You will not have inner peace as long as ego is present. Humility is the antidote to ego and seeking union with God is the solution to the problem. (By the way, egoists make Satan's best targets.)

Taking Care of Jesus

        Early this morning, I woke up after midnight and Jesus was present. I realized that he is my God and also my brother and friend ~ this combination made me love him so much that I wanted to "take care of" him. It means that I want to make sure the he is happy and loved by all. The least I could do is to love him myself with all my heart and hopefully inspire others to love him too. Loving Jesus should be our joy.    

God's Certain Love for Us

        Today's Gospel reading at Mass is the well-known Parable of the Prodigal son from Luke 15. For me, this is the most beautiful, moving parable ever addressed by Jesus. The story has inspired numerous writers and artists. Perhaps the current best-known book is The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen, named after the renowned painting by Rembrandt. Pure love is made clear only through action. The greatest example we have is Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. In the parable, how the father welcomes the return of the lost son shows exactly how our heavenly Father loves all of us. You can be certain that this is true because it is firsthand information from Jesus who came from the Father and is God! 

Amazing Union

        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. 

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. 

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.