Freedom in God

        To enter God, we give up our will. Once in him, his will is our will, then we can do whatever we want. Hence, in God, we have complete freedom.

Entering Jesus

        Communion time thought. Jesus enters me when I receive Holy Communion. When I succeed in entering him, then we'll be in each other and have union.

Most Powerful Gift

        The Holy Eucharist is not just a nice gift given by the Lord for us to remember him by, it is in fact a most powerful gift that can change our lives and draw us into spiritual union with him. 

Essential Sacraments

        Without the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we cannot be sure that we have been fully forgiven by God. Without the Blessed Sacrament, we cannot be sure that we have attained full union with God. 

That Levitation Feeling

        Saints such as Teresa of Jesus and John of the Cross have been known to levitate. When I am detached from all things of the world, I am no longer shackled to the world. And I feel so light, as if I have levitated. 

Union Is Perfect Match

        God already loves us. When we love him, we have a perfect match. And this is what union is about.

Blinding Love

        The Prodigal Son parable shows how much our heavenly Father loves us. He's forever waiting for us to turn or return to him. Picture him with welcoming arms stretched far apart, ready to embrace us and hold us tight against his bosom. The joy he feels must far exceeds what we experience when he receives us back, for his love for us is far greater than our love for him. This love is blinding because the Father is so overjoyed at our return that he doesn't see our sins anymore. At the same time, this overwhelming love also "blinds" us because it's so dazzling.   

In Union with Each Other

        When you carry a burden for God, he carries that burden for you.

Stark Contrast

        Be humble and God will notice you and protect you.  

        Be egotistical and Satan will notice you and attack you.    

        Let God possess you and he will keep you free.

        Let Satan possess you and he will keep you enslaved.

Why I Love God

        I love my God. Of course, we know that he is love and he loves us. Putting that aside, I love him for these additional reasons. He does not make everything too easy for us. If he did, I don't think I would particularly appreciate it. Instead, he challenges us, at the same time, always remaining gentle. He wants us to realize on our own that his ways are right and superior. He makes all his challenges possible for us to meet because he secretly assists us when we accept them. In meeting each challenge, we learn that his love is even greater than what we had imagined. Finally, we would gladly die in the burning flames of his love.    

The Dancing Heart

        Communion experience today. I don't know how to dance, but my heart danced with great joy in anticipation of receiving Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.

One Right Move

        It is true that one mistake can cost one his whole life. Around three dozen inmates were present at today's prison Communion service. Not all of them were career criminals; some might have made just one wrong move and ended up getting locked up for life. But there's always one bright hope for all of us. By turning our hearts to the merciful God, we can still get to enjoy eternal life later. In sum, one right move can wipe out what all our mistakes cost us.   

Journey of Love

        Life is a mystery until you know Christ. Life is not fulfilled until you find love. Since Jesus turns out to be love, life is fulfilled once you find him. So you search for love, you find love, and you fall in love with love ~ your spiritual journey is now one of love.       

Life's Journey

        This is what life's journey is like. A person is born into this secular lost world. He encounters confusion from the outset. He starts to seek the meaning of life and he may or may not find it. He may find the wrong god or he may find the true God. But the mercy of the true God is great ~ he still saves those who are good people even though through no fault of their own, they do not know the true God. I know that some of you out there would disagree, believing that if you don't accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, you cannot be saved. All I can say is that I believe my God is a lot more merciful. Anyway, the happiest and most blessed person is the one who searches, finds Jesus, and believes. Anyone who has not found Jesus to be the true God won't be able to tell you all the above.

Receiving Happiness

        Today's Communion experience. Jesus is the source of my happiness and I received him again. I became happy unto death. 

Dealing with Sin

        I attended vigil Mass today as I got called to conduct a Communion service at a nearby prison tomorrow morning. The Gospel reading was read from John 8, the story of the woman caught in adultery, which I referred to in my last post. At the end, no one dared to condemn her. Jesus told her that he did not condemn her either and asked her not to sin anymore. How good it was to hear the Lord say something like that. 

        The homily given by Father M. triggered the following thoughts. When I was a little boy, I did not have any concept of God. Yet every time I did something to hurt my younger sisters, I knew I was wrong and tried hard to hide the fact each time. It just shows that we all have a God-given conscience. As I grew older, I came to understand what sin was, and felt the shame each time after I sinned. As I got to know God even better, sinning started to cause greater interior turmoil. Since God is all-knowing and merciful, the only way out is to face reality by asking for his forgiveness and help. Blessed indeed is the one who's in union with God, for he is so absorbed in the Lord that sin loses all its attraction.

Considering Ourselves First

        Against judging others, Jesus wants us to perceive the wooden beam in our own eye before noticing the splinter in our brother's eye. Then we are to remove the beam from our own eye first so that we may see clearly to remove the splinter in our brother's eye. Jesus taught the same lesson when he said to those who thought that they should stone the woman caught in adultery, "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." In other words, we are to become saints first if we want to find fault in others. Then if we were saints, we would stop judging others altogether. Here's a case of "giving ourselves first consideration."   

Happy Is the Person...

who uses all his talents to serve God faithfully and not envy anyone who has achieved great success in the world, for he knows that he is storing up treasures in heaven and the other person is merely building an impressive-looking sand castle on earth.