Most Amazing Accomplishment

        Human accomplishment has been amazing in numerous areas; but human capabilities are limited. God's power being infinite, no human can possibly match him. The most amazing accomplishment comes from God ~ the spiritual transformation of a soul. Without God, that would be impossible. Spiritual transformation is satisfying precisely because God accomplishes it.  

A Blessed State for Us

        Romans 8.38-39: "...neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus..." God's love is ready and waiting. If we completely accept this love, we become inseparable from God. What a blessed state for us to be in!

We Are Loved!

        Entrance antiphon at morning Mass, Matthew 25.34: Come, you blessed of my Father; receive the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. This is what Jesus will say to his sheep on Judgment Day. Another saying that should make us jump for joy. God always does his utmost to make us happy!  

Freeing the Heart

        John 12.24: Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit, says the Lord. Similarly, unless our enslaved heart turns to God and surrenders, it remains enslaved; but if it surrenders, it gains great freedom. 

Joyful Tidings

        In today's Gospel reading at Mass from John 20, Mary Magdalene was weeping outside the empty tomb, thinking that someone had taken her Lord away. Then Jesus appeared and asked her why she was weeping. She first thought he was the gardener, but recognized him after he called her by name. Then Jesus said to her, "Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, 'I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Jesus' Father is our Father and his God is our God! ~ surely our hearts should jump with joy upon hearing this.

Our Only Good News

        All news get old except the Good News of salvation from God. It is as fresh as it was two thousand years ago and is needed as long as one unrepentant sinner still lives. In today's dark world, the Good News, our only good news, is our last and only hope! Whoever rejects this Good News rejects the love and mercy of God, in effect believing that Christ has died for nothing! And they'll have to answer for that before the Lord. 

Know Your Eternal Destination

        I got up this morning before 6 and saw dawn breaking over the eastern sky. As surely as the sun would appear next, Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead. Chances are I shall meet him before the Second Coming. Either way, I'll be ready. Once my eternity destination was clear, peace settled in my heart. Anyone who does not know where they are heading is like sailing on the Titanic, for disaster can strike unexpectedly. 

In God We're Free

        Quoting St. Augustine once again: "O God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you." I felt this morning at Mass that I wouldn't be happy until God took full control of me. One taste of freedom in him and you desire more of it. 

To Lapsed Catholics

        As always, the churches were packed yesterday because so many lapsed Catholics attended Easter Mass to ease their guilty conscience. Some never had much faith, but others stayed away because they didn't like something about the priest or a fellow Catholic. To the latter, I pose the question: "Were you, as a Catholic, attracting others to the Church or turning them away from her?" Since the Church is the Body of Church, to leave her is to not want to belong to Christ.

Easter Hope in Christ

        Happy Easter to all my readers! May Jesus draw each one of you deep into him where you'll find peace and freedom. "Deep" is the word here. Pray deep too ~ pray with all your heart and you words will go deep into the heart of God. Take full advantage of the Lord's mercy and love! 

        I'd like to end with what Pope Francis said in his Easter message: "We ask the risen Jesus, who turns death into life, to change hatred into love, vengeance into forgiveness, and war into peace." Amen.

Secret of Gaining Eternal Life

        Water tends to run downhill by itself. And it's always easier to tear something down than to build it up. Similarly, to lose eternal life is practically effortless and to gain it is not so. It's been said that the road to heaven is both narrow and steep. So how can we make it? Answer: We need to hook up with God first. Once he is with us, he will do all the work, making the impossible possible for us. It's both simple and logical. (Union with God hooks us up with God in the most secure way.) 

God Has Shown His Love

        If you truly love someone, you wouldn't mind dying for that person should the occasion compelling you to make such a choice arises. Of course, God lives forever and cannot die. Therefore, to show that he truly loves us, he sent his Son to become one of us so that he might experience death in this life. Naturally, Jesus had to rise from death, for he is eternal like the Father. This all makes perfect sense to me now.   

Pre-Easter Thoughts

        I've been doing Way of the Cross, using Pope Benedict XVI's meditations and prayers. I would like to borrow some of the his thoughts from the meditations he wrote for the Seventh and Ninth Stations, which are "Jesus falls for the second time" and "Jesus falls for the third time," respectively. 

        We have fallen too, fallen miserably short of loving the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind. People of today in general no longer believe in anything; they simply drift through life, having built a new kind of paganism. In attempting to do away with God, they have ended up with doing away with man. Christians have also fallen away from Christ into a godless secularism. Do we ever think of how much Christ suffers in his own Church? How often is the Holy Sacrament of his Presence abused when he must enter empty and evil hearts! How often is his Word twisted and misused! What little faith is present behind so many theories, so many words! How much filth there is in the Church, even among those in priesthood who ought to belong entirely to him! How much pride, how much self-complacency! What little respect we pay to the sacrament of Reconciliation, where he waits for us, ready to raise up whenever we fall! Jesus is enduring his greatest suffering right now! Let's call to him from the depths of our hearts: Lord, save us.    

Changed Outlook

        Father M who gave the homily at today's Liturgy told that when he and a Jewish college friend attended a Catholic wedding of a mutual friend together (this was before he became a priest), his friend was "horrified" to see the ceremony held in the presence of the big crucifix in the church. Whereas we Catholics see in the crucifix the love of God for us, suffering made meaningful, the obedience of Christ, our liberation by him; and we adore the Lord on the cross! It just shows how God can completely change our outlook. 

Reason for Not Believing

        The love of Jesus is so great that the only reason some people do not believe in him has to be that they do not see the goodness of him yet.

"Good Friday" Thoughts

        At the Liturgy of the Lord's Passion at noon today, I heard John 18:1 ~ 19:42 read. The long reading started with Jesus Arrested, followed by Peter's First Denial, The Inquiry before Annas, Peter Denied Jesus Again, The Trial before Pilate, The Crucifixion of Jesus, The Blood and Water, and ended with The Burial of Jesus. Against Jesus, the sinless one, the words spoken and actions taken by all the characters and the people involved clearly showed that they committed sins of various gravities. The Lord's Passion was a sad story to hear, but since I already knew why Jesus went through all that, I also felt the underlying joy. We have hope of eternal life all because of him! Calling this Friday "Good Friday" seems to make good sense to me today.

Ego and Trust

        These two are mutually exclusive. As long as I have some ego in me, I am still playing god against God, so this rules out placing my complete trust in God. Even with ego absent, I must still take the step to trust in God. Then I shall be liberated. Anyway, by seeking union with God, both ego and trust will be taken care of. 

Perfect Way for Us

        I attended the 7 p.m. Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper. During Eucharistic Prayer, a string of names of various saints with whom we are in communion was read. When I heard it, I realized how each of the saints fittingly glorified God. The Lord made me see then that the perfect and only way for us to live is to also glorify him and that we are to follow in the footsteps of these saints.