A Freedom Test

      If we do not die, we can never get to heaven. So if God calls you to go to him, what would be the point of delaying your departure from this world (unless you aren't sure of your final destination yet)? If you can answer "Here I come" without hesitation anytime he calls, then you are indeed free.

Staying Close to God

        It's good to share every little thing with and tell every little thing to Jesus. For doing things that are normal and routine, it's sufficient to be aware that he is aware of what you're doing. For doing anything you're not sure of, just tell him. Then if it's not his will, he'll let you know. For facing something unknown, you definitely need to pray to him for protection and guidance. The whole point is to show that you want to be intimate with the Lord and aware of his holy presence at all times. 

Remaining New in the Lord

        The Holy Spirit is my sensor because he lets me know right away when my thought or feeling is inappropriate, showing lack of love. For example, yesterday someone phoned me and I knew that talking to that person would be unpleasant ~ the Holy Spirit calmed me down and I was able to listen and talk nicely. Again, this morning at church before Mass started, quite a few of us were praying, but two people in the back started talking in a low voice, making it impossible to concentrate on praying. The Holy Spirit again calmed me down and the talking stopped after several minutes. So the Holy Spirit senses my reaction, checks me, and renews me. Let the Lord renew us every single moment that we may remain new at all times. 

Solidifying the Union

       Communion experience today. The Lord showed me that to solidify the union, all I needed to do was to be more passive, more letting go, and it would lead me to greater peace.

Beware of Ego

        It saddens me to see someone who has a good paying job, drives an expansive car, lives in a nice house, but still unhappy because he doesn't think he has enough. If the intention is to impress others, then there will always be others wealthier than you, so you remain unhappy. One has to be practically brain-dead not to know that billions of the world's population are living at the poverty level. It just shows that without God sharpening your conscience, the ego easily enslaves you. 

Life-Changing Belief

        I needed some consecrated hosts this morning to conduct a Eucharistic service at a senior retirement lodge. As I was kneeling before the opened tabernacle praying, the Lord made me see that once you truly believe that the Holy Eucharist is the body and blood of him, everything about you changes. "Truly believe" is believing to the point you know and feel it. This was eye-opening to me that a deep belief in this truth can transform a person.

The Ultimate Thing to Do

        Today's Communion experience. When I went up to receive the Lord in the Holy Eucharist, it was more than going up to touch his cloak, shake his hand, or hug him ~it was going up to let him enter me to become one with me! I saw this as the ultimate thing we can possibly do in this life and in this world. If you are humble, you'll also see this as receiving the greatest possible reward in this life, in this world.

Listening Is Important

          Go on YouTube and you'll find all kinds of talks... the hateful, the self-righteous, the accusatory, the irreverent,.... In general, people like to talk and not listen. If we don't listen to those we say we love, then we really don't love them that much. To listen to someone is to respect that person. You cannot love someone if you don't respect that person. The one we need to listen to the most is the Lord our God. If you listen to him, you will automatically love all others. If you can listen more than you talk, you are on the road to perfection. 

Heaven & Hell, Beyond Imagination

        There is a retail store, which I shall not name, in my area that sells things a lot of people like, but I am not one of them. It is filled with old-styled, mostly dark-colored, home-decorating items. There are also artificial and dead flowers galore. When I am in that store, I feel the gloom and even sense death. So if you were to sentenced me to live in that place, I would feel miserable. Then there is music equally hard to take, the kind that's loud, vulgar, animalistic, often with a lot of screaming. Should I be forced to listen to that day and night, I might go insane. And I thought of hell. The punishment you experience there would probably be unbearable beyond imagination. I can walk out a store or away from the source of any music, but what you experience in hell is forever! In driving, I learned to avoid head-on collisions at all costs. Common sense should tell us to avoid going to hell at all costs. On the other hand, with my finite mind I cannot possibly imagine how happy I'll be in heaven. But I know for certain that whatever I experience up there will exceed my wildest imagination.

On Serving God 2

        As Jesus has indicated, we should mind our own business. From Mother Teresa's prayer "Do It Anyway": In the final analysis, it is between you and God. Therefore, we should single-mindedly serve God, letting nothing distract or for that matter, disturb us. As Paul said, "Whatever you do, in words or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him" (Colossians 3:17). This is not as hard as it sounds ~ it's a matter of awareness and practice. You can start out with chores at home, doing such things as taking the garbage out and washing the dishes to please the Lord. When you watch some TV for recreation, do it for Jesus too ~ it'll keep you from watching anything unwholesome and from watching too much TV. Before I pick up the telephone, I am used to saying a quick prayer to make sure that I'll say the right thing over the phone. This really helps when you have a confrontational situation. I trust in God, never predicting the outcome, and things always work out. Bottom advice: Let God completely into your life.

On Serving God

        In serving God, I admire others who are visibly doing great work. But the Lord made me see that we are all made differently and I must not "imitate" anyone outwardly ~ it is pride that drives one to "compare performances." We are to bear fruit only as directed by the Holy Spirit and not even be concerned about seeing the fruit. The fruits are to be completely at God's disposal ~ no instant gratification for us here.  

Good Question

        Ultimately and soon, each of us will end up in heaven or outside of it ~ so why do we still worry about trivial stuff, bicker, get impatient or angry, hold onto material things and the past ... while the clock is ticking away?

No Longer Earthbound

        Communion experience. After receiving the Holy Eucharist, I feel that although my body is still here, my spirit is already attached to the Lord, no longer earthbound.

Great Feelings

        It's a great feeling to know that you are clean and on good terms with God. But don't stop here ~ the next even greater feeling is to be in union with God, you and the Lord now completely dwelling in each other.

Transcendental Union

         Today's Communion experience. Just before distribution of the Holy Eucharist, the priest held up the consecrated bread and the consecrated wine and said: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb. And we all responded: Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed. 

       I saw reception of the Lord in the sacrament transcending physical union. It's a calling for me to be healed spiritually so that we may be one. He showed his love through and through. What a beautiful "sight"!  

Call for Spiritual Growth

        When something bad happens to you, listen for God's call. You can choose to get upset, feel sorry for yourself, wish it never happened, want to go back to the way things were, be vengeful if someone else was the cause, or you can move forward and choose to trust and serve God more from now on. Believe me, the latter choice will give you healing and joy. It's letting God bring the good out of the bad.  

God's Mercy Reexamined

        In John 8, we read that Jesus did not condemn the woman caught in adultery; he just asked her not to sin any more. Elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus taught how we should always forgive others and love even our enemies. God's mercy is indeed infinite. I see that the Lord does not condemn us either because he continues to wait for us to repent so that he may forgive us. If we do not repent to the end, we simply get ourselves condemned. Seeing such great mercy, we must not mistreat anyone again. Taking revenge is even more out of the question. 

We Matter to God

        We are not nobodies; we are treasured by God! When we repent our sins and beg for God's mercy, the whole heaven rejoices. On the other hand, when we sin and die unrepentant, the whole heaven mourns. We can shake up heaven all right.