Just watched the Holy Father celebrating the Mass at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, concluding the World Youth Day festival, on EWTN. More than three million young people had gathered for the service and the joy was palpable. This joy is unique because it can only be experienced in Christ. I am just so joyful that I know this joy. It signifies that one has found the fulfilling truth. It is a joy that frees one from the clutches of the world. Alleluia!
Sunday, July 28, 2013
The Suffering Christ
Communion experience. Since I still felt the pain resulting from the accident I mentioned, today after I received the body of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, the body I saw in my mind was the body of the suffering Christ on the cross. My own suffering didn't seem to matter that much anymore.
Swaying the Lord
In today's Reading 1 at Mass from Genesis 18, Abraham intercedes for Sodom. He asks the Lord if he will sweep away the innocent with the guilty. The Lord agrees that if he finds fifty innocent people in Sodom, he will spare the whole place for their sake. Abraham keeps asking what if there are forty-five, forty, thirty,... innocent people. Finally, the Lord agrees that he will not destroy Sodom if there are at least ten innocent people.
What I learn here is that holiness (being innocent) means a great deal to the Lord. Be holy and you can sway him from his plan.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Jesus Alone Suffices
Today's Communion experience. Because of the painful accident that happened to me, I experienced even greater joy by contrast. If you have Jesus, nothing else matters anymore.
Ongoing Healing
Let God be your attending physician. Be ready for him to check and heal you in body, mind, and spirit at all times.
Dealing with Accidents
Yesterday I had an accident which caused me physical injury. I started thinking about accidents. They are something that happens to everyone no matter how careful you are ~ traffic accidents, for example. Unlike God, we do not foresee what might be ahead. Accidents always come as a surprise or shock. The normal reactions are sorrow, bitterness, self-pity, worrying about the worst to follow, loss of hope, etc. ~ all negative and unhelpful. I believe that the healthy, realistic attitude is to accept that accidents do happen and they happen for a reason. Some of the things we can realize are the following: (1) Whatever has happened will pass in time. (2) Here's an opportunity for learning to be patient. (3) By offering our suffering up to God, it becomes meritorious. (4) Experiencing suffering makes us realize how terribly Jesus suffered for us, thus uniting us to him even more. (5) If we love God, he will never allow us to suffer to the point we cannot bear. (6) We can accept suffering as being purified by God in this life. (7) First, I thought if I am temporarily handicapped, how can I serve God effectively? Then he showed me that accepting suffering is serving him. (8) We can still pray to God for physical healing and he may do just that. In conclusion, be thankful to God for all things.
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Banqueting in Heaven
Communion experience. Just before receiving Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, I was content to bask in his light and enjoy my rest in him. After receiving him, I knew I had just attended a banquet in heaven. Seeing it this way, I am already a frequent guest at the dinner table of the Lord in heaven.
Chosen and Called!
Today is the Feast of St. James, Apostle. The Entrance Antiphon from Matthew 4.18, 21 reads: "As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother mending their nets and he called them." What a great honor and how good it is to be chosen and called by the Lord! If you don't feel he has chosen and called you, ask him to do so, for he calls us so that our life might be fulfilled and our joy complete.
Ideal State of Living
To me, it is being in union with Christ, following every will of his. This way, you don't ever have to be concerned about what you should do and you know that he will always lead you to do what is right and pleasing to God.
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
To Be the Best
We all desire or at least dream to be the best in something. Once you know Jesus and fall in love with him, you will want to be his best possible disciple. You look at Christ, Mary, and all the other great saints in the Church and you get excited and will want to imitate and learn from them as much as possible.
Humility Opens Doors
To find God, we need to remain humble first. To hear God speak, we need to have quiet and peace both within and without us, for a disturbed soul shuts out the voice of God. Again, humility is required to submit ourselves to get in tune with him. Only the humble will find and hear God.
Gift of the Holy Eucharist
Poets, songwriters, artists ... have all used their imagination to create beautiful works. We can also imagine how beautiful God is, but the Holy Eucharist which I receive daily over time has revealed to me that God is absolutely real.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Test Questions
Suppose you belong to a team that serves God in some way. After serving together, would you be happier if you are the only person praised for your work or the only person not being praised for the work? What answer is best to please the Lord?
Awesome Lessons
Communion experience. I saw the changing of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ during consecration even greater and more astounding than the transfiguration of the Lord on Mount Tabor. After I received Holy Communion, the Lord made me see that surrendering to him pleases him more than saying all the written prayers there are.
Purgatory not Good Enough
Settling for purgatory first after death is not good enough for us if we want to make God number one in our life. It is not good enough for him either because he deserves the very best from us.
Our World Portrayed
The big news today is the birth of the royal baby from William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, overshadowing the story of the Pope's arrival in Brazil for the World Youth Day Festival. This is expected for a world that has pretty much gone secular. Interests in popular events far exceed spiritual concerns. The behavior of the five foolish virgins in Jesus' parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25) perfectly portrays our world today. What happened to them at the end will happen to our world too.
Seeing from the Right Perspective
In the news today, NASA has released photos of the Earth and Moon taken by a spacecraft orbiting Saturn ~ nearly a billion miles away. You see one tiny bright spot and a "short" distance away an even tinier one in the vast dark space. First image that came to my mind was two human neighbors on that tiny spot fighting each other for they just couldn't get along. Lord, have pity on us.
Making God Number One
If God is to be number one in our lives, then we must trust in him completely. This means we trust in his justice completely. Then after we pray for our loved ones, we no longer worry about how God is going to answer our prayers. And we don't worry about any other outcomes either. All this may sound cold, but it is doing our best the right way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)