Spiritual Progression in Christ

        Being aware of one's own sinful state > repenting before God > reconciling with God > experiencing his love > starting to fall in love with God > increasing yearning for him > surrendering fully to him > union achieved > enjoying God every moment in peace and freedom > (life in heaven)         

           Any progression that leads one away from God forever is unthinkable!

The Perfect Moment

        If you acknowledge that you are a sinner, and desire to be transformed, this is the perfect moment to let God step in to fulfill your desire.

To See the Beauty of God

        Remain meek and humble and you'll discover the beauty of God.        

To Be like Christ

        Communion experience. After I received the Holy Eucharist, I heard myself asking myself, "How dare you not want to be like Christ the Lord?" Again, I saw to be meek and humble being the key to imitating him. Here, to want to be like Jesus is not prompted by pride, but by humility! 

To Be Meek and Humble

        The word I received from the Lord for today is humility. The Gospel acclamation at Mass came from Matthew 11.29: Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart. If God remains meek and humble, how dare we to be immodest and prideful? To those who have not found God yet, may I suggest that you assume that he exists and loves you, and you remain meek and humble, then he will find you. To be meek and humble is to be like God!

"Not Me, But You"

        This expression floated into my mind earlier this morning. This is how it should be when we stand in the presence of God. We acknowledge that we can do nothing without him. We need to remain passive and let him take us to wherever he wants us to go. We vanish so that only he exists in us. This is what it's all about.         

Greatest Intimacy with God

        Communion time thought. Receiving the Holy Eucharist within the Church is receiving the true body and blood of the Lord. By no other means and nowhere else can you attain such intimacy with God! Indeed, blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb. 

Again, There Are No Accidents

        Today's Gospel reading at Mass came from Matthew 17. To find the money to pay the temple tax, Jesus asked Peter to go to the sea, drop in a hook, take the first fish that comes up, open its mouth, and find a coin worth twice the temple tax. If something like this happens to us, we would probably think that it's pure chance. The lesson here is that truly nothing can happen without God's knowledge or approval. Again, there are no accidents.

Suffering cherished

        When I am suffering mentally or physically, I just fling myself into the arms of Jesus, calling out his Holy Name and begging for his mercy with all my heart. He is the one who died for me, loves me, knows me the most, and hears me. I cherish such opportunities suffering provides because I get to enjoy my greatest intimacy with the Lord. 

Carrying out Good Intentions

        Just having good intentions is not good enough. I've learned that I should put all good intentions through the humility filter before carrying them out. Otherwise, my good intentions can easily be misunderstood. You cannot go wrong with humility. 

On Changing the Heart

        The human heart does not easily change. We usually do not do what we know to be the right thing to do. Only a fundamental change of heart can correct this. If you feel this way, then an encounter with God is needed to bring about a breakthrough. More surrendering is in order. Know that Christ is our only hope and that hope is always present for us. 

Beauty of the Church

        To see the true beauty of the Church, we should look at Jesus, how he built his church upon Peter, the apostolic succession and the teachings of Christ safeguarded to this day, and the transformation of so many souls into great saints. People err by noticing only the sins of her imperfect members, but this is a matter of human failure and does not in any way indicate that the Church is less beautiful.

To Repent Is Divine

        Benjamin Franklin used an old quote "To err is human, to repent divine, to persist devilish." To repent is indeed divine, a beautiful act by the heart. It's beautiful because it cleanses your heart immediately, restoring your relationship with God. Really, what else could you ask for? What's sad is that people in sin do not see that it's the single, most important act they need to perform if they are to be saved. Let all know that repentance can change one into a resplendent soul before God. 

Jesus Alone Is Sufficient

        Communion experience. My life is complete, fulfilled. I feel totally secure in him. It's impossible to ever feel lonely when you have him living fully in you!

Why Jesus?

        At Mass, Father M before distributing Holy Communion raised the host and cup and said to all: 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. I realized then that Jesus is the only one who can take away my sins, not Moses, not Mohammed, not Buddha, not Confucius, or anyone else, because he is God. This is reason enough for me to believe and follow him.

As a Grain of Wheat

        Today is the Feast of St. Lawrence. The Gospel reading at Mass came from John 12. Jesus said to his disciples, "Amen, amen, I say to you, 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." We may not see our fruit in our lifetime. For example, the autobiography of St. Therese, The Story of a Soul, which has converted untold number of souls was not published until after her death. Our role is to die in Christ, serve the Lord, and let God produce whatever fruit he wishes. 

Dying Happy

        Communion experience. He who has Christ will die happy.

No Complaining

        The Gospel reading at Mass today came from Matthew 16. Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." To me, Jesus is saying that whoever wishes to follow him must do so without ever complaining. A complaining Christian has to be an oxymoron. As we follow the Lord faithfully, he will teach us to let nothing bother us. With no more complaints, we have inner peace.