Union Turns Life "Upside Down"

        Ordinarily, we find it difficult to remain holy as it's just too easy to sin. When you attain union with Christ, the reverse becomes true: remaining holy is now no work as God removes your desire to sin. 

God Our Transformer

        Today's the Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena. After receiving the Holy Eucharist, I saw positively that the Lord could cleanse and purify us, transforming us into temples of the Holy Spirit. It was a glorious feeling. St. Catherine, pray for us.

Who Christ Is to the World

        A lot of bad news made headlines today. For example, "Syria blasts kill dozens in Homs," "Seized Nigerian girls 'taken abroad,'" "Severe weather threatens eastern US." But to me one sad piece of news came from Palermo, Italy. A two-meter tall statue of Christ of the Abyss will be placed underwater off the coast of Sicily to attract divers. The mayor of Palermo hopes that the attraction will stimulate tourism and signal a "new step forward" for the city's growth. Using Christ as a bait to attract tourists so that the city can earn more money? If that's the sole motive, then the idea borders on being sacrilegious!  

Finding Happiness Anyway

        At Lourdes, the Blesses Mother promised Bernadette happiness not in this world, but in the other. It is true that Jesus never promised that if we followed him, we would become rich, famous, and have an easy life. On the contrary, we're to deny ourselves and take up the cross. But while still in the world we can always find freedom, peace, and joy in God by seeking union with him.   

To Be Your Own God Is...

to be your own slave.

Onward to Freedom!

        Here's another mental picture that came to my mind. The soul wants to rise to God, but it's weighed down by so many things like tethered weights, with serious addictions more like anchors. All such burdens are attachments. Anytime you cut one attachment, you feel a bit more freedom. If you surrender your all to God, you break through to the other side by cutting all your attachments to the world and the soul soars to God in complete freedom. Once you experience that, you'll never want to go back again. 

       Jesus had said more than once, "Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." This is what it's all about.

God's Clear Intention

        When I received the Holy Eucharist at Mass this morning, it's again the perfect time to renew my surrender to the Lord. I asked him what he's going to do with me now. His answer was that he's going to lead me straight to heaven. It's obvious that this is his intention for all his children, but surrendering just make his job so much easier and you would be rewarded for that.        

Guarding the Lord

        As Christians, we must do our utmost to prevent anyone (ourselves included) from offending the Lord. In this sense, we become his guards. This duty of ours is a great heavenly privilege to be treasured. 

Joy, Peace, Freedom

        What are these three in the world? Joy ~ we do feel happy temporarily when things go our way. Peace ~ we can find some relief from stress by breaking away from our regular routine. Naturally, peace is impossible to experience in the many countries that are in turmoil. Freedom ~ even in a most democratic country, freedom can still be limited. Anyhow, true joy, peace, and freedom must be deep-rooted and permanent and can come only from God, for whatever God gives always touches the soul, a foretaste of heaven.    

Smart Living

        We separate the temporary from the permanent. Our body is temporary, for it gets older and weaker every moment and we can't do anything about it. Our soul is permanent, for it lives on forever. When it becomes unclean, we turn to God for help and purity is restored. Bottomline advice: take good care of the soul and don't get too attached to the body.

So Good to Hear!

        In today's Gospel reading taken from John 20, Jesus, who had not yet ascended to the Father, appeared to Mary Magdalene outside the empty tomb. His final words to her were to tell his brothers, the disciples, "I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." How good it is to hear that Jesus and we share the same Father, the same God! Believe and our future in heaven is assured. 

Our Passing Life

        I came home during rush hour and was trailing a vast number of cars moving at a slower than normal pace. I visioned that over thousands of years millions and millions of people have continually traveled through this world trailing others who had gone before them ~ it's a mass, ongoing process. We all make a brief appearance on earth, not even stopping for a instant. It becomes all the more imperative to check out Jesus to see if he can truly save us. As far as I am concerned, there is no God other than the Christian God, who has completely settled my future, removing all fears of the unknown.

Weep and Rejoice

        Happy Easter to all! During Lent, it was appropriate and comforting to weep along with Jesus. Now that Easter is here, it is appropriate and gratifying to rejoice along with Jesus. 

On Taking up the Cross

        Jesus said, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." I believe that many do not wish to hear it because they do not wish to take up any cross. What they fail to see is that whether you follow Jesus or not, you will have your cross to bear. Jesus only showed us the way to lighten our load. You can deal with your cross on your own as most of the world is doing and fare worse, even ending up losing your soul. Perhaps denying yourself is the hard part to accept. Nevertheless, Christ himself is the supreme example of denying himself and taking up his Cross, following the will of the Father. To not follow this example is to distance ourselves far from him.  

How Should We Petition?

        Sometimes we pray unceasingly for a favor we need. Then we also learn that we only need to ask, confidently believing that God will answer us, and relax. Should we strike a balance between these two approaches? I think of St. Monica petitioning persistently for the conversion of her son Augustine, the prayer of total abandonment to God of St. Therese, and the Lord's own earnest request during his agony in the garden. So I believe that how we ask depends upon what we ask for and our own spiritual state. Let the Holy Spirit be our sole guide. What's essential is that the petition come from the heart with the greatest possible faith. 

God Is Hope

        It is Holy Saturday. After Jesus had been crucified, his disheartened disciples and followers scattered despite having seen all the wonders he had performed when he was alive. What hope was there now? Then Resurrection took place and everything changed. This is the greatest example showing that God never lets us down in the end, for he is our hope. Let us trust in him always in all things.

A Wake-Up Call

        In Luke 23, we read that as Jesus was carrying his cross on the way to be crucified, many women among the large crowd of people following Jesus mourned and lamented him. Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children, for indeed, the days are coming when people will say, 'Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.' At that time people will say to the mountains, 'Fall upon us!' and to the hills, 'Cover us!'" This was indeed a wake-up call given by Jesus out of love even as he is about to be killed. We must be aware foremost if we are offending the Lord. 

Christ's Great Sorrow

        If someone you love not only does not appreciate you, but turns around to inflict injury on you, you would feel hurt more by his ungratefulness than by the injury suffered. Today is Good Friday. As a man, there's no doubt that Christ experienced great agony for the suffering he went through, but his greater sorrow had to be over those he loved who rejected him and put him to death. May he be glorified for ever!