God Our No. 1 Guide

        Today is the Memorial of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, my beloved model saint. The entrance antiphon, based upon Deuteronomy 32.10-12 reads: The Lord led her and taught her as the apple of his eye. Like an eagle spreading its wings, he took her up and bore on his shoulders. The Lord alone was her guide. I underline the last sentence because it reminds me to always go to God first to seek his guidance in everything. Never leave God out of our life.

Becoming Saints Clarified

        When I advocate that we become saints, it does not mean that we aim for being canonized and declared officially Saints by the Church after we die. It only means that we become saintly or holy, with our intention known to God alone. 

Two Tiers of the Christian Life

        Communion time thoughts. The Christian life can be seen as consisting of two tiers. The first tier is enjoying the Lord at his feet ~ adoring him, attending to him, waiting for him to speak to you, to teach you. The second tier is doing all the necessary things in life for his sake ~ trusting in him, thanking him, suffering for him, rejoicing with him...

Beyond Expectations

        God is so great that he is beyond our expectations. However we imagine his magnificence, his beauty, his wisdom, the extent of his mercy, etc., we fall short because it's plain impossible for the finite mind to grasp the infinite. In other words, God is always greater and more than what we can imagine him to be. Only saying that he is great beyond our expectations hits the mark.            ,

Simplifying Our Lives

        This morning I saw a flock of Canadian geese flying north overhead, honking along the way. Not questioning why they head north, they just followed their instinct. In fact, all nonhuman animals, with no concept of morality or good and evil, do what they do by instinct. By contrast, our lives are complicated by the fact that God has given us the free will to choose good or evil. But we can simplify our lives by choosing to follow Christ always. This assures that we will return to the Father, our creator, in heaven. 

On Communicating with God

        We may pray or speak to God at any time, for he is always ready and hears us. But to hear God speak to us, we must be in tune with him, for he senses every slightest disturbance in our heart. To be in tune with him is to be open and receptive, remaining in trust. The world does not hear God, precisely because it is in chaos. This vicious circle perpetuates its deafness to God's voice.  

Poignant Video

        The popular tango-song "Adios Muchachos" was composed by Argentinean Julio Cesar Sanders. Ezequiel Capurro who uploaded this video calls it the tango of his life, showing the history of his family. I like it because it made me think of life and God.

God as Our Defender

        Communion time thoughts. The world is a cutthroat place. Plenty of people sin in order to gain advantage over others. The aggressive ones attack others just to satisfy their ego. I feel sorry that they don't see how foolish they are before God. In the world, I feel like being a sheep among wolves. Yet I have no fear because the Lord is my defender. If you do not rely upon God to be your defender, you will have no defender in the end.     

Faith Complements Knowledge

        Accept the reality that it's just impossible for us finite creatures to understand God our infinite creator completely. Then once we know enough about God, let faith fill in the part of space that's still unknown to us. What's enough for us to know about God is that Jesus, the Son of God, did come into the world to die on the cross to redeem us so that we might have eternal life if we believed in and followed him.  

Who You Are

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 9, Jesus asks his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" You can ask your friends that same question to see what they would say. It'd be interesting to also ask yourself, "Who am I?" As for the first question, there is really no need to ask if you feel that we should care only about what God and not what anyone else thinks of us. As for the second question, there can be many good answers. Right now, I feel good saying that I am just an empty vessel of the Lord.

A Time to Be Tamed

       A sinner without God is like a wild, untamed animal. He does what pleases him and in the process becomes chained to the world, destroying the very peace and freedom he sought. In today's first reading from Ecclesiastes 3 at Mass, we heard the familiar verse: There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for everything under heavens. There is definitely a time for us to turn to God to be tamed by him so that we may live in peace and freedom.

We Need God

        This morning I was aware of myself aging. Like everyone else, my body is weakening every moment. One day, we'll all need more help from others. Then I realized that God is already helping us by sustaining our very existence, so we absolutely need him. The difference between his help and other humans' is that his help is always there, something we cannot dismiss. Therefore, let's acknowledge this and express our appreciation by telling God, our Father, that we need him.

Freedom Choice

        We have the freedom to choose to be free on our own or to be captured by God. The big surprise is that there is no freedom on our own and true freedom only in being a captive of God! (It's dead end vs. infinite open space.)

Know Our Lord

        Today's Entrance Antiphon at Mass: I am the salvation of the people, says the Lord. Should they cry to me in any distress, I will hear them, and I will be their Lord for ever. When God becomes our Lord, it does not mean that he is going to control or manipulate us and we don't have any say anymore. When he becomes our Lord, he becomes the one to watch over us, shield us from evil, guide our way, and help us in distress. And he even lets us, although this would hurt him greatly, leave him anytime we wish. This is our kind of Lord.  

Surrender, a Must

        If we, as Christians, do not surrender to God, then we are not going all out, not getting the most out of our discipleship. Basically, we drag our feet in following God, making it impossible for us to love him with all our heart, all our mind, all our strength, and all our soul. And union with him becomes out of reach too. Know that every time you receive Holy Communion, it's the Lord inviting you to surrender to become one with him.

On Being Truthful

       In parts of Psalm 119 read at Mass this morning, the psalmist asks the Lord to remove from him the way of falsehood. It brought to my mind the importance of being truthful to ourselves, to others, and the Lord. Do we always mean what we say? Do we try to give others the wrong impression of us out of pride? Does our ego prompt us to put on false acts? Do we try not to face God? Do we look deep in our own heart to see if we are hypocritical in any way? Start out by being truthful to yourself, then you'll be truthful to God and others too.

The Born-Again State

        In 2 Corinthian 5, Paul writes: Whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away.... In Galatians 2, Paul writes: I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me.... This is the born-again state in which the old creation has completely died in Christ ~ it is union with God. 

How God Changes Us

        I am old enough to look back to see the many things, not all pleasant, that have happened in my life. If I had been shown them at the beginning before they happened, I am not sure that I would have wanted to live my life. Once I know God, the past does not matter anymore because all that has happened has lead me to the happiest time of my life. In the same way, joy in heaven would make us forget our life on earth. With God, it's getting better and better.