A Sad Tale

        I know of one very aggressive person ~ she would try to crush anyone who she believes has offended her. Let me embellish my story a bit. Say that she becomes so powerful that everyone stays out of her way. Some twenty years later, she dies. Now she's just a puny soul with absolutely zero power before the Lord ~ only God's mercy can save her. It's a tale with a rather sad ending. Indeed, as Jesus said, "What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?"          

Outer and Inner Joys

        The public in general enjoys watching sports. Look at the cheerleading and exciting fans at sport events. I attended a university that was a football power and wouldn't think of missing a game. Even when the weather was freezing, I and other rooters did not mind wrapping ourselves in thick blankets and shivering for over three hours through the entire game. Of course, when our team won, we felt great joy and celebrated wildly. This is the kind of outer joy that takes over one through the senses. 

        God gives us great joy too, but he does it completely in the opposite way. For God, our heart is the primary target. When we are open to him, only he can gain access to it. He wants to shape our heart because what it is, we are. When the Lord deposits joy in our heart, it's there, bypassing all the senses. And this joy bursts forth like a fountain, infiltrating our entire being. This is the inner joy that only God can give, surpassing all other joys. It's definitely heavenly!  

Do We Hear?

        God is always trying to tell us something. We can learn from everything that happens to us. With global Ebola outbreak deaths rising above 4,000, I wonder how many of us even think that there is a message for us there.

How to Be Happy

        A self-centered person cares only about self-preservation and himself enjoying life. If everyone is self-centered, a world with only-take-and-no-give people would cease to function properly and be in turmoil. Flat stated, self-centered living causes unhappiness. It follows that we can be happy if we take ourselves out of the picture by giving ourselves to God ~ a simple theory that has been proven correct by the lives of many saints and others.   

All for God

        Communion experience. Today after receiving the Lord, all I could do was to say "all for you," meaning that every thought, every word, and every action are to be offered to Christ. Why? Because he has already shown me that this is the only way to live a happy, fulfilled, and meaningful life, him being God.

Asking for Prayer

       http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29519109: This news came out two days ago ~ I didn't think of asking for prayer online until now. Please urgently pray for Fr. Hanna and his parishioners. It's natural that we pray for the victims, those who are on our side, or those whom we perceive to be good people; but do not forget that God loves everyone equally and commands us to love our enemies. In fact, those who create victims are the ones who are in most need of God's mercy. Therefore, pray for both sides. Never be stingy with prayers.  

Prayer Approaches

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 11, Jesus told his disciples, "Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened" ~ most heartening promises! I see two extreme approaches here. We can persistently ask, seek, and knock until we wear the Lord down or just simply leave everything up to him and say "Thy will be done." After hearing Jesus speak here, I've come to understand that either approach or any other in-between one is OK as long as we are sincere and do not knowingly go against his will. After all, he is our loving Father. Hence, act as you would before a most loving father on earth.

Clearly, It's God

        This morning around 7:30, I could still see the full moon above in the sky. We always see the same side of the moon from the earth (the unseen side being referred to as the "dark side" of the moon). How so? The "explanation" is that the moon rotates about its spin axis at exactly the same rate it orbits the earth. And this synchronous rotation has been going on for millions of years or longer. Clearly, God our creator set up this perfect synchronous balance between the earth and the moon within the solar system at the very beginning. [Please don't tell me that the earth and the moon somehow came into being by themselves and somehow by chance found each other and became partners in motion. I'll believe it if you show me that monkeys, which some believe to be our ancestors, can get together and come up with the laptop I am using now ~ on second thought, I'll make it easy and settle for an abacus.] If our amazing universe points clearly to the existence of God, then the amazing person and life of Jesus points just as clearly, if not more so, to his Incarnation.       

That Clean Feeling

        I woke up early this morning, peeped at the LED clock next to my bed and read 2:22. The moon was shining brightly outside. In the stillness, my mind automatically turned to Christ. And I felt that I love him because he has made me feel clean as no one else possibly could have. This clean feeling is one of the bases of my inner peace.  

On Hearing Jesus' Voice

        John 10.27: My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. Here's Jesus telling the Jews. I have believed in Jesus for a long time, but did I always hear his voice? I don't think I did in earlier times when I did not know him that well yet. I belief that you will always hear his voice when you are always ready to do his will.  

Our Only Choice

        Today is the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary. After receiving the Holy Eucharist, I asked myself what I could give the Lord in return. And I realized that everything I had, myself included, came from him. I could give back my free will, my heart . . . but there's really nothing original I could give him. The only choice left for me was to accept all his gifts with gratitude and let him love me. That was a pretty good position for us to be in, I'll say.

The Big Disconnect

        I am talking about the disconnect between God and man around the globe. Let's just look at this country. The Supreme Court legalized abortion four decades ago ~ now it seems that it's on the way to legalizing same sex marriage. The separation of church and state as guaranteed by the Constitution is used by our government to place state ahead of God. Printing IN GOD WE TRUST on the back of all currency bills only reveals our hypocrisy. Even Christians don't always turn to God for help when they are in trouble ~ a disconnect between belief in God and managing your personal life. Will Christ come next at a time when we are even more disconnected from him? I pray not.

Sin Soils the Soul

        No doubt that sin hurts God, but don't forget to consider your own soul. Every time we sin, we mark our soul with a black stroke. When we commit a serious sin, it would be like marking the soul black with a big, broad brush. Eventually, if we don't repent and/or go to confession, the soul will appear all black and soiled. That surely would be an ugly sight repugnant to the Lord and at the same time making him feel even greater pity for you.

Overwhelmed by God

        At Mass this Sunday morning, I received Christ under both species. I felt that God came and filled me to such a full extent that I could barely keep my heart from bursting ~ no doubt that it was the Lord! I love to be overwhelmed by him in every respect.

Exciting Catholic Life

        As a convert, it was such a joy for me to enter the Church and start receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist. Now as I seek union with God, I have discovered and experienced along the way so much of God's infinite beauty that my journey can only be described as an exciting adventure. Here's one more reason for being a Catholic. 

Advice for Fallen-Away Catholics

        To fallen-away Catholics who attend Mass on just Easter Sunday and Christmas day and/or occasionally help the church out in some way, hoping that you can still get into heaven:

         Are you serious? Thinking like that is believing that God is not worthy to be loved with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength. Basically, you still care about yourself more than you care about God. But in reality, it's a case of not caring about yourself at all! Wishful thinking is just that. With God you can't win by playing games. Repent, reform, and return will immediately solve all your problems. Let's face reality ~ no one can ever hide from God and if you run away from him, you run straight into Satan.  

Joy in Following Christ

        Today is the Memorial of Saint Francis of Assisi. The Gospel reading from Luke 10 tells that the seventy-two disciples returned rejoicing and said to Jesus, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name." Jesus responded, "Do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because you names are written in heaven." Father M in his homily stressed that we are not to rejoice at what we can accomplish in the Lord's name. Rather, our goal is to follow Christ like a child as St. Francis did ~ I could sense the pure joy in following the Lord like that and letting everything else go.  

Looking at the Common Life

        I was doing the treadmill at a nearby gym early this morning. Today being Saturday, there were more TVs turned on than people exercising. One channel was broadcasting a car race. You saw clusters of cars going continuously around the track. Each driver tried to get ahead of the others and they were all back to where they were again and again, the whole time on the same level track. The scene depicted the common life we live. We also try to get ahead in the world, expending much energy and not getting anywhere. Even if we succeeded, we are still embedded in the world, not getting any closer to God. Rather a sad scene.