Seeing the Truth

        Anyone recognizing who Jesus is sees the truth, and the truth will set that person free. (John 8.32)

Sin Defined

        In the broad sense, sin is any act that is self-centered. Therefore, living a God-centered life eliminates all sins.

Our Need for Attachment

        We cannot live alone ~ human beings need to attach themselves to something that can provide them with rest. Obviously, attaching ourselves to another human being just like us is no solution. Attaching ourselves to material things or abstract ideas cannot be a permanent fix either. That leaves God the only one for us to attach to for good. 

Make Catholic Life Exciting

        One must not settle for being merely Catholic. To glorify God, one must seek union with him to live the exciting Catholic life. (We have the Holy Eucharist!)

Fulfilled Life

        A fulfilled life is one that was empty, but is now completely occupied by God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The soul is now both free and secure.

How Open Are You to God?

        Two testing questions: (1) Are you willing to let God show you what's in your heart? (2) Are you willing to let him take away what should not be there?

Blotting Out Sins

        Know that Jesus can take away not only your sins, but also your tendency to sin when you attain union with him.

How Jesus Converts Us

        Every human life has happy moments and unhappy ones with more or less peaceful periods spaced inbetween them. On the practical level, living for Jesus simply converts us by giving us the healthy, balanced outlook on life and the strength and courage to deal with all the unhappy things of life.   

Humility Matters

        It's being smart to know that you have limitations and being stupid to think that you know it all. 

On Loving God

        We should love God ~ the important question is how much we love him. Do we love him more than anything else? Do we love him only? 

Must-See Truth

        In this world there are millions and millions of things for us to get interested in, but only love matters as Jesus has made it amply clear. Until we see this truth, we cannot know God and be transformed by him.

Mutually Exclusive

        As darkness cannot exist where light is present, no evil can originate from us who are filled with the Holy Spirit. 

Learning from the Lord

        For the next few weeks, I'll be away and unable to post anything, but I'll take note of anything coming from the Lord and post them all sometime after November 7. If my posts are edifying to some, they are basically lessons meant for me. This process of learning has been delightful, for there is no studying, no memorizing, no hard thinking, no lectures to attend, no homework to do, and no exams to take ~ I simply wait for the Lord to place his teaching in my heart. 

Secure in Jesus

        My first thought was that amidst this godless world in which powerful secular forces can easily drown or sweep one away, we must hold tight onto Christ. Then this morning before Mass started, the Lord made me see that I, as one of his sheep, was already linked securely to him. Jesus says in John 10.28: I give my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand ~ most assuring.  

Inspiring Example

        http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28863019: God bless this Buddhist philanthropist. Christians can learn from her humility and generosity.

Heaven vs. Hell

        If you are in heaven for one second, you'll experience such joy in God's everlasting love that you would want everyone to go there.

        If you are in hell for a second, you'll experience such horror from eternal separation from God that you would not want anyone to go there.

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!