Life Filled with Beautiful Things

        The optional Communion antiphon was read at Mass today. It was based upon John 15.9 and read: "As the Father loves me, so I also love you; remain in my love, says the Lord." I italicized "remain in my love" because it's so beautiful, something to contemplate. It's again a most beautiful state to be in. With Christ, life is filled with beautiful things!

Letting God Use Us

        Yesterday I posted about Mary's perfect obedience to God. At the Annunciation, her answer to the angel Gabriel was "Behold, I am the handmaid of of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." I see the beautiful role we can be in. We remain cooperative to God always, letting him use us, and do the best possible job we can. What an honor and joy! Letting God do his work through us is all that matters. There is no job more fulfilling than this one (I am not even considering the reward that comes later).

Alpha and Omega in Christ

        God is Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. And we have our alpha and omega in Christ the Lord, since he made us new in him and will receive us into his kingdom at the end.

Repaying Jesus

        Today Tuesday is the day for praying the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, which are Agony in the Garden, Scourging at the Pillar, Crowning with Thorns, Carrying of the Cross, and Crucifixion. If you ever felt great sorrow when you meditated upon these mysteries and wished you could have helped alleviating the Lord's suffering at the time, you can still do it. He is still suffering greatly today over our rebelliousness and you can console him by offering yourself to him entirely, as this is only proper and the time is right.

Prayer Benefits

        When you pray for others from the heart, God shapes your heart at the same time, so that you are also a beneficiary.

Don't Miss Out on God

        We are supposed to love God with our whole being, yet we continue to offend him by sinning. The Lord our Father just waits and waits for us to turn to him for help. Seeing this makes me realize how tolerant our God is. Of course, he could have compelled us to follow him, then we wouldn't be happy. He wants us to initiate the process so that all can be happy. There's only one true God who is loving and tolerant ~ "seize" him while you can. 

Monkey Our Ancestor?

        The other day someone asked if her dog could go to heaven. Now, a dog has neither the concept of God nor any moral understanding of good and evil. Thereby, a dog does not have a soul. Without a soul, there is no heaven to speak of. I believe that theology can back me up on this. If dogs have souls, then what about birds, ants, all insects, and bacteria, or even plants? Where do you draw the line? If I am logical to you, then we can see that human beings, who have souls, could not possibly have been evolved from monkeys, who have no soul. Evolution of the soul? No scientists would know how to do research on that.   

Perfect Obedience

        Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Gospel reading from Luke 1 tells the announcement of the birth of Jesus. After the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and she would conceive in her womb and bear a son, the Son of God, Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." I italicized the last sentence because it is what each one of us need be able to say without qualms to God. This is surrender, perfect obedience, the breakthrough we need to break through, the gateway to freedom, the secret of attaining union with God, our best preparation for entering heaven because it's all what God asks for . . . . Ask the Blessed Mother to help you. 

Readership Review

        As you know, the purpose of this blog is to draw all to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. How popular it gets is of no concern. The day the Lord stops feeding me with thoughts, I'll stop posting.
        All time figures show the top ten countries from which readers came. I'll just list the ten in descending order of readership size: United States, Russia, Germany, China, France, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Canada, Malaysia, Philippines. It's not surprising that the blog has the most number of readers from the United States, as this is a US-based blog. What is surprising is that some people in China, where the Great Firewall is up, still got through. Without any blocking, I wouldn't be surprised that China would be in the second spot. I think readership size depends much upon internet accessibility and people's hunger for God.
       May God bless each of you abundantly, and remember that I expect to see you all in heaven!

One Priority

        We have only one priority in life: To love God. Nothing else matters. Make this your priority and you'll be well taken care of.

You Are on Camera!

        I had an unpleasant dream, woke up, and couldn't remember anything about it; but somehow I came to realize that unlike dreams, whatever we have done in life is always remembered by God. Picture that we are being filmed by God at all times. When we face him again, everything will be replayed before us and we'll be judged according to how much love we put into what we've done. Basic truth: Without love, we live an empty life.  

"Let Yourself Go"

        We can learn from others in the world. In a PBS interview with Yuan Yuan Tan who dances the title role in San Francisco Ballet's production The Little mermaid, I caught her saying that she lets herself go while she performs. That is why her performance is so beautiful, so natural, and captures the audience's heart. No one would enjoy watching a performer who does not feel at ease or put his heart into the performance. To shine as Christians, we need also let ourselves go in Christ. Like halfhearted performers, lukewarm Christians will fail.  

Jesus as Our Friend

        Communion time thoughts. When we were young, we chose our friends. There were ones we naturally were attracted to and others we just couldn't get along with or even disliked. Now I am looking at Jesus, who is full of love, most helpful, who will not let you down, one who understands you perfectly and will never tire of listening to you; and yes, he is most sweet, for he'll even let you get mad at him; and he's fun to be with, for you can tell him anything, including jokes. How can you not love a friend like Jesus? He is one big reason I want to go to heaven! 

Living Freely

        In today's Gospel reading at Mass from Matthew 9, Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. He then sent out these Twelve to proclaim the Kingdom of heaven at hand, cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. His last instructed, "Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give." Indeed we have received freely from God and we are to give freely; we are just passing through. So this is the way to live ~ to feel free and for God. 

Beautiful Love

        If my parents had loved my brother or sister more than they loved me, I would have felt hurt. If my friend likes me the most among all his friends, I would feel extra good. With God's love, no such feelings arise because he loves every single one of us equally and his pure love transforms our heart. That's why we are able to spread his love and share his joy with others with total absence of the ego. I cannot conceive of anything abstract that can be more beautiful than God's love as revealed to us through Jesus the Christ.         

Lesson on "Lesson"

        Talk about rejoicing, the Lord wants us to rejoice in everything that happens to us, for there is a lesson of love in all of them.

Unbreakable Bond

        Being the first Friday of December, there was Eucharistic Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament after morning Mass. Here's the Lord who just entered me during Mass, and he made me see that nothing could possibly dissolve the bond (union) between him and me. A Great Consolation.

To Die

        Communion time thought. To die to self is to die for God!