In praying the Our Father, we ask the Lord to forgive our trespasses. Do you ever think about that? We all sin ~ should we just ignore it and let bygones be bygones? What about our troubled conscience? The fact that Jesus can take away our sins has to be a great piece of news! Here God provides us with a way out, a way to be made clean and free of guilt. His whole intent: to save us for all eternity.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Friday, March 13, 2015
Christian Living
Jesus said to his disciples, "Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.'" If God wants you to give up or do something, say yes. To think up all kinds of reasons or excuses to avoid following him is being untruthful. Christian living is rigorous, not wishy-washy.
Getting Intimate with God
In mathematics, if A is a subset of B, and B is a subset of A, then A = B. Jesus is in the Father and the Father in him (John 14.11), so the Son and the Father are one. Union with God is, to be more precise, being one with God. Now God is a space infinitely larger than mine, how can we fit within each other? Physically, that would be impossible; but spiritually, it's no problem. When I surrender to God, I become entirely his and I am in him. At the same time, he enters my heart and we become one. Receiving the Holy Eucharist seals the deal, you could say. By the way, the Holy Eucharist had been the greatest aid in bringing me to this state. True, God is everywhere around us, but to bring him into your heart you have to open the door, to invite him in. There is no other way of getting more intimate with God in this life!
Fear of God Analyzed
We are afraid of God only because we have not been good children, so the fear stems from fear for ourselves. As long as we remain so, surrendering to the Father will not happen. Thorough repentance is in order. Once you realize that God is all love and embrace his love, all fears will vanish.
In Most Fortunate Position
How happy and grateful I am to know Christ the Lord. I have no more fear of death. I am in his secure hands and going home to God the Father who awaits me. I don't need to hope for anything, for I already have God. Time is passing fast, but nothing in the world can hold me back, for everything down here is passing too. Sure, I still suffer at times, but suffering for Christ's sake only draws me closer to him. So many things I still don't understand, but that's OK because God has all the answers with him.
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Face the Truth
Without God, whatever happiness you can find in this life is only temporary, never satisfying to the soul. You don't need God to realize this. With Christ, you will receive joy in the present life and infinitely more in the next for all eternity.
Cause of Peace
Communion experience. I treasured the deep rest I felt in Christ after receiving him. As human beings, we relate to both God and fellow humans. A bad relationship with the former invariably results in bad relationships with the latter. Even though we cannot solve all others' problems, a good relationship with God enables us to relate to them with love. My relationship with God was the cause of my Communion peace.
*Living by Faith
Sometimes we think that if God were around and we see and hear them, it would be so much easier for us to listen to him and do what he tells us to do. Then I see that in Jesus' time, the twelve Apostles were the only ones with the Lord most of the time in his last years, and they still got into trouble and Judas didn't even listen to him. It is by faith that we are to live! It is being aware that God is present and knows everything about you and everything affecting you that counts, whether you actually see or hear him.
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Mankind's Greatest Achievement...
has to be success in surrendering himself to God, since it brings him into union with God. This can also be considered the greatest breakthrough because it's the breakthrough to spiritual freedom.
Easy Ascent to Heaven
People can get unbelievably attached to their pets, guns, cars, hobbies, sport events, TV shows, pop idols . . . that they virtually become slaves. This is spiritually unhealthy, to say the least. The healthy way is to enjoy, but not be attached to them. If you ever pray the Our Father, focus upon the meaning of "Thy will be done." If there is something you can't possibly give up ever, then you'll have trouble when the time comes for you to leave the world. Just remember that the more earthly baggage you carry, the harder will it be for you to leave. A beautiful sight to the Lord is the ascent of a free, weightless spirit toward him.
Easy Journey
Communion experience. The Lord of heaven came to me in person. He came to take away my sins, dwell within me, and show me his love. I only needed to walk toward the altar to receive him.
Grateful for Purgatory
I know a lot of Christian denominations do not believe in purgatory. They believe that once you have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, you are saved forever. This is rather simplistic thinking. If it were true, there is no incentive for us to grow holy anymore. Then, as sinners how many of us are pure enough to get into heaven? Would a great sinner enter as easily as a saint? Remember that in Matthew 7.21, Jesus said, "Not everyone who says 'Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven." I am not a theologian, but I see the existence of purgatory as a sign of God's great mercy. This is how heaven-bound sinners get purified. Naturally, the purification process depends upon your sinful state. Without purgatory, heaven would be a sparsely populated place; with it, many are saved. (Check the Catechism of the Catholic Church for a full explanation.)
Our Greatest Danger
Matthew 5.17-19 was today's Gospel reading at morning Mass. What the Lord said was earthshaking. To me, Jesus as God always spoke the truth, and truth does not go away ~ it gets fulfilled. Since the people of the world is paying little attention to the messages of Christ the Lord, the greatest danger they face now is not possibly another world war or some horrendous natural disaster, but the loss of their souls for all eternity.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Most Beautiful Relationship
Part of today's Entrance Antiphon at Mass from Psalm 17 read: Guard me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings. I see the amazing relationship between God and any of us who belong to him. We are so small and limited, yet we are the apple of his eye, and he loves us. When we love him back, we have the union of the puny and finite with the holy, immortal, and mightiest. This is truly an incredibly beautiful thing!
On Forgiving Others Again
In today's Gospel reading at Mass from Matthew 18, Jesus told Peter to forgive his brother who sinned against him not just seven times, but seventy-seven times. I used to wonder if I should forgive an enemy who's unremorseful. The answer now is clearly yes. This teaching of the Lord is consistent with his teaching about judging not and loving your enemies. Holding a grudge against someone is like keeping poison in your heart ~ guess who's being poisoned. In the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant that followed in the Gospel reading, Jesus made it clear that God would not forgive us if we did not forgive others for the same sin. If we want God to forgive us always, we have no choice but to forgive others always. After all, it's only what God, not any other human being, does to us that counts.
Monday, March 9, 2015
Asking for God's Help
If I believe that God is my only help, then of course he is going to help me whenever I need his help! This is exactly what Jesus had said, "Ask and it will be given to you" (Matthew 7.7).
Union Coming into Focus
Today's response to Psalms 42 and 43 at Mass reads: Athirst is my soul for the living God. When shall I go and behold the face of God? In reading the Psalms, I am amazed at how King David and the other psalmists were passionate about and intimate with the Lord they believed in so much ~ the longing, the begging, the praising. It seems that with our advantage of knowing Christ, we should truly be able to develop an even closer relationship with God. I see Union with God coming into focus.
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