Ego Must Go

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 6 at Mass, Jesus gave us teachings on almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. In essence, we must not let our ego turn us into hypocrites. It is the ego that makes us want to be seen, known, and recognized. When we want others to notice us and not God, we lose peace. To let others see Christ in us, we must be meek and humble like him. If you are sincere about wanting God to be No. 1 in your life, ask him to take away, in fact, annihilate, your ego first.  

"Bypassing" Judgment

       In John 14, Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." This shows that Jesus is the one who is going to judge us. Then in John 10, we read that the Father gives him his sheep and he gives them eternal life and they shall never perish. What we need to do is to remain being his faithful sheep and we don't need to be concerned about the judgment anymore.

Be a Spiritual Genius

        There are truly many intelligent people in the genius category with very high IQs. If we are not one of them, there's nothing we can do about it because God has not give us this gift. But we can all be geniuses with high spiritual IQs! Perhaps we should call it HQ, standing for holiness quotient. How do we achieve that? All you need to do is to surrender to God to ask him to make you a saint, and he'll do just that!

Best Investment Ever

        In Matthew 6, Jesus made it clear that we can store up treasures in heaven while on earth.  And he said, "Where your treasure is, there also will your heart be" ~ this is beautiful! Therefore, set your sight on heaven and start performing loving deeds, and you'll have your mountain of treasures waiting for you in heaven.

Nutrition for the Soul

        Communion experience. The Holy Eucharist was precisely the nutrition my soul needed, being prepared for entering heaven.

Contrasting Journeys

        It's either living mostly for yourself or living for God. When you live mostly for yourself, you seek to have a good time as often as possible. Then invariably, things don't go your way, causing you to see that life is but a string of consecutive unhappy events with only time to enjoy between events. When you live for God, you live to do his will to please him alone and see unhappy events as permitted by the Lord to further your spiritual progress. Overall, living for yourself is an uneven experience, while living for God is more peaceful and rewarding, not to mention that the two journeys would most likely lead you to different destinations.

Our Greatest Enjoyment

        We do not see Jesus with our eyes, but I can imagine how beautiful he must be during his Transfiguration on Mt. Tabor. Nevertheless, we can discover his great inner beauty. Once we realize how great his love is, how unloving we are, and how we need him, we begin to see how beautiful he truly is. Let this beauty draw us ever closer to him and we end up falling deeply in love with the Lord ~ now he becomes our greatest enjoyment. 

Accepting Hard Teachings

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 5, Jesus taught about retaliation. We hear hard sayings such as "When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well," "If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well," "Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles." I essentially see that Jesus wants us to remain undisturbed in all circumstances, to realize that he alone is our judge and love is to override all negative feelings we may have. Seek union with the Lord so that we may follow him to the letter, and we shall be liberated.

On Being Faithful

        Today's Communion antiphon at Mass came from Psalm 27.4: One thing I ask of the LORD; this I seek: To dwell in the LORD's house all the days of my life. To be faithful to God goes beyond believing in him by abandoning ourselves completely to him unconditionally and through thick and thin. It is "to dwell in the LORD's house all the days of my life."

Our Nirvana Is...

understanding our place in the overall scheme of things before the Lord our God. We come to know him as our loving Father and follow his will. This is existence in perfect harmony with our creator now and forever.

Jesus, the Only One!

        I went to Vigil Mass today. After receiving Holy Communion I realized that I absolutely need Jesus, for without him I'd be stuck with my sins forever, as there's no one else who can take away my sins and make me clean again!

Holiness Indicator

        One can have a conscience so muddy that he is no longer bothered much by committing any serious sin. At the other extreme, a saint can have a conscience so clear (sharp) that he would sense and thus avoid committing the slightest transgression against God. Therefore, the sensitivity of one's conscience measures his holiness.       

God Completes Me

        Communion experience. God fills me with whatever I lack.

Keeping Motivation Pure

        God motivates us to love others, but sometimes I sense that my motivation may not be as pure as it should be because personal views and feelings can interfere, often stealthily. To keep our motivation pure, we need be fully aware that loving others and loving God are exactly the same thing. 

Serving God Right

        Serving God must never involve the ego. If you succeed, God is glorified. If you fail, God is still glorified because you've been obedient and remain at peace. Naturally, the first thing your should do is asking the Lord to eradicate your ego so as not to be in his way.

Most Holy Eucharist

        Communion experience today. As I received the perfectly round, white host, I knew that Jesus can make us pure and perfect. Never receive this Blessed Sacrament in vain.

Our Greatest Honor Is...

to be at the beck and call of Jesus to serve him alone.              

Secret of Finding and Knowing God

        God is neither someone you have to look hard to find nor someone to chase after and catch once you have found him. He is someone here, just waiting for you to see, hear, and embrace. In fact, the effective way of finding and getting to know God is to let down your entire defense, remain open and passive, and humbly yearn for him. Trying hard on your own is totally counterproductive, whereas letting God do the work is the key to success. This is true with God all the way through seeking union with him.