Be Strong Now

        Yesterday was the memorial of St. Monica and today, that of St. Augustine, her son. In the Gospel acclamation Luke 21.36, Jesus said, "Be vigilant at all times and pray that you may have the strength to stand before the Son of Man." This is the strength we need to stand before the Lord at judgment time. But we are standing before him right now, the only difference being that he is not judging us yet. So, why not live assuming that he is judging us and we don't have to be concerned about being judged later?       

Cause of Our Problems

        Because of the recent horrible killing of two journalists of a TV station in Virginia by an unhappy former employee, the subject of gun control surfaced again. Stricter gun control can help, but won't solve the problem. Even if we dispossess all of our guns, criminals can still find ways of harming others. The cause of so many crimes is that we have abandoned God ~ this is absolutely correct. Yet today, no one, all politicians included, has the courage to say this. They are all concerned about being politically correct rather than listen to God. Trying to solve our problems while excluding God is trying to be god themselves ~ they are already doomed for failure.

Our Role Today

        The population of the world is around 7.3 billion, so each one of us is just one of 7,300,000,000 people. In this secular, chaotic, disordered world, what good can we do? I see clearly that the role of each one of us is to keep the word of Christ, follow him and be holy, never letting all the problems we face get us down, because if everyone serves God, there will be peace. 

In Heaven on Earth.

        Communion experience. Wherever Jesus is, heaven will be. My body is on earth, but when I receive the Lord in the Holy Eucharist, our heart is already in heaven, and my soul will follow later.

Path to God

        Gospel acclamation at Mass, 1 John 2.5: Whoever keeps the word of God, the love of God is truly perfected in him. It's in keeping the word of God that we keep our path straight. See life as a journey to God and a crooked path will not take you there.

Get Searched and stripped

        Today's response to Psalm 139 at Mass: You have searched me and you know me, Lord. In the Gospel reading from Matthew 23, Jesus continued to denounce the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy. Before God, we are all naked and transparent. Let the Lord search us for him to strip us of any part that's fake and filthy so that we may live blamelessly.  

Call to Arms

        If you follow the news, you would know the Ashley Madison story. This is a Canada-based online dating service that promotes adultery. God has given us the ten commandments and here's a website openly urging you to violate one of them. Hackers have now stolen all of its customer data and threatened to make them public. So far the site membership includes 39 million people in 53 countries! Some users have reported receiving extortion emails asking for money. Yesterday two persons associated with the leak of customer details were reported to have taken their lives. We see sins perpetuating sins, causing vast numbers of people to be snared by the devil. Sinners have lost their fear of God and now serve money alone. It's time for all Christians to rise, pray extra hard, and become saints. Our mission is to overcome evil for the glory of God. 

Being Raised

        Communion experience. I let myself go in the Lord for him to lift me up to hold in his hands. It was like being raised from the dead. In fact, repenting to God and getting all our sins forgiven is a form of resurrection. So is surrendering to God to attain union with him. The Lord is the only one who can raise us to whatever height he wishes.    

The Passive Way

        We know that we should love God more. The common practice is to make a firm resolution aimed at achieving that goal, but this rarely makes things easy. The right way is to open yourself up to God so that he may enter to transform you. Again, the secret is to spare your own effort and let God do the work.   

Gospel Not Old News

        Today's Gospel acclamation at Mass, based upon Hebrews 4.12: The word of God is living and effective, able to discern reflections and thoughts of the the heart. It is a big mistake to overlook the Gospel, thinking that it's outdated news. On the contrary, the Gospel remains new and fresh since God remains so forever. 

Avoiding Light

        Communion thought. Jesus is all joy, yet many avoid him because, still in darkness, they are afraid to be seen in light.

Unbelieving Generations

        In the Old Testament, prophets came before Jesus and many did not believe in them and even killed some of them. Then Jesus, the Son of God, himself came and was not treated any better. What's going to happen to all these unbelieving generations, ours included? The answer, not pleasant, can be found in some of the parables Jesus told. 

The Heart Hears

        When you know the Lord, you hear him speak in your heart ~ more expedient and reliable than email.

Communion Intimacy

        Communion experience. Communion is truly union with God on earth; the intimacy with God can only be topped by what we'll experience in heaven. It's straight entering God's bosom. I heard him say, "You are mine and will be with me one day." I knew then that whatever I said he heard me.

Communion Goal

        Before Communion, the Lord made me see that to receive him is to be willing to do his will. 

Time to Stop Hiding

        In today's Gospel reading from John 6 at Mass, the Twelve were with Jesus and Peter said to his master, "We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God." If you are not so convinced yet because you've been avoiding facing the Lord, then I recommend that you take a good, long look at yourself in a mirror because hiding from God is basically hiding from yourself. 

Testing Your Love

        If you really love someone, you would gladly do whatever to please the person. Now, if that person were God, why should it be any different?

To Be Born Again

        Today is the Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Sitting in front of me at Mass was a family with many children. I saw the littles ones especially beautiful because they were still quite pure and whatever sins they had committed must most likely be spontaneous and not premeditated ones. The fact is that most children who grow up in our societies gradually become selfish, hypocritical, and even evil individuals. If sins are poisons, then all adults need to be detoxified. Seeking union with God is the exact process of restoring the genuine human soul. We need to be reborn in Christ again so that we can be like the pure littles ones we once were.