"Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

The Cause of Unhappiness

        It is sin, our sin. Think about it.       

Loving Without Limits

      Today is the Feast of the Nativity of the Blesses Virgin Mary. Communion time thoughts. It is amazing how much you can fall in love with God! How so? It must be because God is love. This love is pure love, upon which love is defined, not the kind the world knows. This love enables us to love others and makes the human soul beautiful. Infinite love deserves our falling in love with God without limits.        

The Happy One

        Quite often I learned something about a person that I never would have expected. I suppose many have a dark side to them. Happy is the one who always dwells in the light of Christ, having absolutely nothing to hide, and keeps his inner peace.

How to Expect Life

        If you expect life to be rosy at all times, you will certainly be disappointed numerous times. To be realistic, expect life to be full of ups and downs and face them one at a time, placing all your trust in God. Then there will be less disappointments and a lot more pleasant surprises. Again, this is getting out of God's way.

Monday, September 7, 2015

Why No Quick Healing?

        If we pray to God for a physical healing and nothing happens, what are the possible reasons? We certainly can rule out that God did not hear us, God is unable to heal us, and God does not care. I also do not believe that God meant to punish us. Teaching us, yes. The possible reason could be that our faith is weak, not that we are sinners. The most likely reason is that it's not the right time for our healing, for he wants to build us up spiritually.

First Step to Holiness

        Let God find fault with us, since knowing our faults is the first step to becoming holy.

On Listening to God

        As I have said, when we speak to God, he is all ears; he listens to us alone. Therefore, when he speaks to our heart, we should also listen to him attentively. It's to be heart-to-heart always. Otherwise, we are not yet his sheep, as Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me" (John 10.27).

A Double-Barreled Approach

        When I ask God to shield me from all evil, I want him to use a double-barreled approach ~ protect me from evil and keep me from doing evil myself.

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Finally, Some Happy News

        Thousands and thousands migrants were trying to reach Austria and Germany which were willing to take them, but Hungary blocked them from traveling by train; so they started walking the 100 miles from Budapest to the Austrian border. Now a convoy of private cars have crossed from Austria to Hungary to help collecting stranded migrants. The happy news today is that hundreds of migrants, mostly from Syria, have arrived at Munich train station to applause after boarding trains in Austria. There were cheers from a large group of Germans who had come to welcome them, with many handing out sweets and water. Watching the video on BBC News, I was quite overwhelmed to see the happy, smiling faces on these newly arrived refugees. It's the truth that if you make someone happy, you'll be happy too.

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Shame on Our Government . . .

(1) for not treating our veterans right ~ they lay their lives on the line to defend our freedom and can't even get decent medical treatment after they get home and (2) for not doing anything to help the Christians in Iraq who are being persecuted and facing genocide.

Conversion

        Communion experience. I saw myself on my own as a most imperfect creature, weak, timid, often confused, and most of all, prone to sin. Then Jesus came along, opened my eyes, ears, and most of all, my heart, and healed all my infirmities. I was made anew in him by him. It's been a most exhilarating experience!

Playing God

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 6, Jesus made it clear that the sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath. It's equally true that any law should be meant for the wicked and not for the righteous (1 Timothy 1.9). Unfortunately, our Supreme Court has legalized both abortion and gay marriage. Obviously, not all of the nine justices on the court know God. A glaring case of playing God themselves.

Planning for Eternity

        As long as things exist, eternity exists because a thing just does not appear from nothing and vanish into nothing. Even nothing is something missing ~ if everything in the universe disappears, the space left behind still exists. When I came into the world, the world was already here. When I leave, it continues to exist. Things come and go, but eternity is a reality. It follows that God must be a reality too. In fact, he is the only logical explanation for all that exists. Had absolutely nothing existed, I wouldn't be here now to talk about it. The only alternative would be that we have God existing for all eternity. The wise one is the one who makes sure that he will have life for all eternity as the soul is eternal.        

Friday, September 4, 2015

What Life Is All About

        We are to be holy so that we can save as many souls as possible for the glory of God.

Making God Number One

        Never avoid God in any way and he will be number one in your life.

When You're With God

        Communion experience. I was alone in God, with God ~ an exclusive, private, and most treasurable moment. When you are with God, he is all yours and you are his only audience!

Get Close First

        When you see Jesus, you admire him from a distance. He inspires you and you resolve to be a better person. But this won't do you any good unless you get close to him first. To progress, run to him instead and try to get inside of him so that you may get to know him. Just like watching a flying plane in the sky won't get you on that plane, you must go buy a ticket and make a reservation first. 

Again, Jesus Is Joy

        Luke 5.33-39 was today's reading at Mass. The intent of the parable in the second half of the reading wasn't that clear to me, but I learned from the first half that with Jesus, it's all joy, for he is always new! We should celebrate and rejoice when he is with us. To be in union with him is to ensure that he is with you.