Vain Living

        "All is vanity except to love God and serve God alone" (Thomas à Kempis, Imitation of Christ). To live not doing God's will is to live in vain (the thought came to me this morning).

Simple Progression

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 3, Jesus said, "Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother." Jesus wants to bring us back to God our Father. All we need to do is the will of God. The Holy Eucharist is the perfect sacramental vehicle for accomplishing this goal. So it's a very simple progression: Holy Eucharist > Obedience to God > Back to God.

The True Jesus

        Today is the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle. Before his conversion, Paul zealously persecuted followers of Jesus. Here in Reading 1 from Acts 22, Paul tells how Jesus first called him: "On that journey [to Damascus to bring back to Jerusalem in chains for punishment followers of Jesus] as I drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?' I replied, 'Who are you, sir?' And he said to me, 'I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting.'" It strikes me that Jesus was gentle and polite in speaking to one of his then worst enemies and humbly referred to himself as "Jesus the Nazorean" rather than "your Lord and God." This should put all of us at ease in approaching the Lord who spoke the truth when he said "I am meek and humble of heart" (Matthew 11).

Dealing With God

        God knows everything about you and can detect the minutest insincerity in you. Examine your conscience to see how much you conceal from him and change. Stop being foolish, thinking knowingly or unknowingly that he does not know or care. 

Our Reference

        How are we doing? Good? Bad? It all depends upon what reference we use. Everything is relative. We may think that we are making good spiritual progress, but before the holy Lord, we are all wretched sinners. That's one big reason we should remain humble and not judge anyone. Let God be our reference and we won't go astray.

*Power of God's Holiness

        Communion experience. The holiness of God is awesome and most powerful. No sin can exist where his holiness reigns. Therefore, go humbly before the Lord to let his holiness obliterate all your sins so that you may be clean again. How beautiful it is to bask in God's holiness to remain pure!

Loving Jesus

        If you love Jesus, you would love his words, his teachings, the joy and consolation as well as the gifts and tests that he gives you, to hear his voice, to share his suffering, to rejoice in his glory . . . everything about him and from him.

God Waiting

        God is ready to give you all you need to get you to heaven ~ aren't you going to respond?

Most Beautiful Life

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 4 at Mass, we heard that Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: 

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, “Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."

This event had to be as astounding as any of the Luminous Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. In fact, Jesus' whole life is astounding act after astounding act until even after his death, revealing fully to us the love of God for us. His life on earth had to be the most beautiful, amazing, and awe-inspiring life of all.  

Believing in Jesus

        In John 20, we read that after Thomas saw the resurrected Jesus, he believed and said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Then Jesus said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." If I do not believe, then I do not believe that Thomas actually saw Jesus. If I do believe, then, of course, there is no need for me to see Jesus. What happened to Thomas and what Jesus said to him help me believe in the unseen Lord with my whole heart.

Joy of Following Christ

        Self-importance imposes a big burden upon us. When we follow Christ as Lord and Savior, we lose our self-importance and joy ensues.        

Living Right

        When you follow Christ, you will never feel inferior nor superior to anyone, as you know that God loves everyone. In other words, you feel just right. And you are free to do whatever you want to do, which is pleasing God (and yourself). Then you receive the peace in your heart from the Lord and can't help but love him even more. It's a virtuous cycle.       

Most Horrible Destruction

        Not the destruction of our health, mind, the economy, all our physical assets, the entire planet . . . but the destruction of one single human soul. 

First Awareness

        If we are not aware that we are sinners living in a sinful world, we won't find God!

On Suffering

        Both we and God suffer because of sin. We suffer because sin robs us of peace, while God suffers because he loves us and wants us to be happy. It is through suffering that we seek and find God, and through suffering that God has redeemed us. In suffering, we and God become one. Therefore, do not despise suffering.

Abortion Continued

        Mother Teresa had said, "Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion." Indeed, if we do not respect life of the unborn, all the talks about protecting our citizens and stopping violence sound hollow and accusing other nations of violating human rights only bares our own hypocrisy. In Matthew 7, Jesus said, "For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you." It's high time that we weep for ourselves.

Our Holocaust

        Today January 22 is Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. The U.S. Supreme Court played God 43 years ago on this day by legalizing abortion. The lives of nearly 60 million unborn children have been terminated since that infamous decision. If this is not a holocaust, what is? It seems that we have severed our Christian roots and betrayed the Lord. At the Last Supper, Jesus said, ". . . woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born" (Matthew 26). The Communion verse at Mass, Psalm 36.10, reads: With you, O Lord, is the fountain of life, and in your light, we see light. I am most grateful that God has given me life, salvation, and the judgment that's going to come.  

Relating to God

        Communion time thoughts. To get the maximum benefit out of receiving the Lord, our relationship with him must be thorough, complete, total, and absolute. It must be all or nothing.