Offer Your Heart First

        We are supposed to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, yet we talk about ourselves most of the time. Shouldn't we at least think about him from time to time? No, we should instead think and talk about God at all times. How would that be possible? Answer: Offer your heart to God and it will happen.

Captured to Be Free

        Communion experience. I wanted Jesus to take complete hold of me because I knew that's how I could become free.

Primary Christian Goal

        We should never let any experience we encounter within or without the church, good or bad, pleasant or otherwise, make us ever forget that our primary goal is to get to know God, to know Christ, and to know the Holy Spirit. That's why seeking union with God must be our primary goal.

Small Act, Big Payoff

        Compared to eternity, our life span is so brief as to be practically nonexistent. We only need to believe in God, specifically the God of Christ, for such a short duration to gain eternal life!

Most Natural Return

        From Reading 1 from Jeremiah 1 at Mass, "The word of the LORD came to me, saying: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you . . . ." I see clearly that it's most natural for us to return to our Father.

Like Father, Like Son

        When I saw how much my second son loved his newborn daughter, I realized God did create us in his image and we "learned" to love our children as he loves us.

How to Be Hopeful

        Appreciate God's mercy and you'll always be hopeful.

Calming the Storm in Our Heart

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 4 at Mass, we heard the calming of a storm at sea. Jesus was asleep in the stern of a boat with his disciples. A violent squall came up and waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was already filling up. They woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Quiet! Be still!" The wind ceased and there was great calm. Can Jesus also calm the storm in our heart? Of course, he can ~ but with one catch: possessing the free will, we must give him the OK first.

Humanity Under Siege

        Today's sad news is that more people starved to death in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya. The UN says some 400,000 people are trapped and in need of emergency assistance in 15 locations in Syria due to sieges imposed by the Syrian government-led coalition as well as by opposition groups. I recall when Jesus in his days saw some crowds, troubled and abandoned, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd. Today he must feel the same about these besieged children of his. The least we could do is to pray hard for them and live as holy a life as possible.

Know Our limits

        Scientists try to figure out how our universe came about. If we exclude God, we do not even know how we first came about. So we have a bunch of unknowns trying to figure out other unknowns ~ it can't be any easy task. If we include God, then we realize that at best we are merely observers discovering how existing things work and that there is but one all-knowing creator, our God.  

Aching Heart

        Even after we've found God or attained union with him, the yearning for him continues. I believe it's because we are still material, living in a physical world, while God is Spirit (John 4.24). And I believe that after we shed our body, we'll be able to fully enjoy God without an aching heart.

Up to Us

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 4, Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a mustard seed. Once this smallest of all the seeds on the earth is sown in the ground, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade. How we respond to the word God sows in us determines whether we fulfill his kingdom or not. We all have the intellect or common sense needed for receiving his word, so it boils down to whether our heart is willing or not.

Amazing Truth

        In Christianity, we believe that God came down to earth, sacrificed himself on the cross so that we may have everlasting life with him in heaven. This is either the most incredible truth or just a fairy tale. Since all fairy tales are imagined and Christ is historically real, we are left with the most amazing truth!

Best Father

        My sons have grown up, but I still remember that when they still lived with me, I instinctively protected them from all harm and always wanted them to receive the best in life. If this is true with a finite, sinful mortal like me, imagine how much more our heavenly Father would protect us and give us the very best!

Powerful Love

        It's easy to get upset when things don't work out right for us, and life is full of such instances. Sometimes we tend to assume that someone intends to screw us up when it's not the case. The point is that we experience a lot of negative emotions in life. When I feel something disturbing my inner peace coming on, I just turn to Christ and immerse myself in his love ~ and I find this love so beautiful and powerful that nothing else matters and all my negative emotions just dissolve into nothingness.                

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).