Mark of True God

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 25, Jesus made clear to his disciples the following. He will come again in glory as the king to judge all nations and separate the sheep from the goats. The sheep, blessed by the Father, will inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world and the goats, accursed, will depart into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels. The sheep and the goats are differentiated by whether they gave the king food when he was hungry, gave him drink when he was thirsty, welcomed him when a stranger, clothes him when naked, cared for him when ill, visited him when in prison; and whatever they did (did not do) for one of the least brothers of the king's, they did (did not do) for him.

        These most important, astounding messages of Jesus are consistent with all his sayings and revelations. His whole life, his work, completely back him up as a no-nonsense teacher. Again, Jesus becomes an all-or-nothing choice for us. There is no one else who can put us in such a situation without interfering with our free will.

Invitation

        Communion experience. It's not so much Jesus entering me as entering to invite me to belong to him for all eternity!

Stop Drifting

        Without God, there is absolutely nothing worth living for and life becomes empty. So many people just drift along aimlessly. For example, they have no second thoughts about trying out drugs or engaging in illicit sexual activities, ignorant that everything we do will have consequences. If you ignore the presence of God, our creator, you burn the bridges that could take you back to him. There are just two endings: back with the Father or being lost forever. Since the waking-up process can take long, I am here to tell you as one who has stopped drifting a long time ago and now see everything so clearly as I look back (and ahead).

Greatest Waste of Talent

        Not using it for the glory of God. (As Paul says, if we do not have love, we are nothing.)

World's Greatest Tragedy

        Not believing that God so loves the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. 

Amazing Creation

        While driving home from morning Mass, I realized that we can think and somehow know that all thoughts originate from the brain, that we feel emotions and somehow know that feelings come from the heart, not some other organ, that we are both aesthetic and intellectual, that we understand good and evil, that we have a conscience with a free will, and that we can long for a God and actually fall in love with him. What amazing creatures we are!

Most Beautiful Posture

        Today's entrance verse from Psalm 30: The Lord heard and had mercy on me; the Lord became my helper. Response from Psalm 51: A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn. Communion verse from Psalm 25: O Lord, make me know you ways, teach me your paths. Now picture one of us, prostrating before God, submitting himself completely to God with a contrite and humbled heart, asking for his mercy, and eagerly desire the Lord to teach him. We see a creature in complete harmony with his creator and receiving love pouring in upon him unhindered. 

Simple Loving

        God only wants us to love him by doing whatever he tells us. We need not be concerned about whether we succeed or fail, for his thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are his ways our ways (Isaiah 55. 8).

Lifesaving Formula

        In today's Gospel from Luke 9 at Mass, Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lost it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." It's clear that to gain eternal life, we only need to abandon ourselves fully to Jesus.

God Close to Us

        God is so close to us for the following: (1) He created us in his own image. (2) He came down from heaven to become one of us. (3) He was born through the womb of Virgin Mary, a human being. (4) He died for us so that we might have life. (5) He feeds us with his own body and blood in the Holy Eucharist. (6) He desires to be in full union with us. (7) God the Holy Spirit dwells within each of us who are open to him. Why not gravitate toward the one who are closest to us and loves us the most?      

Close to God

        After staying home for the last 3+ days because of my bad cough, I felt good enough to resume attending morning Mass again. "Close to God" could mean different things. Here it means that we can die anytime and God is there to meet us ~ I acutely sensed this when I was sick and felt miserable. The fact is that God is never away; he simply waits for us. When we are healthy and well, it's so easy to live in a "fantasy world" without thinking about him. Meeting him when you are still alive is infinitely better than doing it after you die. Do not make the Father who is so close to you wait.

Living the Secret Life

        Today is Ash Wednesday. In the Gospel reading from Mark 6, Jesus gave the teaching about almsgiving, the teaching about prayer, and the teaching about fasting. The lesson: we are to give alms, to pray, and to fast for God alone, not for others, for performing righteous deeds for others to see is the same as doing them for oneself. This is a clear guide to living a selfless life, a secret one, you might say, in God. How well we succeed directly affects how much the Father will repay us.

Truth of Christianity

        When Christ died for our sins, he completely gave himself to us as the Father had willed. Now as Christians, we are able to completely forget about ourselves to attain union with God through the Holy Eucharist as he wills. This unique, extraordinary "disappearing act" enabling God to occupy all of us testifies to the truth of Christianity.

Jesus Our Example

        When I see someone who is highly opinionated, always has his defense up, and sounds most aggressive, I think of Jesus who is meek and humble and feels absolutely secure in his Father. If we want others to know that we are Christians, we must follow Jesus' example. 

Shifting Our Focus

        I never quite shook off the cold I caught after last Christmas and now I seem to have caught another one. As I looked out the window from my house and saw that the recent rains had transformed the outdoors landscape into a beautiful green, I couldn't care less as my physical discomfort now takes center stage. I see in the same way once we realize that we would face judgment and be assigned our final destination, we would care little about what grabs or attracts us now.

Moored to Christ

        Communion experience. When I received the Lord, he let me know that he is my center, my anchor, and my refugee. If I had even strayed away from him a little bit, he brought me back right away. I rejoiced in that.

Ending the Mess

        The world is in a horrible mess. There are only two ways to resolve the problem. (1) We all turn to God, the God of Christ who is love, repent and ask for forgiveness and salvation. (2) We simply wait until the same Lord comes and judges all of us.

Teach Us, Lord

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 6 at Mass, when Jesus saw the vast crowd waiting for him, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. I then realized how absolutely necessary it was for God to teach us, for it is by his word that we learn to live right and by keeping his word that we shall never see death (John 8.51).