Unhazy Dream

        I had a vivid dream last night. I was in a town amidst all the traffic and pedestrians heading every which way. There was a small stadium filled with naked people occupying all the tiers of seats. I looked around and saw some of them clearly, others more difficult to make out, and still others rather hazy and looking tired and sad. Then I understood it was about how God sees us. Since we can hide nothing from God, we are naked to him. We appear clearly to him if we have nothing to hide from him. But if we are sinful, the haziness indicates that we are trying to hide ourselves from him.     

True Satisfaction

        When you are in union with Jesus, you have already tasted the very best and nothing other than the Lord himself can satisfy you anymore. That's why any message not centered upon the Lord 100% can no longer set the heart afire.  

The Sheep Test

        I attended Vigil Mass today. In the Gospel reading from John 10, Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice." How certain you hear him speak to you in your heart tells you if you truly belong to him or are still on the periphery. 

Free Will for God

        In today's Reading 1 at Mass from Acts 9, God gave Peter the power to instantly heal Aeneas, a paralytic who had been confined to bed for eight years. God can do anything, but our free will almost always gets in the way. We must will to remain open to God in order to receive whatever gift he wants to give us in serving him. That is, as channels of God's love, we must clear ourselves of all obstructions.

God's Plan for Us

        In today's Reading 1 from Acts 9 at Mass, Jesus made it clear that he had chosen Saul to be his instrument to carry his name before Gentiles, kings, and children of Israel. God's plan for us may not be that specific, but it is equally clear that he wants each of us to serve him as holy disciples wherever we are now and always.

Our Most Ardent Desire

        That we become like Christ.

Support We Need

        I had a bad dream early this morning, in which I had to escape from someone coming after me; I realized that I needed God's help. After I woke up, I saw that the dream confirmed that we absolutely need God. I know that nonbelievers would love to tell me that I invented God to have a crutch to lean on. Well, I wouldn't call God a crutch, but if you must, then he is the best possible crutch you can ever have, exactly the right kind of support we need, for without it we would certainly perish one day. 

How to Impress God

        In all my years of attending Mass, I have heard innumerable homilies preached from the pulpit. They range from the instantly forgettable to those that set your heart afire for God. In between, you have memorable ones, but the focus upon God is often diluted by the speaker's desire to be entertaining. Obviously, to impress God, all focus should be on him alone. To achieve this, we need to let God impress us first. It again comes down to letting God do all the work for us.

Living for God Alone

        Two people could do exactly the same thing, yet because their motives are different, one is storing up treasures in heaven while the other one, not. Life invisible to us is all visible to God. Therefore, live for God alone, not for any other fellow humans to see.

Triumphant Moment

        Communion experience. Receiving the Holy Eucharist is to reach the high point of life once again. It's with the Lord, possessing all one needs! There's the feeling of triumph without pride.

Most Stunning Event

        The most stunning, remarkable, incredible, earthshaking, and memorable event of all time has to be that God died for us on the cross so that we might be saved. To ignore its significance is to risk being the biggest fool of all time!

Our Vocation

        We who profess to follow Christ must make every effort to be fishers of men, as this is his command and wish. It is not how many people you can catch, but how diligently you attempt the task that counts. Let this lovingly motivate every thought, word, and deed of yours.

Union in Spirit

        Communion experience. God enters us to unite with us physically for the purpose of uniting with us in spirit.

Getting Backed Up

        Let God back you up in everything in this life and he'll back you up all the way to heaven.

Two Important Facts

        Today's Communion verse, John 12.24: Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit, alleluia. Fact #1: Life is endless, since the soul lives on. Fact #2: We must die in Christ while we are alive in order to live on in happiness. So it's live to die to live forever.

Sticking With the True God

        I have believed in Christ for decades, who has never forced me to believe in him. Even now, I am completely free to leave him if I choose to do so. Any god who binds us to him by force can not be the true God. God makes faith meaningful by letting us decide to accept him or not. With such a sensible, understanding Lord, why should I ever consider leaving him? So we are now stuck with each other and more joyful than ever!

Transforming Power of God's Love

        Today's Communion verse John 17.24 reads: Father, I wish that, where I am, those you gave me may also be with me, that they may see the glory that you gave me, alleluia. We who love Jesus also wish that everyone else would love him. Unlike anything else, Jesus' love affects us uniquely ~ it makes us selfless. Even though we know that he loves everyone, our enemies included, we are not jealous. Even though we have received so many good things from him, we are eager to share them with others. The urge to spread the good news truly comes from the heart, for the ego is absent. Only God's love has the power to make us genuine.

God Is Different

        Jesus has died for us for love of us. We would have difficulty even in dying for someone who loves us very much. We may run away, hesitate, or bravely volunteer with trepidation. By contrast, Jesus volunteered without hesitation in fulfilling the Father's plan. You could say he welcomed the opportunity, for his love for us overcame all fear. As you know, God loves us so much that there is great rejoicing even over one sinner who repents. This is the difference between God and us.