Importance of a Clean Heart

        An unclean heart is not a peaceful heart. To experience peace, one must first reconcile oneself to God and ask for his forgiveness. The souls in heaven are happy because their hearts are clean as God had intended them to be from the beginning.

*Loving God With Our All

        Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all you strength, and with all your mind." The only way for us to achieve this is to surrender ourselves totally to God so that he may transform our heart, our being, our strength, and our mind to his heart's content. What a beautiful event it would be!

Made After God

        No matter how sinful we are, we still at times feel that we should help someone in need or actually help someone without thinking and feel good afterwards. This reminds me that we are made in the image of God.

What to Live For

        Netflix just released the new series Abstract: The Art of Design. You can watch the trailer on YouTube. Being artistic in nature, I knew I would enjoy watching it. But before finishing watching the first two parts of this eight-part series, I also knew that living for Christ is so much more fulfilling and superior than living for any of the arts or, for that matter, anything else. True, many artists are happy doing what they are doing, but they shortchange themselves for not knowing that what they pursue is perishable in the end! Leaving your mark on the world is far from storing up treasures in heaven. It is vision going beyond this brief life that is needed to make living truly meaning and fulfilling. 

Unhappy Phonies

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 7, Jesus healed a deaf man who had a speech impediment and ordered the people who brought the man to him not to tell anyone. Of course, Jesus had done so many other even greater wondrous deeds. So we have a Lord with infinite power, yet zero ego. Relative to him, we have zero power, but a huge ego. No wonder we are not free and happy, for we are phonies! 

*Our Only Big Chance

        We entered the world as nobodies. If in this life we do not get God to adopt us as his heirs, we will leave the world again as nobodies. 

All in God's Mercy

        I did not know my son's friend who passed away (read my last post), but I did pray hard for him, for I heard from my son that he was a decent person. Of course, I don't know where his soul is now, but I trust in the great mercy of my Lord. I recall the story that St. Therese of Lisieux prayed hard for a notorious criminal named Henri Pranzini who had been sentenced to die at the guillotine. After the execution, she read in the paper how when he was about to be beheaded, he turned, took hold of the crucifix the priest was holding out to him and kissed the sacred wounds three times. This further reminds me of one of the thieves crucified along with Jesus who begged Jesus to remember him when he enters into his kingdom. And the Lord promised that he would be in paradise with him that day.

*Living the Free Way

       On January 27, I mentioned in a post that a friend of my son was in danger of losing his life at a medical center. Yesterday he passed away. He was only 57 and his death was thought to be caused by a flu virus. As I have said, all of us are just passing through. Therefore, we should live a detached life. This does not mean that we do not enjoy life anymore; it only means that we enjoy life in the proper, free manner. See yourself as one journeying through earth back to God your creator. Along the way, there are many things that are not sinful to enjoy, but you move on, no lingering, just enjoying them along the way. This is living in freedom, with the sole aim of returning to God to enjoy him alone for all eternity. Getting attached to earthly enjoyment can totally thwart you from attaining your greatest possible enjoyment. 

Faith Necessary

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 7, a Greek woman begged Jesus to drive an unclean spirit out of her daughter. Jesus tested her faith and she passed, and the demon went out of the daughter. Our faith is important to us, for it is needed for God to save us. Faith is basically obedience to God and a strong, unswerving, unwavering faith is a beautiful thing. God looks at our heart, but tests our faith. With a clean heart and a solid faith, we are well equipped for returning to God. 

Getting Back to Our Creator

        Reading 1 at Mass had started with the story of creation from Genesis. Today we heard the creation of the woman. It seems that if you believe that God has made you, you would instinctively want to find and get to know him as a child would his/her natural parents. But often the distractions of the world deaden that instinct. Know that this instinct, apart from the conscience, is God-given. Anyway, also know that God is ready and eager to get reacquainted with us, for he had know us from the very beginning. 

Appreciating Jesus

        Looking back, I see knowing Jesus as the greatest awakening of my life, a spiritual breakthrough. I did not realize this at the beginning, but the more I got to know the Lord, the more this became clear to me. And I anticipate that he will keep amazing me even a lot more! Without him, I would be lost in a lost world. With him, everything has turned "topsy-turvy" in the most beautiful, glorious way.

*What to Watch Out For

        Many older folks fall and are never the same again afterwards. Even if no bones are broken, recovery could take a long time. What they (myself included) should do to always be aware of the steps they take, the surface they walk on, and the surroundings. If it is dark, turn on the light or don't go there if you can't see. And don't be rushed by anything. Patience and calmness are needed. But for all of us, there is more to watch out for. We should be aware that we do not sin in thoughts, words, and deeds. Sinning is much more serious than falling physically. While the latter affects us only in this life, the former determines our existence for all eternity. 

*Christian One-Liners

        Christians have been sharing these one-liners via email. They are well written and some of them even make you chuckle. 

• Don't let your worries get the best of you; remember, Moses started out as a basket case.
• Many folks want to serve God, but only as advisers. 
• It is easier to preach ten sermons than it is to live one.
• The good Lord didn't create anything without a purpose, but mosquitoes come close... & fleas!
• When you get to your wit's end, you'll find God lives there.
• Opportunity may knock once, but temptation bangs on the front door forever.
• Quit griping about your church; if it was perfect, you couldn't belong.
• We're called to be witnesses, not lawyers or judges.
• God himself doesn't propose to judge a man until he is dead. So why should you?
• Some minds are like concrete, thoroughly mixed up and permanently set.
• Peace starts with a smile.
• Be ye fishers of men. You catch 'em – He'll clean 'em.
• Coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous.
• Don't put a question mark where God puts a period.
• Forbidden fruits create many jams.
• God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.
• God loves everyone, but probably prefers 'fruits of the spirit' over 'religious nuts.'
• God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage.
• He who angers you, controls you!
• If God is your copilot, swap seats!
• The task ahead of us is never as great as the Power behind us.
• The will of God never takes you to where the Grace of God will not protect you.
• We don't change the message, the message changes us.
• You can tell how big a person is by what it take to discourage him/her.
• The best mathematical equation: 1 cross + 3 nails = 4 given. 😇

*More Than Touching the Cloak

        Communion thoughts. In today's Gospel reading from Mark 6, wherever the people heard Jesus was, they brought in the sick and begged him that the sick might touch only the tassel on his cloak, and as many as touched it were healed. Recall that in Matthew 9, the woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind Jesus and touch the tassel on his cloak and said to herself, "If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured," and she was cured for her faith. Now, receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist is much more than touching the tassel on his cloak. Surely, if you believe and say to yourself, "If only I can receive the Blessed Sacrament, my soul shall be healed," receive it and you soul will be healed.

To Live in God or the World

        We must choose to live in God or not. To not live in God is easy, you simply live in the world. Only by following Christ can you live beyond the influence of the world. God always uplifts us by taking away our sins, while the world continually weighs us down with more sins. If you are weary of living in the world, it's time to turn to Christ who calls all who labor and are burdened to go to him and he will give you rest (Matthew 11.28).

Hearing the Lord

        As I woke up very early in the quiet of this morning, I acutely heard ringing in my ears ~ perhaps it's age-related. My thought was that I wouldn't mind losing my hearing, but one thing I do not ever want to lose is hearing the voice of the Lord. By that I don't mean actually hearing his voice audibly ~ I only mean that I hear it in my heart. By the way, one sign that your heart hears his voice is the possession of an extremely sharp (sensitive) conscience. 

Most Perfect Union

        Communion experience. The Holy Eucharist is absolutely essential in attaining the most perfect union with God.

Human Wisdom, an Oxymoron

        In today's 2nd reading from 1 Corinthians 2 at Mass, Paul advised his brothers and sisters to rest their faith not on human wisdom but on the power of God. Later we find in 1 Corinthians 3.19: "The Wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God." The fact that our world is in such disarray by believing in its own wisdom is indisputable proof that Paul was right. Bluntly put, when we think we don't need God to guide us, we are doomed. Only by humbly acknowledging our total dependence upon him shall we be lifted out of our wretched condition. Our best wisdom is to know that we are foolish without God.