*Between Us and God*

        The Do It Anyway poem was found written on the wall of Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta, India, and is widely attributed to her. It is always good to read it, whether for the first or umpteenth time. I posted it in 2010 and am posting it again with some thoughts added at the end.

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind,
people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful,
you will win some false friends and some true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,
people may cheat you.
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building,
someone could destroy overnight.
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness,
they may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough.
Give the best you've got sanyway.

You see,
in the final analysis it is between you and God;
it was never between you and them anyway.

        That last verse remains poignantly with me. Each of us stands alone in the universe, responsible for our every single thought, word, and deed to God alone. Whether we go to or away from him for all eternity, each of us has the final say.   

Simple but Hard

        The saying of Thomas à Kempis from his book The Imitation of Christ came to my mind: All is vanity except to love God and serve him alone. We can all agree that this is supreme wisdom, but not something we can easily practice. As usual, God makes the truth simple and we make it hard.

Great Blessed Feeling

        Communion experience. I had two great feelings: knowing that I possess the Lord and knowing that I also belong to him. That is, we have each other. How more blessed can one be?

God's Straight Way

        Today's Communion antiphon, Matthew16.24 or 10.39. Both are Jesus' saying to his disciples. First one: "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." Second one: Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Here Jesus spoke as God with authority. He is to be No. 1 and tells you how to find life. He gives you the straight truth and you have your free will to make the choice. (By contrast, Satan never tells it like it is and always uses deception to lure you into his trap.)

Undoing the Opposite

        Realizing that God is our creator, we should then, of course, thank him, trust in him, submit to him, and know that only he can help us in all things, even remake us. We should want to return to him eagerly. This is all common sense. Yet we, enslaved by sin, do exactly the opposite, keeping him as far away as possible. Now that Christ has revealed to us that God is loving and merciful, we should feel free and confident in approaching him, knowing that he can free us from all our enslavement. 

Realizing the Living God

        If you think that God is dead, it's because you are dead to the Holy Spirit. For those who possess the Holy Spirit know that God is living and well. Who else but God can make us more certain about his existence than about our own?

Dying-in-Sleep Alert

        Jesus taught his disciples to stay awake, for they did not know on which day the Lord would come. So dying in sleep is not recommended, for you did not stay awake (just kidding). Essentially, the Lord wants us to be prepared for his coming or our death. If we are always ready, dying anytime should be fine. If not, dying in sleep could be a disaster!       

**Ideal Mass Celebration*

        The best, most appropriate and perfect Mass would be one celebrated with Jesus alone (God alone) being placed in the spotlight, all in attendance – priest, musicians, servers, ushers, the entire congregation – doing nothing to make themselves noticeable. To love God is to focus upon him alone and forget about ourselves.

**Same Prayers!

        Communion experience. The Lord made me see that all my prayers were prompted by the Holy Spirit, thus they were his prayers! Therefore, they will be answered.

*Know the Holy Spirit

        The Holy Spirit who descended upon the disciples on Pentecost is the same Spirit who wishes to enter to dwell in us today. Yes, the Lord Spirit is to be experienced, but do not expect to see or hear anything entering you externally, but know that he is within you when you welcome him and become aware of his sweet holy presence, speaking to your heart and guiding all your thoughts and your ways. 

A World Not Knowing Humility

        One Time, as St Teresa was traveling the rugged roads of Spain, her saddle slipped and she fell off the donkey into a muddy stream she was crossing. Complaining to the Lord, she heard him say, "Teresa, whom the Lord loves, he also chastises. This is how I treat all my friends." She responded tartly, "No wonder you have so few!" The saint was being witty, but there is truth in her remark. Today our world is not willing to accept any chastisements, having lost all humility, and the generations have been self-centered ever since. By the way, this is Pentecost Sunday, the day celebrating the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of Jesus after his Ascension, and the world is pretty much dead to the living Spirit. How foolish can we be without the guidance of the Spirit, not knowing nor caring about where we are heading!

*Bittersweet Part of Christian Life

        Jesus said at his trial before Pontius Pilate, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here." (John 18.36.) As followers of the Lord in this hostile secular world, we can't help feeling that we do not belong here. As it is, this is the bittersweet part of living for Christ, a form of spiritual martyrdom.

Rule for Following God

        In yesterday's Gospel reading from John 21, Jesus signified to Peter the kind of death by which he would glorify God. In today's reading from the same chapter, Peter asked Jesus what would happen to John, the other disciple, Jesus said to Peter, "What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me." Here was given the succinct rule for following the Lord: we must follow him single-mindedly with no concern about the future of anyone or anything. 

All-Embracing Trust in God

        Trusting in God is meaningful only if we trust him in everything. And trusting him in everything requires that we seek his will in everything first. Then we trust that he will take care of our past wounds, present needs, and future everything through eternity and that all our prayers will be answered in due time. It's an all-embracing trust that our Lord deserves.

Wise & Appropriate Action

        In today's Gospel reading from John 21 at Mass, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. I hear Jesus speaking to each of us: "Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were young, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you grow old, someone will dress you and lead you where you may not want to go." This is true, and I see that "following Jesus" would be the exact wise and appropriate action for us to take. This was exactly what the Lord asked Peter to do afterwards.

**Guide to Cool Living

        In living our life, we do numerous things. Here's the basic guide I believe in. Whatever we do, we do it for the glory of God and, fun or no fun, we enjoy doing it without getting attached to it. 

**Our Cross to Bear

        The more you get to know Christ, the greater your joy; but at the same time, the more you feel his sorrow for the world which does not listen to his voice, and his sorrow becomes yours too. Then, feeling the burden, you turn to the Lord even more for consolation. The cycle continues on. To be one with Christ is to share his joys as well as his sorrows. This is the cross we must bear willingly for and with him in this life. This we know, if we remain in him, all our sorrows will turn into joys in the end. 

Only One

        Communion experience. God is the only one whom I can trust with my soul and in whom I can rest my spirit.