Journey of Love.

        We get to know God through the following possible stages. Of course, many never reach stage 6, but are still saved. (1) We feel the emptiness of life. (2) We seek God. (3) We check out Christ and find that there are sufficient reasons for us to believe in him. (4) That little bit of early faith makes us take the plunge, accepting him as our Savior. (5) You wish to know him even more and press on. (One common mistake is that some erroneously believe that once you have accepted Christ, you are saved forever. Then they slack off and put their salvation in jeopardy again.) (6) Another critical point is reached: should you surrender to Christ completely? If you do, the Lord starts taking charge of your life completely. As he continues to transform you into a new creature, you become less attached to the world and experience more and more peace and freedom. (7) You feel God's presence, his power and love, and start to fall deeply in love with God. (8) Finally, you desire union with him and attain it, aided greatly by the Holy Eucharist. All in all, it's an exciting journey. It is exciting because you are directly involved.

Love Banishes Fear

        Christians are not only to rejoice in Christ always, but they are to become fearless. We need to fear God only if we are not with him. Once you belong to him, he banishes all your fears, for now you are with the Lord who is in charge of all things that exist, their sole creator. He gives and he takes away. He creates and he destroys. But he is always love.

God Is Not a Crutch

        People accuse Christians of believing in God because they look for some kind of a crutch for support. I had never felt that way. If I were ill and desperately need some medicine for healing, I might try anything I can get my hands on – this would be looking for some kind of a crutch. When I sought God, starting out I didn't even want to believe in him. I gave in only after I discovered how truly beautiful he was. So it was God drawing me, not me looking for a crutch.

**God Wants Us Back Always

        Relative to God our Lord, we are lowly, unholy, frail, and useless on our own, yet he loves us and is eager to raise us to his level. No matter how immense that gap is between him and us, if we love him back and it is gone. We are the prodigal sons and daughters, and as long as we return to the Father, we are welcomed back into his family. Through the Holy Eucharist, we can even attain union with the Holy One! If you are not with God at all, the gap between you and him is infinite. But just remember that he can make that gap disappear anytime you so wish.    

*Restoring Our Beauty

        We are beautiful only if we are beautiful to God. In reality, we are always beautiful to God, our creator and Father; it is sin that make us look filthy and ugly. So just ask him to take away our sins and we'll be beautiful for good and to ourselves too.

**More Precious Than Our Soul*

        What is more precious than our soul? God our creator! For without God, our soul would be lost forever. With him, he can heal our soul or even create a new soul for us, for nothing is impossible for him! This is the God you can trust with all your soul.    

Sensible Planning

        We came into the world penniless and will leave the world and be penniless again. So it would be sensible and appropriate for us to will that all the money we have borrowed from the Lord during our lifetime be given away for his glory after we leave this world. 

**Giving Away Your Heart

        I recall my favorite saying of St. Bernadette's which I first posted back in 2009: "If we receive Jesus with love and make sure that he dwells happily within us, he is bound to pay us rent." Today the thought came to me that letting Jesus own our heart is even better than having him rent it, for as owner, he will have to do all the maintenance work, while we get his blessings anyway.      

**God Is Our Joy!

        Philippians 4.4: Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! We are exhorted to rejoice throughout the Scriptures. To be Christian is to rejoice in God always. It's hard to imagine that one can love Christ and not smile. The thought of God alone should make our hearts bubble with joy. We are so blessed to have a God who loves us to death, who is infinitely merciful, and who has revealed to us his plan of salvation, clearing the whole way for us to enjoy eternal bliss with him in heaven. So let your heart leap for joy! God is not only the source of our joy, he is our great joy! 

*Important Consideration

        If you believe that you do have a soul, that you do not just become nothing after you die, then looking into the afterlife and the existence of heaven and hell becomes absolutely necessary if you do have a sound mind and some common sense. If you ignore it, you should at least understand what your reason is. Gambling with your money is being foolish. Gambling with you soul is far beyond being foolish.

*Humility and Holiness

        Witness Christ who was misunderstood, falsely accused, horribly maltreated, and finally crucified. He did not protest to claim that he was innocent and his enemies wrong; he even asked the Father to forgive them. This is true humility. Now look at ourselves. Anytime someone disagrees or argues with us about something, most often trivial, we so want everyone else to see that we are right and our "opponent" wrong! Where is our humility? We may be considered nice and decent by ourselves and others, but without true humility, we definitely are not holy (nor cool). 

Receiving Life Through Christ

        In the olden days, emperors of China searched for the elixir of life, hoping to gain longevity or eternal youth. Today we have anti-aging creams and pills widely available on the market. When I last received the Holy Eucharist, it dawned on me that I was receiving the Lord who was to grant me eternal life in heaven! Never mind the elixir of life or those anti-aging stuff.                                   

**An Insight*

        The fact that Jesus underwent his Passion from the Last Supper to his death on the cross willingly without protest shows his genuine love for us.

**No Better God!*

        I love my Lord because not only I can share honestly whatsoever is in my heart with him, I can also laugh with him or cry with him. There is no better God or friend; he is to be savored and cherished. What a joy and privilege to know him! 

**Do You Know?*

        You can share anything with the Lord from your heart without feeling ashamed because he understands you perfectly and will be only too happy to cleanse you and make you whole again!

A Christian Stance

        Look up to God only and never look down on anyone.

Amazing Truth

        Do you know that the God of Christ is nothing short of being able to take away all you sins and give you eternal life? If you already know, then think about it seriously.

***Most Sweet Voice

        The voice of the Lord is the sweetest of all voices, for it is not only pure, but also most intimate, speaking directly to you from within your heart!