No Room for Sins

      Communion experience. In receiving the Holy Eucharist, the Lord filled my soul to the full, dispelling all my sins. 

Good Enough to Know

        We do not understand many things well, the Lord God himself included, but it is good enough for us to know that the Lord God understands us and loves us.

God's Tireless Arms

        Here is another mental picture I see. God full of love has his arms tirelessly outstretched, waiting patiently for us to go to him to be embraced by him. Many of us couldn't care less and don't even glance his way. Again, it is us who resist or ignore God, the God of Christ. Do not blame Satan. For Satan is an opportunist and sees you as a target only when you make yourself noticeable to him. Let God embrace you and you become invisible to Satan. My advice: Run to God while you still can!

No Melancholy Christian

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 2, people came to Jesus and asked, "Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not?" Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day." We now know that Christ is with us always until the end of the age (read the last verse of Matthew), and we realize this especially when we receive him in the Holy Eucharist. Therefore, as disciples of the Lord, we experience constant joy. Anyone who is melancholy cannot be possibly be a genuine disciple. 

*Perfect Justice

        Each one of us comes from a different background, receives an individual upbringing, and lives in a unique set of circumstances. When God, the only one who knows our soul, judges us, he takes all that into consideration and whatever we receive is exactly what we deserve. Therefore, his justice is perfect.

Life Is All About . . .

how much you play God.       

Serving God Joyfully

        Being aware that God has chosen you brings joy to serving him.

How To Change the World

        Someone I know suffers greatly in an unhappy marriage. The thing is you cannot make anyone live up to your expectations, as only God can fundamentally change a person. To make it happen, you must petition God, and before that, you must ask him to change yourself first if you wish to be taken seriously. The reason the world, the nations, the cities, the communities, and the families are in such chaos and disorder is because the interior of so many individuals is in chaos and disorder. Almost everyone nowadays is so busy judging and blaming others that hardly anyone bothers to examine his own conscience anymore. Here is another awakening we need to bring peace to the world.

**A Matter of Awakening

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 2, some scribes who were Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with sinners and tax collectors and said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus heard this and said to them, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners." I believe that all of us know that we are not perfect and holy, which means that we are sinners and need God's mercy to be saved by him. This becomes increasingly clear to me as I age. Unfortunately, most people live so much for this life that the need for salvation just doesn't occur to them until things go really badly or their life is under threat. Some awaken early and some later; still, others never do. I hope this message will help awakening those who are still asleep.

**Obedience to God First

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 1, Jesus healed a leper and said to him, "See that you tell no one anything, but go show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleaning what Moses prescribed." The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report so much that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. Here is a case of emotion overriding obedience to the Lord. The other instance I recall appears in Matthew 16. After Jesus first revealed to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer greatly, and be killed and then be raised, Peter rebuked him, "God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you." Jesus turned to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." We human beings are so used to following our emotion and forgetting what God wants us to do. Self-directed emotion must be set aside to clear the way for total obedience to the Lord.

On Not Accepting Christ

        It is only fair that you do not reject Christ before you even had a chance to taste him. If you see a dish of possibly delicious food served, you'll never know if it truly tastes good or not until you have tried tasting it. But I do suspect that people reject Christ mostly because they are not ready to deal with their sinful state yet.

*Incredible Union

        Communion experience. The Most Holy One entered me to be one with me, a sinner!

**Living the Interior Life*

        In union with God, you commune with the Lord dwelling in your heart. He speaks and you believe. It is cherishing and enjoying the Lord in secret in the most intimate way.

Great Principles of Living

           (1) Focus upon Christ so that you would have no time (desire) to sin.

        (2) Next, abandon yourself completely in him. (That is, rely upon him for all things.)

*Most Beautiful Act

        When Jesus saw Peter and his brother Andrew fishing at the Sea of Galilee, he said to them, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him. Likewise he called the two brothers James and John in a boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. Immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him. Peter, Andrew, James, and John are models for us to follow. Responding to God's call immediately without hesitation is the most beautiful act we can perform this side of heaven. There is nothing more rewarding than pleasing our Father. 

*Our Lovable Lord

      We are simple human, limited in what we can do, while the Lord God is boundless in what he can do and is so high above us that his infinity and greatness are beyond our comprehension. To think that we know so much that we don't need him anymore is sheer folly! Do you keep your own heart beating and your own lungs pumping? If you think so, then how come you have absolutely no control over them?

        If a human friend donates an organ to save your life, you would feel grateful and treat the donor as one of your best friends. Now God has donated his own life so that you may live for all eternity! Shouldn't you at the very least treat him as a friend too?

        Our God is completely approachable. Whatever barrier there is between him and you is set up by you, not him. He has so made us that we can never be truly happy until we find and rest in him. He has really given us all he can possibly give us, and is ready to enter union with us. This is our most lovable Lord.      

**Pay God Full Attention

        I've been advocating focusing upon God alone under all circumstances. Even in petitioning for a favor from God, concentrate upon him and not think about our problem or wonder if, when, or how he is going to grant our request. Do not let anything detract your attention from the Lord one iota.

*God Most Awesome!

        I am most impressed by Christ the Lord who came into the world, but did not treat us as if we were lowly creatures and he was the high and mighty God. On the contrary, he lived among us and suffered for us as the meekest and humblest servant of us all. This is why to me he is awe-inspiring!