Best Kind of Help Is . . .

getting others to know Christ so that he might directly help them and save their souls as well.      

***It Will Be Forever!

        Today is Memorial of Saint Miki and Companions, Martyrs. The entrance antiphon: The souls of the saints are rejoicing in heaven, the saints who followed the footsteps of Christ, and since for love of him they shed their blood, they now exult with Christ for ever. Heaven is a place where you exult in joy. By contrast, hell is an abode where you wail in sorrow. What make the joy in heaven so great and the sorrow in hell so horrible is that they both continue on forever!

**No Cheering at the Second Coming

        I just saw in the news that the Philadelphia Eagles, this year's Super Bowl champ, got back home with the trophy held high, and the excited adoring fans that had waited at the airport cheered and applauded enthusiastically. I wonder what it will be like when Jesus arrives at his next coming. I believe that there will be only wailing and no cheering. Those who are saved will be overjoyed, but at the same time they will feel great sorrow for those who will be separated from them and the Lord forever. This has been quietly going on ever since the human race fell from grace.

***Living the Full Catholic Life*

        Ask Jesus to baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. The Holy Spirit is the fire that can set your heart ablaze with the love of God. Be completely open to the Holy Spirit and he will reveal to you with absolute certainty that God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit loves you and yearns to be one with you. And you'll never be the same person again! Those who say that God is hard to find do not know what they are talking about! The Lord is all yours if you let yourself be all his.

*More Than Recognizing Jesus*

        Today is Memorial of St. Agatha. From the Gospel reading from Mark 6, we heard that Jesus and his disciples crossed the sea to land at Gennesaret and tied up there. And as they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him. They scurried about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. Recognition of Jesus drew the people to him. Do we also recognize the Lord? Of course, we do not see him today, but we certainly can get to know him most intimately. In fact, knowing him dwelling in us far exceeds recognizing him, for he is now one with us.

*Our Choice

        First of all, we are completely at God's mercy, for nothing can pass without his knowledge nor happen without his permission. And we can choose to rebel against or to obey him. You needn't rack your brain to figure out what we should do.

Minding Our Own Business

        Our business is to let God make us holy, and this is what we need to focus upon exclusively. We need not be concerned about loving others, as that will become part of us as we grow holier. You could say that we need to love ourselves first, but not more than others. The foremost aim is to become like Christ ourselves.    

The All-Encompassing God

        There are many religions, but there is only one God, the God of Christ. This is the God who has created and knows everything about us and upon whom we depend completely for existence! And it'd be impossible for us to hide or escape from him ever. Therefore, we might as well submit ourselves willingly to him. Especially, after he has revealed through his Son how much he loves us, there is absolutely no excuse for us to ignore him anymore.

*More on Either You or God*

        A beloved good friend just passed away and the church is getting ready to hold her funeral tomorrow. This got me thinking that we all live a relatively short life, so does how things go in our life really matter that much? We can want things go our way or God's way. To get to the point, we can choose to serve either ourselves or God. What's so beautiful about serving God is we get liberated from it! If you choose to serve yourself always, I don't have to tell you that you won't die happy, let alone how you would feel in your afterlife.  

*Either You or God

        Submitting yourself to God is the key to peace and freedom. You cannot serve yourself and God at the same time! Very clear.

**How Well You Know Your Savior

        In the Gospel reading from Luke 2, When Joseph and Mary brought in the child Jesus to the temple for his presentation, Simeon, a devout and righteous man in the Holy Spirit, took the child into his arms and blessed God, saying: "Now, Master, you may let your servant die in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation." This brings up the question if we are ready to die in peace. We do not see our Savior, but certainly we can get to know him well. This is the test: If you are not ready to leave this life yet, you certainly do not know him well yet.

Rejoicing in the Lord!

        Today is Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. The Response came from Psalm 24: Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord. Anytime we recognize that it is the Lord, our heart should leap with joy. For it the Lord who loves us, who has redeemed us from sin, who wants to us to return to him in heaven, who is sustaining our life at this moment, who yearns to be one with us, who wishes to free us by forgiving my sins to make us clean, who can give us peace and joy, and so on and on. Let us recognize our amazing Lord and rejoice in him with great thanksgiving.

*In Each Other

      It is most helpful to be aware that Jesus dwells in your heart, serving as your personal guide. But it is equally helpful to be aware that you dwell in him, serving as your protector. Nevertheless, to be in each other is to be one in union, with benefits galore. 

R.I.P. Now

       Communion experience. R.I.P. is the abbreviation for "rest in peace," usually found on gravestones or in obituaries. But why wait until you are dead to rest in peace? Why not start resting in the Lord now? After receiving Holy Communion, I experienced profound peace when I rested in Christ.

Freedom awaits Us!

        This morning at Mass after the consecration of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, we all said the memorial acclamation: "Save us, Savior of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection, you have set us free." I realized that God had already set us free! The door for leaving our prison is wide open. So do we want to remain where we are or step right out into freedom?

More on Union With God

        A sinner seeking union with God is analogous to a patient with a tumor seeking surgery. A sinner who prays hard and resolves not to sin again on his own is analogous to the tumor patient who eats right and rests enough, hoping that the tumor will go away. The sinner who seeks union with God to resolve his problem with sin is analogous to the tumor patient who goes to the surgeon to get his tumor removed. For the sinner it is a case of how much he chooses to depend upon himself or God.  

Asking for Authority

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 6, the mission of the Twelve began. Jesus sent them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. It struck me that we could ask the Lord to give us authority while serving him. With authority we can more effectively spread the good news and witness for him with great courage and confidence.

**Eureka Moment*

        Deciding to follow Jesus is only the beginning of a new exciting journey. It is in seeking union with him that the most exciting part of the journey begins. That is because you find out that the Lord can actually transform you step by step into a new creature, taking away your desire to sin and your struggle to become holy. You finally stop rebelling against him to let him do all the work to form you. It's a eureka moment, although it could take a while to get there, depending upon how readily you submit yourself to him. (Seeking union with God is the same as opening yourself up to God, putting all your trust in God, or abandoning yourself in God.)