***It's the Lord Speaking

        Today's Gospel reading consists of just three verses from Luke 9: Jesus said to his disciples: "The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised." Then he said to all, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?" 

        The Lord here spoke definitively as God. He knew exactly what he was going to happen to him, laid down the precise conditions of discipleship for us to save ourselves, and asked the most poignant question that should make us realize that there is life after death. Listen to him.

Amazing Lord

        Communion experience. Christ died for all, so he belongs to all . He died for me too, so he is also mine alone. He is the only being we can all belong to, possess, love, and easily share with others and rejoice together in. A most amazing Lord.

Ash Wednesday Joy

        As I walked up the aisle to receive ashes to be placed on my head, I was deeply moved, realizing that I was made by the Lord, belong to him, and am on my way returning to him. 

To Be Rewarded Openly or in Secret

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 6, Jesus teaches about almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. He let it be known that if we perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them, we have received our reward. But if we do them all in secret, the Father who sees them in secret will repay us. It shows again that any reward a hypocrite receives is short-lived and that our ego is our great enemy.

Lenten Giving

        This is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. The Lord invites you to give all of yourself to him, for he loves you so much that he wants all of you to himself. During this season we are supposed to fast, be penitent, and give up things to which we are attached in preparation for Easter, so why not give all of yourself to him? 

*Seeking a Sign

        Today's short Gospel reading from Mark 8: The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus, seek from him a sign from heaven to test him. He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said, "Why does this generation seek a sign? Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation." Then he left them, got into the boat again, and went off to the other shore. Today's unbelievers also wish to see a sign before they would believe, so they say. I say that if they do not already believe that Jesus had healed the sick, the lame, the blind, the deaf, the lepers, cast demons out of the possessed, raised the dead, and performed so many other miracles, including the biggest one of them all, his own Resurrection, then they are not going to believe in him even if he shows up today to do another miracle. Remember that when the great 1917 miracle of the sun took place in Fatima before tens of thousands of people, critics still tried to explain it away, saying that it must be mass hallucination or something. Once the heart has hardened, it becomes a tough nut to crack. The next time you see the Lord doing a sign in person will be at his Second Coming, then it'll be too late for us to believe in him, even if we want to.

Reflecting on My Blog

        This blog began in 2009, but it's not until late 2010 that it started to take off, and the Lord made it clear to me that through his messages, he wishes to draw all to union with him via receiving the Holy Eucharist. This has continued on for over seven and a half years. It is clear that not everyone is receptive to this message. In fact, it creates a disconnect in many cases, for union with God is too far from what they would consider. I have personally met people who told me that they did know what I was talking about and others who, seemingly content in their faith, expressed no interest in furthering their spiritual growth. On the other hand, from the small number of comments I'd received, these messages did impact these readers. The number of pageviews and followers are also indications of how popular the blog is. But to go viral is never the objective, for we are called to fight spiritual battles, to tread on rough roads if need be. As always, we merely do what we are assigned to do by the Lord and trust that he will take care of the rest. 

**Mutual Waiting

        Death waits for us, but it does not wait for us to be ready, so we must be ready now and wait for its coming. For those who belong to Christ, it would be the Lord waiting for them and them waiting to meet him in person.

Appreciating God

        I am happy today because I realize that we all sin and our God knows that. Should he be absent, we would spin out of control and evil would rule the world. I am also happy that the Lord is all holy, setting the example for us to follow. Otherwise, we would have no guide to show us the way. He is everything we need, our indispensable salvation!

*God My Janitor

        Today I feel that the Lord not only cleanses, but also unclutters my heart. He casts out all the litter and rubbish and puts the rest in order. An uncluttered heart is a heart that enjoys peace.

**What Love Is

        Communion experience. Love is being one with God.

Our First Duty Is . . .

to submit ourselves completely to God, especially if you consider yourself to be a Christian, or we will not have peace in the world nor in our heart. There is no following the Lord, if you do not follow him completely and unconditionally.      

**God to Be Trusted

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 8, Jesus was moved with great pity for the great crowd that had been with him for three days and had nothing to eat. He was concerned that if he sends them away hungry to their homes, they would collapse on the way. So he took the seven loaves of bread and a few fish which his disciples had, said the blessing, multiplied them and ordered his disciples to distribute them to the crowd. I also recall that after Jesus heard that Lazarus whom he loved was ill, he still remained for two days in the place where he was before setting out for the village of Lazarus. When he arrived, Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. And the Lord raised him from the dead so that all might see the glory of God and believe.  

         God always knows what to do and does test us constantly, while we always wish for instant results. Complete trust in the Lord is necessary. If God cannot be completed trusted, he couldn't have been God in the first place. If we were all sinless, we would be living in a perfect, predictably ordered world. Sinning throws things out of kilter so that the Lord has to deal with the chaos we have created as he sees fit without changing the goal of his overall plan. Because of this, we get confused about why things should happen this way or that way. Therefore, be holy, trust with patience, and do not question to the very end.  

*Only God Can Change Us

        We have little power to change ourselves fundamentally, that is, to change our heart. We can be determined and resolve to change, then we slip once and are back to where we were. Say there is someone who gets stressed out all the time and you advise him not to let anything bother him, even suggesting that he abandon himself in God. It's good advice, but if the person does listen, nothing will happen. I advocate seeking union with God, precisely because this is the way to let God into your heart to let him change your heart inside out. This is how you become a new work of God.

**Stunning Intimacy**

        Communion experience. In Matthew 9, the woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind Jesus and touched the tassel on his cloak, saying to herself, "If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured." And she was cured. Surely, receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist is a thousand times more intimate than touching his cloak. Overwhelmed, I was speechless and could only exclaim in my heart "My Lord and my God!"

*Mind Takeover?

        The mind always follows the heart. But there are times when you are strongly tempted to do something that you know is sinful, and you feel as if the mind has taken control of the heart – the truth is that you've started out with a weak heart, for a strong heart could or would have prevented all these thoughts from occurring. Therefore, let the Holy Spirit keep your heart pure and strong, and leave your mind alone. 

Facing Death

        When you are young, death is a rather remote thought and that is understandable. But what about when you are already old? The common thinking is that since you do not have much time left, you'd better do all the enjoyable things, such as traveling, while you can. There is a point here, but it's still avoiding facing death squarely. Perhaps you already have faith in God and do not worry about death anymore – that's fine. But if you do not know what's going to happen to you after death and try not to think about it, that is not good. The best course of action is to always serve God first before serving yourself, no matter what age you are at, and soon you will have the most enjoyable time of your existence. 

*Whole Story of Humanity***

        God pleadingly wants us to go his way and we stubbornly want to go our way. In others words, we choose to rebel rather than obey. Let those of us who have chosen to follow the Lord do their best to help him make the ending less bitter and as sweet as possible!