***Facing Truth

        Truth is hard to face. Truth is reality. Try facing how good a person you really are. Try facing God, the hardest of all! But once you are brave (humble) enough to face God, you can face anything, for you are out of darkness. You are now free, as the truth has set you free!

How to Not Worry

        If you are willing to let God do everything for you, let him do the worrying for you too. Since God does not worry, you have nothing to worry about.

#WalkAway for Christians

        God wants all Christians to walk away from, in no particular order, the following: the lure of material goods, hypocrisy, lukewarmness, gossiping, you own ego, judging others, doing anything that fractures the body of Christ, boasting about your own righteousness, thinking that you know more than God, hiding yourself from God, not following God in everything, worrying about things, dwelling on the past, believing that God does not know everything you do, believing that you are a good enough person, thinking that God is not with you, attachment to your own interests, etc. (There is no need to memorize this list; seek union with God and you'll know.)

Ready for Jesus?

        As I was exercising on the treadmill at the gym this morning, the overhead TV had the very successful game show The Price Is Right on. In the show, contestants competed to win cash and prizes by guessing the pricing of merchandise. There was a lot of excitement – you saw people cheering, people jumping up and down, people embracing each other – the lure of money and material goods was great. This was all fun, but what if Jesus came, would they be ready?

***Urgent Call to Union With God

        To attain union with God requires surrendering yourself to God or abandoning yourself in God or simply letting God be your God. They all mean the same thing. To fight the spiritual battle in this dark world, it is not enough just to remain lukewarm – you must be perfect as the Lord calls you to be. My message is urgent, for your lifetime is brief. If calling for union somehow turns you off, it only shows that your need it. To limit yourself is to limit God, for nothing is impossible with him. You are not free completely only because you haven't gone all the way with him yet. The Lord is inviting you to be one with him – how more intimate can you possibly get? To desire union with him is to show that you do love him with all your heart. He has made us so that our joy is complete on earth only when we attain union with him. Let the Lord make you perfect.  

*Joy of "Thy Will Be Done"

        Today in meditating upon the Passion of Christ while praying the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, I felt the horrific sufferings the Lord underwent, yet I was overcome by joy, for God has shown his love for us. He has succeeded in redeeming us, clearing our way to return to him. Even the Sorrowful Mysteries are to be celebrated! Never obstruct God and we can certainly rejoice always.

*Questioning Our Existence

        The fact that Jesus the Son of God actually came down to earth to suffer and die for us so that we might be saved shows how much God loves us. I know I sound cliché, but every person alive needs to pay attention and respond to this. Otherwise, why do we even exist?

Faith in True God Works

        From today's entrance antiphon at Mass from Psalm 68: God himself gives might and strength to his people. When we put our faith in God, we indeed receive might and strength. What if you say that I am simply fooling myself, believing that there is a God? I challenge you to imagine that there is a God and you put your faith in your mind-created god to see if you actually feel mightier and stronger. It won't work or you'd be deceiving yourself. Believe in God, the God of Christ, and things happen, for he is real and true.

**Most Important Selection Process

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 13, Jesus spoke to his disciples using another parable, "The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad hey throw away. Thus it will be at the end of age. The angles will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth." This makes me see that in life we basically go through a selection process. How we live our life will determine how we'll be selected by God at the end. We prepare ourselves hard to make sure that we get admitted into a university or the job we apply for, but it is infinitely more important that we prepare well so that we might be selected by God to keep us for all eternity. 

**Facing God Alone

        Expect to face the Lord alone at judgment time. No one else will be there to witness or speak for you, and there will be no lawyers you can hire to help defend you. The Holy Mother may come forward to intercede, but you still need to have some redeeming value in you. Anyway, the time to take care of all your concerns and future problems is now in advance, and this is precisely the message of our Lord. You alone are responsible for your own future in eternity!  

*Jesus' Protection

        I thought about the Apostles who followed Jesus. Were they totally under his protection? Of course. But protection does not mean that they no longer had to face hardships or suffer in this life. In fact, with the exception of John, all got martyred in the end. Therefore, protection by the Lord means that he would make sure that they would receive eternal life in heaven with him, and that's good enough for me.

Humility, Essential Ingredient

        Communion thoughts. Even though the Holy Eucharist enables the communicant to become one with the Lord, ironically it has also caused division among his followers. As you know, most Protestants do not believe that Christ is really present in the consecrated bread and wine. There are many other dividing issues as well. The extreme enemies of the Church even believe that the Pope is the Antichrist. As long as they do not have the humility to be willing to study the history of the Early Church and the official teachings of the Church, the division remains. Humility is what we all need to enter the Kingdom of heaven.

The More Joyful Life

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 13, Jesus likens the Kingdom of heaven to a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field; and again, to a merchant searching for fine pearls, who, when he finds a pearl of great price, goes and sells all that he has and buys it. There is and should be great joy and excitement in finding Jesus. Of course, faith is not to be based upon emotions solely, but knowing the Lord well enough to feel excited about him surely can make your life a lot more joyful!

*Thought on Abortion

        The unborn baby is definitely not a part of the mother's body. God has designed for the baby to reside in the mother's womb for 9 months exclusively for the purpose of protecting and nurturing the infant before its birth. Therefore, to abort the unborn child is going directly against the will of God, let alone the commandment "Thou shalt not kill."

*How to Do Good

        Sometimes we feel inadequate at doing much good in this world, what with so many talented and capable people visibly doing so much. Let's think differently. God loves to help the weak, so we can rely upon him to do the work through us. Not only this trust pleases him, our intimate collaboration with him can also help us grow spiritually. Of course, we can always pray, asking the Lord to do good. We needn't know what he's going to do – we only need to believe that he's going to do it. Here, it's how sincerely we ask that counts, not necessarily how holy we are. 

*Melting Experience

        Communion experience. As Christ melted in my mouth, My spirit started to melt in him. It's a melting-into-each-other experience. Holy Communion is all about union.

**Special Class of Sinners*

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 13, Jesus again brought up final judgment in explaining the parable of the weeds to his disciples. He said, at that time his angels will collect out of his Kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers and throw them into the fiery furnace. Note that the Lord actually mentioned those who cause others to sin and those who just sin in general. I have blogged in the past that anyone whose sin causes others to sin commits a graver sin than one whose sin is known only to him and God. Therefore, we must be a good example to our children, relatives, friends, colleagues, boss at work, et al. Cease sinning and we'll not have to be concerned about this. Again, I advocate seeking union with God, for he is the one who can make us perfect.

*Amazing Lord

        Today is the Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. The entrance antiphon from the 2nd letter of St. Paul to the Philippians reads: At the name of Jesus, every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. This came from one who once notoriously persecuted Christians, and the Lord called and converted him. What is most amazing to me is that Jesus conquers and reigns in our hearts by sheer love alone!