Spiritual Progress

        I am happy that nowadays my thoughts no longer dash around uncontrollably, for I am able to remain perfectly still in the Lord.

Don't Tell Me There's No God

        It amazes me today that the earth would orbit around the sun once a year, year after year. How is this possible if there is no God?

**Mankind's Biggest Tragedy

        I dare say that deep in their hearts most people know that money and material possessions cannot make them truly happy, yet they still strive to get rich and accumulate material things. It often takes something shocking or unexpected like a death, an accident, a serious illness . . . to wake them up. The biggest tragedy has to be that people do not want to know the God who only wants to save them.  

Jesus and the Avant-Garde

        What does Jesus and the avant-garde have in common? In a changing world, the avant-garde is always avant-garde, while Jesus remains the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Forever Refreshing and New

        Communion experience. Each reception of the Holy Eucharist is a refreshing new experience, for the Lord is forever refreshing and new.        

Effortless Creation

       For God, creating life or a miracle or anything is effortless. For us, creating something new always involves a lot of work. One thing that strikes me as an exception is creating a link to God. Anytime we wish to connect with the Lord, he knows it already. This is instant communication created without any effort on our part, unless you consider turning to the Lord to be an effort.  

On Temptation

        I've mentioned that the smart way to overcome temptation is to flee from it. I also want to point out that the more you enter the Lord and sense his holiness, the more repugnant sin becomes. Being human, you'll always feel the lure of temptation, but now you are stronger because you see that it will lead you to commit something that's repugnant to you. Also, attain union with God and you will not be lead into any temptation that can overpower you.

What God Asks of Us

        Do your humble best and not worry about the rest.

*My Greatest Joy Is . . .

that the Lord is my soulmate. A soulmate is someone completely compatible with you. This is difficult to realize between two human beings. However, with God you can attain union and become perfectly compatible with him.

The Great Tragedy

        Life can be so beautiful and complete if you can attain union with Christ, yet the world does not even want to know him.

*Doing What Matters

        In the limited time we have on earth, what matters is not how much work we get done, but doing what God wants us to do.

Is There Reproductive Justice? (reposted)

        The fact that the Left in this country has absolutely no regard for the unborn and care only about their own existence and political power shows clearly that they are hypocrites to the core. It is appropriate that I repost this blog of March 23, 2012 below:

         Yesterday I attended a forum on "Reproductive Justice: Does a Woman Have a Right to Choose?" at a local college. The panelists were made up of five well-known pro-choice, pro-abortion females. Naturally, abortion was the biggest issue among the reproductive rights claimed. What I basically saw was that they didn't believe that anyone, not even God or Church, should tell a woman what to do with her body, not admitting that the child conceived is not really a part of the mother's body. They admitted that abortion terminates a life, but it's the mother alone who knows whether it should keep the baby or not. One panelist had gone through an abortion herself and knew how painful an experience it was, so she wanted to make sure that others would have an easier experience ~ why didn't she make sure that others wouldn't have to go through an abortion? 

       They used the position taken by Catholics for Choice to bolster their own. I almost laughed out loud when one said that the bishops should not tell women what to do with the unborn because they don't have any children themselves. I wanted to tell them since they don't really know God, they are not qualified to preach to others on moral matters.

      I believe that they're probably all church goers and did care about women's welfare; but unfortunately, they were misguided. Until the heart is touched by the love of God and converted, the chasm remains between the pro-abortion camp and the pro-life one. I also sensed that they might feel that the pro-lifers care only about the unborn ~ how I wish they know that we love the pregnant mothers, the unborn babies, and even them!  

Effective Messaging Needed

        Telling others simply to love God and be holy is just too general – it won't affect the listener much in any way. What we need to give are specific, focused, strong and clear messages that illuminate the mind and better yet, touch the heart. The Lord is our supreme example. We don't have his authority, but we can certainly get to know his thoughts and learn his ways first.   

*Our Demonic Generation

        In the Gospel reading from Mark 6, Herod had John the Baptist beheaded. Many of our generation today are right with Herod. We have a major political party that has no qualms about killing the unborn at any stage of their life, even if they survive a botched abortion. You are talking about allowing mothers to kill their own children for whatever reason! Our generation has truly become demonic.  

How Real Is God to You?

        Faith is all about how real God is to you. Attain union with God and the Lord will let you know without the slightest doubt that he is real, for he and you are now one.

**Only Possible Union

        Think about it: only union with God makes sense. We cannot have union with a tree or any inanimate object. Union with nature is rather vague. Union with another person can never be perfect because there will always be differences between the two. Union with God makes sense because if differences exist, God has the power to remove them through changing us. Therefore, let union with God be the ideal state for us to attain.

***Get Baptized in the Holy Spirit!*

        In the Gospels, John the Baptist says that he baptizes with water, but Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit. In the Church's Charismatic Renewal movement, we do pray for baptism in the Holy Spirit and, lo and behold, dramatic changes take place. All of a sudden, scriptures come alive, Jesus becomes real, praying is a joy, you experience great exuberance, or your heart is set on fire for the Lord. These are all real experiences. Therefore, I ask you, my friends, to ask the Lord to baptize you in the Holy Spirit or release his power in you, to kindle in you the fire of his love. The Holy Spirit is gentle but powerful. Simply pray straight from you heart and let miracles happen. Anything coming from your heart the Lord hears. Anything you ask for for the love of him, he honors. His whole goal is have you live in peace and joy now and enjoy eternal life later. 

Asking for Your Gifts

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 6, Jesus summoned the Twelve, began to send them out to preach repentance and gave them authority over unclean spirits. They went off and indeed drove out many demons. It shows that all our gifts come from God and when you need a special gift, he gives it to you too. This leads me to think that we should ask for all the gifts we need for our work. Yes, ask him to make us special.