***Life Needn't Be Tragic*

        Léon Bloy, the French novelist and a fervent Catholic convert wrote, "The only real failure, the only great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint." I think I understand this. Not to become a saint is a great tragedy because there is so much you can gain and have when you become a saint! Being a saint is to be in union with God. To be a saint is to enjoy freedom and peace in God and receive great joy from him. To be a saint is to be in perfect harmony with your loving Father and creator. To be a saint is to gain the Lord and everything he has becomes yours! Relatively speaking, falling short of becoming a saint is indeed tragic.

*How God Blessed Us

        On August 20, I posted "God's Surprise Response." Here it is in a shortened version.

         "Recently my wife underwent kidney stone surgery. She had a stent placed in her ureter to prevent any blockage of the urine flow. Five days later, she lost urinary control completely and developed a high fever accompanied by shaking chills. I rushed her to emergency and she was diagnosed with severe sepsis attributed to an infection. After 3 days, the illness was brought under control, but the stent was to remain in her for another 10-14 days. When a nurse's aid came to prepare her for discharge from the hospital, she discovered the string that's attached to the stent. Ignorant of what it was, she started pulling on it and the stent started coming out. Of course, the hospital staff were all alarmed, but the doctors had no choice but to have it pulled out completely. Unexpectedly, after it came out my wife instantly regained her urinary control. With temperature close to normal and continuing taking her antibiotic, she should be fine soon. I wouldn't be surprised if the stent had caused the infection in the first place. Anyhow, it seemed that the Lord allowed this mistake to happen and turned it into a blessing. A most pleasant surprise."

        Why do I repost this again? Well, I found out from my wife this morning that the name of the nurse's aid was Blessing!

Joy of Learning from the Lord

        Of course, my main purpose of attending daily Mass is to receive the Lord in the Holy Eucharist so that I might remain as one with him. Then my joy increases greatly when he also teaches me directly during Mass.  

*Overwhelmed and with Gratitude

        Communion experience. As the priest consecrated the bread and wine, I knew they were going to be transformed into the flesh and blood of our Lord. For me, this invisible mystical transformation is even more impactful than the visible stunning transfiguration of the Lord on Mt. Tabor. I was compelled to ask who am I that he should find worthy to receive him! 

*Only Essential Teacher

        Communion antiphon from Matthew 23: "You have but one teacher, the Christ." There are many teachers in the world, but no one knows everything nor can save your soul. This leaves Christ to be the only teacher you essentially need.

*Hypocrites Beautifully Portrayed

         In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 23, Jesus continued to denounce the scribes and Pharisees for being hypocrites. He said to them, "You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones and every kind of filth." Ouch! The people of today are no different. Anytime you see someone who wants to appear beautiful on the outside in the eyes of the world, you can be sure that he or she is hiding something on the inside. 

*Letting God Search Us*

        Today's response from Psalm 139: You have searched me and you know me, Lord. It strikes me that it's absolutely necessary that we open ourselves to let the Lord enter to search us, our hearts. This shows our willingness to know him, absolutely necessary for our salvation. 

Remembering Saint Augustine

        Today is the memorial of St. Augustine, bishop and doctor of the Church. When I first entered the Church many decades ago, I had to pick a patron saint or something and I chose St. Augustine. Not because I knew much about him, but because I was unfamiliar with all the saints and Augustine was the name I had heard of before. Subsequently, I read some of his books, including the best known Confessions. His most famous saying which I have quoted a number of time in the past on this blog is, of course, this one: "Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee." During Communion, I really felt this to be true, as my heart rested peacefully in Christ. May this great saint continue to watch over and bless me.

***God and I (Ecstatic Feeling)***

        I have recommended the Book He and I a number of times because you can read all the beautiful messages Christ gave to Gabrielle Bossis the author, expressing his desire to be one with us. So the title makes sense. Today I feel that there's only God and I as one – I am alone in him but never lonely. It is most amazing that nothing in this world I can claim to be mine, yet I possess the Lord! By the way, I am also enjoying him every moment.

**I Became the Fruit*

        Communion experience. I wanted the Lord to completely slay my old self to make me new. He made me see that this was also bearing fruit for him, for I was that fruit. 

**Feeling Good About Yourself

        Make sure that God feels good about you, then you'll feel good about yourself too!

***Prayer Distilled*

        We can pray that God will strengthen us, that God will increase our faith, that God will make us more loving, that God will do this or do that. Wouldn't it be better to pray that we will let God strengthen us, that we will let God increase our faith, that we will let God make us more loving, that we will let God do this or do that? Best yet, we can pray that we will be open to God to let him do whatever he wishes with us? This covers everything we can think of and simplifies our prayer. And besides, it puts you on the road to union with God.

Stepping Out of Comfort Zone

        I caught Steve Harvey, the comedian, giving a short motivational speech on TV. He said that we must be willing to step out of our comfort zone if we need to. This resonates with me, for we should do that in following God's call. Knowing that you are doing God's will can actually make you feel comfortable.

Laughable Proclamation

        This morning I heard on TV one presidential candidate for 2020, who is 100% pro-abortion, proclaim that he was going to fight for the soul of this nation. That surely sounded like a joke. How can you trust anyone who doesn't know how to save his own soul to save others? 

*Grateful for God's Mercy*

        I would like to thank both the Lord, and the Blessed Mother for her intercession. As you know, I had to rush Maria my wife to emergency room just a few days after she had her kidney stone surgery (see my post "God's Surprise Response" of August 20). It turned out that she suffered severe sepsis due to kidney infection. This is a serious disease that can often be fatal or damage other organs. The medical personnel did their best and the final urine analysis miraculously showed that she was free of infection. The Lord surely heard my prayers! Today she is home finishing up her antibiotic and is pretty much back to normal.

*Keeping Our Thorns

        Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 mentions his thorn in the flesh. He begged the Lord to take it away from him, but the Lord left it alone so that power might be made perfect through his weakness. We don't know what Paul's thorn was, but we all have our own thorns which weaken us in one way or another. Why don't we also take advantage of it by letting God make us strong too?

**Honest Truth*

        Once you hear the Lord speaking to your heart directly, everything else you hear, whatever it might be, becomes downright tiresome and boring! For God alone liberates and refreshes our soul.

"Woe to you Hypocrites"

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 23, Jesus denounced the scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites. Were they self-serving? Yes. Were they misguided. Perhaps. Were they evil? They might not deliberately want to hurt others, but they definitely wanted to make themselves look and feel good. It seems that not doing much good is as sinful as doing evil. You could argue that the evildoers are at least genuine, not phony like the scribes and Pharisees. While the former follow Satan, the hypocrites are deceived by Satan to follow their own ego. Be genuine in the Lord always and you'll never hear the Lord say "Woe to you" to you.