Let's be realistic. Evil is real and there will be many souls lost. No doubt that God will triumph in the end. We need to trust and obey the God of Christ to get to heaven.
Sunday, May 23, 2021
**Our Only Proper Response to God
Communion experience. To God, our only proper response is to submit ourselves to him completely. This is choosing to belong to him alone. On this Pentecost, I renew my submission to God the Holy Spirit.
***Key to Being Baptized by the Holy Spirit
Today is Pentecost Sunday. I attended the Vigil Mass yesterday. Three parishioners were confirmed at the Mass. We all prayed "Come, Holy Spirit" for them. My thoughts are that the focus really should be more on the candidates. Here's why. God the Holy Spirit is ready to enter any baptized person who desires him. So it all depends upon how receptive you are. If you don't know this and don't expect anything, ask all you want and nothing will happen. (I saw one confirmed person and her sponsor left the Mass early.) But if you remain wide open and desire the encounter with Holy Spirit, believe me, you'll witness wondrous things happen!
Saturday, May 22, 2021
***Our Infinite God
Jesus is such a rich, inexhaustible subject that you can teach about him, proclaim his kingdom, and praise him without end, for he is the God of the greatest love.
**God Empowers the Weak
Since the Lord knows all your weaknesses, if you love him, he will never test you to fail you, for he only wants to strengthen you. And he'll never send you suffering you wouldn't be able to bear. So love and trust in him confidently to let him make you strong. The Lord loves empowering the weak!
***Back to the Basics and Reality***
It's good to hear the basics preached again, which many of us have almost forgotten. God bless Fr. Corapi.
Friday, May 21, 2021
***Incredible Knowing God***
I had eggs for breakfast this morning. I saw the cracked shells and realized that the chicken egg has such a perfect shape that it cannot possibly somehow came into existence by itself. This alone showed me that God exists. In fact, I intuitively know that without God, there would be absolutely nothing—no you, no me, no anything, not even nothing! God has to be a being who always exists with no beginning nor end. Now, whatever I do not know no longer bothers me, for God knows it all. The incredible part is that not only I know that God exists, I also know him most intimately!
**Only God and No Self
Ego and the lack of humility are closely related. I can't think of any sin we commit that has nothing to do with the two. If we are like the Lord who is holy, we would be totally selfless and most humble. Sometimes I say something I thought was justified, but not realizing that it could hurt someone's feelings. This ultimately comes down the lack of humility on my part. To kill the ego entirely and become humble, we'll have to submit ourselves even more to God. "Only God, no self" should be our ultimate goal. By the way, this is also how we get ourselves completely liberated by the Lord.
***Only Christ Can Bring Us Peace
Perhaps there is not a single family in which all members get along with each other perfectly because we are all different from each other and not saints. That is why we need Christ in our lives to make us as perfect as possible. The motto "The family that prays together stays together" is right. Unfortunately, many Christians don't even pray enough on their own. Also, the good practice of examining your conscience everyday before you go to bed is pretty much forgotten. In sum, only by letting the God of Christ into our lives can we expect to achieve peace in the family, or for that matter, the nation and the world.
Thursday, May 20, 2021
***God Desires Union with Us!***
In today's Gospel reading John 17:20-26, Jesus prayed to the Father ardently that all those who believe and will believe in him and he and the Father may be one and in each other. He left no doubt that he wants us to seek and attain union with him. This is also the way to fulfill his command that we be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect.
*Patience in Following God
To follow the Lord, we need to be patient. I've learned that zeal can cause us to rush ahead of the Holy Spirit and end up losing valuable time. Jesus never rushed around in a hurry. Surely we face urgent issues, but we still need the Lord to show us the way. To be patient is to stay calm and not worry, while we pay utmost attention to his guidance.
***Our Bright Hope
I just finished taking my morning walk. It was again a delightful day. I received both happy and sad thoughts from the Lord. He first made me see that he is the creator, meaning that he makes new things. We make new things too, but we can only make them from things that have already been created by him. So God is the original creator, in a sense the only true creator. He has created us, surely he can make us anew! This is our bright hope! Let the Lord have his way and we are transformed into new creatures, beautiful for him to behold and fulfilling all our desires at the same time.
Wednesday, May 19, 2021
Sorrow of Parting
In today's first reading from Acts 20, Paul spoke to the presbyters of the Church of Ephesus. When he had finished speaking he knelt down and prayed with them all. They were all weeping loudly, for they were deeply distressed that he had said that they would never see his face again. I know that we have all experienced the sorrow of parting. But we have one great consolation awaiting us, that we'll see the Lord in heaven and many other departed ones we once knew up there again.
*First-Rate Thinker
When you truly know the Lord, you learn everything from him, understand his ways, and think as he thinks. You are now a first-rate thinker.
*A Time for stopping All things
Life on earth always comes to an end, so there is a time for stopping all things. If you are wise, you'd start detaching yourself to everything. On your own, this would be impossible to do, but with God, all things are possible. I'd start knowing the Lord as soon and as much as possible so that before it's time for you to stop everything, you are fully ready to leave without ever looking back.
*True Peace Only in One Place
Earlier I watched a short video showing all the places in Scotland worth visiting. I must say that some of the landscapes, rock formations, castles, monuments, etc., looked fantastic. It's like being a fairyland world. I understand that many scenes in the Harry Potter movie were shot in Scotland. It'd be fun to visit those places, but I realize that true peace can only be found within oneself in union with the Lord.
*Bless You All!*
Bless all of you who read my blog regularly. Seeking union with God is not something everyone wants to listen to or even consider. Otherwise, this blog would have gone viral a long time ago. I still remember the time I couldn't bear reading the spiritual classic The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis—I wasn't spiritually ready. But now everything he wrote in that book sounds sweet and beautiful to me. Let the Lord God change us to become the happiest, freest creatures on earth. So God bless you and let's remember each other in prayer. A happiest time will be when we see each other in heaven!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)