In today's Gospel reading from Luke 9, Jesus said to his disciples, "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 for my sake will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." So it comes down to following the Lord or yourself. It's no contest if you believe that Christ is the Lord. So it comes down further to whether you believe in Christ or not. The fact that he challenges us to the core here only shows that he is authentically the Lord, for there's not another one like him.
Thursday, March 3, 2022
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
**No Show-Offs for Christians
Today is Ash Wednesday. In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 6, Jesus said to his disciples: "Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you have no recompense from your heavenly Father." Jesus wants us to perform righteous deeds in secret only for the Father to see. In other words, we must not do anything in order to make ourselves feel and look good before others. Glorify God alone, not ourselves. We are all sinners who need to remain humble to get into heaven.
***Foolish Sinners
If you're not quite sure that you'll get into heaven, you probably won't; for Jesus' promise that whoever believes in him will have eternal life is ironclad. There are also people who continue to sin but say that they wouldn't mind going thru purgatory first. Well, here they put themselves in the danger zone already, for they've decided to continue offending God and think that they'll get off the hook by paying a little price later. This is sheer folly! It doesn't work that way. Besides, the suffering in purgatory, if they ever get there, can be long-lasting and quite severe. So do yourself a big favor: stop sinning and start following Christ, then you'll have nothing to worry about.
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
**Healing of the Soul
Communion experience. The best feeling was knowing that the Lord was going to heal my soul! Having our body healed feels good while we still have the body; having our soul healed is getting ready for living the eternal life!
***Great Reason to Be Holy
In today's first reading from 1 Peter 1, Peter wrote, ". . . be holy yourselves in every aspect of your conduct, for it is written, Be holy because I am holy." Here Peter quoted from Leviticus 11 and/or 19. This is a great reason for us to be holy. Since God is always present among us, how can we possibly not be holy? "Be unholy because God is holy" would absolutely make no sense.
Monday, February 28, 2022
**How Far Is God from You?
Actually, God is always with us, so this question basically becomes "How well are you aware of his presence?" You can have the Lord dwell right within you or make him into an unknown altogether. Again, it's all up to you. (By the way, our free will is given by God. Hope being aware of that can help you make the right choice.)
**God Awaits Our Move
If you want God to change you for the better, no problem at all, as long as you are willing to let him do it. God, our greatest healer, is ready, so it's your move.
****To Be Rich in God
It's the last day of February and I am resuming attending daily Mass after the hiatus caused by the pandemic. I went to Mount St. Joseph Seminary in nearby Loomis for Mass. The chapel there was where I attended Mass for years before our parish church was built. I went there before my blog started in 2009. It's a very peaceful place in a beautiful setting. After each Mass, I used to remain about 40 minutes, opening myself up to the Lord. It's during that time that he started drawing me ever closer to him and eventually made me fall in love with him. The desire to seek union with God thru the Holy Eucharist ensued. It seemed that I was entering the final phase of my spiritual life. After attending the Mass there again this morning, I had the feeling that the Lord's not done with me yet—he's going to make my last phase even better. The Lord has so much to offer us that we can just let him improve and refine our spiritual life every single moment. He can truly make us as rich as we want to be in him.
Sunday, February 27, 2022
****Where God Is
Where God is, evil cannot be. It's my belief that once we get to heaven, original sin will be completely removed from us and we'll be in ideal union with God, enjoying perfect peace and contentment.
***To Rejoice in Christ . . .***
you live in him and die in him. And the rejoicing continues on forever!
***Sweetest, Momentous Moment
Communion experience. Receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist—it's a momentous moment of life, yet most sweet.
**Happy Is the One Who . . .
is in a state of grace, being pure, clean, and fully ready to receive the Lord in the Eucharist.
***Two Essential Realizations
At the time of receiving the Holy Eucharist, I knew that I'd be receiving the body and blood of Christ and this Most Blessed Sacrament was going to lead me into union with the Lord.
**Start with Yourself First
In today's Gospel reading from Luke 6, Jesus said to his disciples, "Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother's eye." So you should always start with yourself first. Before you wish someone to be holy, be holy yourself first. Before you convert anyone, convert yourself first. Before you want others to surrender themselves to the Lord, you do it first. You must be spiritually strong yourself before you can effective help others. When you are a good example, not only you'll inspire others, the Lord will also be more attentive to you too.
**How to Listen to Christ
When Jesus speaks, our only proper response is to prostrate ourselves before him and listen to every word from his mouth with all our heart. For his words reveal the truth that sets us free for all eternity.
***Pray for Dominican Republic***
Yesterday I heard the sad news that the Dominican Republic, the only abortion-free country in the Caribbean, is now being pressured by the Biden administration to legalize abortion. The bishop there is pleading for help. You can watch the whole story here and consider helping the people here. I feel the heavy burden and just want to go to Christ my Lord to cry my heart out at his feet, begging for mercy. Only he can console me and that's what I need now.
Friday, February 25, 2022
***Our Greatest Oversight
I have already quoted the famous saying of the French novelists Léon Bloy on this blog: "The only real sadness, the only real failure, the only great tragedy in life, is to not become a saint." This totally makes sense, which leads me to think that our greatest oversight in this life is to not take eternal life seriously. We live from day to day, planning for this life and not thinking about the afterlife. It's as if since it's an unknown, we don't want to waste time thinking about it. Of course, this is a serious mistake. It amounts to treating Jesus as someone who came, died for us, rose from the dead . . . all for nothing.
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