*Seeing Others in a New Light

         I haven't been able to blog in the last few days as I've been traveling, visiting my younger son and some relatives and friends. This thought came to me on May 27. We all have family members and friends, but there are billions of others in the world we won't ever know. Since all earthlings are irrefutably children of same Father in heaven, we must see and treat everyone else as a member of the same family. 

**Levels of Faith

        Jesus said to Thomas, "Have you come to believe because you have see me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." (John 20:29) So we have those who (1) have not seen and have believed, (2) have seen and believed, and (3) have seen but still do not believe. It's simplest to belong to 1, Those who have the greatest faith deserve to be blessed. If you will only believe after you see, then what you expect to see may never happen. Weak faith doesn't deserve any blessing. As for those in 3, they have hardened their hearts and are on their own; they are to be pitied.

***Knowing Jesus***

         Jesus is all love, pure love and divine mercy. Once you know him, you can't help but fall in love with him and lose all your fears. If you are still afraid of or feel uneasy about him, that's because you don't know him yet. It's also his way of telling you that you need to know and love him. 

****What We Must Never Miss

        If we arrive at the airport late, we can miss the flight. This has happened to me twice. Each time I lost some time, got on another plane, and I was on my way again. We can be late for other events and things too, but it's usually not a matter of life and death. Now, there are people who do not think about getting ready in time for meeting God. Perhaps they think that they'll have plenty time for that later. If you miss doing that, you can suffer horribly severe consequences. This is one thing one must not neglect or put off.

***God Confirming Our Belief

        When I believe that Jesus is truly my Lord and my God, he reveals to me that he indeed is. This confirms my belief. When God Let you know, you just know. No explanation needed. (So if you want to know Christ, believe in him first. This is the beginning of humility.) 

***Only God Is Powerful

        I look at the world and see many high achievers. Some of them are indeed so powerful that no one would dare to go against them. Then I see that one day they'll all appear before Christ to be judged by him, who was the most humble and meek man on earth when he was here. When we face him, our naked souls are completely at his mercy. Whatever power we had now means nothing and may even become our biggest burden. What a dramatic contrast to one who remains humble and meek in the world and let Christ exalt him/her high on judgment day.

***Ultimate Fulfillment

       Communion experience. God already loves me with the greatest possible love and is letting me love him to my heart's content. My joy is complete and my life completely fulfilled.

***A Buddhist Found God

        The video is over 36 minutes long, but it's worth watching. And I particularly like the ending.

***World versus Christ

        In today's Gospel reading from John 15, Jesus said to his disciples, "If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you." If you do not know Christ, naturally you would want to fit yourself into the world so that you may be loved. But once you realize that Christ is the truth and can save you from sin, you would want to follow him only. In fact, I would go so far as to say that if the world still loves you, you haven't given yourself to following the Lord completely yet.
          How does the world hate you? Commonly, people try to distance themselves from you. Of course, there have been much worse instances, depending upon where you live and the circumstances. This is the price a Christian must pay. Jesus has said to his disciples, "What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?" (Mark 8:36). In turn, I can ask "What loss is there for one to be hated by the world for a little while and gain eternal life?" The answer is clearly "practically nothing."

***To Be More like Christ

         Again, it's Friday, the day to pray the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. The allergy of the season has affected me; my itchy throat has made me want to cough. I stopped attending daily Mass in order not to disturb others at Mass. This little bit of discomfort has started to annoy me. I thought of how Jesus suffered in order to save all of us. What I am feeling compared to what he underwent is virtually zero on any scale. So I really started to appreciate my Lord. I must accept all my sufferings patiently as he did if I ever hope to become more like him. He never complained about anything. When we are unhappy about so many things, we are unhappy with God, showing our lack of trust in him. 

**Unique Union with God

        This morning I am thinking that the God of Christ is unique in that we can achieve union with him, especially through receiving the Holy Eucharist. So God is not only external, he can dwells in us too. I don't believe that such intimacy exists in any other religion. 

*God Always in Control*

        Today I realize that we finite creatures lose control of ourselves easily. We become perturbed and nervous when we are under stress. We want to hit anyone who hits us back. When things go badly, we get depressed and can no longer think clearly. Then I see our infinite Lord who never loses his composure and cool, and always thinks and acts rationally. We can be sure that everything is under his control, even thought we see chaos. We need to remain patient and follow him with faith. This marks us truly as being his disciples. If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31b)

**Knowing Your Future

        Most people still seem to focus on living in this world and are not too concerned about what the next life will be like, even in old age. To me, this is living precariously. I am so happy about knowing Christ because even though I am still in this world, I already know where I'll be going after I leave here. When that'll happen is not relevant. This is a tremendous advantage and a great blessing.

***Transcending Worldly Enslavement

        Looking at the current ongoing brutal war in Ukraine, we see people killing each other as if human lives don't mean much anymore. They are locked in fighting for a small area on this planet. Others are deeply immersed in finding happiness in this world. Christians can transcend all that to reach God and secure their eternal life! This is not escaping—instead, it's facing the reality that's open to all of us. For God is our Savior who can set us free for good, irregardless of whether you believe or not!

*Love vs. Hatred

        God's love is most beautiful. It is what we need to become like him and to bring peace to our hearts and the world. This makes hatred, the total lack of love, most horrible. Clearly, hatred can only come from the Devil. Unfortunately, our world is filled with hatred, even hatred of things that are all made up. You can realistically say that our life is made of all the moments requiring us to decide whether to love or to hate. Anyway, love will triumph in the end, as God is love.

***God Most Personal

        The Lord knows each of us thoroughly. He knows my thoughts, my feelings, my joys and sorrows, my pains and fears, what I need . . . things I don't even know about myself. This makes him my most personal friend. From him, I can get all the guidance I need, help, protection from evil, and the power to transform myself. It'd be utter folly to think that you can survive by yourself without him.  

***How to Love Each Other

        In today's Gospel reading from John 13, Jesus said at the Last Supper after Judas had left to his other disciples, "My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. I give you a new commandment: love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for oner another." How can we love each other as Jesus has loved us? The only way I can see to achieve that is to let the Lord love us so that we may know his love. This will give us the strength to love everyone else. We trust in God's mercy; we need to trust in his love too.

**How We Are Measured*

        As we journey through this life on earth, we are measured entirely by how much we love God. It would be ideal that our love for God increases as time passes, reaching a peak at the time of our departure from earth.