***"First" Obedience***

        At Mass this morning, during the liturgy of the Eucharist, Fr. Steve recalled the words of Jesus at the Last Supper before he gave the bread and the cup to his disciples. They are respectively "Take this, all of you, and eat of it: for this is my body which will be given up for you" and "Take this, all of you, and drink from it: for this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me." It struck me that I was to eat his body and drink his blood out of obedience. The Lord made me see that this obedience will lead me to obedience in all things! I was most grateful for this revelation.

*Fun in the World Is No Fun

         We seek fun things to do in this life and there are many of them. We go on a vacation, see a movie, attend a party, etc. Unfortunately, the fun never lasts long, forcing us to continue seeking more fun. Before you know, you life is over. This sounds and really is tragic, for you have not done anything to prepare for living your next life. When Christ asked us to remain awake and alert, he surely didn't mean for us to wait for some fun thing to happen. When we seek God, whatever we receive satisfies us forever and is more jolly than all the fun in the world put together.

*****The Goal Is Our Starting Point

          In reading 1 from Ecclesiastes 1, we hear the familiar saying of David's son, Qoheleth: "Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!" In the Gospel reading from Luke 12, Jesus told the parable of the rich man to the crowd. A rich man had planned to tear down his barns and build larger ones to store his bountiful harvest. He thought he'd then have so many good things stored up for many years and he could just rest, eat, drink, and be merry! But God said to him, "You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?" 
     So how do we cease being vain and become detached from material possessions? To find the answer, we can work backwards. Since this is a spiritual problem, only God can remove such impediments. This would necessitate knowing God. And the only way to know him best is to seek union with him thru the Holy Eucharist. This leads us to surrendering ourselves to him completely. We have arrived at the endpoint, which is the starting point we've been looking for. In conclusion, seek to attain union with God and you'll have taken complete care of your spiritual life.

***Cause of All Sins

        All our sins are caused by disobedience to God. If we obey the Lord, he'll free us from all sins and we'll enjoy peace and have joy. The truth is always simple. Avoid it and you only make your life complicated and more difficult for yourself, not to mention the possible loss of your soul. 

*****Receiving Holy Communion Properly*****

        Today, sadly many Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. Even many of those who believe do not take it seriously enough. Also sad that we don't see the Church coming out strongly to correct this problem. So this new video is most welcome. Of the three points mentioned, the last one is most important.

*Time to soar to God

        Everything you do for the sake of the Lord enriches your treasure in heaven. Before long, you'll have so much treasure stored up there that the world will have lost all its attraction. You are now ready to soar to your God. 

****Most Demanding Prayer

       The Lord's Prayer is not only the perfect prayer, it's also most demanding. For to say it from the heart and mean everything you say, you need to surrender yourself to the Lord unreservedly. To really mean "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" is to desire union with God, for there's no other way to realize that.

***Best and Worst Ways to Live***

        Living a secret life in Christ is most satisfying. The opposite way is to live for the world to see, then you simply keep feeding your ego and live in miserable self-enslavement. Living for God alone shows that you no longer care about you own ego, thus you live a truly carefree life. Also, knowing that you are pleasing the Lord and he is pleased with you is a joy that's beyond the world's understanding. To want the whole world to admire you is to fall away from God as far as possible. You cannot serve both God and yourself.

**Choosing the Best Part

        When Jesus was at the house of Martha and Mary, Martha was burdened with serving, while Mary sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Jesus made it clear that Mary had chosen the better part (Luke 10:-42). At Mass after receiving the Holy Eucharist this morning, I knew that I had chosen the best part. 

****Statement Worth Believing

        Today is the memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. In the Gospel reading from John 11, Jesus went to the house of Martha and Mary. Martha said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother (Lazarus) would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise." For he was going to raise him from the dead shortly. Then he said, "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and anyone one who lives and believes in me will never die." This is indeed a very bold statement—it's so bold that you have no choice but to believe in its truth, unless you're sure that Jesus was completely out of his mind. But the Gospels reveal that he always knew what he's doing and is most likely the most sane person who has ever existed.

Correction!

        I apologize that I gave the wrong link in my post Jesus with a Pulsating Heart earlier today. That one shows only the video. Now I've replaced it with one that also tells you about the miracle in English.        

**Influencing God*

        God is infinitely greater than us, yet we can move his heart and change his mind, for he is our Father who loves us to death! As long as we speak to him from our hearts, he listens to us and always responds by giving us the best for us to attain eternal happiness. Four days ago, we had the Gospel reading from Genesis 18 about which I posted under the title Learning About the Lord (from Abraham). We see that God gave in to Abraham bargaining with him that if he finds ten innocent people in Sodom, he would spare the whole city for their sake. Our God loves to hear from us. It's those who ignore him that hurt him the most. We should rejoice that we have instant access to our Father and can endear ourselves to him to make him happy.

**HappyTurnabout

        Abandon yourself totally to God and you'll be so happy that you don't ever want to complains about anything anymore, but only want to praise and thank God for all things.  

***Letting God Form Us

        In today's reading 1 from Jeremiah 18, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, house of Israel." It just struck me what a beautiful thing it is for us to be like wet clay in God's hand to let him mold and shape us into whatever pleases him, as the end result is bound to be most beautiful.

*****Jesus with a Pulsating Heart*****

         The latest Eucharistic miracle. Click here to read about it and watch the video recording just below the first photo illustration. Make sure the sound is on and watch it in full screen mode. 

**The One We Need to Follow

        It is so clear we don't get along with each other almost everywhere is this world because we all follow ourselves. Christ is the perfect example showing us how we should live. If we all follow him, we'll have peace in world for sure. I am not trying to simply things because it is the simple truth. Sadly, the lack of humility on our part has blinded us from seeing it.

***God Enabling Us***

        Communion experience. Michelangelo's famous painting Creation of Adam came to my mind. This fresco appears in the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. It shows God's index finger about to touch Adam's to give him the divine breath of life. When Christ entered me, I knew that he's going to empower me to become a new creature living in him and for him only.

***Joy of Finding Christ

        This is today's short Gospel reading from Matthew 13. Jesus said to his disciples: "The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it." This is exactly the way we feel about Christ after we find him. Our joy is so great that we are willing to give up all we have in order to keep him.