*Checking out the Real World*

        I am back. I was away the last ten days in order to "escape" from a big birthday celebration some of my family members and friends had been planning for me. I am grateful for their well-meaning intention, but I really didn't want them to go to all that trouble. (That God loves us is about the only thing that's truly worth celebrating.) So my wife and I decided to go on a week-long cruise to Mexico. The cruise was interesting, but I did miss attending daily Mass, and couldn't blog as internet access was not free onboard. The 4400+ passengers presented a microcosm of the population of the entire country, or perhaps more accurately, California, for the majority of the passengers seemed to be Californians. I met all kinds of people. There were many who enjoyed gambling at the casino and remained on board to take the same cruise again. One old gambler even boasted about how he could easily pick up young girls. There were Christians on board too. I met Protestants who did not understand Catholicism at all. Another passenger who's a Catholic, but pro-abortion. Then I aIso met a rare person, a Catholic who had been touched by the love of Christ to tears and understood me perfectly when I shared with her about attaining union with God thru the Eucharist. The casino and various bars were usually packed. Not surprising—I found the stage shows and other entertainment videos, music, etc., to be all secular and often impure. There was nothing that draws you to God. I feel sorry for the mostly lost generation on board, but I believe that if enough of us pray hard enough for them, they can still all be saved thru the infinite mercy of God. Two days before the cruise ended, I had the chance to be on the deck alone while many people were watching the stage show or having dinners. It was good to be able to enjoy the wind in your face, to hear only the sound of the waves, and to watch the crescent moon appearing, while communing directly with God the Father. This is a moment I'll always remember. (By the way, my wife and I didn't get to see much of Mexico this time, for it was so hot and humid that we were exhausted after walking just a couple of hours at each port.)

**Laboring in Vain

        Today's first reading comes from Ecclesiastes 1, containing the familiar verses: Vanities of vanities! All things are vanity! What profit has man from all the labor which he toils at under the sun? I am thinking about the things we do for ourselves in life. They are like the breeze which blows by and are gone. Only what we do to glorify God is not done in vain, for everything we do for God's sake turns into treasure in heaven.

**Prominent Stages of Spiritual Growth

       (1) You realize you are a sinner and need salvation; you repent your sins and return to God. (2) You realize that you must love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind; you surrender yourself to him and ask him to make you holy. 

*God's Assigned Role for Us

        God calls us. He knows exactly how he can use us, so he has a role for each one of us to perform. But we need to pay attention and respond to him. When you have fulfilled your role, you'll know. If you don't know what it is yet, you either don't know God or haven't responded fully to his call yet.

**Loving Evildoers

        Loving the evildoers is hard for us, but God measures our love by how much we love them. Just know that he loves them as much as he loves us. He pities them and never hates them, for he is love. Hatred can only come from the Evil One—don't fall into that trap. Focus on the Lord alone instead.

**Most Special and Unique on Earth

        The Lord supplies us with material needs, but today I see (and am most grateful) that he can fulfill our spiritual needs by purifying our hearts and making us holy! This is a huge deal not to be overlooked. This also makes us God's most special and unique creatures on earth.

***Keeping Intentions Pure

        I am glad that the Lord God looks at my intentions and not so much how well I actually get things done. This makes it possible for me to pass and not fail as a student learning from him. I also find that discerning my own intention is quite exciting. When I sense that my intention is not quite totally pure, I know that it's the Holy Spirit illuminating me. It's deeply satisfying to remain in intimate communion with the Lord.

****The Ego's Gotta Go!

        It is the presence of ego that causes us to lose peace. Without ego, we no longer care about ourselves, thus we become free. This is made possible by casting all our cares upon the Lord. Now the Lord takes total care of us!

***Starting from the Heart

        Since God looks mainly into our hearts, let him make them pure and spotless. The we can do all things comfortably from the heart. 

***Christ Most Beloved

        Because Christ is all mine, he is dearer to me than my own life, my own soul, and my very existence.

***Perfect Exchange*

        Communion experience. The Lord invited me to receive him, so I received him to let him take all of me.  

***Having All of God***

         In today's Gospel reading from Luke 8, Jesus said to the crowd, "To anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away." So to have God, we must start with accepting him or something. As we trust in him more and more, we also receive more and more from him. The progress accelerates. Finally, with him taking complete charge, our part becomes effortless and a joy. Now we have all of God!

***Lesson on Trust

        At my age, having fallen numerous times, I make sure that I don't fall again. This morning as I was leaving home to attend the 7:30 morning Mass, I saw that my big garbage container placed next to the road ready to be emptied had been toppled by strong winds, and the garbage pickup truck was coming down the road. So I got out of my car, intending to put the container back in place. Well, after the early heavy rain, the ground was still wet. In reaching for the toppled container, I stepped on a pile of rounded stones and slipped. I first fell forward, then backward, and ended up lying on my back. Miraculously, even though parts of my clothing got all wet, I wasn't hurt at all. The garbage truck driver saw all that and came over to help me up and raised the container for me as well. Bless him! The lesson learned: We do what we sensibly should do, but unexpected things can still happen. Ultimately, it's our Lord God in control. So we always do our part, while putting all our trust in God.

***Most Horrible Feeling

        Being lost can be terrifying. In my lifetime it has happened to me that I completely forgot about doing something or lost something really important. Although this is not exactly a case of being lost yourself, the feeling is similar. Such experiences can affect one's psyche deeply. This morning I had a dream I was lost somewhere and panicked, and I woke up. Of course, that was just a dream. And I realized that the most horrible feeling you can possible have has to be the loss of your soul, knowing that you are now cut off from God forever. Don't ever let that happen to you or anyone else! 

**Who Is Smarter?

        The humble person or the proud one? The humble one knows his limits. When he encounters difficulties, he turns to the Lord for help and accomplishes his task. On the contrary, the proud one thinks he can do everything on his own. And one day he suffers defeat. He's now set back or injured, in worse shape than before.  

***Becoming Fearless***

       We shall all die one day, so accept that. It is where we go after we die that should be the big concern. Once you have your soul all secured by Christ, there is really nothing left for us to fear anymore. Amen. 

*Fulfilled by Christ*

        Communion experience. I am completely satisfied with Christ. He's the only one I need and wish to please. 

**Moving On Spiritually

        If you have sinned, just repent and move on. That is, be as holy as possible from now on. Let the past go, for it's already in your record in heaven. It's what you do from now on that matters.