Ultimate Freedom

        In John 8:32, Jesus said, "The truth will set you free." Since Jesus is the truth, I have come to realize that when I am completely filled with Christ, I attain ultimate freedom. 

A Wow Awakening

        "God loved us so much that he died for us so that we might have eternal life" ~ we've heard it so many times that we hardly pay any attention anymore. Indeed, familiarity breeds contempt. Today at Mass I paid attention to it and the Lord made me see that the saying reveals the ultimate expression of love, an act as momentous as the creation, a powerful display of God's perfection, and the greatest favor he could have bestowed upon us. It definitely was a wow awakening moment for me!        

A Fundamental, Good Feeling

        I've been posting about how God has made us. Here's one more observation. People are good at being in denial about their sinfulness and they lose inner peace. When you do something wrong, no matter how hard you try to deny it, you'll always get that uneasiness ~ this is how God has made us.  I've said in the past that there's no better feeling than knowing you and God are on good terms. Today I am seeing it from a specific point of view: When your heart is clean, it's a most wonderful feeling because you know you have nothing to hide and you welcome the Lord to dwell within you. Once you've experienced this, you'll never want or need to be in denial about anything anymore.

Awesome God

        I was attending a special Mass tonight for the Feast of St. Joseph Marello. When I let the Lord know that I was going to trust in him, he let me know that he's going to trust in me. It's pretty awesome to hear that and it's something I'd better remember always.

Amazing God

        I am still amazed that my God loves me so much that he died for me and that he and I can become one! I defy you to find a more amazing god.

Ave Maria by Bach/Gounod

Kimi Skota of South Africa sings beautifully.

Showing Love in All Things

        This morning I heard this story about St. Joseph Marello. When his barber was no longer able to give good haircuts because of the loss of eyesight, the saint, already a bishop, continued to go to him just to support him ~ showing love is more important than looking good in a new haircut. Like St. Therese, St. Joseph Marello advised all to do ordinary things in an extraordinary way. Every day we have numerous ordinary opportunities to be charitable. Let's make them extraordinary before they vanish.

On Yearning for God

        I believe that since union with God will not be perfected until we are in heaven, yearning for Christ remains with us on earth.

God Uplifts Us

        I must describe my journey with God as an uplifting experience. Again, here's my simple view. God dwells high above us in all respects. We have no way of reaching him on our own. Since we know that he loves us (a great deal as a matter of fact), we ask for help and he readily complies. Actually, he is elated, for all this time he's been waiting for us to ask. He then lifts us up. Carrying us, he walks with us. With him, we can only go higher. Hence, the journey is an uplifting experience all the way.    

God's Drawing of Us

        One of the most rewarding, satisfying experiences in seeking union with God is his drawing of you close to him. The Holy Spirit does not shove or push; he gently lets you experience greater intimacy with the Lord and sense the peace that comes from knowing that your will and God's are in harmony. 

Love Is the Answer

        Here's a riddle not that difficult to answer: What is mankind's ultimate fulfillment? The answer clear to me is love. If everyone loves as Jesus had commanded, there would be peace in the world. Since God is love, then God is our ultimate fulfillment. Perhaps one reason people hesitate to love is the realization that they could lose their lives if they practice it in this evil world ~ look at how Jesus lost his on earth. But we are going to die anyway, so it'd be far better to lose our lives on earth than to risk losing eternal life later.     

God Has Made Us!

        This morning I became aware that I can see, hear, and smell; that I have all kinds of emotions and feelings; that I can sense beauty and ugliness; that I know good from evil; that I can conceive God; that I can blog with a purpose ~ that's because God has made me! He has precisely designed all of us this way. He has also given me the sense to realize that mankind couldn't have come into being by accident. If it were so, then it had to be a fantastic miracle and only God can produce miracles.

Soak Up the Lord While We Can

        Earlier today I visited two old homebound folks who were terminally ill. They can no longer eat solid food, need oxygen support for breathing, and have hardly any physical strength left. Their conditions have deteriorated rapidly in just one week. The made me realize that we are all going to reach that helpless point. What we should do now is to help ourselves with God as much as possible ~ not unlike the bears fattening themselves before hibernation. Soak up the Lord, live him, immerse in him, grab hold of him tight, while we still can. 

Essential of Spiritual Life

        Communion experience. I felt that Christ in the Holy Eucharist was perfect for my soul. The Most Holy Sacrament completes my spiritual life. 

Unloading Ourselves

        Since we are always our own burden, we give ourselves (surrender) to God and we are free. A simple common-sense truth.       

Get the Truth from God

        Here are some common examples of negative thinking: "I am unattractive"; "I am inferior"; "I don't like myself"; "Nobody likes me"; "God does not care about me"; "God cannot help me." First of all, these thoughts represent only one's own feeling at a time. Anyone who has truly known God would have felt just the opposite in each case. To think that God does not love or cannot help us is even sinful! The fact is that God loves us; he delights in us; we are precious and dear to him; and he can and will help us! ~ plenty of us can testify to that. Don't let your feeling dictate your thinking or form your opinion ~ find the truth from God always. 

Our Business

       We see God granting special favors, supernatural or otherwise, to others ~`what do we think and how do we feel?

       First of all, how God grants favors is none of our business.
      Secondly, know that whatever the Lord does is always for the good of all and for his own glory.

      Last, remember the older son in the prodigal son parable? When he got jealous after seeing how the father favored the return of his younger brother, destitute but repentant, with a great celebration, the father said to him, "My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours." So, if we don't seem to receive any special favors from the Lord, it could be that he has already given us everything!

       Anyhow, our business is to concentrate on serving the Lord and rejoice in him. 

Requisite for Following Jesus

        The Gospel reading came from Mark 10. A man asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus mentioned the commandments and the man said that he had observed them from his youth. Then Jesus said, "You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." At that statement, his face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. The Lord could be testing the man. Nevertheless, he showed that detachment from all material possessions goes beyond obeying all the commandments; without it, you won't be able to follow the Lord freely.