Goal for Living

        In the days when I didn't know Christ or later when I didn't know him well yet, I, as is common among most young adults, often found myself looking for things to do to kill time, to amuse myself. Should I go visit some friends, go see a movie, or just take a nap? That was drifting. Today I can't do that anymore ~ I must have a goal to motivate me to live on. That goal I've found to be meaningful and most satisfying is to serve God. Life driven by any self-centered goal will invariably turn out to be disappointing or even destructive.  

Is God Being Unfair?

        In the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20), Jesus told that the landowner paid each laborer at the end of the day with the same wage, regardless of how early or late during the day he was hired. Naturally, the ones who worked the longest grumbled against the owner. But he said to them, "Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?" We often complain about unfairness in this world. So what is fair? God is always just ~ this we can be certain of. We must look at the whole picture. If you end up in heaven, are you still going to grumble about the time someone got the job you also applied for or someone didn't catch the flu and you did? Or should you end up in hell, you still wish you had suffered less in this life? The bottom line is that what happens now doesn't matter much. What matters is what happens in the end: If you believe in Christ and do good, you get to heaven; if you reject him and do evil, you end up in hell ~ this sounds perfectly fair to me. 

Pathetic Pelosi

http://www.lifenews.com/2013/06/26/priest-says-pelosi-has-admitted-her-abortion-position-is-not-catholic/

Perfect Surrendering Moment

         Communion experience. After I received the Eucharist, I realized that the Lord is pure, spotless, and most holy, and has the power to transform me. It was the perfect moment to say "I am all yours" and union is achieved.

Counting on God

        Today is the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. In the Gospel reading from Matthew 16, after Peter realized that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus said to Peter that he would build his Church upon him the rock and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it." Despite internal problems and external persecutions to this day, the Church still stands ~ whatever Jesus has said you can count on. Here's another one: "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day" (John 6.54). With so many other promises he has given us, our future is set.

On Knowing God

        I have never visibly seen nor audibly heard God, but I know him better than anyone else. Of course, I know my family members and some friends well, but I'll never know all about them because they change and communication with another human being is never candid at all times. Whereas God is love forever, the only one you can fully trust and rely upon, so there's nothing more I need to know. In a way, he is the easiest person to know.

How to Live Satisfied

        The measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you (Luke 6: 38). Live to satisfy God and he will make you satisfied in life.

Jesus, a Great Joy

        Communion experience. Jesus was such a joy today, a refreshing joy, a liberating joy ~ he's to be greatly enjoyed. Just thinking that I have him was a joy.

Consolation for Sorrow

        In this present age, my experience has been that after experiencing sorrow for the sake of Jesus, I always receive consolation from the Lord in some special way, not to mention eternal life in the age to come.

God Will Never Reject Us

        Today's Gospel at Mass came from Matthew 8. A leper approached Jesus and said, "Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean." Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, "I will do it. Be made clean." When I heard the reading, I knew that the Lord will never reject us in his heart. We may not get what we ask for, but that's no rejection for he always knows what's best for us. 

The Union Difference

        If you really want God in your life, the best approach is to seek union with him. Why? Because if you are not in him, you'll always have questions, doubts; you could struggle your whole lifetime and not get much closer to him. While if you are in union with God, he teaches you personally and everything in your life falls into place, making perfect sense ~ no more questions or doubts; just communion in peace with the Lord. 

Grateful to God

        Nova has produced an excellent episode titled "Earth From Space." A spectacular space-based vision of our planet is revealed. Nova transforms the data from earth-observing satellites into visual sequences, each one exposing the intricate web of forces that sustains life on earth. We see how dust from the Sahara fertilizes the Amazon; how a vast submarine "waterfall" off Antarctica helps drive ocean currents around the world; and how the sun's heating up of the southern Atlantic gives birth to a powerful hurricane. All this knowledge makes me realize that God has hand-created this planet in the vast universe with the right atmosphere, temperature, environment, natural resources, etc., so that we may survive. For this I am grateful. But most of all, I am grateful that he has revealed his love for me through his own Son in my short lifetime here.

Making a Pact with God

        Today's Communion experience. When I received the Body of Christ, I was making a pact with the Lord for him to be my Lord and my God and for me to love and serve him forever.

The Approval of Gay Marriage

       The big newspaper in my area headlined "Gay marriage is on a roll" after the latest Supreme Court rulings. It's interesting that a June 10 article in BBC Magazine reports that some gay people are against gay marriage. Here are some of the reasons given by them. "It's demonstrably not the same as heterosexual marriage ~ the religious and social significance of a gay wedding ceremony simply isn't the same." "We're not going to procreate as a couple and while the desire to demonstrate commitment might be laudable, the religious traditions that have accommodated same-sex couples have had to do some fairly major contortions." "Until the federal government recognizes and codifies the same rights for same-sex couples as straight ones, equality is the goal so why get hung up on a word?" Another gay person strongly believes that civil partnerships to give same-sex couples equal legal rights are enough. 

        I suppose the approval of gay marriage is expected after legalization of abortion and the acceptance of unmarried couples living together. We live in a basically secular society and judges are so legalistic that they no longer have any moral concerns. (It is interesting that so far gay marriage has been allowed mostly in the more affluent countries of the West.) What next? 

       The scene from Luke 23 comes to my mind. As Jesus was led away, carrying his own cross, a large crowd of people followed him, including many women who mourned and lamented him. Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children, for indeed, the days are coming when people will say, 'Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.' At that time people will say to the mountains, 'Fall upon us!' and to the hills, 'Cover us!'" 

God Makes Us Holy!

        During consecration of the bread and the wine at Mass, I realized that receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist is no casual affair, for the Lord God enters me and I become holy because he dwells within me. How awesome the holiness of God! How exciting for us to be holy too! Yes, our bodies are truly temples of the Holy Spirit.

On Being Thrown into Fire

        In the Gospel reading from Matthew 7 at Mass, Jesus wanted his disciples to bear good fruit, for he said, "Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." I got thinking: what if the fruit we bear is not that good, but not bad either? The answer that came to me was that the fire would then be the fire of purgatory.

God to Be Experienced

        God does not wish us to just study and read about him ~ he wants to be one with us so that we may experience his love and mercy. This calls for surrendering ourselves completely to him. Once we have experienced him, we'll never want to leave again, for he fulfills all our needs and then some.

"Pray for Me"

        When I made the penitential act at morning Mass, acknowledging having greatly sinned and asking all the angles and saints and my brothers and sisters to pray for me, I sensed that the request "Pray for me" is a beautiful one. Praying to God, if you truly believe in him, is already a beautiful expression of your faith. When you say "Pray for me," it shows your need for the Lord's mercy and the prayer is now made even more personal and beautiful.