I know that Jesus takes away our sins, but what does that really mean? Of course, it means that the Savior has once and for all crushed the power of sin and given us the hope of salvation. More specifically, if a believer sins and repents (or goes to confession in the case the sin is serious), he is then forgiven and made whole again. Often, the same or another sin is committed again ~ this only shows that the tendency to sin is still there. But the Lord can take care of that too! Seek union to be holy and Christlike and he will eradicate your tendency to sin and take away your sins permanently.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Don't Mind Others
I've been observing others and notice that a lot of people do not have peace in them because they are not generous enough to tolerate others who might have offended them either unintentionally or deliberately, or who have not lived up to their expectations. Examples are getting bothered by someone who has an odd mannerism; being disappointed in someone not showing any consideration or gratitude for what he has received; seeing someone not acting in accordance with conventional custom... These are really forms of judging on the same level as gossiping. If you cannot tolerate such others, how can you expect God to tolerate you? Just let them all go in God so that you may have peace in you.
Better or Worse than You Think
Before God, if you consider yourself to be the greatest sinner, you may be a saint already. But if you believe that you are OK and good enough for God, you are definitely worse than you think ~ for lack of humility. (Read the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Luke 18.9-14.)
God, Source of Mercy & Peace
Just before we receive Holy Communion at Mass today, after fraction of the Bread all asked the Lamb of God to have mercy on us twice and then grant us peace once. I felt that I was totally at God's mercy and that he is the source of all my peace. It is absolutely true that everything in heaven and on earth is at God's mercy and that true inner peace can only come from God.
Ego as Your Guide
Do not do anything if you feel that doing it is prompted entirely or just partly by your ego. It may be to give God glory, but the time may not be right yet. When the time is right, God will let you know and you will have peace. Peace is the sign by which you know if the ego is involved or not. (Hint. Extinguish the ego first and you won't have this problem.)
Too Late to Be a Saint?
Never! If God can raise the dead, he certainly can turn a living person into a saint. If you disagree, then you must not think highly of yourself and/or God's power. It's never too late ~ your willingness is the only determining factor.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
To Go Deeper in Love
Some nice people, friends or family members, express their love by helping you whenever they can, in different ways, but they never seem to be interested in finding out how you're feeling or what you are really up to. I may be too harsh by saying that this is rather like going to Mass every Sunday just to discharge your obligation. To really love Jesus, you want to know him well, to find out what his joys and sorrows are, and what his will is for you at all times. Similarly, to love someone deeper is to explore that person deeper, finding out what his true wishes and feelings are, and go from there.
Thoughtful God
When you live in God, not only he shields you from all evil, he also keeps you clean on the inside so that you may continue to enjoy your residency ~ most thoughtful of him!
Monday, May 14, 2012
God Always a Consolation
Sometimes I have trouble finding the right words to express my inner feelings to God, then I realize that he looks into my heart and already knew what's there ~ lucky for me. God is always a consolation to us (and a step ahead of us).
All About Trust
Through Saint Faustina, Jesus spread the message of his Divine Mercy, letting us know that we can trust in him. To trust means no more wondering, no more questions, and no more concern about what might or might not happen. Complete trust brings tremendous freedom! ("Jesus, I Trust in You!")
Keeping Life Simple
Jesus wants to simplify our lives ~ he never gave us any complicated rules; he only wants us to love. To do more is to make life complicated ~ misery then is bred. Make love our sole motivation for living, then we live in God and will enjoy peace.
God the Great Makeover Artist
The story of St. Augustine is an inspiration ~ it shows how God can change a great sinner into a great saint. Brothers and sisters, God can change us again and again, making each day more beautiful. Let God give you a complete and thorough makeover.
On Way to Judgment
With zillions of actions going on and happening around the world, most of which not good, we truly are living in a chaotic, disordered world. I see all of us caught in a whirlpool, being tossed, churned, and pulled downward in slow motion. Eventually, everything will hit the bottom ~ this is the Day of Judgment. God will then settle all cases in his court and chaos will end and order return with everyone put in his right place.
Best Place to Remain In
Today is the Feast of St. Matthias, Apostle, and the Gospel reading is the same as yesterday's at Sunday Mass ~ John 15.9-17. Most beautiful is when Jesus asks the disciples to remain in his love. Imagine resting in his love, being soaked with his love, and living in his love at all times! Give me the most expensive and luxurious penthouse of all Manhattan and I'll choose the love of Lord to live in anytime.
Freedom, Peace, and Joy
After you believe in and have come to know Jesus, since he is the true God, he sets you free ~ this is the first experience. This experience of freedom naturally leads you to inner peace ~ the second experience. As for joy, the Holy Spirit will give it to you whenever he pleases ~ the surprise enhances the joy.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Greatest Love Practiced
Jesus has taught and shown us that the greatest love is to lay down one's life for one's friends (John 15.13). So why not show our greatest love by laying down our lives in serving others?
How We Live Comes True
If we live as if there will be no next life, then there will be no next life for us; but if we live as if there will a next life, then there will be one for us after we die.
Grateful for Old Age
If we have reached an old age, we should be grateful not because we have lived longer in this world, but because we have been give more time to grow holier before meeting God.
Knowledge as an Obstacle
In today's society, at least in this country (USA), people know so much, kids included. After all, this is the information age. What's sad to see is that so many people talk as if they know everything! They are opinionated, vocal, and even boastful. Showing some humility couldn't be further from their minds. They are not even aware that they are being self-centered and foolish in God's eyes. The knowledge of the world can be as dangerous as other things of the world that blind us from seeing God.
Saturday, May 12, 2012
In Touch with Heaven
After receiving Holy Communion today, I realized that I had just received the bread of heaven. Then the Holy Spirit is from heaven too, so being the temple of the Holy Spirit is to have the heavenly guest residing within me. Heaven and I are definitely in touch with each other.
Our "Resurrection"
The Entrance verse today at Mass, Colossians 2.12: "You were buried with Christ in baptism, in which you were also raised again with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead." So you could say that we who have died in Christ and become new creatures in him have already gone through a resurrection. Indeed, the Lord raised us from the dead.
Real Presence Felt
I just realize that my constant awareness of the presence of the Lord dwelling within me is due to the fact that he is truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament, the Holy Eucharist, which I receive at each Mass.
What's Important to Gain?
We go to a gymnasium to exercise, work out hard, and eventually achieve a better-looking and stronger physique. We attend a higher-learning institution, study hard, read extensively, and become a well-educated and -informed intellectual. But we neglect to pray and nurture our faith in God so that we may evolve into a holier person. Isn't gaining eternal life so much more important than acquiring temporarily a well-proportioned body or a headful of knowledge?
Friday, May 11, 2012
What to Ask from the Father
In today's Gospel, John 15, Jesus called his disciples his friends and he told them that he had chosen them and appointed them to go out and bear fruit, so that whatever they ask from the Father in his name, the Father may give them. Obviously, "whatever" doesn't include anything going against God's will. Therefore, you can be confident that if you ask God to make you holier, to draw you to union with him, he will readily comply.
Seek Union First
In today's Mass Reading 1 from Acts 15, the Apostles and presbyters, in agreement with the whole Church, sent representatives to Antioch to correct the problem of some who went out without any mandate from the Church, upsetting others with their teachings. The unity of the faith must be maintained (Church of Ireland, take note.) If we oppose the teaching of the Church, we can not possibly be in union with Jesus. Seek union with the Lord first, then we'll have the wisdom and humility to know what's right and what's wrong.
To Sink or to Soar
The rich are attached to their wealth and the poor want to become rich. In general, people are attached to what they already have and want to acquire even more things of the world. How to cure this problem?
Imagine that you are in your dying hour right now, luckily still with a clear mind. What are your thoughts? Are you looking forward to meeting God or still thinking or even worrying about what's going to happen to all your material possessions? Jesus has made it clear that we cannot serve both God and money. A soul heavily weighed down by material things is like a sinking ship, while one that chooses God first is more like a helium-filled balloon, eager to soar to God.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Burdensomeness Is Relative
Today is the Memorial (optional) of St. Damien of Moloka'i, the Belgium priest who ministered to the lepers in their colony on the Hawaiian Island Moloka'i. He eventually contracted leprosy and died of the disease. I am thinking that if one of us is asked to work among the lepers, he or she probably would feel the assignment to be a great burden. So what's not burdensome to one may be burdensome to another. Mother Teresa is another case in point. To those who always seek to do God's will, burdens no longer exist, for they see performing each task as fulfilling their duty to serve the lord they love. Free of burden, they are joyful.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
God to Watch My Thoughts
What I felt this morning as Mass started was that the Lord was going to oversee all my thoughts. This gave me no fear but joy. He sees all my thoughts anyway, so for him to supervise them to make sure that they meet his approval is indeed a great blessing I welcome with all my heart. The Lord can help us in all things.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
The Positive Approach to God
One reason why I love St. Therese so much is because her faith in Jesus' love for her was predominant in her spiritual life. Personally, I also prefer to focus upon the positive. By letting the love, mercy, beauty, and glory of God draw you to him, all the negative aspects such as your sins and all other personal problems are then automatically taken away or overcome in due time. To me this is the joyful, effective way of approaching God. That's why I promote union with God above all.
Church in Disarray
The big news on BBC yesterday was that the Association of Catholic Priests, an organization which represents more than 850 priests in Ireland, had been meeting to discuss the future direction of the Church. The Vatican had criticized leading members of ACP for expressing views which contradict Church teaching. I watched the video: one priest spoke up against clerical celibacy and for ordination of women; another said that the educated people have the right to have a voice to be heard and if that voice leads to decisions to challenge the present institution, then that's progress.
I was saddened to hear these views expressed. Are the measures suggested by the first priest going to turn the Church in Ireland around and bring disillusioned parishioners back? I doubt it. The second priest spoke just like a present-day unbeliever ~ I just wonder where he got his education. For sure any voice attempting to break up the Church, which is the Body of Christ, could not have come from the Holy Spirit! What all these priests, including the bishops and the cardinals, should do is to get together to repent for all the sins (including the cover-up of child abuses) committed collectively by the clergy and ask the Lord to show the new direction for the Church.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Ultimate Freedom
I used the phrase "free in God" in my last post. I thought about it and really like it. To be free in God is to feel free in the presence of God; that is, you feel free thinking, speaking, and doing things in his presence. This is like how a good child feels in the presence of its loving parents who are totally pleased with and approves of him or her. This is ultimate freedom!
True Free Spirit
One who does God's will is not concerned about what others, the world, think of him while he is alive or after he dies, because his aim is to please God alone. To him, personal accomplishment, reputation, and standing in the world do not exist. He is a true free spirit, free of ego and free in God. (He imitates Jesus.)
How to Find Peace
Today's Communion Song, John 14.27: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give it to you, says the Lord, alleluia." What the Lord had made me see earlier during Mass was how beautiful it is to follow God and do his will. When you see that the two wills become one and the same, peace and joy pervade your whole being. Again, this is the way the Lord has made us! Only doing his will counts for eternity. Seek and you shall find, so seek his holy will always and you'll find peace.
Levels of Thought
This is somewhat related to the previous post. We are what we think, and we think on different levels. If we harbor sinful thoughts, we'll never experience inner peace. Most of the time many of us are occupied with mundane matters, which could also lead to stress and worry. Then we can always uplift our thoughts to God to let the Holy Spirit unconditionally guide our thinking, leading us to experience the greatest possible inner peace.
Jesus Liberates Us!
In Acts 5 we learn how the angel of the Lord led the imprisoned apostles out of the public jail. In Acts 12, we read that when the angel of the Lord appeared to Peter in prison, the chains just fell from his wrists. He then followed the angel out, passing all the guards and went through the gate which opened for them by itself out to the city. Today when I see so many people carrying the burden of stress, worry, and excessive concern about themselves, they are virtually living in a prison. I want to testify to all that Jesus, our Lord, can completely free us as the angels miraculously led the apostles to freedom. The Lord died for us in order to set us free! He is our last resort, so make it your first.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Enemies Within the Church
Disunity and disobedience within the Church tear apart the Body of Christ, pleasing Satan only. We've seen Catholic politicians publicly going against the teachings of the Church. The University of Notre Dame had President Obama speak at its commencement despite outcries from many other Catholics. Now "pro-choice" Kathleen Sebelious, Secretary of the Department of Human Health and Services, has been invited by Georgetown University, this nation's oldest Catholic and Jesuit University, to speak at one of its commencement ceremonies. It's sad that the true sheep of Christ have to fight enemies within as well as without. If you share my viewpoint, consider signing the petition on GeorgetownScandal.com.
Join God Now
If you do believe that God exists and we have imperishable souls, then it must be clear to you that there is an ongoing spiritual war waged by Satan against God, fighting for our very souls. Being a given that God cannot be defeated and will be victorious at the end, I am wise enough to side with the Lord right now. If you don't join him in the fight, you only prolong the war and may end up on the loser's side.
Friday, May 4, 2012
God's Love
The truth "God loves us" is most simple, yet most profound. To us, it's un-imaginable, yet completely logical. We have a rare case of "what seems too good to be true is true."
Made for Heaven
In today's Gospel reading from John 14 at Mass, Jesus told his disciples that he was going to his Father's house to prepare a place for them. Even before the Gospel reading, the Lord had made me see that we are truly wonderful creatures made by him. In his eyes, we are worthy to be saved to live eternally with him in heaven! If God so highly thinks of us, then isn't it a great sin to denigrate our own worth, to not hope in him, and to alienate him by continuing our sinful way of life?
Thursday, May 3, 2012
The Best Feeling Is...
knowing that God loves me (you). It touches the soul and heals it, uplifts the spirit high, and is most moving, deeply satisfying, sweet, and intoxicating. If you know Jesus, you'll know that this is true. To be loved by God is to experience God's greatest power!
All God's Love
Today is the Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Apostles. After receiving Holy Communion, I felt that I was loving God with his love, for he is the source of all good things. Since his love is inexhaustible, the possibility of loving him more is also unlimited.
To Be Detached from Thoughts
To be detached from your own thoughts is to never have your thoughts put a burden on your heart. This feels the same as being detached from the world, for all things go through the mind first. When thoughts can no longer enslave you, your heart will be light and free. Let Jesus displace all your own thoughts so that you can be so detached and free.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Goose Story with Happy Ending
Many animals are known to mate for life ~ they are more faithful than humans. I've noticed that the Canadian geese in my area seem to show up in pairs. Recently, as I looked out my home window, I noticed a single goose, sitting or standing out there by the creek, day after day. I surmised that it must have lost its mate, so I felt sorry for the lone bird and wished that it would join some flock and find another mate. Yesterday I looked out the same window and was delighted to see a pair of geese with a gosling walking around them, while pecking at the grass. My initial guess must be all wrong ~ the lone goose was out there because its mate was away sitting upon the egg somewhere hidden for the baby to hatch. So I felt sorry for nothing! Perhaps there are spiritual lessons to be learned here, but I just want to share the surprising story with the happy ending.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
God's Ultimate Assurance
In today's Gospel reading from John 10 at Mass, Jesus told the Jews about the sheep (us) who follow him, "My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father's hand. The Father and I are one." This reaffirms all that I believe. We are assured of eternal life. We are assured of safety in God's hand. How loving the Lord is! What a loving Father! Once you are one with Jesus, you are one with him forever! It's impossible to ask for more than what you get here, the absolute ultimate one could ever desire.
(Note. The very opposite to being held securely in the Father's hand is being lost with no faith, direction, or certainty.)
Monday, April 30, 2012
Don't Blemish the Universe
Do you realize that when we disobey God, we are the only creatures in this universe that become blemishes to God? The Lord wants to reign in our hearts, but we have the power to keep him out, thus becoming a blemish. Know that when we submit ourselves to God, we are making this universe more perfect. In the end, all remaining blemishes will be blotted out by the Lord.
On Praying for Others
We tend to pray for others not as ardently as we pray for ourselves, especially when the others are people we don't even personally know. Since Jesus wants us to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves, it dawned on me that we should pray for others just as hard and sincerely as we pray for ourselves.
Essential Questions to Ask
Before a couple gets married, it'd be good to know how the two answer certain questions to ensure that they are compatible and will be happy to live together. Here are three questions normally not asked, but could prove to be important. (1) Do you like camping? (Imagine that one enjoys camping outdoors and the other much prefer staying at a hotel when they travel together.) (2) Are you a saver or a dumper? (A saver doesn't like to throw away anything, while a dumper doesn't feel good unless everything not needed, not working, or that takes up too much space is disposed of.) (3) Do you like the contemporary or the traditional style? (When it comes to decorating the home, diametric preferences can easily start a war.)
I brought all this up because we are all going to meet God one day and it would be wise to prepare some questions in advance to make sure that we will be compatible with God and happy to live with him forever. For example, (1) Do I really believe in God? (2) Did I skip Sunday Mass for no good reason? (3) Do I receive the Holy Eucharist with great reverence?...you can think up the rest. We must be very thorough because we are not just marrying and living with someone for a short time, but are going to be considered to live with God for all eternity!
The Muddy World
Here are more thoughts on the unattractive world. It's actually a picture I have envisioned. The world is like a really muddy place. We are like pigs that wallow in the mud. We are dirty and filthy, yet we feel good. To enter the realm of Jesus is to get out of the dirty mud and get all cleaned up. Now we feel truly great and know that that's where we should remain.
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