How the Lord Wins Us Over

         In today's Gospel reading from Luke 5, before Jesus taught his disciples to catch men, he showed them how to catch fish. Jesus told Peter to put the boat out into deep water and pay out the nets for a catch. Peter and his companions had worked hard all night long and caught nothing, but they obeyed. They netted an unbelievably huge number of fish and were completely overwhelmed by the catch. Peter fell at the knees of Jesus saying, "Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man." 

       This is how the Lord teaches and draws us ~ he lets us have a personal experience and we are overwhelmed. Then we know that he is Lord and we are won over. As Peter showed, the winning-over itself is a sweet experience. 

Easy to Possess God

        To build up our body, we need to exercise hard. To earn a higher degree, we need to study hard. To make money, we need to work hard. It is general knowledge that nothing is free and all gains must be earned. Then I started thinking about possessing God ~ it's the easiest of all! In fact, you don't even need to work hard ~ all you have to do is to remain open and passive to the Lord for him to enter so that he may fulfill your desire ~ it is absolutely true!    

Sticking with God

        Before I share today's thoughts, I want to say that I've revised my post Ridiculous Faith of September 4. Since I caught Hannity's interview in the middle, I missed the fact that the Democrats did not mention God in this year's party platform, not in their speeches as I thought. I just read that because of all the criticisms, they've hurriedly added God back to the platform. As far as I am concerned, this is still bowing to the people and not to God. They acted like a bunch of kids not knowing what to do without the guidance of their parents.

       Since God is forever constant, present, patient, and loving, let us trust in him always whether we ride on his wings or go through the dark nights, whether the day is beautiful or gloomy, whether we are healthy or sick, for better or for worse, so that we and God will always be with each other through thick and thin.

One Short Step Away from Paradise

        Since I have a simple mind, the Lord out of his mercy always simplifies things for me to understand. At Mass this morning, I saw that God had made everything beautiful in our universe and we are the only ones who mess things up because we disobey and rebel against God. To correct this wrong, we only need to turn to him, repent, and start loving him ~ that is it! All that's involved is a change of heart and we are given the free will to make it happen. Imagine...eternal happiness just one short step away! Why are we making it so hard for ourselves?    

Learning from St. Teresa

       I am a little over a third of the way through reading St. Teresa of Avila's Life. Here are some virtues she spoke of and one tip on praying she gave:

      (1) Not speaking evil of anyone, no matter how slight; avoiding all fault-finding (not desiring to say of another person what I would not want him to say of me); no talking behind another's back (ch. 6).

        (2) Pray not with the noise of words but with longing that God hears (ch. 15).      

Ridiculous Faith

        I just happened to turn on the news and saw Hannity on Fox News talking to a Democratic governor (I wasn't 100% sure that he was a governor) at the Democratic National Convention in North Carolina. Hannity pointed out that in 2004, God was mentioned seven times in the Democrats' party platform. At the last 2008 convention, God was mentioned just once. This year there is no mention of God in the platform at all. The Democrat responded, without mentioning God, that the party is one of faith. This answer was pretty ridiculous.

        First of all, faith could mean faith in themselves, not God. Secondly, even if the faith was faith in God, it had to be a timid one. Being ashamed of God is to invite God to be ashamed of you (as Jesus had made it amply clear). It seemed to be a case of being more afraid of the people (atheists included) than of God. Thirdly, it also showed the hypocrisy which the Lord could not tolerate ("Woe to you...").  

        Yes, woe to us who treat God this way! 

The Lord Is Too Much!

        This was how I felt after receiving Holy Communion this morning. Every time Jesus enters me, he removes all my discontent, refreshes me, and gives me enough peace and joy to sustain me for a long time until I see him in paradise. Receiving him daily is being filled to overflowing. What a great joy to let his love overwhelm us!

A Beautiful Way to Live

        Today is the Memorial of St. Gregory the Great, pope and doctor of the church. The Entrance Song at Mass reads: "Blessed Gregory, raise upon the throne of Peter, sought always the beauty of the Lord and lived in celebration of that love." What a beautiful way to live! This should be the aim of all disciples of the Lord: seeking the beauty of the Lord and living in celebration of that love. 

Two Big Words from God

        Again, with 1 Corinthian 1:25 in mind, which says, "The foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than the human strength," I can say that hearing the Lord say "Well done" is worth more than receiving all the accolades and honors of the entire world.      

God Shapes His Children

        As God's beloved children, we receive the benefit of being shaped by him. This is our training to be made fit to serve him. We become soldiers in his army and our weapon is love. Our goal is to glorify God in every way we can. When he shapes us, our existence changes into the most perfect state.

Knowing God Makes the Difference

        Since I see so many people I know not living a joyful (not even happy) life, I'd like to draw the contrast between those who know God (Jesus) and those who do not. Those who have no faith seem to drift from day to day. They don't think about God (even though I believe that deep down they know that they should). They feel uncomfortable anytime God is mentioned (an indication that they really need him). Life is not fulfilling, at best OK. They worry about and plan for this life, avoiding thinking about life after death (out of fear?). They may seem cheerful on the outside, but they feel empty on the inside. Basically, they live a life of running away from life. Then those who have faith live exactly the opposite.  

Shocking Lessons from God

        God may teach us by shocking us if we don't pay attention to earlier warnings. I don't know if I have mentioned this incident in the past (after over 2,000 posts, it's no longer easy to remember). I used to be somewhat obsessive about collecting music recordings, vinyl long-playing records and later, compact discs. In the old days, there were no online stores, so the only way was to actually visit the stores to find any interesting releases. I knew in the back of my mind that I was spending too much time doing this, but it's easy to go on anyhow. One day when I was driving home right after spending an excessive amount of time at Tower Records (which had folded six years ago), a bird flew out of a row of trees along the freeway and collided with the car's windshield. The impact was so great that it sounded like an explosion and the whole windshield, being tempered, broke into myriad small pieces covering my entire upper body. I really thanked the Lord that nothing went into my eyes. This was a lesson loud and clear to show me that I was wrong in being so obsessed about acquiring recordings.

        The other hobby of mine was collecting postcards of airplanes, ships, trains, and cars. To every new city I traveled to, I headed for the postcard stands first. It was exactly when I was doing this that my unwatched camera bags containing all the equipment and rolls and rolls of film shot were stolen. This shock stopped my collecting folly cold.

        Early this morning I had a bad dream. In it I put my camera bag on the rear seat of my parked car on the street of a busy city and left to go somewhere. After walking quite a while, I remembered that I forgot to lock the car and got panicky. So I started rushing back to the car, but lost my way and just didn't know where the car was parked. I was so alarmed and woke up. Is there a lesson I could learn here? Yes, the Lord showed me how attaching to anything in this world can cause great pain and it's just not worth it. Thank God for the shocks.

Holy Communion Benefits

        When I attend a banquet on earth, I simply enjoy the eating and any festivities present, then leave and go home afterwards ~ it's a one-time thing. Today after I received the Holy Eucharist, I felt that I was attending a banquet that feeds, cleanses, and permanently heals the soul ~ its effect is for all eternity. 

The Lord's Prayer Facilitates Union

        During the Lord's Prayer at Mass this morning, when I came to saying "thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," I realized that if I say it with all sincerity, I am really making my surrender to God. Now I see that when Jesus taught us this prayer, he desired union with him from us.

"Please Choose Me"

        Jesus told his disciples, "It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you" (John 15). It struck me that a great prayer would be to ask the Lord to choose you, whether you are a believer or not. If you are already a believer, then ask him to choose you to serve him, to spread the gospel, to make you holy... there are just so many favors you can ask. When the Lord chooses you, it is a great honor and assures that you'll live a blessed life now and forever. 

Attachment Is Not Love

        Why do people feel sad when someone (or even some pet) close to them leaves or dies? Of course, you miss the person (or your dog or cat). But still why? I dare say that it's because of attachment, not necessarily all love. I know some readers may see it differently ~ that's all right. Here's my take. Attachment to anything in the world is basically self-centered. If someone departs from this world and you miss that person, it's most likely because you feel your loss ~ you no longer have the joy of that person's company, you no longer have that person to give you comfort or help when you needed it, etc. If you truly love that person, you would think for his (or her) sake. If you know his soul is going on to God, you rejoice for him. Otherwise, you feel sad for him, not for yourself. Love is only pure when there is no attachment mixed with it. And the heart is free only when it is free from all worldly attachments.

We Know Enough About God

         A couple of days ago, I read on BBC News online about the discovery of millions of supermassive black holes and blisteringly hot, "extreme" galaxies. Black holes are called such because they are regions of space where gravity is so powerful that not even light can escape. The hot galaxies are labeled as "extreme" because they can outshine our sun by a factor of one hundred trillion! It all sounds like science fiction. I have talked about how I was awed by the universe in the past ~ billions of galaxies with each galaxy consisting of billions of stars. Another interesting fact is that what we see now is already ancient history ~ looking at a star a billion light years away is looking at that star when it was a billion years younger. To see where it is today, we'll have to wait another billion years! If the universe is infinite, then what we've seen is quite nothing. I feel the same way about God our infinite creator. We learned about him through the Old Testament and a lot more from the Lord himself, but there must be so much about him that we still don't know yet. 

      Three points I want to make here. (1) We are finite creatures and obviously, it is impossible for a finite creature to understand his infinite creator fully. What we can know is limited by how God made us or what much he allows us to know. To try to figure out all about God would be utter folly. (2) What God has revealed to us through Jesus is all sufficient for our salvation ~ knowing any more would be superfluous. Therefore, be content with what we already know and start believing. (3) Most importantly, it is knowing God, not knowing about him, that's central. Once you know him, you'll be loving instead of questioning. Then one day your beloved will reveal everything about him to you. 

"I Couldn't Care Less"

        You hear the expression "I couldn't care less" said by people from time to time. Whether this attitude is good or not depends upon whom you care less about. If you couldn't care less about others, then you could be a very selfish, uncharitable person. But if you really couldn't care less about yourself, then you could be a very humble, enlightened Christian.

Heavenly Holy Communion

        After receiving Holy Communion today, I knew that the bread of heaven is not a figure of speech ~ I actually received literally Jesus himself from Heaven! It was more that just a taste of heaven ~ it was more like attending a banquet in my honor in heaven.

Don't Get Locked Out by God!

        Today at Mass we heard the Parable of the Ten Virgins from Matthew 25 read. The five wise virgins all got their lamps ready waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom, while the five foolish ones didn't even have enough oil for their lamps. When the bridegroom came unexpectedly late at midnight, those who were ready went into the wedding feast with him, while the other virgins who went off to buy oil came back late and found that the door to the feast already locked. When they knocked on the door, the Lord did not even recognize them. What a terrible thought ~ to be locked out and turned away by God! Jesus' lesson is that we need to stay awake and be ready in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. The superior way is to embrace God's love with all your heart now, then getting locked out or not needn't be a concern anymore. 

Be Smart Before God

        This morning's first reading at Mass came from 1 Corinthians 1, in which Paul states that "the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength." This profound statement can confound many. Because it is true, the self-centered world is having trouble understanding and obeying God. But to the truly wise, they see the way to approaching and knowing God. Since God's wisdom and strength are so much superior than ours, there is no better choice than submitting ourselves to him, follow him, and obey him ~ the smart way to go.

Knowing God Personally

        To Know God is to love God. It's impossible to know him if you don't love him. If you love him, then he will draw you close to him and make you love him even more. Our God is a personal God, Jesus. How blessed we are that he is not remote, aloof, or uncaring ~ he is a God in whom we can greatly rejoice!

Preparing for the Lord's Coming

        Today's Gospel reading at Mass came from Matthew 24. Jesus told his disciples to stay awake and be prepared for the hour at which he will come. We hear that we should live as if it is the last day of our life ~ it makes equal sense. Jesus may not show up in our lifetime, but it doesn't matter ~ the wise would get ready anyway. Then I realize that Jesus is already present spiritually with me at all times and this awareness is sufficient to keep me on my toes. I shall talk or pray to him whether I am doing anything or not, getting him involved in all things at all times ~ an excellent way to prepare for his coming.

Freedom and Joy Again

        After receiving Holy Communion, I experienced great freedom. This is the freedom that comes naturally from leaving all up to God as opposed to getting stressed out for having to take care of all things on your own. I also felt so happy and grateful that God knows my heart ~ since he sees exactly what is in it, he is free to purify and do whatever is needed to keep it pleasing to him. What a grace! 

What We Should Want to Do

        Today is the Memorial of the Passion of St. John the Baptist. As we learn from Matthew 6, today's Gospel reading: King Herod married Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip; Herodias, harboring a grudge against John the Baptist because of his disapproval of the marriage, wanted to kill him; when the king was delighted with the dance of his daughter, promised to grant her whatever she asked of him, she went to ask the mother and Herodias asked for the head of John the Baptist. 

        King Herod, his wife Herodias, and the daughter ~ all three did exactly what they wanted to do, with no concern for others. They are great examples for us because they show exactly what we should not be like. For us, there is only one thing we should want to do, God's will.

Spiritual Battle, Another View

        You must agree that we are all engaged in spiritual warfare, with both God and Satan fighting for our souls. But there is another view, with Satan just playing a side role. Our main battle is really one to be fought against ourselves. If we overcome ourselves, our rebellion against God ceases and our personal battle is over. Now we are with God. If not, then Satan wins.

Promises You Can Count On

        In John 6, Jesus said, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst." And a little later, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." Since the first promise has already proven to be true as I no longer hunger nor thirst, you can confidently count on the fulfillment of the second promise that we will live forever if we receive the Holy Eucharist, when we pass from this world.

Be Bold and Humble

        Boldness and humility make an ideal coupling for any disciple of Christ. Be bold means never being afraid to speak out or act for the glory of God. Be humble means always forgetting about your own ego (if there's still any left) and concentrating on serving God alone.

To Deeper Union

        I had a tooth that had cracked, so it was pulled out. It looked like it did not heal right and had started bleeding. At Mass this morning (memorial of St. Augustine), my mouth was full of blood when I received the Holy Eucharist. The mingling made me feel in a way that I was drawn even deeper into union with Christ. Also, it taught me to unite all my sufferings with his.

Receiving God's Mercy

        As I received the Lord in the Holy Eucharist this morning, I felt that it was a most merciful act for him to enter the sinful me. It was merciful of him to look more at my intentions and less at the actual state of my soul. 

Recipe for Freedom

        Hold onto God alone and let all else go.

Let the Transformation Begin!

        God has made each one of us into a unique creature. We all have different personalities, traits, talents, etc. And God leads us to him along different paths too, but he has one individual plan for each of us ~ he wants to mold each one of us into the perfect person as he has envisioned. So give the Lord the green light and let it begin. Don't expect to experience the same thing as any saint has experienced, but the end result will be just as satisfactory to God (and you'll be extremely satisfied too).

Think Far Enough Ahead

        It was a beautiful morning with the sun out in the blue sky and the temperature just perfect, yet I knew that this would pass. Daytime is already getting shorter; soon there'll be colder, rainy, windy days and some plants will freeze and die ~ this has happened every year. Our life is also passing and soon we'll come to the end. We all tend to enjoy the good times and not think far enough ahead. Jesus asks us to store up treasures in heaven ~ this means that we must be aware our future after this life is over. (This kind of vision may rightly be described as heavenly.) As long as we have this awareness, we can enjoy the ongoing good times and accumulate treasures in heaven at the same time. 

God the Source of Our Joy

        After I received the Holy Eucharist this morning, I also received a dose of the sweetest joy from the Lord. Once you taste it, you gladly reaffirm your surrender to him. It's fitting that so great a love is the source of such joy.     

We Needn't Stand Alone

         The Lord impressed these thoughts upon me during morning Mass. Each one of us is a unique being created by God and given a distinct soul and his own free will. Each of us alone makes his choices in what he thinks, says, and does. We came into the world alone and will depart from it alone. When God speaks to us, he speaks to each one individually. When we face God later, each person will have to answer to him strictly on his own. So it's alone all the way. Ultimately speaking, no one or anything can come between God and us ~ we alone are responsible for ourselves. 

        But we can take advantage of the situation by reversing it! Let's seek union with God and become one with him now, then we shall never stand alone anymore. Nothing can come between God and us ~ you can say that again!        

God Delights the Humble

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 23, Jesus pointed out the hypocrisies of the scribes and the Pharisees to the crowds and his disciples. He then told all that "whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted." 

       This is absolutely true because when you remain humble in the Lord, he always delightfully surprises you from time to time. True delights only come to the humble, for the high and mighty have only one way to go ~ down. The greatest reserved "surprise" for the humble will come, of course, at the end of this life.      

Peace as Our Guide

        "Peace be with you" ~ that's how Jesus greets his disciples. God always wishes us peace. So if you have great peace, you know that you love him. If you don't have peace when you do something, then it could very well be that you are not doing his will.

Ignoring the Devil Again

        Many years ago, I read St. Teresa of Avila's classic Interior Castle. I am starting to read all her collected works. In the Introduction of the volume, I read: As for devils, she could say with complete freedom "I pay no more attention to them than to flies" and that the key element of her teaching about the devil is the utter uselessness of all fears concerning him. She also said, "I don't understand these fears, 'The devil! The devil!' when we can say 'God! God!' and make the devil tremble." It is gratifying to learn that she confirms what I have posted. That is, as long as we occupy ourselves with (or hide in) God, we may safely ignore the Devil. 

Dear Atheists:

        You believe that man invented God and use him as a crutch. I want to tell you that you've got it all wrong. My God did not come out of man's imagination ~ for your information, he came into the world almost 2,000 years ago and revealed to us who he is. And I did not seek him because I needed a crutch ~ it was his amazing love that drew me to him. I never expected to choose him ~ it was he who chose me! Keep your minds open and you might just be called by him yet.

About Atheists

        Atheists do not believe that God exists, so they don't know how they got here nor the meaning of life. To Christians, not a single word of Jesus can be ignored, but the atheists wipe out the entire Judea-Christian history and the Gospel records. The gate to heaven is narrow and the road to it steep and atheists choose to tread the easiest way. Unfortunately, they don't know that it's the wrong way. And they have no guides and are shaped by the world they happen to be in. They are basically self-centered, claiming that there is no God, but setting themselves up as gods ~ no different from being idolatrous. The test of faith is the giving up of oneself and obviously, they totally flunked it.  

The Lord Is Hurting

        I am still thinking about my post The Falling Away from God which I put up yesterday. If you had read that BBC report and the readers comments, you might feel just as sad as I am. At Mass this morning, the picture of the suffering Lord floated into my mind ~ it's an image of how he looked on his way to Golgotha to be crucified. Today's Gospel reading from Matthew 22 was appropriate. In this parable of the wedding feast told by Jesus, the king invited many guests to this feast he gave for his son, but some ignored the invitation or refused to come. Others even mistreated and killed the servants dispatched to summon the guests. The king was enraged and destroyed them. Then he invited whomever his servants could find in the streets. One man came, was spotted not dressed in a wedding garment and also got punished. Jesus' last words were "Many are invited, but few are chosen." Today's situation is no different or perhaps even worse. The pressing question is: "How may we console the Lord?"

Seeing the True Jesus

        Today at Communion time at Mass, I understood that receiving the Lord was to obey and submit myself to him. After Communion, I saw the loveliness of the Lord and questioned how people could possibly reject him. May he be adored forever!

Never Question God's Way

        In the Gospel reading taken from Matthew 20, Jesus mentioned "the last will be first, and the first will be last" in telling the parable of the workers in the vineyard. I think that the saying means that God can do whatever he wants and we have no right to question him. Even if my interpretation is wrong, what I have interpreted it to mean is still correct.

On Praying for Enemies

        Today is the Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Praying for our enemies is hard, so let's look to the Holy Mother as our example ~ she prays for everyone without exception and intercedes for all of us. Enemies need even more prayers than friends, so let's pray without being discriminatory. 

The Falling Away from God

        Atheism is on the rise (check out http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19262884) ~ people, including many lukewarm Christians, are rebelling against God. I feel sorry for them more than for the Lord. Like the ones who crucified Christ, they just don't know what they are doing! How sad that they do not know that union with God is the most beautiful state of existence and if everyone achieves that state, earth will become like heaven. Is there any hope for them? Definitely yes, only if they'd realize that God's mercy in infinite and that nothing is impossible with him.

The Holy Spirit & God's Will

        This morning after I woke up, I sensed that it is the Holy Spirit who prompts all followers of Christ to do God's will. You could say that the Holy Spirit "is" God's will because to know the Holy Spirit is to know God's will. Let the Holy Spirit lead us in every little step we take.

Making Union Easy

        When we attain union with God, it is God who does all the work by his holy love. All we need to do is "be open to him." The degree of difficulty following the Lord is inversely proportional to how much we open up to him ~ which is saying that the more we open up, the less difficult it is for us to follow him. 

Going by the Lord?

        Jesus entered the world to become one of us so that he could spread the good news of our salvation among us. And we have only one life to live in which to catch this critically important message of love, not before our birth or after our death. The period that's open for us is brief and unpredictable ~ I am speaking from the point of view of someone who has already found and accepted this truth. The Lord patiently awaits us ~ if we do not grab him soon enough, he'll be out of reach forever! This message is urgent indeed. 

On Guard with Humility

        Today I realize that we should watch out for pride even when the Lord is giving us joy. We must not let any such good feeling or other rewards affect whatever residual ego that's still left in us. This is tricky business; but to be safe, it's essential to receive all good things with great humility.

God Alone Suffices

        After receiving the Holy Eucharist this morning, I felt that I was ready for death since I already possess the Lord. "The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack" (Psalm 23), exactly!