Union Purpose Restated

        The primary purpose of seeking union with God is to give him glory by being holy. It is not to find freedom, peace, and joy for ourselves although they are often the by-products of our search.        

Christian in Any Circumstances

        Just read in the news: "When the US presidential election is over, estimates say it will end up costing $2.5 billion." Spending this much money just to get one man who is basically a politician and may not even be totally honest elected, it is insane if you see it this way. Why can't we dispense with all ads, including those dirty, attack TV ones, and just allow the two candidates to debate and/or give separate presentations over the media, talking about their respective visions, plans, and goals for the nation? They can travel around the country to campaign if they so choose. This way we get to see the candidates directly without being affected by the inaccurate and distorted depictions of them in ads, saving much money. 

        The talk of money got me thinking about our capitalistic society. The system means free enterprise, but it comes at a great cost. Under capitalism, the goal is to make money. For corporations and companies, it's profit, profit, profit. For the individuals, it's making money to own a house, buy cars and other material things for comfort, be able to put children through college, etc. ~ it is the American dream! Most high school students already start thinking about making a lot of money before they graduate. The love of money definitely keeps us away from thinking about God. Jesus made it clear that we cannot serve both God and mammon. This is the big drawback of capitalism.  

       In Acts 4, we read that the community of believers was of one heart and mind and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own ~ they had everything in common. There was no needy person among them, for money and wealth were distributed to each according to need. This seems to be an ideal society, but it will only work if all participants are of one heart and mind in the Lord. Anyway, though the system under which we live may be far from perfect, it's always right to be the most perfect Christian we can possibly be.

Communion Joy

        During the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass, I saw the moment of consecration of the bread and the wine as one at which Jesus declared his love for us. After receiving him, joy, peace, and contentment filled my entire heart. They all came from within, proving that God dwells in the heart. I actually felt both the "heat" and the "weight" of the joy, perhaps caused by the sheer amount I experienced. 

God All-Knowing

        At Mass, the Lord made me see that for everything we do for his glory, we shall be rewarded, for nothing goes unnoticed by him. 

Reason for Rejoicing

        Today is the Solemnity of All Saints. The readings at Mass were so beautiful that they gave me extra joy. Reading 1 came from Revelation 7. In St. John's vision one of the elders revealed to him that those wearing white robes present were the ones who had survived the time of great stress, and had washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb. This is a powerful image. Consider it a miracle that red blood can actually wash the robes and make them white. If you know that you are wearing such a white robe, rejoice!  

        Reading 2 came from 1 John 3. St. John wrote: "Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." Again, if you know that you are already one of God's children, rejoice!

        The Gospel was the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5. The Beatitudes are beautiful in both words and content. When I heard them, I heard the powerful, loving voice of the Lord in my ears. After the last Beatitude, Jesus said, "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven." Anyway you look at it, you see reason for rejoicing.

Union Strengthened

        Joined 40 Days for Life this morning outside an abortion clinic for a couple of hours. As I thought about how much abortion pains the Lord, I experienced a tiny fraction of his sufferings on the cross and our union was strengthened. By the way, one car entered the clinic parking lot, turned around and came back out ~ due to the presence of eight of us holding signs and praying, the pregnant mother changed her mind. One life saved ~ praise God! 

On Loving Our Enemies

        God's love is pure love, uncluttered and detached from everything else. As I drove home after morning Mass, I suddenly understood why he could teach us to love even our enemies. Since he created all of us, he must then love all of us equally. Therefore, if we are to receive his love, we must promise to love everyone equally too.

God Speaks to Us

        With Hurricane Sandy, the largest storm ever recorded in the Atlantic, pummeling the U.S. East Coast causing unprecedented devastation and chaos, let's pray for all the victims who suffer great personal losses and property destruction. But let's also pray that we as a nation will realize that God has an important message for us in every single event, for nothing can happen without his permission. As the saying goes, there are no accidents. Catastrophic events are usually severe warnings. His intention is always to get us to return to him, to accept his love, to believe in him, and to love each other on earth ~ all these acts are long overdue!

To Know the Beauty of Christ

        I do not have any desire to travel to see new places anymore. I suppose that one of the reasons is because I have already "seen" the incomparable beauty of Christ. A friend of mine still tells me that one scenic place she had visited was so beautiful that I must go see it. I believe her, and I know that I'll never truly understand what she experienced if I don't go there myself. The same can be said about the beauty of Christ. You can hear me tell you about it ten thousand more times, but you still will not know it unless you enter him yourself. 

Letting God Live Your Life

        In life, there are just two choices: to walk with God and to walk away from God. To choose the latter is easy, but you are going to lead a tough life because you are now on your own in a world filled with all kinds of traps ready to snare you. To choose to walk with God is harder, but once you've made that choice, your life can become heaven. The best thing about it is that now the Lord does everything for you, for all you want to do is his will. I want him to draw me close to him and he does just that. I want him to heal my soul and he accomplishes that too. This is letting God live your life for you!    

On Submitting to God

        My last post talks about our unwillingness to submit ourselves to God. In today's first reading at Mass from Ephesians 5, St. Paul urges all to be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. Then I realize that when Jesus became one of us and died on a cross, it was a clear case of submitting himself to us in order to save us. When he consecrated the bread at the Last Supper, saying: Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my body which will be given up for you, he made his submission to us clear. So who are we who are not willing to submit ourselves to God?

Ranking Matters

        It becomes clear to me that people do not believe in God simply because they have ranked themselves No. 1, putting themselves ahead of their creator. This is, of course, a colossal mistake that can be fatal. Making yourself more important than the Lord is definitely a bad idea; just by changing your ranking from No. 1 to No. 2, your margin of safety will go way up. If you really want to play it safe, then be as humble as the saints, who don't even consider themselves worthy to be ranked before God. 

God Owns Us!

        This morning after Mass while I remained at church, I watched two faithful parishioners took great care of the flowers on the altar. The Lord made me see very clearly that we are merely agents here to use all things supplied by him to work for his glory. Even ourselves like everything else were made by him. Whether you agree or not, he owns us, but we do have the choice to rebel or obey. 

Jesus Alone Our Beacon

        In view of all the recent horrible acts of violence committed against the Christian minorities around the world, I am proud of the fact that our Lord, Jesus the Christ, has set the highest standard by his example and his teaching that we are to love even our enemies. Who can possibly measure up to him? He stands alone as the truth and our beacon. 

Going Home to God

        Today's Holy Communion experience. Before receiving him, I felt the need to be in his love so that my soul might be healed. After receiving him, I realized that my soul now belonged to him and was on its way home.

Promise of Union

        Jesus said to his disciples at the Last Supper, "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him" (John 14:23). Here the Lord promises that he will come to enter into union with us. If God is in us, then surely we are in him. This is the most desirable state for the soul.  

The Amazing Us (or God)

If you are pro-abortion and/or an atheist, you are invited to view this video:

 

Letting God's Plan Unfold

        Since God has a plan for each of us, we must be sure that it unfolds without our interference. Naturally, all things happenings around us can affect the unfolding, but the Lord will take care of that part. We can easily kill his plan if we just go our own way, so this is what we need to guard against. To be in union with God is an excellent way to ensure that his plan for us will work out for him to his glory.  

True or False Humility?

        If you tell yourself or others that you are such a poor sinner that you can never be good enough to become a saint, make sure that it's not false humility. If you really believe so, then it's almost like saying that you are so sinful that God cannot save you anymore ~ such belief then becomes a grave sin. The correct attitude to fully believe that the Lord can make you into a saint no matter how sinful you are now ~ this is putting all your trust in the Lord and not limiting him in the slightest, showing in fact, true humility.

Foundation of All Relationships

        When we pray to the Lord, we must mean it from the heart. When we want to hear from the Lord, we must mean it from the heart too. Patience is often required since he speaks to us at his chosen time. We must also be prepared to obey whatever he tells us to do. A sincere, trustful relationship between the Lord and us is the foundation upon which our relationships with all others are to be built. 

The Most Beautiful Way to Live Is...

to trust in God with reckless abandon. Either God is trustworthy or not trustworthy. If you believe that he is, then this is the way to go. When Mother Teresa wanted to serve the poorest of the poor in India, that was a first. She abandoned herself to the Lord and her missionary work became a worldwide success. We can do the same in what we are called to do.          

Humility Needed to Understand God

      I'd like to share something else I read in St. Teresa's Meditations of the Song of Songs. She gave the following. 

        In spite of all the wisdom of the Blessed Virgin, our Lady, she asked the angel: How can this be? But after he answered, The Holy Spirit will come upon you; the power of the Most High will overshadow you, she engaged in no further discussion. With great faith and wisdom, she understood at once that if these two intervened, there was nothing more to know or doubt. She did not act as do some learned men, for they want to be so rational about things and so precise in their understanding that it doesn't seem anyone else but they with their learning can understand the grandeurs of God. If only they would learn something from the humility of the most Blessed Virgin! 

Tow-Part Journeys

        I have posted before that the journey of following Christ can be considered to be a two-part one, with the point of division being the point at which we surrender to God. The first part may be labeled "Struggling mostly on you own" and the second part "God doing all the work," leading to union with the Lord. As for the usually much shorter journey between hearing God's call and becoming a follower, it also has two parts ~ they are marked by the point at which we repent our sins before God.  

How God Calls

        Let's look at the spectrum of love. At one end, we have the love of God for us, a pure love as demonstrated by Christ, also known as agape. At the other end, we have love for sex, money, or other material things just to satisfy our selfish desires (it's unfortunate that the word "love" is used here to mean basically "craving"). Close to the love of God is the natural love of parents for their children. Of course, it's possible that the love is a mixture of the pure and the impure. For example, a man and a woman can love each other so much that they are willing to die for each other. What I want to concentrate upon is God's pure love. At the beginning, being human we are not really aware of the existence of such great love. One day we hear the gospel and discover that this love has always been there and that it has the power to change our lives ~ God is now calling.  

Consider Loving These Neighbors

        I believe that no matter how bad a person we are, most of us will unhesitatingly help someone in immediate danger ~ that's the good part in us. If you believe in God, do you realize that a vast numbers of people are in danger of losing their souls at any moment? Shouldn't we do something about it? The least we could do is to be holy ourselves and pray for them. It's easy to be unaware of this reality, but it's utterly urgent. Do something for them ~ it's loving your neighbor, which is the same as loving God.

God Made Me Somebody

        While watching Life on the Rock on EWTN, the Holy Spirit just brought to my mind vividly what I already knew, that I had been called by God to love him, that this was a special grace, that with all the angles and saints, I now belong to his family and have Jesus as my brother, and that there is nothing more I would ever need, and that I am not a nobody anymore in existence. The Lord surely ends my day on a joyful note.    

Suffering the Right Way

        Early all morning since I woke up before 5 a.m., I really felt the presence of the Lord within me. Then I should be happy ~ right? It turned out that I felt great sorrow because I sensed the coming of increasing persecution of our Church. Most of the world, including sadly, much of the Christian population, just does not care or care enough about the moral teachings the Church. I did ask the Lord why it's so. I saw that as disciples of Christ, suffering along with him is unavoidable. I must trust that the Lord knows what he is doing. Then I went to Mass and received him in the Holy Eucharist and he made me see that the joy he had given us outweighs all sorrows. Hence we are to suffer gladly, not in sadness. He restored me. 

Looking at Oneself

        We probably see ourselves daily in the mirror every morning after we get up and before we go to bed. Next time take a good look at your mirror image, but see it as another person. In the questions that follow, I assume that the subject is a male for simplicity, but feel free to change him to a female as the case may be. 

        "How does he look to you? How do you feel about him? What do you think of him? How is he living his life? How is he coping with it? Is he happy inside? If not, why not? Do you admire or feel sorry for him? Is he happy to continue the way he's been? Is anything missing in his life? Does he need changes in his life? How well does he know God? Should he love God even more? What would be your best advice for him?" I think that this is a good way to look at oneself. Hopefully, this examination will bring you closer to God.  

Clear-Cut Assignments

        Jesus said (to the Pharisees and Herodians), "Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God." He said (to a would-be follower), "Let the dead bury the dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." In a similar way, I could hear Jesus telling us: "Leave the things of the world to the world and remain in union with me where you belong." 

The Not Quite Unobtrusive I

        It is so easy to want to do what I like to do or to make things happen the way I like to see happen and forget all about giving God glory. The "I" looming large in front of us, though not in any obtrusive way, still shows the lack of perfect humility. It points to the need to consult the Lord always before proceeding. 

Dealing with Division

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 12, Jesus said to his disciples, "Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three..." As long as sin exists on earth, being his disciples will unavoidably receive skepticism, criticism, misunderstanding, ridicule, or even persecution from others ~ sin and God just do not mix. All you need to do is look at the Lord himself. If he could not even escape harm from division, who are we to run away from it? He was not even honored in his hometown, as we sometimes are not understood among our own kin.  As long as we remain in union with the Lord, we need not let division disturb our peace, as the cause of it is sin, not us.

God Amazing

        Here's a link that shows how talented God can make us: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20036511. After watching this 7-year-old, also watch the video up next about the 9-year-old who is an amazing painter. If God can create such prodigies, imagine how infinitely amazing God himself must be! 

Waging War Against God

        Basically, we all want to be gods, so we disobey the only true God by shoving him aside or ignoring him (as we don't have the guts to confront him directly). An onlooker on the side would see the scene of billions of battles being waged by each psuedo-god against the true God. I feel sorry for the psuedo-ones because they are basically fighting a losing battle. And I feel sorry for the Lord because it's billions-against-one and these battles do hurt him because the wounds are inflicted upon him by his own whom he loves.

A Gift in Waiting

        If you do not know God through Jesus, you'll never know if he is the true God or not. Once you believe in Jesus and come to know God more and more, this Lord will let you know without a doubt that he indeed is the true God. This is his gift for those who love him. Now you are well on your way to freedom.   

God Makes Us See Right

        Once you know the Lord, you begin to see the world by his standards, and the world falls far short ~ you see that it is in such a sorry, pitiful state and is dull, boring, and even nauseating in God's presence. Know the Lord and his glorious light will reveal the true worth of everything to you. 

To Be Rich in Heaven

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 12 at Mass, Jesus told the parable of the rich fool. In it, God said to the rich man, "You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong? Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God." Let me add that in Matthew 6, Jesus said, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, but store up treasures in heaven. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be." So we need to set our hearts on eternity. Store up treasures in heaven starting right now by doing everything that matters to God and you will be rich in heaven. 

Living in Each Other

        Today's Communion experience. Jesus comes to live in me and there is no need for me to live on my own anymore, for I now live in him. 

A Blissful State

        Be perfectly in tune with the Holy Spirit so that he fills all of you so that you no longer are aware of your own existence so that he guides you in everything to glorify God.        

Destined to Belong to God

        The Response to Psalm 100 at this morning's Mass: "The Lord made us, we belong to him." If he did make us, then what did he intend to do with us? To discard us? To leave us alone? To enslave us? I don't think so. Jesus told us that God even takes good care of the birds and flowers. To love us has to be the answer. That's why he reached out to save us when we went astray ~ he wants us to belong to him. 

God, Creator of Our Universe

        This is October, the month in which 30,000 to 100,000 people witnessed the miracle of the sun near Fatima, Portugal, in 1917. The extraordinary solar activity, lasting approximately ten minutes, occurred after Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to the three young shepherd children at noon. Here I quote from Wikipedia: "According to many witnesses, after a period of rain, the dark clouds broke and the sun appeared as an opaque, spinning disc in the sky. It was said to be significantly duller than normal, and to cast multicolored lights across the landscape, the shadows on the landscape, the people, and the surrounding clouds. The sun was then reported to have careened towards the earth in a zigzag pattern, frightening those who thought it a sign of the end of the world." 

         This just made me realize that whoever can move the sun easily like that had to be the creator of our universe.

How to Experience the Holy Spirit

        Children in my parish are preparing to receive confirmation, so I think of the Holy Spirit. If you read my old postings, you might remember that I questioned the Lord at one time how I might know that the Holy Spirit was dwelling in me. Now I fully understand that if we do not surrender to the Holy Spirit, we will not experience his presence in us, for he is most gentle. How much his power is felt by us depends upon the extent to which we surrender to him ~ you can say that we are in the driver's seat. To go at full speed, surrender fully to receive full power.

Irresistible Love

        Communion experience. Pure love hit me and I was rendered totally helpless. The only choice left is this blessed state is to surrender and be annihilated by this love. God does more than healing the soul!  

A Reminder

        Since God knows everything about us, be aware of how everything we do affects him.

Challenged to Serve

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 10 at Sunday Mass, Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." Again, the Lord challenges us and he knew exactly what his mission was. We must absolutely pay attention to these sayings of his, for neglecting them risks not entering his kingdom of heaven. Let's believe that he did come to give his life to save us and ask him to empower us to be meek and humble in order to serve.  

Differing Desires

        I see that all my past desires for things of the world are self-centered because I wanted them to satisfy myself. But the desire for God is different ~ when he draws you, you are touched and moved by his love and the desire for him is given to you by him. Therefore, this desire is basically self-giving. Self-centered desires always enslave one, while the self-giving desire for God makes you feel even freer.

Permanent Resting Place

        Today's Communion experience. After receiving Holy Communion, I knew that I had found the place of rest, the Lord. For the time being, things are never settled. Then one day I'll be resting in God's permanent peace. 

Expect to Receive More

        Jesus said to his disciples, "To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away." Another way of saying this truth could go: "Expect more and you will receive more; expect nothing and you will have nothing."  

The Evil of Entertainment

        I want to talk about the business of entertainment in this country. It is a huge business that sucks in practically everyone. Television, radio, stage shows, concerts, gambling casinos, magazines, websites, YouTube broadcasts, i-pads, background music, even advertisements and commercials...all aim at entertaining you. We become so addicted that we have to listen to music while exercising or doing homework, watch a TV show when we are cooking or balancing checkbooks. The big names in the entertainment business have egos to match, their admiring fans following them everywhere. Entertainment has a place in our society, but when it starts to "dominate" my lives, the balance is lost. It robs us of prayer time, keeps God away from us and even leads us into sin when it's impure. In short, too much entertainment definitely endangers our soul.

Believe Now and Question Later

        St. Teresa in her Meditations on the Song of Songs writes that we are not to dwell upon the many mysteries of our faith and what we do not understand in the Holy Scripture. I agree that as long as the message of salvation is crystal clear and we are certain that God loves us, it's sufficient for us to submit to him with all our heart. "Believe now and question later" is not a bad idea.

What the Holy Eucharist Signifies

        The Lord showed me that the institution of the Holy Eucharist is an invitation to union with him, signifying that this union is possible. When we receive the Holy Eucharist, it should signify that we are committed to seeking union with him.