Easter Hope in Christ

        Happy Easter to all my readers! May Jesus draw each one of you deep into him where you'll find peace and freedom. "Deep" is the word here. Pray deep too ~ pray with all your heart and you words will go deep into the heart of God. Take full advantage of the Lord's mercy and love! 

        I'd like to end with what Pope Francis said in his Easter message: "We ask the risen Jesus, who turns death into life, to change hatred into love, vengeance into forgiveness, and war into peace." Amen.

Secret of Gaining Eternal Life

        Water tends to run downhill by itself. And it's always easier to tear something down than to build it up. Similarly, to lose eternal life is practically effortless and to gain it is not so. It's been said that the road to heaven is both narrow and steep. So how can we make it? Answer: We need to hook up with God first. Once he is with us, he will do all the work, making the impossible possible for us. It's both simple and logical. (Union with God hooks us up with God in the most secure way.) 

God Has Shown His Love

        If you truly love someone, you wouldn't mind dying for that person should the occasion compelling you to make such a choice arises. Of course, God lives forever and cannot die. Therefore, to show that he truly loves us, he sent his Son to become one of us so that he might experience death in this life. Naturally, Jesus had to rise from death, for he is eternal like the Father. This all makes perfect sense to me now.   

Pre-Easter Thoughts

        I've been doing Way of the Cross, using Pope Benedict XVI's meditations and prayers. I would like to borrow some of the his thoughts from the meditations he wrote for the Seventh and Ninth Stations, which are "Jesus falls for the second time" and "Jesus falls for the third time," respectively. 

        We have fallen too, fallen miserably short of loving the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind. People of today in general no longer believe in anything; they simply drift through life, having built a new kind of paganism. In attempting to do away with God, they have ended up with doing away with man. Christians have also fallen away from Christ into a godless secularism. Do we ever think of how much Christ suffers in his own Church? How often is the Holy Sacrament of his Presence abused when he must enter empty and evil hearts! How often is his Word twisted and misused! What little faith is present behind so many theories, so many words! How much filth there is in the Church, even among those in priesthood who ought to belong entirely to him! How much pride, how much self-complacency! What little respect we pay to the sacrament of Reconciliation, where he waits for us, ready to raise up whenever we fall! Jesus is enduring his greatest suffering right now! Let's call to him from the depths of our hearts: Lord, save us.    

Changed Outlook

        Father M who gave the homily at today's Liturgy told that when he and a Jewish college friend attended a Catholic wedding of a mutual friend together (this was before he became a priest), his friend was "horrified" to see the ceremony held in the presence of the big crucifix in the church. Whereas we Catholics see in the crucifix the love of God for us, suffering made meaningful, the obedience of Christ, our liberation by him; and we adore the Lord on the cross! It just shows how God can completely change our outlook. 

Reason for Not Believing

        The love of Jesus is so great that the only reason some people do not believe in him has to be that they do not see the goodness of him yet.

"Good Friday" Thoughts

        At the Liturgy of the Lord's Passion at noon today, I heard John 18:1 ~ 19:42 read. The long reading started with Jesus Arrested, followed by Peter's First Denial, The Inquiry before Annas, Peter Denied Jesus Again, The Trial before Pilate, The Crucifixion of Jesus, The Blood and Water, and ended with The Burial of Jesus. Against Jesus, the sinless one, the words spoken and actions taken by all the characters and the people involved clearly showed that they committed sins of various gravities. The Lord's Passion was a sad story to hear, but since I already knew why Jesus went through all that, I also felt the underlying joy. We have hope of eternal life all because of him! Calling this Friday "Good Friday" seems to make good sense to me today.

Ego and Trust

        These two are mutually exclusive. As long as I have some ego in me, I am still playing god against God, so this rules out placing my complete trust in God. Even with ego absent, I must still take the step to trust in God. Then I shall be liberated. Anyway, by seeking union with God, both ego and trust will be taken care of. 

Perfect Way for Us

        I attended the 7 p.m. Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper. During Eucharistic Prayer, a string of names of various saints with whom we are in communion was read. When I heard it, I realized how each of the saints fittingly glorified God. The Lord made me see then that the perfect and only way for us to live is to also glorify him and that we are to follow in the footsteps of these saints.

Learning to Love

        It is easy to rest in and enjoy the love of God, but it's not always easy to apply this love in engaging with others. Yes, God's love invigorates and purifies me; but what I still need is for the Holy Spirit to teach me how to love others, especially those closest to me within the family, with understanding and patience. Losing my cool shows that I haven't trusted in God all the way yet. 

Know Jesus First

        Know Jesus first, then you'll know what to say and how to act, and you'll feel natural in any circumstances. 

On Living Our Life

        We must live an interior life with humility for God and never live an exterior life to impress others. Let this interior life take care of how we are going to live exteriorly. In short, live for God alone. 

Rejecting Sin

        After receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist at Mass this morning, I asked him to keep me safe by granting me a strong aversion to all sins.   

Pursuit Within Reach of All

        Athletes train hard to break records and win medals. Bodybuilders exercise hard to look good and win contests. Musicians practice hard to master their instruments and win competitions. Intellectuals study hard to earn advanced degrees and win honors. Scientists think hard to make new discoveries and achieve breakthroughs in their fields. All of us can love God "hard" to enjoy peace and freedom in this life and eternal bliss in the next.

Learning from God

        As one yearns for God, he is eager to learn from him. All knowledge learned from the world tends to puff one's ego, while knowledge the Lord imparts refreshes the soul.

Lost and Found Souls

        A lost soul does not know the truth, so he does not even know that he is lost, while a soul who has been found by God is a saved soul and the soul knows it.

Sign of Ego Presence

        Disliking yourself is being unhappy with the work of God who made you. It is not loving God enough yet. It shows you have not fully reconciled with the Lord, and it definitely shows the presence of ego (pride). 

No Fear in Love

        1 John 4.18: "There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love." Accepting God's love fully dispels the fear of carrying any cross that might come our way, thus making us comfortable in any situation.

A Peace Plan

        As long as you feed your ego, you won't have peace. Therefore, starve it by living alone in Jesus to become "isolated" from all others. Remember what Jesus said, "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

Transformation Slow but Sure

        In one's spiritual journey, there are moments of experiencing a sudden or relatively rapid transformation. For example, I call recall the moment of accepting Jesus into my life, entering the Church and receiving the Holy Eucharist for the first time, or asking the Holy Spirit to baptize me. Most of the time though, the desired change takes place gradually. It becomes palpable when you notice that you react more calmly in a certain test situation. You then feel gratitude and joy that God has fulfilled your desire. And an imperturbable interior peace follows.          

Jesus' Loveliness

        Communion experience. Jesus' loveliness was so compelling that it made me want to be more like him.

Loving God Naturally

        When you go to a tailor to get your garment altered and he does a good job, you are pleased and want to go back to him again because you now trust him. It's the same with letting God change you. You ask for it and he does just that. You are now deeply satisfied and you love him even more.    

Only One Truth

        Judeo-Christianity alone holds the belief that there is only one God from the very beginning. Then Jesus, the Son of God, came among us to reveal God's love for us, and the Church he established safeguards his revelations from the time of Peter, the first pope, to that of Francis, our current pope. Any additional "revelation" about God coming from any source outside the Church is not needed, and in fact, should be rejected. This is what I believe.  

Work of Ego

        Judging others in order to exalt yourself. 

Be Dead to Sin

        Didn't get to blog yesterday due to visiting guests. The Communion Antiphon yesterday was 1 Peter 2.24: "Jesus bore our sins in his own body on the cross, so that, dead to sin, we might love for righteousness. By his wounds we have been healed. What caught my attention were the words "dead to sin." We ought to be dead to sin, but there are minor sins that can easily escape our notice because of the presence of ego. The loss of interior peace should indicate that we have slipped in some way. Then a quick examination of conscience is in order. The more you of aware of your sins, the more you'd appreciate God's perfection. 

Ego Theory

        Every time after I've had a thought or said something and lose peace, I sense or know that the cause is the presence of ego. Test it yourself to see if you feel the same. I say that there is a genuine you in you and the ego turns you into a phony you. Anytime you think or speak as the phony you, you lose your peace. If you don't have any ego, that means you no longer play god. Then you acknowledge that there is only one God and you can't help but trust in him. And trust leads to peace. In short, be the genuine you and you'll have perfect peace.

Learning to Trust

        There were days when I didn't have much to post and then a lot more to post the following day. I never try to think up something to post ~ the thoughts come spontaneously. I have finally stopped wondering if I'll have something to post the next day. I must believe that God will always provide what I need at all times.  After all, what I need is what he needs. In Matthew 6, Jesus told us not to worry about our life or tomorrow, and that God even takes care of the birds which do not sow or reap and the wild flowers which do not work or spin.   

Freedom in God

        To enter God, we give up our will. Once in him, his will is our will, then we can do whatever we want. Hence, in God, we have complete freedom.

Entering Jesus

        Communion time thought. Jesus enters me when I receive Holy Communion. When I succeed in entering him, then we'll be in each other and have union.

Most Powerful Gift

        The Holy Eucharist is not just a nice gift given by the Lord for us to remember him by, it is in fact a most powerful gift that can change our lives and draw us into spiritual union with him. 

Essential Sacraments

        Without the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we cannot be sure that we have been fully forgiven by God. Without the Blessed Sacrament, we cannot be sure that we have attained full union with God. 

That Levitation Feeling

        Saints such as Teresa of Jesus and John of the Cross have been known to levitate. When I am detached from all things of the world, I am no longer shackled to the world. And I feel so light, as if I have levitated. 

Union Is Perfect Match

        God already loves us. When we love him, we have a perfect match. And this is what union is about.

Blinding Love

        The Prodigal Son parable shows how much our heavenly Father loves us. He's forever waiting for us to turn or return to him. Picture him with welcoming arms stretched far apart, ready to embrace us and hold us tight against his bosom. The joy he feels must far exceeds what we experience when he receives us back, for his love for us is far greater than our love for him. This love is blinding because the Father is so overjoyed at our return that he doesn't see our sins anymore. At the same time, this overwhelming love also "blinds" us because it's so dazzling.   

In Union with Each Other

        When you carry a burden for God, he carries that burden for you.

Stark Contrast

        Be humble and God will notice you and protect you.  

        Be egotistical and Satan will notice you and attack you.    

        Let God possess you and he will keep you free.

        Let Satan possess you and he will keep you enslaved.

Why I Love God

        I love my God. Of course, we know that he is love and he loves us. Putting that aside, I love him for these additional reasons. He does not make everything too easy for us. If he did, I don't think I would particularly appreciate it. Instead, he challenges us, at the same time, always remaining gentle. He wants us to realize on our own that his ways are right and superior. He makes all his challenges possible for us to meet because he secretly assists us when we accept them. In meeting each challenge, we learn that his love is even greater than what we had imagined. Finally, we would gladly die in the burning flames of his love.    

The Dancing Heart

        Communion experience today. I don't know how to dance, but my heart danced with great joy in anticipation of receiving Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.

One Right Move

        It is true that one mistake can cost one his whole life. Around three dozen inmates were present at today's prison Communion service. Not all of them were career criminals; some might have made just one wrong move and ended up getting locked up for life. But there's always one bright hope for all of us. By turning our hearts to the merciful God, we can still get to enjoy eternal life later. In sum, one right move can wipe out what all our mistakes cost us.   

Journey of Love

        Life is a mystery until you know Christ. Life is not fulfilled until you find love. Since Jesus turns out to be love, life is fulfilled once you find him. So you search for love, you find love, and you fall in love with love ~ your spiritual journey is now one of love.       

Life's Journey

        This is what life's journey is like. A person is born into this secular lost world. He encounters confusion from the outset. He starts to seek the meaning of life and he may or may not find it. He may find the wrong god or he may find the true God. But the mercy of the true God is great ~ he still saves those who are good people even though through no fault of their own, they do not know the true God. I know that some of you out there would disagree, believing that if you don't accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, you cannot be saved. All I can say is that I believe my God is a lot more merciful. Anyway, the happiest and most blessed person is the one who searches, finds Jesus, and believes. Anyone who has not found Jesus to be the true God won't be able to tell you all the above.

Receiving Happiness

        Today's Communion experience. Jesus is the source of my happiness and I received him again. I became happy unto death. 

Dealing with Sin

        I attended vigil Mass today as I got called to conduct a Communion service at a nearby prison tomorrow morning. The Gospel reading was read from John 8, the story of the woman caught in adultery, which I referred to in my last post. At the end, no one dared to condemn her. Jesus told her that he did not condemn her either and asked her not to sin anymore. How good it was to hear the Lord say something like that. 

        The homily given by Father M. triggered the following thoughts. When I was a little boy, I did not have any concept of God. Yet every time I did something to hurt my younger sisters, I knew I was wrong and tried hard to hide the fact each time. It just shows that we all have a God-given conscience. As I grew older, I came to understand what sin was, and felt the shame each time after I sinned. As I got to know God even better, sinning started to cause greater interior turmoil. Since God is all-knowing and merciful, the only way out is to face reality by asking for his forgiveness and help. Blessed indeed is the one who's in union with God, for he is so absorbed in the Lord that sin loses all its attraction.

Considering Ourselves First

        Against judging others, Jesus wants us to perceive the wooden beam in our own eye before noticing the splinter in our brother's eye. Then we are to remove the beam from our own eye first so that we may see clearly to remove the splinter in our brother's eye. Jesus taught the same lesson when he said to those who thought that they should stone the woman caught in adultery, "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." In other words, we are to become saints first if we want to find fault in others. Then if we were saints, we would stop judging others altogether. Here's a case of "giving ourselves first consideration."   

Happy Is the Person...

who uses all his talents to serve God faithfully and not envy anyone who has achieved great success in the world, for he knows that he is storing up treasures in heaven and the other person is merely building an impressive-looking sand castle on earth.

Warm Welcome to New Holy Father

        I am most happy that we have now Pope Francis to shepherd the flock. He is known to have been a humble person and humility showed when he asked the crowds to bless him before he blessed them. We may have another St. Francis of Assisi here. Humility is what the world sorely needs. In the United States and other relatively affluent countries where people are well-informed, it is easy to form strong opinions about everything. We think we know so much that we stop listening to others ~ you start seeing this in our teenagers. People often remind you that this is a free country and start saying whatever they want to say. The comments you read online on even noncontroversial subjects show how extreme the views can be. The public mentality today is "do not tell me what to do," yet these same people are quick to judge and criticize others. Every nation wants to be No. 1 in the world, but No. 1 to the world could be last place in God's eyes. Then we don't even mention God in public anymore, so who cares what God thinks, right? Humility is no longer evident in the world because the secular world perceives it as a weakness, not knowing that God exalts the humble. The new Holy Father may be the breath of fresh air and tonic we need at this time.

A View on Abortion

        I was holding up signs outside an abortion clinic this morning. I got to talk to some fellow pro-life workers. One Barry points out that Satan's goal is to destroy the Church, so he starts off with eliminating the priests. No priests, no Holy Eucharist, then no Mass, and no more Church ~ this is the order of his plan. Fifty-five million abortions have been performed in this country since abortion was legalized 50 years ago. Perhaps 10,000, 5,000, or at the least 1,000 potential priests have been snuffed out? Whatever the number, abortions is definitely what Satan wants. This is a valid point of view and I agree with Barry. We must fight the evil of abortion. Please pray for life.     

God Must Be Our Lord

        God is to be lord over everything about us. Even the zeal for God placed in our hearts by the Holy Spirit is to be regulated by him. Otherwise, we risk repelling others from God. When there is no more rebellion in us, we can finally enjoy our inner peace.

Let God Teach Us!

        Learning from God is always delightful and uplifting because he shapes the heart and enlightens the mind. If we yearn to know him, he will reveal his wisdom and ways to us, mystically. His teaching has the power of drawing us into his life and his world, and we are never the same again. 

From My Deathbed

        On August 12 last year, I posted "My Funeral Wishes." Now I am posting "From My Deathbed" (not from my deathbed, not yet). Am I being morbid? No, not at all. On the contrary, I celebrate my eventual death because it is my passage to eternal life with the beloved Father in heaven! I imagine I would probably say to my loved ones standing around my bed before my departure something like this: 

        "Dear ones, please be happy that I am leaving for paradise. My most ardent wish is that I shall see all of you again in heaven. Life is short, so choose your destiny early. God's mercy is infinite, but you must accept it. A lukewarm faith is not good enough. Love God with all your heart so that you may not suffer eternal separation from him. Let God's love come over you so that you may experience peace, freedom, and joy ~ to this I can testify. I say all these things because I love you and because the Father loves you; I only want the best for you. Please pray for me, for yourselves, and for the world."