*Joy of "Thy Will Be Done"

        Today in meditating upon the Passion of Christ while praying the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, I felt the horrific sufferings the Lord underwent, yet I was overcome by joy, for God has shown his love for us. He has succeeded in redeeming us, clearing our way to return to him. Even the Sorrowful Mysteries are to be celebrated! Never obstruct God and we can certainly rejoice always.

*Questioning Our Existence

        The fact that Jesus the Son of God actually came down to earth to suffer and die for us so that we might be saved shows how much God loves us. I know I sound cliché, but every person alive needs to pay attention and respond to this. Otherwise, why do we even exist?

Faith in True God Works

        From today's entrance antiphon at Mass from Psalm 68: God himself gives might and strength to his people. When we put our faith in God, we indeed receive might and strength. What if you say that I am simply fooling myself, believing that there is a God? I challenge you to imagine that there is a God and you put your faith in your mind-created god to see if you actually feel mightier and stronger. It won't work or you'd be deceiving yourself. Believe in God, the God of Christ, and things happen, for he is real and true.

**Most Important Selection Process

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 13, Jesus spoke to his disciples using another parable, "The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad hey throw away. Thus it will be at the end of age. The angles will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth." This makes me see that in life we basically go through a selection process. How we live our life will determine how we'll be selected by God at the end. We prepare ourselves hard to make sure that we get admitted into a university or the job we apply for, but it is infinitely more important that we prepare well so that we might be selected by God to keep us for all eternity. 

**Facing God Alone

        Expect to face the Lord alone at judgment time. No one else will be there to witness or speak for you, and there will be no lawyers you can hire to help defend you. The Holy Mother may come forward to intercede, but you still need to have some redeeming value in you. Anyway, the time to take care of all your concerns and future problems is now in advance, and this is precisely the message of our Lord. You alone are responsible for your own future in eternity!  

*Jesus' Protection

        I thought about the Apostles who followed Jesus. Were they totally under his protection? Of course. But protection does not mean that they no longer had to face hardships or suffer in this life. In fact, with the exception of John, all got martyred in the end. Therefore, protection by the Lord means that he would make sure that they would receive eternal life in heaven with him, and that's good enough for me.

Humility, Essential Ingredient

        Communion thoughts. Even though the Holy Eucharist enables the communicant to become one with the Lord, ironically it has also caused division among his followers. As you know, most Protestants do not believe that Christ is really present in the consecrated bread and wine. There are many other dividing issues as well. The extreme enemies of the Church even believe that the Pope is the Antichrist. As long as they do not have the humility to be willing to study the history of the Early Church and the official teachings of the Church, the division remains. Humility is what we all need to enter the Kingdom of heaven.

The More Joyful Life

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 13, Jesus likens the Kingdom of heaven to a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field; and again, to a merchant searching for fine pearls, who, when he finds a pearl of great price, goes and sells all that he has and buys it. There is and should be great joy and excitement in finding Jesus. Of course, faith is not to be based upon emotions solely, but knowing the Lord well enough to feel excited about him surely can make your life a lot more joyful!

*Thought on Abortion

        The unborn baby is definitely not a part of the mother's body. God has designed for the baby to reside in the mother's womb for 9 months exclusively for the purpose of protecting and nurturing the infant before its birth. Therefore, to abort the unborn child is going directly against the will of God, let alone the commandment "Thou shalt not kill."

*How to Do Good

        Sometimes we feel inadequate at doing much good in this world, what with so many talented and capable people visibly doing so much. Let's think differently. God loves to help the weak, so we can rely upon him to do the work through us. Not only this trust pleases him, our intimate collaboration with him can also help us grow spiritually. Of course, we can always pray, asking the Lord to do good. We needn't know what he's going to do – we only need to believe that he's going to do it. Here, it's how sincerely we ask that counts, not necessarily how holy we are. 

*Melting Experience

        Communion experience. As Christ melted in my mouth, My spirit started to melt in him. It's a melting-into-each-other experience. Holy Communion is all about union.

**Special Class of Sinners*

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 13, Jesus again brought up final judgment in explaining the parable of the weeds to his disciples. He said, at that time his angels will collect out of his Kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers and throw them into the fiery furnace. Note that the Lord actually mentioned those who cause others to sin and those who just sin in general. I have blogged in the past that anyone whose sin causes others to sin commits a graver sin than one whose sin is known only to him and God. Therefore, we must be a good example to our children, relatives, friends, colleagues, boss at work, et al. Cease sinning and we'll not have to be concerned about this. Again, I advocate seeking union with God, for he is the one who can make us perfect.

*Amazing Lord

        Today is the Memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. The entrance antiphon from the 2nd letter of St. Paul to the Philippians reads: At the name of Jesus, every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. This came from one who once notoriously persecuted Christians, and the Lord called and converted him. What is most amazing to me is that Jesus conquers and reigns in our hearts by sheer love alone!

***Most Urgent Reminder!

      At this hour, there are 16 wildfires burning across California. I live in Central California. Yesterday I already noticed that the sunlight that came through the window of my living room appeared extra warm against the light-colored tiled floor, right off reminding me of flames. It looked somewhat eerie. And I thought of the fires of hell, which had to be more terrifying than eerie. The attacks we face from Satan and his followers in this world are nothing compared the eternal punishment the evildoers will suffer in hell. There will be final judgment, so I wish to wake everyone up: turn and latch onto Christ before it's too late, for eternal punishment is so horrible that you must avoid at any cost. Remember that if you risk your soul for Christ, you soul shall be saved!  

*Belonging to Jesus

        Communion experience. John 15.16: It was not you who chose me, says the Lord, but I who chose you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. Jesus has chosen me, captivated me, captured me, and made me his.

**Facing Death

        We all die one day and we feel differently about death. Those who know they are in grave sin may face the greatest fear. Again, they could turn to God in their last moment and be saved. Therefore, dying suddenly or in sleep is not necessarily a blessing, for you are robbed of the chance to repent. Some people do not know what's going to happen after death and are more or less resigned to entering the unknown – this can be a very uneasy experience. Anyway, the best way to leave this world is to let Christ into your life as much as possible to the point that you become one with him. In deep love with the Lord, you long to be with him forever, thus banishing all fear of death. Death now is the gateway to total fulfillment and contentment.   

**Prophecies Meant for Us

        In today's reading from Matthew13, Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables to fulfill what had been said through the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables, I will announce what has lain hidden from the foundation of the world. In the time of the Old Testament, I am sure that all the prophecies about the coming Messiah couldn't have impacted the people much, for they have not yet been fulfilled. The prophecies mean so much more to us now that we are able to see how Jesus' had come and fulfilled them all. (You can easily find dozens of prophecies fulfilled by Jesus concerning his coming and in his passion, death, resurrection, and ascension.) Time to believe!

**A Sin Is a Sin

        We cannot say to God that we are a little bad now, but we are really good at other times, for the good doesn't cancel the bad. All our sins need to be absolved by God. Being more good than bad won't get us anywhere. Getting the Lord to forgive all our sins is the only way out.

Dream Realization

        I see wild, enthusiastic audiences at popular music festivals completely letting themselves go under the spell of the performers and/or music. The Woodstock Festival of 1969 amazingly attracted an audience of more than 400,000 and many attendees lost all their inhibitions by going naked and using drugs freely. My thought is how beautiful it would be if we can all abandon ourselves completely in the Lord God instead! That would indeed turn earth into heaven. 

*Alternative Viewpoint

        You may see yourself living in freedom on your own without God; but in fact, you are only living in a prison built by you to keep God out.

Alternative View

        If you do not believe in Jesus, rather than questioning yourself why you should believe in him, look into why you shouldn't believe in him, and you may realize that he is to be accepted, followed, worshipped, and loved with all your heart and all your soul.  

*Urgent Call to Arms

        Beyond just believing in the Lord, we must realize that we are to fight to win the spiritual warfare in which he is engaged. To be a good soldier, we cannot afford to remain complacent. The least we could do is to pray hard for ourselves and our enemies. To love the Lord with all our heart is to fight for him with all our spirit.

***Our Inside Track

        Everything we do God knows and therefore affects him. Whatever we do, whether we know it or not, is either for or against him. If we are not being honest with someone, we are not being honest with God, period. If we love someone, God feels loved by us, period. This is beautiful, for it makes living our life meaningful – we actually have the inside track in shaping our own life and our future the way we like! Once again, it's time to rejoice in the Lord.

God Offering His Love

        Communion time thought. When Jesus was ready to enter me, he was ready to offer me his most tender, humble love. 

*A U-Turn We Must Make

        As sinners, the big turning around we must make is to repent of our sins to God to get them removed so that we might be saved. Otherwise, we would remain lost forever. This is completely logical, almost common sense. I am bringing it up to remind everyone, for sin has made us forget that we shall face its consequences if we do not do anything about it now.

**Our First and Last

        Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. For us, he is all that. And he should be our first an last resort too, as he is our only true refuge.

Be Rich Soil for God's Word

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 13, Jesus explains the parable of the sower – the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word of the kingdom and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. How much we bear fruit for the Lord is directly proportional to how much we surrender ourselves to him to let him do the work through us.

Our Creator Acknowledged

        Coming home after Mass, I drove by a house what had a selling-fresh-eggs sign up front by the road. I thought of the perfect shape of an egg and was amazed that it was formed inside a chicken and came out so naturally. No matter how advanced our technology may be today, I don't believe we can easily reproduce a shell like that which is smooth and without a joint. This pointed clearly to the existence of God, the creator of all things and life. And we are special creatures with an everlasting soul, created in the image of our creator. We were made to understand good and evil, and have been shown the way to return to him in heaven. I should say that, thanks to our creator and Father, all things work out well for us.

*Growing Rich in God!

        Communion experience. In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 13, Jesus said to his disciples, "To Anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away." After receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist, I felt that he was going to continue pouring heavenly riches into me. Unlike earthly riches that are burdensome, heavenly riches free and uplift the spirit.

Our Critical Test

      Christ has come and is now our crucial test. If we accept him, we'll have eternal life. If we don't, we'd be lost and wandering forever.      

*Rejoicing in Tears*

        Today is the Feast of St. James, Apostle. The response to readings from Psalm 126 at Mass: Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing. It is such a beautiful verse, for it expresses my feelings toward Jesus. My heart weeps whenever I see how sins cause my Lord great sorrow, but at the same time I also experience the joy of knowing that I am in intimate solidarity with him.

***Feeling Free in God*

        Communion experience. I feel so good knowing that my Lord and God knows all my desires, my wishes, my thoughts, my problems, my secrets, my strengths, my weaknesses . . . all about me inside out! So good feeling free in the Lord, knowing that he is purifying and healing my soul to his heart's content!

Preparing for Meeting God

        Our demise is imminent. As we age, we must get ready for that day, the day of return to our creator. If you already belong to Christ and follow him faithfully, you'll know exactly where you are going and how you'll be received. No big preparation will be needed. If not, look into Jesus, for there can be only one truth. All religions may point to God, but only Christianity leads you to him.

**Becoming Related to Christ

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 12, Jesus spoke about his true family. With his mother and his brothers waiting to speak to him, he said to the crowds, "Who is my mother? Who is my brothers?" And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother."
        Here we see Jesus speaking as God. He sees all of us as God's children and reveals to us how we can belong to his true family. 

New Life After Death

        Communion thought at Vigil Mass, Saturday. With so many earthlings so alive in the world, but dead to God, I rejoiced that it was the perfect time for me to die in Christ after receiving him so that I might start living a new life in him.

Our Conscience, God's Gift

       [I haven't blogged the last 4 days because I left for Los Angles to visit my second son and his family. It was a good fruitful trip.] 

         Normally, we think, say, or do whatever comes to us, but there are times deep down we sense that what comes out is not from God, is in fact sinful. If our conscience is somewhat dull or even muddy, we just let it go and rather feel OK about it. But we will not enjoy inner peace. Knowing God well sharpens our conscience. By keeping it crystal clear, we can live a holy life enjoying inner peace.

Rely Upon the Lord Now

        In John 21, when Jesus signified by what kind of death Peter would glorify God, he said to him, "When you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do no want to go." It is true that when we grow old, we'll have to depend upon others to do various things for us. But the Lord is always present and will be the only one left at the end able to help us. The time to start relying upon him is now, not after we've grown old or when we are dying.

**Precious Childlike Joy

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 11, Jesus praised the Father for having hidden many things from the wise and the learned and having revealed them to the childlike. We can remember our childhood joy when we were free to play most of the time with not a thing to worry about, having our parents taking care of everything for us. If we become childlike to God, we shall experience such carefree joy. And that joy shall make us forget about wanting to sin again.

Way to Attain Union With God

        The Lord says in John 6.56: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. This is proof to me that receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist is the way to attain union with him.

Soul's Ultimate Achievement

        Letting God truly be your Lord (being in union with God).       

*Are We Bullheaded?

         It is Jesus who can make us see the truth, think right, see right, and act right. He is the exact guide and teacher mankind needs. And he'll even reward anyone with everlasting life who follows and learns from him. Yet, so few of us take him seriously. What's going on? Think about it.    

Key to Salvation

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 11, Jesus reproached the towns that were not repentant, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, and warned that they would suffer consequences on the day of judgment. Why is it so hard for so many to repent? To be saved, one must realize that (1) he is a sinner, (2) hell exists, and (3) God loves him and wishes to save him. Then it's time to repent. If one's mind is clear and heart willing, he can accomplish all these things in a few seconds. Putting off repenting is putting the soul at great risk. 

*Life Without Christ

      Your future is certain when you know Christ and follow him. Otherwise, your life is a cliffhanger, for you do now know how it's going to end. I could also say that life without Christ is like hanging off a cliff – you may fall off it if you are not careful. Maybe you think that you are being brave, but I'd rather choose to go with Christ to be wise.  

**This Holy Feeling*

        I do not mean it to be feeling that I am holy. I mean it to be aware that the Holy Lord dwells within me, that he loves me, and that I belong to him entirely. It is such an awesome and beautiful feeling.      

*Sin Not a Problem Anymore*

        Communion experience. I inherited the original sin through no fault of mine, and God took care of that by sending his Son to us to proclaim the good news of salvation. In Holy Communion, I was completely reconciled to the Lord, my original sin no longer a barrier.

**First Steps in a Spiritual Journey

        Accepting God's love for you is usually the first step you take in your journey of faith. Letting that love embrace you completely is the first step you take later when you decide to seek union with God.

*God in Contrast to the World

        God can quench all your thirst, fulfill your innermost desires, and fill the empty voids of your life. God can soothe your heart and heal your soul. You can never get tired of enjoying God. Replace "God" with "the world" in the statements above and none of them remains true anymore. God is someone you can never love enough, while the world is something you cannot possibly love.

**Riddle of Life Solved

            This morning the first thought that came to my mind was Luke 12.51 in which Jesus said to his Apostles, "Do you think I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division." It so happened that the reading at Mass from Matthew 10 was on that same saying: "Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword." And later in Matthew 25, speaking about the final judgment, Jesus said to his disciples, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left." The division finalized.

         So this is the reality of life. Having inherited the original sin from our ancestors, we all became sinners. Then God loved us so much that he gave his only Son so that whoever believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. The division comes about when we do not all believe in the Son. The ball is in our court.

***Warning: Worse Persecution Ahead!

        My country, like many others around the world, has been declining morally for the last half a century or so. From the spiritual point of view, you can say that Satan has sneaked up upon us step by step until the society and quite a sizable minority have become practically godless. Overall the large majority, being civilized and more gentle, has remained rather silent, while the other side makes loud noises and resorts to attacking anyone who does not go along with them violently. Let's say that the spiritual warfare going on now is rather intense and fearsome. But I do see hope ahead, as the Lord God always crushes his enemies and protects his own people at critical times. When that happens, the godless ones will become even more vicious – so expect and be prepared for facing worse persecution ahead. This is the time to submit ourselves to the Lord to grow strong spiritually.

All Set for Eternity

        Communion experience. Jesus is forever. I now belong to eternity. And every moment is a celebration.