Food for the Soul

        We need to hear the words of Jesus spoken to us, for our soul needs to be fed and nourished. They are as important to the soul as food is to our body.

***What Catholics Need know Urgently!

        Number one is to know the Lord thoroughly. Seeking union with God is essential. Number two is to know their faith thoroughly, especially as regards the significance of the Holy Eucharist. Here the Church bears the full responsibility of teaching the faithful. 

*The Only One Trustworthy*

        When I accepted a job offer which I thought was the best one for me, it did not turn out that way. Last year I picked a painter among several to paint my house, I wished that I had picked a different contractor. I can say that anytime we make a choice in this life, we are taking a chance. But there is one exception! Choose Christ the Lord and you'll never be disappointed, for he is the only one who will not ever let you down.

**Pleasing Both You and God*

        If you ever have the slightest desire to be perfect (holy), know that it comes from the Lord. Rejoice, for it is his wish that you do become perfect (holy) and he can fulfill your desire completely. What a perfect opportunity to open up to the Lord to make both you and him very happy!

Good, Better, and Best

        We need to realize that we are sinners and need God to save us. Better, believe in him and we are saved. Best, attain union with the Lord and our salvation is secure.

How to Grow Rich

        Today we heard the parable of the talents read from Matthew 25. The lesson was that to everyone who has, more will be given and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. We must not be lazy, but work diligently to bear fruit for the Lord. This is a lesson for all, both the laity and the Church hierarchy.

***What We Should Be Aware of*

        The Lord God wants to form us, mold us, and shape us to make us holy and perfect! This is what he wishes and will make us experience freedom, peace, and great joy now and forever. And he is ever ready if we are.

Be Watchful and Ready

        Today's Gospel reading is the parable of the ten virgins from Matthew 25. The foolish ones who were not ready when the bridegroom arrived were locked out of the wedding feast. They knocked on the door to want to get in, but the Lord replied, "Amen, I say to you, I do not know you." It shows that there is no excuse for not taking God seriously. Either you pay attention or you don't. If you don't, do not expect that you'll get a second chance if you miss the boat. I wouldn't count on having the opportunity to repent of your sins just before you die either, for you could lose your mind before then, die unexpectedly, or die in sleep. Anyway, be ready now and at all times.

Special Relationship with God

        From today's entrance antiphon, Psalm 86, a prayer of David: Turn your ear, O Lord, and answer me; save the servant who trusts in you, my God. David considered himself to be the servant who trusted in the Lord. The Apostle John referred to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. As for me, I see myself as a little child whom the Lord loves to teach.

*Good People, but Foolish

        There is a nice short video on YouTube showing seven Chinese ladies who are good friends with each other. Even though they all have families, they decided to build a nice house for them to meet and dine and have tea together in order to enjoy each other's company. People everywhere want to do something nice for themselves. But I do feel sorry for all of them, for in their short sojourn on earth, they seek only temporary happiness for themselves, not finding the true God who alone can make them happy so much more and forever. We who know the Lord bear the responsibility of spreading the gospel as far and wide as possible.

***Easy to Be a Saint*

        People have always been smart and intelligent. The fact that we have advanced science and technology today does not mean that we are smarter – we simply have been taking advantage of all the knowledge acquired and discoveries made during all the past generations. Now, when it comes to becoming holy, we are not inferior to anyone of the past either. You do not need to depend upon the saints of the past to become saints. God is just as accessible today as he was yesterday. Anyone can attain union with God if he or she will open up to him. To be a saint,you only need God!

My Thorn in the Flesh

        About two years ago, I unexpectedly hurt my left shoulder when I was pressing some weight, the same amount I had been using for a long time, at a gym. And I have not fully recovered from that yet. I know that God can heal it instantly if he so wishes. But apparently, he wants me to let it be. Now I see this as a thorn in my flesh and intend to let this weakness make me rely on him even more. 

**Intimacy Cherished*

        I enjoy the Lord and savor every moment with him. I do not see him, but my heart hears and feels him at all times. 💖💖💖

*God Desires Union with You

        After John the Baptist learned that Jesus was also baptizing and everyone was going to him, he said to all, "He must increase; and I must decrease." Seek union with God so that Christ might increase to 100% and you decrease to zero. Then you'll be like him!  

*Purifying the Conscience

        Today is the memorial of St. John the Baptist. The Gospel reading came from Mark 6. Herod the king feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. He was also fascinated by John and liked to listen to him. Nevertheless, he had John beheaded because he did not want to break the oaths he made to his daughter before all the guests. Here is a case of shoving aside your conscience to do what makes you look good before others. I still remember how I did bad things to my sisters to hurt them when I was young. We need the Lord to clean up our consciences or we'll become more and more sinful. Seek union with God and he'll make your conscience razor sharp.

***Life Needn't Be Tragic*

        Léon Bloy, the French novelist and a fervent Catholic convert wrote, "The only real failure, the only great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint." I think I understand this. Not to become a saint is a great tragedy because there is so much you can gain and have when you become a saint! Being a saint is to be in union with God. To be a saint is to enjoy freedom and peace in God and receive great joy from him. To be a saint is to be in perfect harmony with your loving Father and creator. To be a saint is to gain the Lord and everything he has becomes yours! Relatively speaking, falling short of becoming a saint is indeed tragic.

*How God Blessed Us

        On August 20, I posted "God's Surprise Response." Here it is in a shortened version.

         "Recently my wife underwent kidney stone surgery. She had a stent placed in her ureter to prevent any blockage of the urine flow. Five days later, she lost urinary control completely and developed a high fever accompanied by shaking chills. I rushed her to emergency and she was diagnosed with severe sepsis attributed to an infection. After 3 days, the illness was brought under control, but the stent was to remain in her for another 10-14 days. When a nurse's aid came to prepare her for discharge from the hospital, she discovered the string that's attached to the stent. Ignorant of what it was, she started pulling on it and the stent started coming out. Of course, the hospital staff were all alarmed, but the doctors had no choice but to have it pulled out completely. Unexpectedly, after it came out my wife instantly regained her urinary control. With temperature close to normal and continuing taking her antibiotic, she should be fine soon. I wouldn't be surprised if the stent had caused the infection in the first place. Anyhow, it seemed that the Lord allowed this mistake to happen and turned it into a blessing. A most pleasant surprise."

        Why do I repost this again? Well, I found out from my wife this morning that the name of the nurse's aid was Blessing!

Joy of Learning from the Lord

        Of course, my main purpose of attending daily Mass is to receive the Lord in the Holy Eucharist so that I might remain as one with him. Then my joy increases greatly when he also teaches me directly during Mass.  

*Overwhelmed and with Gratitude

        Communion experience. As the priest consecrated the bread and wine, I knew they were going to be transformed into the flesh and blood of our Lord. For me, this invisible mystical transformation is even more impactful than the visible stunning transfiguration of the Lord on Mt. Tabor. I was compelled to ask who am I that he should find worthy to receive him! 

*Only Essential Teacher

        Communion antiphon from Matthew 23: "You have but one teacher, the Christ." There are many teachers in the world, but no one knows everything nor can save your soul. This leaves Christ to be the only teacher you essentially need.

*Hypocrites Beautifully Portrayed

         In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 23, Jesus continued to denounce the scribes and Pharisees for being hypocrites. He said to them, "You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones and every kind of filth." Ouch! The people of today are no different. Anytime you see someone who wants to appear beautiful on the outside in the eyes of the world, you can be sure that he or she is hiding something on the inside. 

*Letting God Search Us*

        Today's response from Psalm 139: You have searched me and you know me, Lord. It strikes me that it's absolutely necessary that we open ourselves to let the Lord enter to search us, our hearts. This shows our willingness to know him, absolutely necessary for our salvation. 

Remembering Saint Augustine

        Today is the memorial of St. Augustine, bishop and doctor of the Church. When I first entered the Church many decades ago, I had to pick a patron saint or something and I chose St. Augustine. Not because I knew much about him, but because I was unfamiliar with all the saints and Augustine was the name I had heard of before. Subsequently, I read some of his books, including the best known Confessions. His most famous saying which I have quoted a number of time in the past on this blog is, of course, this one: "Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee." During Communion, I really felt this to be true, as my heart rested peacefully in Christ. May this great saint continue to watch over and bless me.

***God and I (Ecstatic Feeling)***

        I have recommended the Book He and I a number of times because you can read all the beautiful messages Christ gave to Gabrielle Bossis the author, expressing his desire to be one with us. So the title makes sense. Today I feel that there's only God and I as one – I am alone in him but never lonely. It is most amazing that nothing in this world I can claim to be mine, yet I possess the Lord! By the way, I am also enjoying him every moment.

**I Became the Fruit*

        Communion experience. I wanted the Lord to completely slay my old self to make me new. He made me see that this was also bearing fruit for him, for I was that fruit. 

**Feeling Good About Yourself

        Make sure that God feels good about you, then you'll feel good about yourself too!

***Prayer Distilled*

        We can pray that God will strengthen us, that God will increase our faith, that God will make us more loving, that God will do this or do that. Wouldn't it be better to pray that we will let God strengthen us, that we will let God increase our faith, that we will let God make us more loving, that we will let God do this or do that? Best yet, we can pray that we will be open to God to let him do whatever he wishes with us? This covers everything we can think of and simplifies our prayer. And besides, it puts you on the road to union with God.

Stepping Out of Comfort Zone

        I caught Steve Harvey, the comedian, giving a short motivational speech on TV. He said that we must be willing to step out of our comfort zone if we need to. This resonates with me, for we should do that in following God's call. Knowing that you are doing God's will can actually make you feel comfortable.

Laughable Proclamation

        This morning I heard on TV one presidential candidate for 2020, who is 100% pro-abortion, proclaim that he was going to fight for the soul of this nation. That surely sounded like a joke. How can you trust anyone who doesn't know how to save his own soul to save others? 

*Grateful for God's Mercy*

        I would like to thank both the Lord, and the Blessed Mother for her intercession. As you know, I had to rush Maria my wife to emergency room just a few days after she had her kidney stone surgery (see my post "God's Surprise Response" of August 20). It turned out that she suffered severe sepsis due to kidney infection. This is a serious disease that can often be fatal or damage other organs. The medical personnel did their best and the final urine analysis miraculously showed that she was free of infection. The Lord surely heard my prayers! Today she is home finishing up her antibiotic and is pretty much back to normal.

*Keeping Our Thorns

        Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 mentions his thorn in the flesh. He begged the Lord to take it away from him, but the Lord left it alone so that power might be made perfect through his weakness. We don't know what Paul's thorn was, but we all have our own thorns which weaken us in one way or another. Why don't we also take advantage of it by letting God make us strong too?

**Honest Truth*

        Once you hear the Lord speaking to your heart directly, everything else you hear, whatever it might be, becomes downright tiresome and boring! For God alone liberates and refreshes our soul.

"Woe to you Hypocrites"

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 23, Jesus denounced the scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites. Were they self-serving? Yes. Were they misguided. Perhaps. Were they evil? They might not deliberately want to hurt others, but they definitely wanted to make themselves look and feel good. It seems that not doing much good is as sinful as doing evil. You could argue that the evildoers are at least genuine, not phony like the scribes and Pharisees. While the former follow Satan, the hypocrites are deceived by Satan to follow their own ego. Be genuine in the Lord always and you'll never hear the Lord say "Woe to you" to you.   

**Key Realization

        God is not only our creator, but also our loving Father. This realization can totally change your relationship with God.

**Being Bonded to God!

        Communion experience. The Communion antiphon, John 6.54: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. Interestingly, Jesus did not say "Whoever eats this bread and drinks this wine has eternal life." It is clear that if the bread and wine had remained ordinary, Jesus would not have used the words "my flesh" and "my blood." Also, it wouldn't have made sense that consuming ordinary bread and wine could give you eternal life. Anyway, I felt true bonding with the Lord when I received the Holy Eucharist.

***Something Beautiful & Wonderful

        Today's entrance antiphon from Psalm 86: Turn your ear, O Lord, and answer me; save the servant who trusts in you, my God. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I cry to you all the day long. Today's response, Mark 16.15: Go out to all the world and tell the Good News. If we love the Lord, we must go all out to serve him. He loves us so much that he wants to possess all of us. When we go all out for him, we get to possess him in the process as well. Then something most beautiful and wonderful happens – God and man becoming one! My friend, make this the goal of your life. As always, let God do the work and I promise you that it will be the most exciting adventure of your life.

**Your Doing or God's Doing?

        If you make yourself god in charge of yourself, then everything you do will be your doing. Can you save yourself from sin? I doubt it. Now, you let the God of Christ be your God. Then whatever you do will be his doing, and, of course, he will know exactly how to lead you to eternal life. This is the big difference, my friend.

*To Remain Free Forever

        People in the world get so involved with the world that they are no longer free. They are in the world, belong to it, and are enslaved by it. Therefore, be in Christ to belong to God to remain free forever. 

*How to Remain Incorrupt

        The world is a corrupt world. All the more we need to be one with God to remain pure now and be incorrupt forever.

***Real Presence in the Eucharist*

       As I have reported, surveys have shown that the majority of Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. This has to be a major crisis within the Church, and the outburst of all other scandals are no longer shocking. 

         Let's take a look at the Holy Eucharist. If the bread and wine only represent the body and blood of Jesus symbolically, then the Apostles, the early church fathers, the great saints throughout history, and all the faithful to this day have committed the sin of idolatry, and none of them should be in heaven now, right? If Jesus is truly present in the Holy Eucharist, then those Catholics who do not believe would equally not be able to get into heaven. Who do you think are right? (If you have doubts, read John 6 with an open mind to let the Lord reveal the truth to you.)

***The Missing Prayer***

        I do not recall ever hearing this critically important prayer said in public: "Lord, may we surrender ourselves completely to you so that we might become holy and perfect." It says a lot about us. I see it as our lack of faith in God.     

**The "Chosen" Test

        If the Lord has chosen you, you would definitely know. If you are not sure about it, then you really don't know him well yet.

*Pathway to Freedom and Peace

        You care only about what God thinks about you and nothing else; you are ego free. 

My Favorite Apostles

        Today is the Feast of St. Bartholomew, Apostle. He is also known as Nathanael. We do not know him as much as some of the other Apostles; nevertheless, I feel close to him, as Jesus saw him as a true child of Israel with no duplicity in him. I love anyone without duplicity, a quality you don't see much today. So he is also my favorite Apostle next to John, the one who called himself the disciple Jesus loved.

***Pathway to Holiness

       I have posted in the past that we should pray for ourselves foremost to become holy and perfect, for holiness must start with us, not with someone else. Remember that Christ asks his followers to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect? Once you know that you should become holy and perfect, you shift your focus away from yourself to the Lord – you now want to listen to and obey him always. Yes, that's all you need to do and he will fulfill your heart's desire. As always, God makes things easy for us when we let him.

Lesson on Tolerance

        This is the lesson the Lord has taught me today. There are times I get bothered by seeing someone doing something not in the most efficient or effective manner. I know that we are all different and have our own ways, so it comes down to how tolerant we are. The rule should be "never look down on anyone in any way." Perhaps it's good to remember that we are not holier than anyone else, for God is the only one who is truly holy. Tolerance and patience are called for. 

We Belong to God

        Communion thoughts. The Lord God is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. He is also our Alpha and our Omega, our first and our last, our beginning and our end. Without him, we would not have come into being. Since we came from him; it'll be out of order if we do not return to him. 

**We Can Be Saints!

        If Jesus could make the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead – not even mentioning his own Resurrection – and convert Paul from an enemy into an apostle, he surely can make each one of us into a saint. With us giving him the OK, our success is guaranteed.

*Our Choice to Be Chosen or Not

        Today is Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Gospel reading from Matthew 22 gave us the parable of the wedding feast. A king invited many guests to come to the wedding feast he had prepared for his son, but many did not appreciate the invitation and ignored it, and one who showed up not dressed properly got cast outside. The result was "many are invited, but few are chosen." The smart move for us is to be ready to go to the Lord the moment he invites or calls us.

***The Path to Life*

        Matthew 7.14: How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life, says the Lord. We can totally broaden that road and widen that gate by opening our hearts to let the Lord in. As we open ourselves up, the road broadens and the gate widens. When we surrender ourselves completely to the Lord, they disappear altogether and voilà, we are one with God!