God wants us to be pure in thoughts. Today he let me see that it's important to be pure in our faith also. A pure faith is like a child's belief, containing no trace of doubt. There is a total abandonment here. The absolute truth deserves absolute trust.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Lessons Learned ~ a Summary
This is kind of like a midterm review since the blog started in September, 2009. I've learned a lot from the Lord. Let me add that what a joy it has been to learn from the Holy Spirit. Here is a teacher who is infinitely patient, gentle, and loving. He never punishes you for being a slow learner; in fact, he encourages you by consoling you at the right moments.
Here is a brief summary of the lessons learned.
(1) Humility is absolutely necessary to approach God and ego is the biggest obstacle in our way. (Sincerely ask God to root it out and he will do just that in time.)
(2) The Holy Eucharist is the Sacrament Jesus had instituted for us to attain union with God. The grace that comes through receiving it is more than sufficient to transform us into a new creature in Christ. (Tap God's great power instead of struggling on your own.)
(3) All the Lord asks of us is to sin no more and rest in him, and he'll grant you freedom and peace.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
The Holy Eucharist Renews Us
This morning as I received the Lord in Holy Communion, I saw the parallel between the act of receiving him and the creation of man by God at the beginning. At creation, God blew into the nostrils of man made out of clay the breath of life and man became a living being. At Holy Communion, God himself, the bread of life, enters us and we are renewed. It's such a momentous moment. The iconic image of the hand of God giving life to Adam as portrayed by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel ceiling comes to my mind. When we receive the Holy Eucharist, God actually touches us and breathes a new life into us. What an awe-inspiring moment!!!
Monday, February 14, 2011
On Accepting or Rejecting the Truth
Today's Alleluia verse is John 14.6: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." This is a huge claim ~ any nonbeliever must deal with it. Either Jesus spoke the truth or he's delusional. I personally found that all the rest about Jesus supports this claim ~ the pieces just fit together. And my own spiritual experience also bears witness to its truth.
In the Gospel from Mark 8, we learn that the Pharisees came to seek a sign from Jesus to test him ~ they did not see that the greatest sign from heaven was the Lord himself. It just shows that if you reject something that happens to be the truth, you remain blind. Accept it and you are illuminated.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
All Is Up to Us
The morning at Mass, the priest's basic message was that God has done his part, has given us the ten commandments and the good news. Now, with our free will it's up to us to choose to follow him or not. If we end up in eternal separation from God, we have only ourselves to blame because God has come not to condemned us, but to save us. It's good to be reminded of the crucial role our free will plays.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
The Beauty of Surrendering to God
When you have surrendered to God, you know that you have reconciled to him and are back in the right place, and the soul feels free and peaceful. It's that home-sweet-home feeling intensified manyfold.
The I-Don't-Care Attitude
I'll explain what this means and you'll see that it is a good thing. All I care about is doing God's will and not care about how it's going to affect me. For example, if I feel that maintaining this blog is for God's glory, then I do not care how many readers are out there, who's reading it, how many of my friends know about it, what the readers think of the blog, etc. In other words, anything that concerns the ego must be ignored because it disrupts following the the Lord single-mindedly, thus robbing me of peace.
What to Do with God
If you believe that God really exists, what do you think that we should do with him? Just by cold logic, we know that we should worship him, listen to him, and obey him, for he is the greater. Now that we know that God actually is our Father who loves us, all the more then we should adore, love, and serve him.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Obedience, the Key
Today is Friday. Since Monday the story of creation from Genesis has been read at Mass. This morning Adam and Eve disobeyed God and tomorrow we'll learn that God banished them from the garden of Eden. Now the good news for all of us is that we can get back to God again by obeying him through Christ, our Savior.
How God Works in Us
I've been reading on and off The Ascent of Mount Carmel by St. John of the Cross. He writes that the work of God is passive and supernatural and that of man active and natural, and that this natural activity of man is what would extinguish the spirit. The point is made again and again at various spots. It's true that when we initiate actively many thoughts and ideas, we do not hear God speaking anymore ~ we are our own obstacles again. It's through listening and waiting that God can teach us, lead us, and bring about the union with him. This is the meaning of saying that the work of God is passive.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
God's Simple Demand
After receiving Holy Communion today, I felt so content in the Lord that I could just rest in him and let everything else in the world go by. To show my gratitude, I thought I should do something. We normally thank a good human friend by taking him/er out to dinner or giving him/er a special gift ~ it's the same thinking I had here. Then I heard the Lord say: "Just sin no more and come rest in me. You don't need to do anything else to prove anything to me." I was surprised that the Lord was that easy to please. When I thought about it afterwards, it became clear that all he wants from us is our love and he's content when he receives that. We run away from God because we create our own fictitious fear of him.
You Must Ask to Receive
Today's Gospel reading was taken from Mark 7. Jesus drove the demon out of the daughter of a Greek women after she came begging him to do it. And the Lord did just that because of her faith. My thoughts go like this. Obviously, Jesus can accomplish anything, but we need to ask him first. Our world is in such a terrible mess and will remains so until it turns to the Lord to ask for help. The solution is clear, but this generation just does not get it, at least not yet.
The Power of God's Word
I was very impressed by the Alleluia verse read at today's Mass from James 1: "Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls." The message is crystal clear.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
The Yearning for God
In an earlier post, I mention that God will not be happy until he has all of us. This is also true the other way around; that is, we won't be fully happy until we have all of God.
At the beginning, we discover God and our life becomes meaningful. As we get to know God better, we yearn for a more intimate relationship. Eventually, we seek complete union with him in this life. But God is so beautiful that even at full union the yearning for more of him does not stop. Indeed, we and God are made for each other. We'll never be fully content until we get to heaven. I consider this to be our tremendously good fortune.
Dealing with Our Enemies
Jesus wants us to love our enemies. Here are the various degrees of dealing with the enemies.
(1) We hate them, wishing them the worst.
(2) We don't like them, trying to forget them.
(3) We still don't like them; nevertheless, we pray for them knowing that it's the right thing to do.
(4) We see that God loves them too and no longer dislike them. In fact, we pity them and ask God to bless them and lead them to salvation. And we are at peace because the Lord's will has been done.
Live for God First
In today's Gospel reading from Mark 7, Jesus points out that it's what comes out from within the heart that defiles a person. We care so much about how we look outwardly to others and neglect to check our interiors which God alone sees. We condition the body and forget all about the soul. What God thinks of us is so much more important than what other people think. Let's redress this imbalance and start living for God first.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Believe in the Infinite God
We either believe in something or we don't. Half-believing can only mean that you are not sure yet. The space between "true" and "false" is a vacuum. Therefore, if I believe in God, I can go all the way for he is absolutely true. We can deepen our faith infinitely in our infinite God. Believe and live a miraculous life.
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