Jesus Came for Us

        God did not just pop into our world to force us to believe in him. In Luke 5.32, Jesus said, "I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners." If you know that you are a sinner, it should be obvious that you would not be able to save your own soul on your own. This is where Jesus comes in. This is why we must listen to him. He came just for us, for you.      

On Following Jesus

        Communion antiphon was taken from John 8.12: "Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life, says the Lord." Through my experience, I know that I no longer walk in darkness. Through my simple eyes, I see that following Jesus will lead me straight to heaven. I defy anyone to show me that following Jesus is wrong, if you are not the problem. 

Healing of the Soul

        Communion experience this morning. I always remember the story of the woman afflicted with hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind Jesus, with great faith touched the tassel on his cloak, and was immediately healed (read Luke 8). As I received the Holy Eucharist, I knew that the Lord was going to immediately heal my soul too. A healed soul is a spiritually-healthy soul, even more desirable than having a healthy body.  

Longevity Not My Concern

        BBC News has an article online this morning on the science of long life. Almost everyone wishes to remain eternally young if possible. We think that a stress-free existence should prolong life, then one study done by the University of California at Riverside shows that the opposite is true. In fact, it says that a little worry is a good thing! Go figure. A Dr. Gary Small, director of the University of California Longevity Center in Los Angeles, concludes that the idea is to stay engaged, to stay involved, to enjoy your life, but when your time comes, to accept that and not be afraid of it. This seems like sensible advice, although that last part may be easier said than done if you don't have any faith in God. At any rate, I feel blessed because how long I live concerns the Lord and not me; in the meantime I live in peace, stress- and worry-free.  

Book Idea

        After posting more than 2,500 times, perhaps I should write a book summarizing what the Lord has taught me. This thought did surface in my mind, but it must get a clear go-ahead from him. If I do get going, the book could be titled How to Achieve Union with God (not creative enough), God Wants You! (remember those Uncle-Sam-Wants-You posters? ~ but it doesn't seem quite appropriate here), What God Can Do for Us, or something else. So far that last title is closest to what I want to tell. We can do a lot of things on our own, but that is not good enough. We let God fully into our lives and he starts making living a holy life easy. He finally takes away all our struggles, completing our transformation in him. Only he can draw us into full union with him, thereby obtaining his own request "So be perfect, just as your Heavenly Father is perfect." In the whole process, the Holy Eucharist plays the essential role.

God and the World in Contrast

        Communion experience. Receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist is such a great honor that no honor of the world can compare with it. It means that I have been specifically chosen by God. I can receive what is deemed by the whole world to be the greatest possible honor and it will only serve to boost my own ego. But receiving Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament makes me forget all about myself and appreciate only his love. Again, the contrast between what the Lord gives and what the world gives makes the right choice crystal clear.

Forgetful Lovers

        First reading at Mass came from Hebrews 10. Paul quoted from Jeremiah what the Lord said in making the new covenant with the house of Israel: "Their sins and their evildoing I will remember no more." When we are in love with God, the journey of following him becomes extremely beautiful because in the presence of our beloved, we forget all our troubles, problems, and even our sins. It is true that lovers in love with each other become mutually forgetful of everything else.

God and Satan in Contrast

        When Jesus draws us, we feel his love and his peace. We experience complete freedom because he is always gentle with us, never holding us against our will. On the other hand, when Satan lures us and succeeds in trapping us, we will experience great emotional turmoil and feel chained and shackled. If it's a deep sin we fall into, it would be virtually impossible to free ourselves without asking for God's help. Both God and Satan can be attractive, but their intentions couldn't be further apart from each other. Stick with God always, for he loves you always.

About Doing God's Will

        Today's readings at Mass were all about doing God's will. In the Gospel reading from Mark 3, Jesus told the crowd, "Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister..." I believe that people do not like to hear about doing God's will because they have many misconceptions such as "doing God's will is for saints only," "doing God's will is not fun," "doing God's will must be boring," "doing God's will restricts my freedom." The fact is that doing God's will is a beautiful feeling; it brings you peace and freedom of the heart; it brings you close to God; and now you know, you become brother or sister to Jesus.  

Cause of All Evil

        Two weeks ago, French opponents of gay marriage and adoption staged one of the biggest demonstrations the country had seen in years. Some 340,000 people, according to police, marched through central Paris to oppose a government bill that's going to go before the National Assembly. The spokeswoman of this broad-based "citizens" movement states that her arguments are not directed at gay people, but at the proposed law, as framed. She says, "If what was on offer were a law that further enshrined rights for gay couples, that enriched their unions, and got rid of the discrimination and injustices that undoubtedly still exist ~ then I would support it." However, the opponents of gay marriage are aware that their chances of blocking France's law are small at best. Both "Catholic" countries Spain and Portugal have recently adopted gay marriage.

        If we do believe that marriage is the exclusive union between a man and a woman and that it is instituted by God, then how do we fare as a nation? In the last half century or so, thanks much to the celebrities, living together as an unmarried couple has become so common and widespread that it's now an accepted lifestyle ~ marriage is already mocked! Most people look upon marriage as an experiment that has nothing to do with God. As for married couples, the statement "50% of all marriages in America end in divorce" is roughly correct. (In reality, the divorce rates all across the globe have been rising rapidly.) If morally we are in such bad shape, how effective can we be in telling others that same-sex marriage is wrong?

      This brings me to the fundamental point. All disorderliness and moral chaos are caused by godlessness. God is our creator and if we get into trouble because we fall away from him, then he is the one who can restore order and peace if we go to him asking for help. Again, the same conclusion I drew in my post "How to Convert the World" of two days ago applies: "Our only hope is to live a holy life by seeking union with God and be completely obedient to his will, whatever it may be."

To Be Free of the World

         I have started reading the Gospel of John again. Chapter 1, verses 2-4: "The Word was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race."         

       I am living in this world because my physical body dwells in this physical world. Spiritually, I am living in Jesus. My physical body will die one day, but I shall live on forever in the Lord. While in him, he "insulates" me from the world, shielding me from all evil. In him, I conquer the world, since he has conquered it. This is being free in the world and not of it.

March for Life

        We just had our national March for Life. Today on EWTN, I watched some of the recorded events held in Washington, D.C. I felt great sorrow when I realized that when an unborn child is aborted, you squash all its hope of ever breathing the fresh air, seeing the natural beauties, learning new knowledge, enjoying family life and friends, contributing to making this world a better one... Jesus said clearly that "whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me." Certainly the unborn quality to be the least brothers of the Lord!

        But I experienced joy too in watching the March. I was moved to tears when I heard the message from the Holy Father read publicly. Then I noticed how young the average marcher in the crowd looked ~ the hope is bright for the future. Nothing is impossible with God. 

Jesus More than We Need

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 1, Jesus, in a synagogue in Nazareth on the sabbath day, stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:

        The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

        Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, "Today his Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing." The whole scene was so live to me that after I received the Holy Eucharist, I knew that Jesus is the Messiah, the living true God and he is all I need. He is not just God...he's a most personal God at that. In him I have complete security, eternal life...whatever my heart desires. He is the one in whom I can totally let myself go.

On Doing God's Will

        You know that you are doing God's will if you feel that doing it is right and natural. If you lose peace, then you have promoted your own will before the Lord.

How to convert the World

         Peter Kreeft, the popular author and writer, once asked: "Why did twelve fishermen convert the world, and why are half a billion Christians unable to repeat the feat?" The answer ~ it is because those twelve were united and willing to die for Christ while present-day Christians are so fractured, so weakened by the secular world, and so unwilling to live faithfully. Without unity and strength, the Christians will have a hard time ahead fighting any battle. Our only hope is to live a holy life by seeking union with God and be completely obedient to his will, whatever it may be.

Everything We Do Affects God

        Today is the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Apostle. As you know, Paul was zealously persecuting the Christians, binding and delivering them to prison. Then on his journey to Damascus to round up even more Christians for punishment, a great light from the sky suddenly shone around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Paul replied, "Who are you, sir?" And the voice said, "I am Jesus the Nazorean whom you are persecuting." We see that Jesus did not ask "Why are you persecuting my Church?" or "Why are you persecuting my followers?" Instead, he asked, "Why are you persecuting me?" 

        What I learn here is that everything we do affects the Lord himself. 

We Needn't Stand Alone

        Today I am especially conscious of the fact that I am a unique being God has created and that I am made aware that I am I. The leads me to seeing that I alone am responsible for what I do and that my sins are all committed through my own fault (as we admit each time reciting the Penitential Act during Mass). Basically, each one of us stands alone in this world through Judgment Day. Then I see that we needn't stand alone because we can totally lean upon our creator, our loving Father, the Lord. Instantly, all the gloom is displaced by joy and peace.   

Darkness Blinds Us

        1 John 2.11 reads: "Whoever hates his brother is in darkness; he walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness blinded his eyes." What's interesting is that John said that the darkness "blinded" the eyes. I thought about it and saw that he's right. Since God is light, when we have God, we see clearly what is good and what is evil ~ so the light of God is not blinding at all; in fact, it lights our way. As for the one who walks in darkness, he doesn't see good from evil and is therefore like a blind person. When you don't see the light of God, you are indeed blind. 

Facing Suffering

        Communion time thoughts. Jesus enters me and heals my soul. It does not mean that I will not experience any mental or emotional suffering anymore, but it does mean that I should be whole enough to face any such suffering coming my way. 

Doing God's Will

      Today is the Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church. First part of the Responsorial Psalm (#40) reads: 

        

        Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,

        but ears open to your obedience you gave me.

        Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not; 

        then said I, "Behold, I come."

The Response reads: Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

      I do see that to do the Lord's will does not mean that I do not ask for anything for myself anymore. He may even want me to sacrifice in a certain way or offer him certain things. Doing his will simply covers (governs) how I am going to live, pray, and serve him. In short, doing the Lord's will is to do only what he tells me to do, and that could be anything. 

Happiness, Momentary or Unending

        [It you do not believe that there is life after death, you may skip reading the following.] It is true that we in the world seek pleasure, fun, entertainment, recreation...so that we can have a good time, forget our troubles and be happy. The desire is inherent in us. I see that all the temporal happiness we seek are for the moment only. For example, you go on a week's cruise ~ after the week, the enjoyment is just memory. Personally, I don't see how such passing happiness can be truly satisfying. To me, only unending (permanent) happiness is meaningful. If I know in advance that I won't be happy in the next life, then I don't think I can truly feel happy in this life anymore. On the other hand, if I know that I'll be happy for all eternity, then whether I am happy or not in this life becomes rather unimportant. Last, if we are only concerned about being happy in this life, we can easily forget planning for our eternal future ~ this then would be a  huge oversight.

God Is Extreme

        God loves us with the greatest possible love and his mercy is infinite. So it should be easy for us to get to heaven. All we need to do is to obey him. If we follow Jesus' commandment "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind," we love God to the extreme. With extremists on both sides "working towards" the same goal, success is assured.  

Life Is Frail

        I sound like an old man when I muse on life, but I am old. When you are young and healthy, you don't think about the frailty of life and that is unfortunate. Just a few days ago, we prayed at Mass for one husband who suffered a massive heart attack in his 50's. As you age, you hear more frequently that someone you knew has passed away. Only the Lord knows how long each of us will live. Life is frail also in the sense that it is unpredictable. Holding onto God is only and sure way of securing ourselves for all eternity. It's really a no-brainer.

Best Place to Be

        Communion experience. The union makes me want to put myself totally under his care and direction. There is just no better (more beautiful) place to be than in Christ.

40 Years After Roe vs. Wade

        Today is the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. Forty years ago today, the Roe vs. Wade decision was passed by the US Supreme Court and abortion was ruled a fundamental right. The Knights of Columbus has planted fifty-five crosses on our church lot, symbolizing the fifty-five million abortions that have been performed since the day of that decision. I have posted against abortion in the past a number of times. On this memorial day, I just want to ask: How dare we ask God to bless this nation when we as a nation are still committing this horrendous sin against him? (By the way, Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff Roe in the lawsuit, had turned pro-life in 1994 and been received into the Catholic Church in 1998.)  

Setting Lifetime Goal First

        Before morning Mass started, I had time to see that I must in the overall scheme of things set my lifetime goal first and then let all my thoughts, my words, and my actions henceforth manifest that goal. And that goal should be loving God with all my heart, with all my strength, with all my soul, and with all my mind. 

Detachment from the World

        Right now I have a problem with the wall oven at home. After spending time and money on repairs, the problem remains. How should I deal with it? I recall Jesus' counsel to love our enemies, and human enemies have got to be even more annoying than oven problems and such. Therefore, I should "love" my oven problem too, meaning that I should not let it affect me. Another helpful thought: What if today is my last day on earth? Basically, detachment from the world is the answer, and only loving and trusting in God can get me there.

Journeying from Head to Heart

        For most of us who search for God, we start out with a head journey. That is, we read about the Lord, ask questions, etc., until we are more of less convinced that we should believe. Then the heart takes over. In my own conversion story told at the beginning of this blog, I read about Catholicism for over a year before I decided to join the Church. I have seen many whose search journey remained a head one and they never found God. As we fall in love with God more and more, our journey transforms more and more into a heart one. Only when we journey with all of our heart will union with God be within our reach. 

The "In" Feeling

        Today's Communion experience: I am totally in God's hands. I no longer exist on my own ~ I am in Christ. I am "in"!

Responding to God's Call

        I am one of the parishioners in the ministry of visiting homebound elders. Recently, I visited a lady already placed under hospice care. It wasn't a scheduled day of visit, but somehow I felt drawn to go see her. I had a chance to share with her the joy of knowing Jesus and how much he loves us for about half an hour, with her daughter also present. She passed away not very long afterwards. Then I got a call from a friend asking for her mother, also under hospice care, to receive the last rites. I informed my pastor at the next morning Mass and she was taken care of right after Mass. Four days later, she also passed away. What I want to say is that when the Lord calls, even if it's about doing something quite small, we must get going. The small things can be critical and are often very much remembered and/or appreciated by others, in my two cases, the two daughters. When Jesus called those to be his disciples, they dropped everything right away and followed. Every call from the Lord is important ~ it is a call to bring others to him so that they may have eternal life. 

Detaching from One's Self

        It's easier to detach yourself from the world than from yourself. For example, I went to a gym very early this morning to exercise a little bit and found the best parking place right in front of the entrance. It was about 5:30 a.m. Apparently, someone who got there when the gym opened at 4:30 a.m. had just finished exercising and left. When I was leaving about 40 minutes later, another car was arriving and it looked like it's going to take my parking space for sure. As I was about to look in the rear view mirror to see if that's happening, I stopped because I detected that my curiosity was in part prompted by my self-interest in knowing that I gave that person my space. Perhaps I was nitpicking, but I do know that anyone who is completely detached from himself does not look back on himself anymore.   

Sad State of Our Nation

        In the wake of the recent shooting incident at an elementary school in Connecticut in which 20 children and six adults were killed, our government is trying to pass some stricter gun-control laws and pro-gun activists have started staging rallies across the nation. Of course, if there are no more weapons in the world, and that should include guns, rifles, bombs, rockets...even knives and baseball bats, the world would be a safer place. But my point is that controlling weapons and not changing the human hearts will not stop violence. And banning guns and rifles and still letting abortion continue has to be a big joke.

Joy of Following Christ

        When I was an avid photographer, capturing the desired image was extremely important to me. There was great excitement involved because you could come up with some great shots and with luck might even become well-known. But now, I experience even much greater satisfaction in communing with the Lord in private. No one needs to know about it and there is no desire to leave a trace in this world. In other worlds, I am free, no longer chasing after the passing world. The more we give up the world and ourselves, the greater our rewards will be in heaven. But I am not doing it for the reward either...I am doing it for the joy of following Christ (actually, it's all his doing).

On Bearing Our Cross

        As Catholics we learn to offer up our sufferings to God for the conversion of sinners and in reparation for sins committed against him. But for me there is one cross that's especially heavy to bear, and that is the pain I feel when I see other Catholics unknowingly hurting the Lord in various ways. Even after I offer up my pain, the cross does not seem to get any lighter because I see hurting continuing. I rather prefer that I be hurt alone and not the Lord. Then I see that when Jesus asked us to take up the cross and follow after him, he clearly meant all crosses. Also, I realize that if I truly trust in him, no cross is too big to offer up. I feel better.  

A Timely Question

        I finished reading Fr. Groeschel's Travelers Along the Way, The Men and Women Who Shaped My Life. I got a glimpse of how those 30+ man and women lived their lives. It made me see that a good question to ask ourselves is: "How do I really want to live my life?" We should not go on living without answering this question first because knowing the answer can save us a lot of life's time. Knowing how we want to live can make our living truly meaningful.

Jesus with Us Always

        Communion experience. I felt that I was at the Last Supper with Jesus himself giving me his body and blood. I knew that his promise "I am with you always, until the end of the age" (Matthew 28.20) was absolutely true.

One Judge Only

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 2, when some Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?" The Pharisees were being judgmental again. Jesus told us not to judge others. He is right because every single one of us is a sinner and God alone is our judge. Yes, there is only one qualified to be the judge in all of heaven and earth.

A Do-You-Know-God Test

        In today's first reading at Mass from Hebrews 4, Paul wrote: "The word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account." If you don't feel it that way, then you don't really know the Lord yet. 

One Depiction of Life

        Today I see life as living on top of a precipice. If you strongly believe in God, then he has a strong cord tied around you to keep you safe. If your faith is weak, then the corresponding cord will be weak too. If you don't have any faith, then one careless slip and you fall off the cliff, heading straight toward the bottom, much like what happens to Wile E. Coyote sometimes when he fails to catch up with The Road Runner in one of their cartoon shorts.

God Makes Us Forgetful

        This echoes the post "Power of God's Love" two days ago. When we are fully occupied with or immersed in God, we forget all other things: our past, our enemies, our pains...you name it. You've heard the phrase "Ignorance is bliss." Now we can say that "Forgetfulness in God is bliss" and this is an even better bliss.       

A Law of Spirituality

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 2, it's the familiar story of the paralytic being lowered through the roof to get to Jesus; his faith resulted in being healed by the Lord. We can unequivocally state that the more we lean upon Jesus, the more he's going to prop us up. Like Newton's law of action-reaction in physics, this is a law of spirituality. 

God Uplifts Us

        At church before Mass started this morning, I knew I was going to meet my most beloved, then I realized that he's already dwelling in me, and I felt great joy. I had experienced the crushing weight of sin in the past, but now everything about the Lord, including the crosses he gives me from time to time, was uplifting.  

Another Mark of Truth

        In past posts, I pointed out some of the things that to me mark Christianity as the truth. Here's another feature that came to my mind this morning. 

        Our God is demanding in that we must love him more than anything else, yet he is not demanding in the sense that he has given each one of us a free will to exercise. Thus faith is made fully meaningful. Imagine that you have a tyrannical god who lords it over you or a god or gods who don't challenge you much, making it easy for you to accept or ignore as is the case in some religion ~ neither would be satisfying to me. 

The Right Thing to Do

        Surrendering to God is surrendering to love and truth! It is totally the right thing to do because love shall keep you safe and truth shall set you free. There is nothing more to ask. 

Pleading with God

         In one of the stories in Fr. Groeschel book Travelers Along the Way, he mentions a Sister Mary who quoted something by memory from St. Teresa of Avila. Apparently St. Teresa's brother had been in serious trouble with the law. In desperation the saint prayed: "Dear Lord, if I were You and he were Your brother, I would see to it that he was saved." It would be hard to argue with that.

       I also pray for the salvation of various, specific individuals, some of whom may not be that holy, but I love them and have no problem forgiving them. So I reason (and realize) that the Lord is infinitely more merciful than I, and if I am willing to forgive them, certainly he'd be even more willing to do so. Creative pleading? 

Chosen by the Humility of God

        I've started reading my third book by Fr. Benedict Groeschel titled Travelers Along the Way, in which he wrote about 30+ men and women who shaped his life. One of them was none other than Mother Teresa. Fr. Groeschel was at the time the liaison between Mother and the New York archdiocese in which some houses were opened for her Missionaries of Charity. Once when Fr. Groeschel felt discouraged that he couldn't handle what he was told to do well enough and thought of resigning his post, Mother Teresa asked him pointedly why he thought God had chosen him to be a priest. Father had trouble coming up with a right answer and Mother Teresa looked at him and said, "You are chosen because of the humility of God. God chooses the weakest and the poorest, the most inappropriate persons to use." She followed up with what Fr. Groeschel considered to be extremely revealing, something he would never forget: "I pray that my place will be taken by the most unattractive and ungifted of all the sisters. Then everyone will know that this is not our work but God's work. Don't ever forget that you are chosen by the humility of God." [I hope that Fr. Groeschel wouldn't mind my quoting these sayings directly from his book.]

        It's true that the Holy Mother appeared to the poor and uneducated rather than the strong, rich, wise or gifted. And Jesus called a bunch of fishermen, not any learned scholars, to follow him. The lesson here is that when we are called to serve the Lord in whatever way, we should realize that God has chosen us, no matter how inadequate we might feel. It's an honor and the Lord knows exactly what he is doing.   

God's Will vs. Our Will

         In today's Gospel reading from Mark 1 at morning Mass, Jesus, moved with pity, touched a leper and made him clean. Then he said to him, "See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed." The man went away and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly.

       The lesson here is that we can be so much like the healed leper, getting carried away by something exciting happening to us and forget all about obeying God's will ~ we must listen to God first and obey without thinking about anything else. To do God's will, we must ignore our own will.

Nations in Mortal Sin

        The Church teaches that if we are in a state of mortal (serious) sin, then we risk losing our souls. This makes perfect sense. I dare say that practically all of the nations in the world are in the state of mortal sin ~ look at the suicide bombings, killing of innocent civilians, genocides, assassination of political enemies, legalization of abortion, and many others. The nations are definitely risking losing their souls. Only repentance and returning to God can save them. Since only believers pray to God, they bear the responsibility of praying for the world. Therefore, pray hard to the Lord for his mercy.

God Only Knows How to Love

        You can love God or fear God. We should fear him because he is our ultimate judge, but I choose to concentrate on loving him as St. Therese of Lisieux did. Both logic and common sense tell me that if I do this, then I really don't need to be concerned about anything else, including being judged by him. It also simplifies things, perfectly suiting someone simpleminded like me. If you truly love God, you don't care what he's going to do with you ~ what else can Love do besides loving you? The Lord wipes out all my worries ~ how can you not love him?

Following the Sure Way

        I am half way through reading Fr. Groeschel's A Still, Small Voice, A Practical Guide on Reported Revelations. I found out that even saints had misinterpreted or recorded wrongly the revelations they had received, to the point of contradicting the teachings of the Church in one case. Therefore, I am not going to pay much attention to any private apparitions, visions, etc., especially those the Church has not officially approved yet. I already know the sure way, that is, to focus upon Jesus alone who has revealed to us all we need to know and to follow the public teachings of his Church.