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.