Prayer Benefits

        When you pray for others from the heart, God shapes your heart at the same time, so that you are also a beneficiary.

Don't Miss Out on God

        We are supposed to love God with our whole being, yet we continue to offend him by sinning. The Lord our Father just waits and waits for us to turn to him for help. Seeing this makes me realize how tolerant our God is. Of course, he could have compelled us to follow him, then we wouldn't be happy. He wants us to initiate the process so that all can be happy. There's only one true God who is loving and tolerant ~ "seize" him while you can. 

Monkey Our Ancestor?

        The other day someone asked if her dog could go to heaven. Now, a dog has neither the concept of God nor any moral understanding of good and evil. Thereby, a dog does not have a soul. Without a soul, there is no heaven to speak of. I believe that theology can back me up on this. If dogs have souls, then what about birds, ants, all insects, and bacteria, or even plants? Where do you draw the line? If I am logical to you, then we can see that human beings, who have souls, could not possibly have been evolved from monkeys, who have no soul. Evolution of the soul? No scientists would know how to do research on that.   

Perfect Obedience

        Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Gospel reading from Luke 1 tells the announcement of the birth of Jesus. After the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and she would conceive in her womb and bear a son, the Son of God, Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." I italicized the last sentence because it is what each one of us need be able to say without qualms to God. This is surrender, perfect obedience, the breakthrough we need to break through, the gateway to freedom, the secret of attaining union with God, our best preparation for entering heaven because it's all what God asks for . . . . Ask the Blessed Mother to help you. 

Readership Review

        As you know, the purpose of this blog is to draw all to God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. How popular it gets is of no concern. The day the Lord stops feeding me with thoughts, I'll stop posting.
        All time figures show the top ten countries from which readers came. I'll just list the ten in descending order of readership size: United States, Russia, Germany, China, France, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Canada, Malaysia, Philippines. It's not surprising that the blog has the most number of readers from the United States, as this is a US-based blog. What is surprising is that some people in China, where the Great Firewall is up, still got through. Without any blocking, I wouldn't be surprised that China would be in the second spot. I think readership size depends much upon internet accessibility and people's hunger for God.
       May God bless each of you abundantly, and remember that I expect to see you all in heaven!

One Priority

        We have only one priority in life: To love God. Nothing else matters. Make this your priority and you'll be well taken care of.

You Are on Camera!

        I had an unpleasant dream, woke up, and couldn't remember anything about it; but somehow I came to realize that unlike dreams, whatever we have done in life is always remembered by God. Picture that we are being filmed by God at all times. When we face him again, everything will be replayed before us and we'll be judged according to how much love we put into what we've done. Basic truth: Without love, we live an empty life.  

"Let Yourself Go"

        We can learn from others in the world. In a PBS interview with Yuan Yuan Tan who dances the title role in San Francisco Ballet's production The Little mermaid, I caught her saying that she lets herself go while she performs. That is why her performance is so beautiful, so natural, and captures the audience's heart. No one would enjoy watching a performer who does not feel at ease or put his heart into the performance. To shine as Christians, we need also let ourselves go in Christ. Like halfhearted performers, lukewarm Christians will fail.  

Jesus as Our Friend

        Communion time thoughts. When we were young, we chose our friends. There were ones we naturally were attracted to and others we just couldn't get along with or even disliked. Now I am looking at Jesus, who is full of love, most helpful, who will not let you down, one who understands you perfectly and will never tire of listening to you; and yes, he is most sweet, for he'll even let you get mad at him; and he's fun to be with, for you can tell him anything, including jokes. How can you not love a friend like Jesus? He is one big reason I want to go to heaven! 

Living Freely

        In today's Gospel reading at Mass from Matthew 9, Jesus summoned his Twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. He then sent out these Twelve to proclaim the Kingdom of heaven at hand, cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. His last instructed, "Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give." Indeed we have received freely from God and we are to give freely; we are just passing through. So this is the way to live ~ to feel free and for God. 

Beautiful Love

        If my parents had loved my brother or sister more than they loved me, I would have felt hurt. If my friend likes me the most among all his friends, I would feel extra good. With God's love, no such feelings arise because he loves every single one of us equally and his pure love transforms our heart. That's why we are able to spread his love and share his joy with others with total absence of the ego. I cannot conceive of anything abstract that can be more beautiful than God's love as revealed to us through Jesus the Christ.         

Lesson on "Lesson"

        Talk about rejoicing, the Lord wants us to rejoice in everything that happens to us, for there is a lesson of love in all of them.

Unbreakable Bond

        Being the first Friday of December, there was Eucharistic Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament after morning Mass. Here's the Lord who just entered me during Mass, and he made me see that nothing could possibly dissolve the bond (union) between him and me. A Great Consolation.

To Die

        Communion time thought. To die to self is to die for God!

Life like the Stock Market

        Here is another mental depiction of the Christian life. Picture the chart of the stock market in a bull year. The daily prices fluctuate, but the overall trend is up all the way until a peak is reached. The daily life of the Christian also has it ups and downs, but overall everything that happens brings him closer to God as time moves on. The peak indicates the end of his life on earth and the stock gains could represent the merits he has earned for the Lord.         

*Faith Boundless

        In today's Gospel reading at Mass from Matthew 9, two blind men believed that Jesus could make them see. Jesus touched their eyes and said, "Let it be done for you according to your faith." And their eyes were opened. Yes, faith can work miracles, but another aspect I see is that faith can be boundless ~ namely, you can trust in God as much as you want and still trust in him some more ~ this is the exciting part! And I believe that the greater the faith, the greater the wonder you will see. It is the infinite power and mercy of God that allows you to have as great a faith as you wish. Very beautiful!    

Ultimate Rejoicing

        We need God for myriad reasons. One of them came to me this morning at Mass: We need God for us to rejoice in! It is true that there are numerous things we can rejoice in, but none can compare to God, for none but God alone can give us meaning of life, true hope, inner security, joy of heaven . . . all the things we need the most. If you don't rejoice in God yet, you do not know Jesus yet.  

Our Decision

        "In the final analysis, it is between you and God." This famous verse comes from the poem "Do It Anyway" written on the wall of Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta. What it says is true because our destiny is entirely determined by how we and God are getting along. Since God always wants to get along with us (he even died for us), we can condense this verse to: "In the final analysis, it is up to you alone." To accept or not to accept God's offer of salvation ~ that is our decision.