Urgent Warning Signs

        Currently, Mexico's Colima volcano triggers evacuations amid fears of a major eruption, and a super-typhoon just hit Eastern China, forcing a million plus people to move away from their homes and leaving thousands stranded. Then just earlier, the record-breaking heat wave in Pakistan claimed 1250 lives. Such natural events have been happening unexpectedly and with increasing vehemence or intensity all around the world. To me, they are clear warning signs from God to this unbelieving generation that has gone astray. In both Matthew 8 and Mark 4, we read about the calming of the sea by Jesus. The disciples were awed that even the winds and the sea obeyed him. We must realize that all natural events are under God's total control. As far as we know, our earth is the only planet on which we can survive. Climate and/or geological changes can easily wipe out entire humanity. Acknowledging that we are at the mercy of God is necessarily the first step in getting back to God.

Communion Desire

        Communion experience. I desired the Lord to totally "seize" me so that I would only exist to him.

Jesus' Sayings Matter

        Today is the memorial of St. Benedict. In the Gospel reading from Matthew, Jesus said to his Apostles, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna." If we stick to Jesus and are aware of this, there is pretty much nothing left for us to fear. Jesus also said to them, "Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father." This we must remember and "fear," for the consequence of forgetting it can be grave.

Pathway to Freedom

        Here are different ways of describing the same shift or change: (1) from self-centered living to God-centered living, (2) from being your own god to letting God be your God, (3) from holding onto everything to abandoning yourself completely to God, (4) from living on your own to becoming one with God. This shift is the shift to freedom ~ when it happens, you follow God's will at all times, give yourself totally to serving the Lord, no longer judge others, and have no more enemies. You are free because you now exist only in and for God, and nothing bothers you anymore as your old self has ceased to exist.

Finding Rest in God

        Today as I was helping fixing something at a house, I became sharply aware of the temporariness of life. Yes, "temporariness" is in the dictionary. I saw things being fixed and breaking down again, events coming and expiring, us anticipating the birth of a new baby and mourning the death of an old fellow being. Nothing is ever settled until we rest in God, our beginning and end, who has neither beginning nor end. 

On Dismissng Jesus

        To dismiss Jesus, you'll have to believe that he was crucified for no good reason, that the Resurrection never took place, and that all the Gospel accounts are fictional! That's why he is so compelling, as God should be.

Abandonment Inspires

        Jesus' dying on the cross to save us is truly total abandonment of himself in God the Father, a demonstration of God's incredible love for us. This should inspire us to totally abandon ourselves in him, which is the sure way of entering eternal life.

Biggest Possible Crisis

        The Greek debt crisis is in the news. Naturally, many Greeks are worried about possibly losing their savings and livelihoods if it's not resolved soon. Personally, I see the biggest possible crisis we'll have to face at the time of our death, at which we may lose our soul. The good news is that this crisis is avoidable if we anticipate and prepare for it now.   

Intimate Experience

        Communion experience today. Receiving the Holy Eucharist was uniting with my most beloved one. It's not quite the same as embracing the Lord or reclining at his side as St. John did, but it's just as intimate, if not more so.

Timely Question

        Jesus has given us his all ~ all his is ours now! How have you responded?

Always Timely Call

        I still remember the witty saying "Everything changes but the avant-garde" I came across a long time ago. I can now also say that "Everything changes but the love of God." Today's Gospel acclamation (Mark 1.15) at Mass reads: The kingdom of God is at hand: repent and believe in the Gospel. Like the avant-garde, this call always remains fresh.

Comments on Gay Marriage

        With the recent SCOTUS ruling favoring gay marriage in mind, I'd like to present Fr. Barron's views on the subject with these two videos.

God Is Different?

        Jesus came into the world to die for all of us so that we might not perish and have eternal life, and he became our Savior. Today suicide bombers kill themselves in order to kill as many others as possible, and they are considered martyrs. Do we have the same God here? Obviously, there can only be one God, so it must be that one side did not get it right.       

Union Begets Freedom

        When one is in perfect union with Jesus, he becomes aware of the Lord's holy presence at all times and forgets his own. That is, when you are in the Lord completely, all you see is he. It is this absence of the self, its importance, that sets one free.    

On Dismissing Jesus

        In today's Gospel from Matthew 9, when Jesus drove the demon out of a demoniac who could not speak, the mute man spoke. The Pharisees saw it and said, "He drives out demons by the prince of demons." They formed this false opinion because they out of fear did not want to believe in Jesus. This is still true today ~ many do not want someone to "lord it" over them, so they just dismiss Jesus.

Self-Gratification Forfeits the Soul

        In the news today, a celebrity finally admitted in court that he did give women sedatives in order to have sex with them. If you seek only pleasures in this world to satisfy your desire, you are sure to lose your soul. Jesus asked, "What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?" Indeed! Every pleasure you derive from sin will weigh you down heavily at the time your soul leaves your body, unless you have already repented and been forgiven by the Lord. 

The Great Deception

        The Holy Father Pope Francis is visiting Ecuador right now. I heard on NPR a reporter interviewing a Ecuadorian woman who is pushing to make abortion legal in her country. She was asked by the reporter if she considered herself still a Catholic. She said yes because she saw no problem in promoting what she believed in and still remaining in the Church. I know there are many, many more Catholics like her, the so-called cafeteria Catholics. I see Satan sowing the seed of confusion among the faithful. He wants them to believe that they can be right and the Church wrong. This has deceived those who have not yet surrendered to the Lord completely. Let's realize that the Church was built by Christ with the promise that the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. Therefore, like the Lord himself, its teachings are to be obeyed. God's one will is for us to be one with him through his one holy church.   

Acknowledging Our Need

        Communion time thoughts. The finite needs the infinite; the imperfect, the perfect; the helpless, the mighty. Let's face it, we all need to be uplifted. Since we are incapable of doing it ourselves, we need to ask our creator to transform us. The Holy Spirit is always ready if you are willing.