*Exalting the Humble

        Communion thoughts. Before we receive the Holy Eucharist, when we say, "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed," we humble ourselves. Then we receive the Holy Sacrament and we are instantly exalted by God! 

**Only Logical Goal!

      Since Christ wants us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is, we should seek to be like him. The only means of achieving this is to let God do the work. To receive this help is to be open and submissive to him, which clearly points to attaining union with God as our goal. Imitating him from a distance is not good enough – we must become one with him!

*Lesson on Forgiving Others

        The parable of the unforgiving servant from Matthew 18 was today's Gospel reading at Mass. Jesus' message was that we must always forgive others. We already know that God will forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. From this parable, we learn that once God has forgiven us, we'd better be forgiving like him. That is, if we expect to be forgiven by God, we should stop judging others – it's all about following his example. To not want to be like him is downright rebellion. 

*False Freedom

        You think that you are free when you take full control of your life, doing whatever you wish. It turns out that you won't have a say at judgment time.

*Great Way to Live

        When you live for Christ, you give all your burden for him to carry. Now you follow him with ease and in joy! 

Lenten Message

        Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me." To deny ourselves involves drinking every cup that comes our way. When we can deny ourselves fully, we are ready to accept God fully and follow him.

God to Be Enjoyed

        Communion thoughts on this Solemnity of Saint Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Lord is to be thoroughly enjoyed by us. To fully enjoy him, you must get to know him well and learn to trust in him with all your heart, knowing that he will always love you and never impose anything you are not willing to bear on you nor harm your soul. Then you can enjoy him fully in peace.  

*How Free Your Soul?

        It is safe to say that a soul who is not willing to leave this world will have more difficulty getting into heaven, while one who longs to go to God will have little trouble accomplishing it.

*Top-Priority Settling

        In Matthew 6, Jesus taught: "Do not worry and say, 'What are we to eat?' or 'What are we to drink?' or 'What are we to wear?' Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides." Do you know that if you seek the kingdom of God first and get your eternal destiny settled, all such worries will vanish? It is settling one "worry" to kill all other worries. 

**Living Up to God's vision

        When we try to live up to our vision of ourselves, we invariably fail and get discouraged. Do you know that it is much easier for us to live up to God's vision of us? This is because when we desire the latter, the Lord takes over and makes us easily measure up to his vision of us.

Heart Makes the Difference

        As God speaks to our hearts, anyone with a hardened heart does not hear his voice. On the other hand, anyone with a completely pliable heart is eager to hear the Lord speak, letting him mold him into whatever shape for his great joy.

Joy of Being Home

        Communion experience. I was in my Father's house. There was no returning home, so there was no great celebration. Nevertheless, the joy of being home persisted.

**On Having God or Not

        Without Christ, it's not just you miss a little something – you miss everything, including your own life. Not accepting him is equivalent to throwing all you have, yourself included, into the garbage bin. I may sound extreme, but God is to be had all, not discarded one iota. With God, it is all or nothing. A God who does not "demand" this is unworthy of our respect.

*A Great Joy

        Today from Luke 15, we heard the Parable of the Prodigal Son again. I and many others agree that this has to be the most beautiful, moving parable of all the Gospels – it reveals the love and mercy of our Father for us – it is what Christianity is all about. When anyone who has strayed away and decides to return to the Father, the whole heaven rejoices. One whom the Father loves with an infinite love is now home safe ~ how could the Father not feel an infinite joy? For us on earth, there is also no greater joy than that of reuniting with our Father. How I pray and wish that all those who have strayed away from him know this!

*Whom to Live For?

        (1) We can live for ourselves. This should be instinctual, a no-brainer goal. But we'll never find inner peace in living self-centeredly.

       (2) We can live for another human being. This seems unnatural – why should the other person be elevated more than ourselves? This happens when we are mislead into believing that the other person is superior in some way.    

     (3) Then we can live for Christ, an extraordinary man who is also God. In following him, we are set free! We realize that he's the missing piece we'd needed all along. Now our life is fulfilled and complete, with absolutely the best part still to come. 

On Sinning

        A nonbeliever of God may have a better excuse for committing a sin than one who is known to be a believer. A believer who commits a sin, thinking that he is OK, commits a double sin. Even if you are heaven bound, every sin committed can only lengthen your time in purgatory. 

For Rapid Spiritual Progress

        God calls us in everything that happens to us. Let him draw us closer to him via every one of our experiences.  

*Letting God Astonish Us

        On this St. Patrick Day, the Gospel reading was taken from Luke 5 on how Jesus called Peter to become a fisher of men. First, Simon Peter and his partners, all fishermen, had worked hard all night and caught no fish. Jesus asked Simon to put out into deep water and lower their nets, and over their unbelief they caught so many fish that their nets were tearing and the catch filled two boats to the point that they were in danger of sinking. Astonishment seized all, and Peter fell at the knees of Jesus and said, "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." Letting God astonish us does us good, for we then realize that we are mere mortals compared to the everlasting Lord. A life lived in Christ is full of surprises if you believe that he has a hand in everything that happens to us. Furthermore, not knowing when the next surprise will be is going to add even more excitement to life.