**Getting Around Surrendering to God

        If you don't surrender yourself to God just because you don't like to hear the word "surrender," there are other ways. Beg God to have mercy on you, meaning it from your very heart, or open yourself up completely to him, and you shall accomplish the same thing.

**To Be Freed from the World

        The Smithsonian Channel has produced the TV series Aerial America showing how each state looks from the air. As you watch the episodes, you also learn about the various historical landmarks and well-known buildings and homes. I came away with a picture that people in the past fought wars, built forts, started businesses, became big and constructed huge homes . . . in general, laboring away the whole time on earth. This is like living on a plane and never getting up into space. If we can connect with God, then we are lifted out of the two-dimensional space into the third dimension. This is the move the wise make to be freed from this mundane world for ever.

***Anatomy of the Spiritual Journey

        Our ultimate goal is to become one with God. The greatest obstacle in my spiritual journey turns out to be ourselves. For we wish to be our own god and not want anyone else to restrict or control us, not realizing that God knows us thoroughly and is the only one who can free me from the enslavement we have imposed upon ourselves. Eventually, we know that we need God, but yielding ourselves to him is no easy task. The truth is that more you get out of God's way, the closer you become to him! I can also say that the more you let go in him, the more he is going to carry you to make your journey easy. When you surrender yourself completely to God, you become one with him and you are finally free! Following him is now effortless and a joy. The world no longer has any power over you, for you belong to him and are heaven bound. To all of you who are journeying toward the Lord, do not ever get discouraged. Know that every time you give up some of your control to him, your journey becomes easier. 

***Clearing Everything with God

        You want to be receptive to God so that you may see clearly what he wishes you to do for his glory. If there are other things you want to do on your own, you should also clear them with him to see that doing them is also for his glory. This is the harder part. It means you must abandon yourself totally to the Lord. But if you can do that, you'll experience immense freedom and peace and know that you've done the right thing. Again, this is how God has made us. 

**Our Smart Role

        I am thinking about how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. After he received word saying that Lazarus was ill, he did not rush to him, knowing that the illness was not to end in death, but was for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified through it. He remained for two days where he was. Knowing that Lazarus had now died, he and his disciples left for Bethany, the village Lazarus was from. By then, Lazarus had been dead for four days. The two sisters of Lazarus, Martha and Mary, both said to Jesus, "If you had been here, my brother would not have died." Jesus ordered to have the stone that lay across the opening of the tomb removed and cried out in a loud vice, "Lazarus, come out!" The man came out. 

      The lesson I learned is that God knows what he is doing and is always a step ahead of us. So we can confidently follow him in contentment, watching his glory unfold.

***God Our Brilliant Judge*

        Ir occurs to me that how God will judge us is absolutely brilliant. You see, we are all given our free will so that how we deal with others determines how God will deal with us. You might say that he lets us set our own standards. He will forgive us the way we forgive others. How we judge others will determine how he is going to judge us. If we do not acknowledge him, he will not acknowledge us later either. If we reject him, we'll only get ourselves rejected by him. The is a totally fair system that makes us responsible for our choices. We can't complain about it. But there is one provision there that favors us: we can repent and reset our standards anytime to make sure we'll be well treated by the Lord. 

***The Holy Eucharist Is Holy!***

        Anyone who allows the Holy Eucharist, the Most Blessed Sacrament, to be profaned, will have to answer to the Lord one day. Fr. Mark Goring's video today makes the point.

God Our Only Judge

        Evildoers would think that good is bad and evil is good. But even if we follow the Lord faithfully, we can be wrong too, as human judgment is not always reliable. In recent news, some people think one public official is a good person, while others believe that he cannot be trusted. Who's right? We are not sure, since we don't see what's truly in his heart. Only the Lord God who knows all truths is qualified to judge both the good and the bad.

**To Make the World Beautiful to God

        We know that God's thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are our ways his ways. (Isaiah 55.8.) We also know that God sees what's in our heart and we don't. I had traveled and seen many buildings that were beautiful and magnificent, and some cities were full of them. They could be cathedrals, palaces, museums, hotels, business centers, shopping malls, etc. Since I couldn't look inside people's hearts, everything looked good. If I could have seen as God sees, I would have been most likely shocked and never want to look at people (and myself) again. But we do know what's in our own heart. So if we can all make our own heart clean and pure, we'll have a truly beautiful world in God's eyes.

**Living-the-Truth Test

        In today's Gospel reading from John 3, the Apostle wrote: "This is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God." So I can say that if you have no hesitation in sharing all that's in your heart with God, then you have been living the truth.  

***Some Union Benefits

        Union with God liberates you. You know it when your tendency to sin is gone. While evildoers always scheme and plot to sin, you simply try to do good every present moment. You also experience peace because your thoughts are clean and you no longer think about anything that pulls you away from God. You find all trivial, mundane, phony, impure, worldly thoughts boring or even sickening, for you have seen or experienced the beauty, purity, and holiness of God. 

***The End of Journey***

        Last night I watched the documentary Footprints: The Path of Your Life on Netflix. It's about ten young men from Arizona following their parish priest, Fr. Sergio of Spain, to walk the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain. It's a grueling 500-mile journey that took 40 days to complete. This ancient path has been traveled by pilgrims for centuries. The destination is the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral where the remains of the Apostle St. James is believed to have been buried. Anyway, the hikers went through pouring rain, suffered physical pain, lost their way, but also witnessed beautiful inspiring landscapes. More importantly, they all came to learn more about themselves and what they should focus upon, became motivated, and were drawn closer to God. Such an experience can definitely benefit most city dwellers who are so tied up with and weighed down by the affairs of the world. Again, I'd like to add that once you have attained union with God, he shall be dwelling within you, keeping you refreshed and inspired. You have now reached the end of your spiritual journey, for you have captured the Lord! Whatever that's beautiful or inspiring you wish to experience, you now find it right there in your God.

***Dream Union Awaiting*

       Our Lord is a personal God, but it takes two to tango. We must at least be open to him to keep a relationship. When we open up completely to him in humble submission, God and us become united as one and we experience liberation, peace, and joy! The Holy Eucharist serves as the catalyst and the seal. This is the dream union every human being should be in, the thrust of this blog. And God's invitation is always there while you are in exile on earth.

*Discovering the Messiah

        Here is another good story from ONE FOR ISRAEL Ministry. It's typical of someone who never understood Jesus and woke up one day. God is always calling us and we need to leave ourselves open a crack to let the Lord in to lead us to him. 

**Don't Commit Suicide

        If you reject Christ as your Savior, it's no different from committing suicide. In either case, you end up condemning yourself. Accept Christ the author of life to have life and have it abundantly. He will fill you with more life and hope than ever, leading you to eternal salvation! That's why we call it the gospel, the good news. It's in reality the most fantastic, incredible news!

**To Be Born from Above

        In today's Gospel reading from John 3, Jesus explained to Nicodemus how one must be born from above: "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born of water and spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." I now fully understand why the Lord is more real than anyone I see on earth, and I feel his presence and know that he dwells in me. If you ask me how I know all this, all I can say is that if you'd been born from above, you'd know it too. Know God first and you'll have no more questions.

***Averting Tragic Ending of Life

        If you feel depressed, down-hearted, discouraged, that your heart is heavy, that life is empty . . . it's God letting you know that you need him. This is how he has made us! Only he can truly satisfy us and make us happy. Life is temporal and we need to secure our eternal existence to be happy forever. You need to wake up and get in touch with the Lord of Christ, your Savior, who is readily accessible. Cry out to him from your heart and he hears you instantly. By the way, two of my friends who were outwardly very successful had committed suicide; the news shocked me. How I wish that they had known Christ and realized that life in him could be such a joy! It's like you are drowning and not aware that the life boat is right there in front of you. So, to avert any tragic ending of your life, get in touch with Christ the Lord of love and mercy and submit yourself to him if you haven't yet. It would be not only tragic, but also extremely foolish, to let your own pride kill you.

***Shroud of Turin

        God is brilliant!