A Confidence

Remember the question about Jesus' authority?

"Jesus had entered the Temple and was teaching when the chief priests, the teachers of the Law and the Jewish authorities came to Him and asked, 'What authority have you to act like this? Who gave you authority to do all this?'

Jesus answered them, 'I will also ask you a question, only one. And if you give me an answer, then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. When John began to baptize, was it a work from God, or was it merely something human?'

They reasoned out among themselves, 'If we reply that it was a work of God, He will say: Why, then, did you not believe him? And if we say: The baptism of John was merely something human, beware of the people; since all hold John as a prophet." So they answered Jesus, 'We do not know.'

And Jesus said to them, 'Neither will I tell you by what right I do these things.'"

(Matthew 21: 23 - 27)

I was impressed by Lord Jesus' actions. He seemed to be very confident in the works He did in the Temple. The part where Jewish leaders questioning Him about the authority He did, seemed to imply that Jesus did the deeds on His own without having anyone instructing Him. He must have discerned His mission and vocation very well. There are times we are not sure about ourselves and what we are doing. It happens when we arrive at the crossroads of our lives. But I am very convinced that if I follow Jesus and do right things with Him, I will never get lost. Lord Jesus is a source of my confidence! I am sure that all saints will agree with me, since they had convinced themselves of Christ that they were willing to sacrifice everything for Him!

Saint Francis de Sale said, "All of us can attain to Christian virtue and holiness, no matter in what condition of life we live and no matter what our life work may be."

The question is, "Are you confident in what you are convinced of?"

First day of Advent

Do you want to stay sleepy forever?

Yesterday, a priest's homily powerfully pulled me to serious thinking. When Lord Jesus said, "Be watchful! Be alert!", He meant that we must open ourselves and let God work upon us. We are clay whereas He is the potter. As the potter made beautiful shapes from the clay, we must also let God transform us beautifully. If we do not open ourselves, we cannot experience the good things from God.

I realized that I had been enjoying too much comfort in my path. Those days, I had been enjoying the manga, comedy shows and articles. Yes, it is normal that I got to enjoy my own entertainments. But the problem is that I let myself indulging too much and for too long that I wasted a lot of time. Yes, it is a fact that I am sleeping! What I meant is that my faith is sleeping. Thankfully, the Advent has begun and wakes me up and is making me ready for the Christ. How about you?

‎"We have only short moments of this life to work for God's glory. The devil knows this and that is why he tries to make us waste time in useless things. O, let us not waste our time! Let us save souls! Souls are falling into hell innumerable as the flakes of snow on a winter day. Jesus weeps! Instead of consoling Him we are brooding over our own sorrows . . . There is only one thing to do during the brief day, or rather, night of this life: Love Jesus with all the strength of your heart and save souls for Him, so that He may be loved!" -St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus

Coming Christmas

What are you going to do for Advent? What will you give for Christmas?

A good example from this wonderful man.

Blind Man with unwavering faith

Luke 18: 35 - 43

I was very impressed with the blind man mentioned in the Gospel yesterday. Being a Jew, he was not ignorant of Lord Jesus. Despite his blindness, he recognised Lord Jesus as the Son of God. Thus, his faith enabled him to persevere in reaching for the Lord until he succeeded. Not even the crowd who rebuked him, could flinch him a bit. It reminded me of Saint Augustine: "A desire calling on God is already prayer. If you would pray without ceasing, never stop desiring..." and Saint John Climacus: "To be removed from things of the senses is to contemplate things of the spirit."

Recently, I came across my friend's online status: "As real as it is, i tell you, in very truth, that the pretty little flesh decays and rots." My mind came to an enlightenment: the materialistic needs may satisfy my body but those cannot last long. Instead, they made my contemplative love for God more rusty. Fortunately, God made me deaf so that I could become attuned to my desire: to seek God in order to understand and love Him with all my heart, mind and strength. God sent me two Saints to replay their quotes in my mind; Saint Augustine: "The love of worldly possessions is a sort of bird line, which entangles the soul, and prevents it flying to God." and Saint Joseph Cafasso: "The body is insatiable; the more we give in to it, the more it demands. Our rest will be in Heaven. O Heaven, whoever thinks on you will not suffer from weariness."

So which one will you prefer to seek: worldly possession or everlasting possession?