Quotes from the saints

As I read on, I was totally put on awe and agreed with those quotes. They quite inspired me to the large extend.

"Cheerfulness strengthens the heart and makes us perserve in good life. Therefore the sevant of God ought always to be good in spirits." - St. Philip Neri

I am happy! What about you? Are you happy?

"It is certain that the love of God does not consist in this sweetness and tenderness which we for the most part desire; but rather in serving Him in justice, fortitude, and humility. His Majesty seeks and loves courageous souls." - St. Teresa of Avila

It reminds me of "Avoid the passions of youth, and strive for righteousness, faith, love, and peace, together with those who with pure heart call out to the Lord for help." (2 Tim 2: 22)

"It is a blasphemy if you pray before God when you are full of anger." - St. Ephraem the Syrian

Thou shalt not be angry.

"You tell me you do not have the time to give two or three hours to prayer; who asks you to do so? No one can be excused from ejaculations because it can be made while coming and going about one's business. Recommend yourself to God the first thing in the morning, protest that you do not wish to offend Him, and then go about your affairs, resolved, nevertheless, to raise your spirit to God even amidst company." - St. Francis de Sales

"Oh how precious time is! Blessed are those who know how to make good use of it. Who can assure us that we will be alive tomorrow? Let us listen to the voice of our conscience, to the voice of the royal prophet: 'Today if you hear God's voice, harden not your heart.' Let us not put off for one moment to another what we 'should' do, because the next moment is not yet ours! - St. Pio of Pietrelcina

So let us put God as the first priority in our lives. For nothing is impossible with God.

Happy Easter's Day!

What a double joys I received today. Besides Easter's Day, I also received the gift of adulthood. Thanks be to God for all His beautiful, wonderful and marvellous works. "I will sing to the Lord because He has won a glorious victory." (Ex 15:1)

Desire to be light and salt to the world

After the conservation with a friend of mine, my mind was directed to the quote of Mother Teresa.

"If I ever become a Saint - I will surely become one of 'darkness.' I will continually be absent from Heaven - to light the light of those in darkness on earth." - Mother Teresa of Calcutta

As I was reading the book, Mother Teresa was suffering a lot yet she remained faithful and determined to persevere on the will of God for her. I learnt that the greater the sufferings we have, the greater the love of God we receive. My thoughts are running wild over my deafness. I want to be healed because I want to speak out the love of God to my family as well as those who do not believe in Christ. At the same time, I want to embrace my deafness because I want to suffer for the sake of Christ so that I can keep shining for Him. "His blindness has nothing to do with his sins or his parents' sins. He is blind so that God's power might be seen at work in him." (John9:3)

As another friend of mine wrote down,

"Recommend virtue to your children, that alone - not wealth - can give happiness. It upholds in adversity and the thought of it and my art prevents me from putting an end to my life." - Beethoven.

"My misfortune is doubly painful to me because it will result in my being misunderstood. For me there can be no recreation in the company of others, no intelligent conversation, no exchange of information with peers; only the most pressing needs can make me venture into society. I am obliged to live like an outcast." - Beethoven

I was inspired by Mother Teresa and Beethoven not to stop doing the things I love because of the problems like illness, pain etc. Right now, I want to do what God wants me to do. "Remind me each morning of your constant love , for I put my trust in you. My prayers go up to you; show me the way I should go." (Ps 143:8) Adding to my careers plans, I want to be catechist, catching the deaf people for Lord Jesus because of their vulnerable weakness, deafness.

Although fire was often described as the anger of God and destruction in the bible, I described the fire as the love of God as I always pray to Holy Spirit to enkindle the fire of love in my heart for it is said " your body is the temple of Holy Spirit, who lives in you and who was given to you by God." (1 Cor 6:19) So that I can be the light to the world. "You are like light for the whole world. Your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5:14,16)

May I always delight and desire to do His will on earth. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

"Ask Jesus not to allow me to refuse Him anything, however small. I [would] rather die." - Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Approaching Easter Day

Easter Day's approaching the next day. In fact, I am very happy because it is the special day for me. I desire to deny myself, take up the cross and follow Lord Jesus eternally with all my heart. As God is good all the time, I want to seek Him all my heart, mind and strength although I am not baptised yet.

I'm happy to have had attended the healing rally at the church of Risen Christ some weeks ago. Because of it, my temperature of spirituality is climbing to the highest point even now. Temperature of spirituality means the intensity of prayer. Although I was not instantly healed at that time, I saw how much faith I had in the Lord and did not have slight disappointment in my heart. Instead, my heart was dancing with joy. Praise the Lord for changing my life and putting me on the right path. Amen.

During the adoration on Maudry Thursday, I met my godfather in the church. It was pleasant joy to see him after a long time of uncontact with him although our conversation was short. It reminded me of how Jesus met his mother on the way of calvary. No word was spoken during their "conversation". It led my memory to the picutre of meeting my deceased grandmother laying on the bed in the hospital last year. Before I even stepped into the room, I broke down trying to control the steam of tears on my face like the crybaby. As there was barrier of language between us, I could only stare at her and not able to utter any word. Even now, the memory of the tears in her eyes is still fresh, aching my heart. After the funeral wake, I was determined to be good son, brother, father and husband, raising my future Christ-centred family.

Often, I am wishing to have someone (especially the girl but you can't blame me for that.) with me most of time. So that we can achieve the even closer and better relationship with God. "Avoid the passions of youth, and strive for righteousness, faith, love, and peace, together with those who with a pure heart call out to the Lord for help." (2 Tim 2:22) "Charm is deceptive and beauty disappears, but a woman who honors the Lord should be praised." (Proverbs 31:30)

New Year 2010

New Year has begun. Like most people, I had made the resolutions which were usually big and difficult that I always could not complete. But this time, I had made few resolutions because I am becoming more serious since I am stepping into the new life of adulthood and new life of Christ. Firstly, I am planning to get myself detached from everything (I succeeded three years ago but after eight months, I lost tracks and got back into the materialisitc world.) and spent more time with God. Secondly, I have to make sure that I get the job in Japan after the graduation which is six months away. Thirdly, I shall become more committed myself to the works. It was not easy to concentrate on the studies and works since I am restless and active. I believe that the only one way is to detach myself from everything as I sometimes get no reply from some of my classmates and other people. Of course, I will not neglect my trainings for bodybuilding as I need them for motivation and inspiration.

I wish you Happy New Year if you are reading this post. And myself too. God bless!

High impart from the session

After a night movie three days ago, I was invited by two church friends to the prayer group organised by Youth Arise Ministry. Its activities are very similar to Charismatic Renewal Group. So next morning, I made myself ready and present for the activity after the morning mass. It consumed a lot of time yet it never failed to bore us except some of us were little tired from last day's activities. However, I learnt interesting lessons from the session. I was really glad to attend it. Otherwise, I would not be able to cherish the moments with God a lot. I learnt how to discern the heavenly messages signaled to me. As well, I was forced to think about my future planned by God. I thought of teaching the deaf children in Japan since there is no job vacancy in my hometown. But I have to rely on Holy Spirit and obey the commandments of God in order to success. It is more important to have faith in Him because He knows all my desires. Just have faith and miracles will be given.

"Real openness to the Holy Spirit is your strength and your special treasure but this gift from God is also a fragile treasure which you must take special care of." In order to effectively communicate with God, one must be effectively detached from all things and persons. Three ways to develop the discernment: prayer, reflecting scriptures and working & suffering for the Kingdom. One also has to be sensitive to the gentle promptous of the Holy Spirit. In order to have strong foundation with God, one has to hear and understand words, treasure words in heart, obey & act on words and finally bear fruits aplenty. Love is the sole motivation to listen and act on His words. The biggest obstacle to obedience to words of God is self-centred pride.

Road of Holiness

"There will be a highway there, called "The Road of Holiness." No sinner will ever travel that road; no fool will mislead those who follow it.

No lions will be there; no fierce animals will pass that way. Those whom the Lord has rescued will travel home by that road.

They will reach Jerusalem with gladness, singing and shouting for joy. They will be happy forever, forever free from sorrow and grief."

(Isaiah 35:8-10)

It was the part of yesterday's reading of the gospel. It has been inspiring me to the large extent that I poured out all my hope in God. It made me ready to give up everything and take up the cross and follow Jesus. My heart was stirring with the delight when I read, "They will be happy forever, forever free from sorrow and grief." It was because I thought that the world was too dangerous and influencing that it could chase God's love out of it. I am wondering whether I will meet the conservative person who share the same thought. Sometimes, I wish that I would meet the certain person who share the same thought so that we can help each other and pray together. But life is unfair. So it is ideal for me to stay independent.