PRACTICE HEAVEN

We should be imitators of God because we are all created in His image and likeness (Gen.1:26). We too are wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). We may come up with all kinds of excuses not to be the person God has meant us to be and live up to it but we only have ourselves to blame for this. We have been well equipped in all aspects to bring out the best in each of us. Amen. Hallelujah!

Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18
...Be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy...

The absolute bedrock of spiritual life is to follow the 10 commandments. We are sometimes misled into thinking that when we have a type of prayer we think that we already have a spiritual life. We’ve got to have the humility to admit that God is smarter than we are and we need to follow and obey what we are told in the 10 commandments. We should be totally and absolutely convinced that He knows best. Satan uses half truths and half lies in his devilish tricks. Satan’s claims seem to come true in one level. After eating of the forbidden fruit their eyes were opened and did become in one sense like God. The fallen angels made their free choice by radically and irrevocably rejecting God so in turn they seduce and mislead Adam & Eve. It was through sin that humanity was afflicted by death. Because of one man’s disobedience many were made sinners. When tempted in the Garden, Adam failed to remain faithful to God and His commands. Jesus, the New Adam, is God’s servant totally obedient to the Divine will. Jesus is the devil’s conqueror and takes back the plunder. What the devil has stolen from us, Jesus has recovered for us. Pope Benedict XVI commented about what the Lord experienced in the desert and said that at the heart of all temptations is the act of pushing God aside because we conceive Him as secondary. It is an act of constructing our world with our own lights, building in our own foundation and setting God aside as an allusion. Temptations come in many varied forms but one thing is sure it does not invite us to directly do evil because it is too blatant and would outright turn us off. It is very subtle and yet an act of pushing God’s commands aside and placing the devil’s temptation as primary. If we want to remain victorious throughout life, we have to keep Him in the center of our life and hold on to His words which are Spirit and life. Amen. Hallelujah!

Psalms 19:8, 9, 10, 15
R: Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.
7 [8] The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul; the decree of the LORD is trustworthy, giving wisdom to the simple. (R) 8 [9] The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the command of the LORD is clear, enlightening the eye.

We can deny ourselves some little sacrifice during this Lenten season. We can offer that as our Lenten observance. We have to let go of things that we are too attached and do something intentionally like alms giving as a form of loving our neighbor as ourselves. What we do, we don’t do for Jesus according to Mother Teresa rather we do it to Jesus. There was a story of a young man who inherited a large fortune and decided to just eat drink and be merry throughout his life. But what he was experiencing in that is depression and suicidal thoughts which he can’t get out of his dark thinking. Until one day someone suggested him to see Bishop Fulton Sheen. When they finally met, Bishop Sheen listened to him and when the young man had concluded he handed to him in a piece of paper, a telephone #. He was told to call the # and volunteer there for a year in an orphanage in Mexico. He did as he was told and after a year came back to Bishop Sheen with his attitude changed. He has experienced being with the least of his brothers and sisters. It was there that he experienced the joy and blessing of giving more than receiving. He finally discovered the meaning of his life and how to grow in love of God and neighbor completely. Heaven is a communion with God and eternal fellowship with all the angels and saints. We might as well practice it now. We are called to that life of communion and even now called to practice it rather than practice the philosophy of hell where we live in isolation and just for ourselves. Amen. Hallelujah!


Matthew 25:31-46
...‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ 46 And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”