Level Up Your Faith
Want to level up your faith life? Try this. Love God. Love your neighbor. Love gives meaning. It gives life. Have we ever sensed somebody loving you? And you know this person is not about using or deceiving you. How do you feel? It gives a sense of joy. It provides a sense of meaning. It seems all barriers are broken. And if you look at the commandments, this shows you how to help keep your neighbor happy and yourself happy…
Resurrection and the Reproaches (Lent 2024)
Our expectations and what God is doing can be totally different, so how should we respond to that? In the raising of Lazarus, the response of the Pharisees was to have Jesus killed. This was the tragic response of the heart when they were not open and unable to receive the mysterious and unconditional love of God. We can sometimes share the same humanity as the Pharisees too. We sometimes prefer to have Jesus out of our lives…
Truly, Interiorly, Fulfilled
So, when I was a senior in college, I got offered a job with the FBI. And I remember when that moment happened, I felt interiorly so empty, which is crazy because here’s what the world is saying. This will make you happy. This will make you fulfilled. It felt empty at the time because I knew the Lord was calling me to something else. He was calling me to something that would…
All About Faithfulness
For the person struggling with faithfulness. Being faithful means being loyal, constant, and steadfast. You are married. You be faithful. Or you’re a student, you go about studying. Keep the rules. Keep the regulations. You have a course; stick to it, do what is expected of you, and stay on it. You stay focused. Many things happen today, and people no longer want to be faithful. They want to take shortcuts, and they want…
The Rich Man and Lazarus (Lent 2024)
Does it have to end in just being able to receive God’s unconditional love? Like Lazarus, the guy beat up on the side of the road. We who have been loved in such messiness are also invited to go into the mess and love. This is a sign that God is alive in us. We now have the dignity of His beloved sons and daughters, of not just being the recipients of His unconditional love, but now being able to love, not only from our strength but…
Shining Light in the Dark
So why does Batman only come out at night? Because that’s when the criminals come out. You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it. Criminals prefer working in the darkness rather than the light. And so in the gospel for this Sunday, Jesus says, “The light came into the world, “but people prefer darkness to the light.” The reality is that we are all criminals. We love to keep…
The Prodigal Son (Lent 2024)
Would you receive the Father’s unconditional love if you were the prodigal son? The Father wants us to convert from a conditional, perfectionistic way of experiencing God to a place of just being unconditionally loved by Him. But we can sometimes hold onto shame for security. What is asked of us is to leave behind that shame—let the shame and self-contempt crumble. We don’t need to “pay rent” to be loved by the heavenly Father…
God Does Not Abandon You
You may have prayed long, asking the Lord to give you a good spouse, but none is coming. Oh, you are married. You have been praying for a child, and none is coming, and you want to get a new job, and there is no job. It seems he’s not hearing you. You ask, “Why me?” I tell you, you’re not alone. It happens every day with many people. But I want to assure you that the Lord did not abandon you. When Christ cried…