Note to God

We must live – and I realize I’ve told you this many times – in heaven and on earth, always. Not  between  heaven and earth, because we belong to the world. In the world and in Paradise at the same time! That could be the formula to express how to go about our life while we dwell  in hoc saeculo ; in heaven and on earth, divinized; but knowing that we belong to the world and are made of clay, with the fragility of clay: an earthenware vessel which our Lord has deigned to use in his service. And whenever it has been broken, we have riveted the bits back together again, like the prodigal son:  I have sinned against heaven and against you. [6]  We have often felt that way, both in big things and little things. At times we have felt deeply sorry over a little failure, a lack of love, a failure to look at the Love of loves, a failure to smile. Because when one is in love nothing is little, everything is important, everything is big, even in a poor and wretched creatu...

Do not speak so irresponsibly... Don’t you realise that as soon as you throw the first stone others — anonymously — will organise a full-scale stoning?

How do I meditate upon the ever-present example our Father has left us? Do I know how to give myself to the last, without keeping anything back for myself, in order to fulfill the specific Will of God for me, in his Work? What effort do I put every day into becoming more Opus Dei in my soul and in my actions , thus improving the development of the distinctive features of the spirit of God, as transmitted to our founder? 'In fine', how is my struggle to 'resemble' our Father more closely going?

Presence of God, consideration of our divine filiation, spiritual communion, acts of Thanksgiving, acts of atonement, mortification , study, order , work , cheerfulness. 

1. If there is the bullish peak trend, it's most dangerous, don't chase the bull... Because most likely, it will cease and stock price drop. Bid lower and wait!! Be patient!!  2. Monday usually lowest, and Friday is highest 3. Seek advice on Tuan Sing shares from uncle Raymond 4. Consider buying when red for Tsla. 

Acts that seem good but that are done out of fear, convenience , or for other reasons unrelated to the good, will not help make us virtuous. 

In these moments we will give more attention to and put more effort into personal daily prayer - we can always find time: love is ingenious at finding time if need be - into our visits to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, into our relations with Our Lady... for these very occurrences are the ones in which we need more help. We shall obtain the assistance we need in prayer and in the Sacraments. Then it is that virtues are strengthened and the whole interior life matures.

Let us leave that mystical wishful thinking to one side. The fruits of sanctity Our Lord expects are those produced in and from the environment in which we find ourselves, here and now: tiredness, sickness, family, the job, one’s colleagues, one’s fellow students... Leave behind false idealisms, fantasies, and what I usually call mystical wishful thinking. If only I hadn’t married... If only I hadn’t this profession... If only I were healthier... If only I were young... If only I were old...! Instead, turn seriously to the most material and immediate reality, which is where Our Lord is… (Conversations with Monsignor Escrivá, 116). This is the environment in which our love of God should grow and develop, using preciselythose opportunities we find at hand. Let us not allow them to slip away, for it is in them that Jesus is waiting for us.

Our interior life feeds, as plants do, on the stuff of the circumstances in which we are immersed. When we look at our daily living, what are we immersed in? What are our free time like? How do we spend our time? Does it bring us closer to God? Our ordinary circumstances should and can feed our interior life and bring us closer to God. Our circumstances should be filled with goodness, of acts of love, full of sacrifices offered up to God. Our ordinary circumstances shouldn't distract us or draw us away from God. If it does, then we need to rethink what we are doing. Our ordinary circumstances and our hobbies can and should lead us to God. We choose the right circumstances, and  The holy spirit is the main grower. That's how the plant grows. 

Everything in the human being is “binary”: our body is symmetrical, we have two arms, two eyes, two hands… And so, work and prayer are also complementary. Prayer - which is the “breath” of everything - remains as the living backdrop of work, even in moments in which this is not explicit. It is inhuman to be so absorbed by work that you can no longer find the time for prayer. At the same time, a prayer that is alien from life is not healthy. A prayer that alienates itself from the concreteness of life becomes spiritualism, or worse, ritualism. Let us remember that Jesus, after showing the disciples His glory on Mount Tabor, did not want to prolong that moment of ecstasy, but instead came down from the mountain with them and resumed the daily journey. Because that experience had to remain in their hearts as the light and strength of their faith; also a light and strength for the days that were soon to come: those of the Passion. In this way, the time dedicated to staying with God revives...

The monk Evagrius Ponticus thus states: “We have not been commanded to work, to keep watch and to fast continually” – no, this is not demanded – “but it has been laid down that we are to pray without ceasing” (2742). The heart in prayer. There is therefore an ardour in the Christian life, which must never fail. It is a little like that sacred fire that was kept in the ancient temples, that burned without interruption and which the priests had the task of keeping alive. So there must be a sacred fire in us too, which burns continuously and which nothing can extinguish . And it is not easy. But this is how it must be. Saint John Chrysostom, another pastor who was attentive to real life, preached: “Even while walking in public or strolling alone, or seated in your shop, while buying or selling, or even while cooking” (2743). Little prayers: “Lord, have pity on us”, “Lord, help me”. Aspirations. So, prayer is a kind of musical staff, where we inscribe the melody of our lives. It is not in ...

The Pope reminded us that “growth in holiness is a journey in community, side by side with others … In many holy marriages too, each spouse becomes a means used by Christ for the sanctification of the other. Living or working alongside others is surely a path of spiritual growth. Saint John of the Cross told one of his followers: ‘You are living with others in order to be fashioned and tried’ … A community that cherishes the little details of love, whose members care for one another and create an open and evangelizing environment, is a place where the risen Lord is present, sanctifying it in accordance with the Father’s plan

When we give our word, in a certain sense we give ourselves. We put ‘on the line’ what is most intimate to ourselves. In spite of his personal failings, a true disciple and follower of Christ will be honest and loyal, a man of his word. In the Church, we Christians are called ‘the faithful’. This term underlines the state acquired by the members of the People of God through Baptism (cf A. del Portillo, Faithful and Laity in the Church, pp15 ff). But a person who inspires confidence, whom we can trust, can also be called faithful. People like this live up to the confidence placed in them, to the demands of love, friendship or duty . This kind of person keeps his word. In Holy Scripture the term ‘faithful’ is applied to God himself because no one is more worthy of trust than He. God is always faithful to his promises; he never fails to keep his word. In Saint Paul’s words: God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength (1 Cor 10:13).

Christian life isn't about not sinning. It's about growing in love w God. It's about being more Eucharistic.

Saint Alphonsus Liguori says, a man dominated by pride is a thief who is even worse than other thieves because he does not steal anything of earthly value but instead steals God’s glory... According to the Apostle, we cannot in fact do any good work of ourselves; we cannot even think a good thought (cf 2 Cor 3:5)… Because of this, when we manage to do some good; let us address ourselves to Our Lord; saying: for all things come from thee, and of thy own we have given thee. And it's true.. how can I think of any good thing, if it's not inspired by the HS? Or from the whisper of my guardian angel? All good Actions come from a good thought, which is divinely inspired. I cannot possess the results since it was not I who put that thought in my being. It's Him. 

True happiness does not consist in having and possessing, in judging and in always being right, in imposing justice according to our lights. It consists rather in letting ourselves be taken up and clasped by God; in ourselves submitting to his judgement and to his generous justice, and in learning from him the daily practice of mercy (S. Pinckaers, In search of happiness, Madrid, 1981). It is then we understand that it is more blessed to give than to receive (cf Acts 20:35). A compassionate and merciful heart is a heart filled with happiness and peace.

I recommend that at night when you examine your consciences, ask yourself if you dreamed of the future of your sons and daughters. Did you dream of your husband or wife? Did you dream today of your parents, your grandparents who carried forward the family to me? It is so important to dream and especially to dream in the family. Please don’t lose the ability to dream in this way. How many solutions are found to family problems if we take time to reflect, if we think of a husband or wife, and we dream about the good qualities they have. Don’t ever lose the memory of when you were boyfriend or girlfriend. That is very important. Pope Francis’ Message (in part) to Filipino Families about The Sleeping Saint Joseph. (January 16, 2015)

practise the ‘apostolate of little things’, without others noticing it. You will want to serve them so that for them their way becomes agreeable (J. Escrivá, Furrow, 737). At times it will mean taking a real interest in what other people are saying; at other times it will be putting aside our own personal concerns so as to give our attention to the people we live with. It will mean not getting annoyed about what are really trivia, not being touchy, making people feel welcome. We will have to help others in a way they may not notice but which lightens their burden, to pray to God for them, for example, when they are in need, to avoid having critical spirit towards them and always to be grateful to them ... All of these things are within the reach and scope of each one of us.

For there to be virtue, Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches, it is necessary to attend to two things: to what is being done and to the way it is being done (cf St Thomas, Quodlibet, IV, 19). As far as the way it is being done is concerned, the final touches with the chisel or the brush turn that work into a masterpiece. On the other hand, shoddy workmanship, work which is done clumsily or carelessly, is a sign of spiritual languor and of lukewarmness in a Christian who should be sanctifying himself through his daily work.

For God, we repeat, made the world for His own glory, and His plan is to glorify Himself by His mercy.

It is against this attitude that we must battle.. “If we fail to recognize this, we cannot obtain God’s forgiveness; if being a sinner is only a word or a way of speaking, then we do not need God’s forgiveness. But if it is a reality that enslaves us then we truly need the interior freedom and strength of the Lord ”. Paul shows us the way out, the Pope said. “Confess your sin and your tendency to sin to the community, do not hide it. This is the disposition which the Church asks of all of us, which Jesus asks of all of us: humbly to confess our sins”. The Church in her wisdom points to the sacrament of confession. “Let us go to our brother the priest and let us make this interior confession, the same confession that Paul himself makes”.

very often the way Christians must act in public life will not be limited to the mere fulfilment of the legal norms, of what is laid down by law. We needn't be limited by the law. The difference between the legal order and the moral criteria governing our own conduct will sometimes oblige us to go even further than the law demands or to behave in a way that differs from what is asked for by the law’s strictly juridical criteria (cf Spanish Episcopal Conference, Christians in public life, 24 April 1986, 85).  Such occasions might arise, for example, in the case of excessively low wages or unjust situations which are not covered by the law in which we need to speak up; the dedication of a doctor towards his patients who need him for more hours than those strictly demanded by the rules or agreements of the hospital, etc. Are we known at work - whatever our job may be - as people who do far more, for love of God and of men, than they are strictly obliged to do in terms of hours of work...

What is the best way not to take people for granted? By serving them. To serve them to the point of being taken for granted. But we really aren't taken for granted. Because we aren't serving them, not so much them only, but more truly, we serve God through them. And He never takes us for granted.