Communion experience. There can no other experience on earth that's sweeter and more rewarding!
Wednesday, September 10, 2025
***God Our Father Easy to Please***
Our heavenly Father has so many good things (eternal life, just to mention one) he wants to give us that if we gladly accept them all, that would greatly please him, for this is being obedient to him! In turn, we'll experience great joy too, for the Father always shares his joy with those children who obey him. A win-win situation.
**We Must Not Complain*
In today's Gospel reading from Luke 6, Jesus gave the Sermon on the Plain to his disciples and a large number of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon. He said, "Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man." Now, we may not be poor, hungry, weeping, or persecuted by others on account of Christ, but if we were, we must not complain, knowing that we'll be greatly blessed by God.
Tuesday, September 9, 2025
**Painful, yet Rewarding*
Today is the day for praying the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. As you know, the five mysteries are (1) Agony in the Garden, (2) The Scourging, (3) Crowning with Thorns, (4) Carrying of the Cross, and (5) Crucifixion. Praying these mysteries is most difficult, for meditating upon the Passion of Christ is just too painful. Yet, praying them is at the same time most rewarding, for it makes you truly want to follow the Lord.
***Must for Getting to Know God***
To get to know God intimately, you must enter your innermost from time to time to let him reveal to you the state of your soul plus how you can purify it further. Go deep and listen with all your heart, no words needed. For me, the best time for practicing this is after a weekday morning Mass. Usually, the attendance is smaller and people empty the church quickly. (Not thinking about God at all is squandering away all your precious time on earth.)
***Follow Christ Only*
Our No. 1 calling is to be like Christ, and our No. 1 mission is to save souls, for it's Christ's No. 1 mission.
*****Numbing of the Conscience***
When Russia invaded Ukraine, I saw a case of a world leader invading another country not because his own country was being invaded or the other country was a great evil which needed to be wiped out. Instead I saw the action to be more a power trip. This has so far caused hundreds of thousands of military and civilian deaths, and both sides are still not eager to seek peace. For the sake of not losing face? (This reminds me of how King Herod went ahead and ordered the beheading of John the Baptist.) What has happened to our God-given conscience? We have a generation that goes against anything that's good for all in the name of personal freedom. This is how far we've fallen way from God.
Monday, September 8, 2025
*****Belief in Jesus Matters!*****
Today is the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. So Happy Birthday, Holy Mother! The Gospel reading from Matthew 1 tells us that the birth of Jesus fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means "God is with us."
Now, those who believe in and follow Jesus and those do not believe in nor follow him are on two separate paths leading to opposite ends. The difference cannot possibly be greater, as one leads to eternal life and the other to an existence infinitely worse than nonexistence!
**Facilitating Our Departure**
When we leave this world, it'll be a oneway trip, for we won't ever come back to live on earth again. It'll be bye-bye to everything you have forever! You'll also leave your loved ones behind, but you may see some or all of them again, depending upon God's will. Knowing this reality, it'd be wise to get youself detached from everything right now to make your departure smooth and easy. Jesus said in Luke 9, "No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God." Of course, if you don't care about entering the kingdom of God, then by all means cling to the world as much as you want before your departure.
Sunday, September 7, 2025
**Feeling Free
Communion experience. My life is complete and I am ready to move on—the Lord can truly set us free.
**Tragic Neglect*
Many people in the world are very shrewd in planning their earthly life, but totally unconcerned about their spiritual life.
!!!!!Most Important Announcement!!!!!
Most of us know that Jesus died on a cross, but do you know why he died? The fact is that he died willingly out of love in our place to save us from sin so that we might have eternal life in heaven! If you don't know the reason or know the reason but don't care, you miss the greatest truth on which your entire existence hinges! It's all up to you now.
***To follow Jesus, No Problem**
In today's Gospel reading from Luke 14, Jesus addressed the crowds on discipleship. He said to them, "If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple" and "Anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple." In other words, we must love the Lord first and most, and be detached to all our possessions. It sounds hard, but you can accomplish all that effortlessly with his help. This has been my experience. First, you must get started or nothing will happen. When I first openly asked the Lord to change me in a certain way, he actually made that happen and I was surprised and excited. Then I asked for more and he delivered again. It went on like that until I was completely sold, realizing that the Lord can truly transform me easy if I abandon myself to him. So if you don't make it hard for the Lord, he can turn you into a perfect disciple!
Saturday, September 6, 2025
***Beautiful Message
Only August 24, I blogged Encountering the Lord Head-On about crying to the Lord. Here's a video message related to that. (Try ignoring any mispronounced words by the AI voice.)
****Being Nice Is Not Good Enough****
Some people are known to be nice and are well liked by others, for they know how to get along and please everyone. If you were like that, it'd be easy to think that you're probably going to heaven. Well, nice people and people that are good enough to get into heaven belong to different categories. The latter must be Christlike. The Lord's most outstanding traits are holiness, humility, and mercy. So to be like him, you must be sin-free, egoless, and forgiving, which you can achieve all through him. Simply being nice can make you miss all three marks and end up somewhere outside heaven.
***The Lord My Fortress*
Today's Communion experience. My spirit was raised to the level beyond the touch of any evil.
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