***State of the Church***

         The Blessed Mother, Akita, Japan, prophesied that because of apostasy in the Church, we would have cardinals opposing cardinals and bishops against bishops. This is happening right now. The Church is already fractured, with the progressives splitting from the traditionalists. My feeling is that the Church must hold onto her original traditions and teachings, and never modify or try to "modernize" them one iota to "please" the world. Only the devil would do that. Also, since all the problems of the world are caused by people abandoning God, the Church should focus solely upon letting the Lord make all her members holy!

        I also lament the fact that today no one preaches like Jesus did anymore. The Lord always went straight to the truth, was consistent, and never tried to please his listeners. He spoke succinctly, using no big words and talking at a level people could understand.

       Finally, I believe in Jesus' promise to Peter that the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against his church, and what Mary has revealed to us—that her Immaculate Heart will triumph in the end. The day will come when the Lord God will set things right.

**True Faith Without Doubt**

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew14, Peter was in his boat on the sea and saw Jesus walking on the water toward him, and he wanted to do that too. Jesus said, "Come." Then he got out of the boat and began to walk toward Jesus. But when he saw how strong the wind was, he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately, Jesus stretched out his hand and caught Peter, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" We see that faith with any doubt is no faith at all. This is what makes faith so precious and powerful.

**Where to Look for the LORD**

        In today's First Reading from 1 Kings 19, at Horeb, the mountain of God, Elijah came to a cave where he took shelter. Then the LORD said to him, "Go outside and stand on the mountain before the LORD; the LORD will be passing by." A strong and heavy wind was rending the mountains and crushing rocks—but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake—but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was fire—but the LORD was not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When he heard this, Elijah hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave. So, when you look for the LORD, listen for his whispering voice in your heart. It is in your innermost self where you will find and encounter the LORD.

***That Key Step to Salvation***

        John 3:16 is probably the best-known verse to most of us. You even see it on billboards sometimes. Here it is: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life." In other words, believe in Jesus as your Savior and follow him, and you are saved. Of course, not everyone who believes in him becomes holy and spotless afterwards, but as long as you repent and have the Lord take away your sins each time, you should be okay. Also, your circumstances may not permit you to become a Catholic and receive the Holy Eucharist, which also promises eternal life. In that case, the Lord will understand too. So know John 3:16 and take that first step.

**Sad State of the World**

        In this secular world, many people are doing the work of the evil one, whether knowingly or not. They live mainly for themselves and do not care about others. They are blind to the fact that their time on earth is short. They do not know—or care to know—that the living God loves them. This is a truly sad state!

**It All Comes Down to Faith**

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 17, after Jesus healed a boy with a demon, the disciples approached him in private and said, "Why could we not drive it out?" He said to them, "Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." We already know that if we have faith, nothing will be impossible for us. The problem is how to put that into practice.  Again, it comes down to believing that the Lord will show us the way.

***The Living Light**

        Today's Gospel Acclamation, based on 2 Timothy 1:10, reads: "Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel." We already know that Jesus is the life and the light. Now I see that he can be appropriately called "the living light." 

**Pure Joy**

        Once you attain union with God through the Holy Eucharist and sense his holy presence at all times, receiving him in this most holy sacrament simply adds pure joy to your spirit.

*****The Unavoidable One*****

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew16, there are some memorable sayings by Jesus. (1) "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (2) "What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?" (3) "For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct." All these sayings affect us directly, and we must deal with them. Jesus is the only one we cannot avoid and cannot afford to ignore!

***Wise Move**

        Deuteronomy 32:39c, today's Responsorial Psalm response, reads, "It is I [God] who deal death and give life." Indeed, God alone gave us life and determines the time of our death. It would be wise to let him take complete charge of us.

**Something to Beware**

        In Matthew 5:37, Jesus, in teaching his disciples about oaths, said, "Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.' Anything more is from the evil one." I love this saying—how refreshing! Today, you hear things from so many people, especially public figures, that are premeditated, convoluted, evasive, or confusing—not straight truth. According to Jesus, they've all been influenced by the evil one. So beware.

***The Divine Secret***

        There is no limit to how much we can love God, but being finite, our strength limits us. So, switch gears to let God love us. All we need to do is to relax and remain completely open—this we can surely accomplish. In doing so, we achieve our objective. (The secret: Let God do it.)

*Our Perpetual Prayer*

        The world has remained evil from creation to this day, so we must never stop praying for the world until the end of the age.

*Letting Sin Lead You to God*

        You should see that sin is a big, fundamental problem for you. If you don't, you just prove my point. If you do, what are you going to do about it? If you see that Christ is the one to look into, cheer up, because he is calling you.

**One Barrier to Entering Heaven**

        One great example we can learn from the Lord Jesus is that he accepted all his sufferings willingly. To follow him, he has let us know that we must deny ourselves and take up our own cross. So, refusing to suffer is a barrier to entering heaven.

**Temporarily on Earth**

        Jesus came down from heaven to earth and lived among us for thirty-three years to bring the good news of salvation and eternal life. I have never been to heaven, but I now feel I already belong there, and I am only here on earth temporarily.

***Too Important to Ignore!***

        Today is the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord. From the book of the prophet, we read, "As the visions during the night continued, I saw: one like a Son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven; when he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him, the one like a Son of man received dominion, glory, and kingship; all peoples, nations, and languages serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed." Daniel was written between 167 and 164 BC. In the Second Letter of Peter, the Apostle confirms this: "Beloved: We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that unique declaration came to him from the majestic glory, 'This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.' We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain." So Jesus is no ordinary person; he is the Son of God. We are compelled to realize this for our own sake—he is too important to ignore!

**Do You Realize . . .**

our feee will can also block the Lord, not just Satan?