**Still Learning About Love**

        Let me quote how Paul describes love in 1 Corinthians 13: "Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." Sometimes I have difficulty getting along with certain people, even though my intentions are good. Thinking about Paul's words, I realized that they could solve my problems—if I were not quick-tempered, but willing to bear and endure all things, I would be doing well.

***Are We Losing Our Souls?**

        Today's Responsorial Psalm Response from Psalm 98 reads: "The Lord has made known his salvation." While this became an absolute reality when Christ came to us 2,000 years ago, how many of us actually pay serious attention today? Do we no longer care about our souls?

**Knowing You Are Chosen**

        Today is the Memorial of Saint Teresa of Jesus, Virgin and Doctor of the Church. In the First Reading from Ephesians 1, Paul writes, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him." Is this predestination? Not being a theologian, I don't know. All I know is that I now follow Christ because God chose me in him.

**Losing God's Watch over Us**

        From today's Responsorial Psalm, Psalm 1, I'd like to quote this verse: "Not so the wicked, not so; they are like chaff which the wind drives away. For the LORD watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes." Therefore, if we follow the LORD, he watches over us. However, if we turn against him, we remove ourselves from his protection and become completely vulnerable to all kinds of evil forces—this is truly the worst situation we could possibly be in.

***Key to Knowing God Deeply***

        Today's Gospel Acclamation, Hebrews 4:12, reads, "The word of God is living and effective, able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart." When I go into my innermost being with the word of God, I am able to discern and dissect all my thoughts hidden deep in my heart. Understanding one's inner self thoroughly is key to knowing God deeply.

**Measuring Your Closeness to God*

        One verse from today's Responsorial Psalm, Psalm 119, reads, "And I will delight in your commands, which I love." Do you love and delight in God's commands? If you find them burdensome, then you are not quite walking with the Lord yet.

**Beautiful Expression*

        In today's First Reading from Galatians 5, I caught Paul using the phrase "faith working through love." I thought that's a beautiful expression; this is speaking of a faith that's completely grounded in love.

**The Battle Against Evil Must Continue**

        TFP Student Action is the university and youth outreach arm of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property (TFP), a traditionalist Catholic organization. I respect and greatly admire their pro-life, pro-marriage, and pro-God stance, as well as their courage in facing adversaries on the front lines. You can find many of their videos on YouTube. Here is a recent, short one that demonstrates what they do. Please support and pray for them.  

**When Pride Replaces True Wisdom**

        If you are a very intelligent person, pride can creep in and make you think you are so smart that you don't need to trust in God anymore—the gospel just seems so ancient or simplistic. This attitude actually makes you a fool before God, leaving you without true wisdom. However, when you are humble and believe like a child, God comes to you and fills you with true knowledge.

**Most Memorable Event of All**

        For all Christian, it must be the Passion which Christ underwent and endured. There is no other sufferings that are more poignant. Even in heaven, we won't forget that.

***A Glorious Realization***

        Realizing that we have a God who loves us as a Father and has already made it possible for us to go back to him in heaven for all eternity via his Son Jesus the Christ, we should be filled with hope and great joy so that nothing in this world can disturb our peace anymore. If we cooperate with God by following Christ, we can become free from sin and be ready to enter heaven. If you don't realize this, you must be a pretty boring person, to say the least.

***Reflection on Aging: A Wake-Up Call***

        I am not a pessimist, just a realist. At an old age, I know that the Lord could call me at any time now. This changes my outlook on life completely. When I look at others who are younger or already seniors, I rarely see any of them sense the gravity of inevitably meeting the Lord one day. Instead, they still carry on as though they will live forever. If you are aware that God is real, you should see that the world is full of evil, and you'll never find happiness in this life. If aging doesn't wake you up, you are in a precarious spiritual state. 

***Worse than Being Evil**

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 11, Jesus said to the crowd, "This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation." Today, even though we have Jesus with us and have seen many wonderful signs over the last two thousand years, this generation does not even care about them—which is worse than being evil.

**How to Serve the Lord**

        We serve the Lord to bear good fruit. What we don't always know is how much good we actually do. What truly matters is that we faithfully do our best, following the Holy Spirit.

**Wise Advice**

        Today's Entrance Antiphon from Psalm 130 reads: "If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But with you is found forgiveness, O God of Israel." Therefore, repent of all your sins to obtain forgiveness from the Lord, so that he will never look at you as sinful.

**The Greater Blessing**

        Here's today's Gospel reading from Like 11: "While Jesus was speaking, a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, 'Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.' He replied, 'Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.'" The message is crystal clear!

***Praise and Adoration for God Alone***

        The Lord God is the greatest possible, perfect being as described in my last post. He is the Lord of all. As finite creatures, we are absolutely nothing when compared to him. Therefore, only he deserves all the praise, adoration, and worship! Since he is most humble, we must be as humble as he is, no less. This means we should never seek praise and adoration for ourselves; instead, we should submit ourselves totally to him. This assures that we'll have peace and fulfillment now, to be completed perfectly later for all eternity.

***Being "Stuck" with God: a Great Blessing**

        The Lord God is eternal—he has always existed and will always exist, with no beginning or end. From Revelation 1:8, we learn that he is "the One who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." Therefore, we will have him forever; far from being "stuck" with him, this is an incredible blessing. Our very existence is entirely dependent on him, yet we are everlastingly loved by him. It is complete foolishness to think that we can survive on our own and be free; without him, we only become slaves to ourselves and are lost forever. Furthermore, to reject the Lord God—who gave his own Son so that anyone who believes in him might not perish but have eternal life—is to be profoundly ungrateful.