**Complete Satisfaction

        Communion experience. There is no greater satisfaction that knowing that I have found the exact one I need for all eternity! He and I even belong to each other!

***Evil Generation

        A sad thought at Mass this morning. The Lord who loves us has done all the work necessary for our salvation, but this generation continues to crucify him.

**How to Love God

         Let God love you first, then you'll be filled with his love. Now you love all others with this love. 

***God Easier to Know than Math

        When I studied math in graduate school, the class was often given difficult problems to solve as homework. One time we were give a theorem to prove. It was so hard that I spent a whole weekend working on it, racking my brain like never before. I finally got a brief glimpse of the solution and quickly wrote it down. I knew that if I didn't, it would flee me forever. Now, God is an infinitely more complex subject than math. Yet, if we open ourselves up to him, he reveals himself to us and we know and understand him effortlessly. Proving a difficult mathematical theorem can be most satisfying, but know God is a lot easier and a pure joy.

*Extreme Joy and Sorrow

        In union with the Lord on earth, the joy can be so great that it practically crushes you. You can be sure that the joy in heaven will be much greater. Now, you can also be sure that the sorrow in hell will have to be most unbearable.

**Complete Compatibility with God*

        Complete compatibility is only possible with the Lord our God and impossible with any other human being. That's because only the Lord God understands us perfectly and can transform us to become like him.

**Ideal Way of Living

        Enjoying the Lord as we serve him as best we can without any anxiety, as we approach the day of meeting him in person.

***Love Alone Shines

        In these end times, the Lord is sending us so many urgent messages through a great number of prophets. What strikes me is that he always asks us to pray for the conversion of those who have fallen away from him and not to judge or attack anyone, not even the greatest evildoers. It's love alone that shines through. Let's remember this so that we may triumph over and not fall prey to the evil one.

***Remaining New in the Lord

         When you are in union with God, he renews you continuously and you remain a new creature. This is what makes being in union with God so exhilarating.

****God's Will Only

        It is not always easy to distinguish what God wants us to do from what we want to do, especially what we want to do is something good. To make sure that we do only God's will, we need to rid ourselves completely of our own ego, listen intently to the Lord, and are ready to go against our own grain if need be. That's why abandoning ourselves totally in the Lord is central to living the Christian life. God first and we don't even appear on the list.

**Our Mission in Exile

        Let us realize that we who love and follow the Lord are living in exile on this earth. For we do not belong or fit into this evil world. Our permanent abode is in heaven with the Father. While here, our mission is to glorify him by saving as many of his children as possible.

***No Excuse for Committing Sins

        We've all been given a conscience by God to distinguish good from evil. Now that Christ has come and is with us, good and evil are made clearer than ever to us. So there's no excuse for committing sins anymore. If you seek to attain union with God, he'll even give you a super sharp conscience to keep your soul pure and spotless. 

***God's Profound Peace*****

        When you do everything for the sake of the Lord and never for your own sake, that is, your motivation always remains selfless and pure, you experience the most profound peace. That tells me all I need to know about my God!

**Sin of Presumption

        All the great saints consider themselves to be most wretched sinners. So if anyone thinks that he is a pretty good person and quite sure that he'll go to heaven, he doesn't know what he's dealing with. With God you can't be so casual about such matters; you'd better be 100% sure. When the Lord says yes, he means yes, and when he says no, he means no. We should get his yes first and not presume that we'll have it. Presumption is a sin too. St. James warns about that in James 4:13-17.

**Prayer Focus

        If you pray for some favor for someone or yourself, do not focus on that someone or yourself or that favor. Instead, you focus on the Lord alone when you pray. You do your part and it's now completely in his hands. You neither wonder what'll happen next nor hope that he'll answer you in a certain way. Show the Lord that you possess both humility and trust. 

***The Basic Question

        Luke 13:22-30 is today's Gospel reading. I'll just quote the first four verses. Jesus passed through towns and villages, teaching as he went and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” He answered them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough. After the master of the house has arisen and locked the door, then will you stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ He will say to you in reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ Here's the Lord describing a poignant scene. In end times like ours now, this is what we particularly need to hear, take seriously, and ponder upon. The basic question: Do you want to be be saved or not? 

***Possessing God's Glory

        2 Thessalonians 2:14, today's Gospel acclamation: God has called us through the Gospel to possess the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can possess the glory of Christ! Be with Christ and everything the Father has becomes ours! (Luke 15:31)

**Holy Spirit for All

        The Holy Spirit is the Lord who sets your heart on fire and uplifts your spirit. He does not make you complacent, but calls you to action. This seems to be a gift not all the faithful seek or receive, causing division among them. But I do believe that we can all receive this gift if we are open-minded and truly desire it. 
         Just finished blogging the above and I read today's first reading from Romans 8. This is what Paul wrote: The Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings. And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the holy ones according to God’s will. So the Holy Spirit as Lord God is a most personal Spirit.

***Great Words from Our Mother

        Two older messages, but more relevant than ever. Specifically, we were told that judging people is a sin, and we must not judge anyone but let God judge everyone. This should be easy to remember; we only need to obey the command.

**The Best Is Yet to Come

        In today's first reading from Romans 8, Paul writes, "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us." In this world, we undergo many sufferings. I am not being pessimistic. Relatively speaking, this sinful, godless world is not a happy place to be in. But we know that the glory to be revealed to the faithful Christians will make them forget all their present sufferings. This is the good news from our Lord. All you need to do is to remain patient and persist just a little longer.

**A Great Feeling

         Knowing that you are with the Lord God and that he is with you!

**Cherish and Enjoy Your Prayer Time

        We can pray from our hearts and make Almighty God listen to us and do things for us! Make your daily prayer time the most cherished and enjoyable time of your day.

***God's Monumental Triumphs

         When Jesus died for us on the cross to redeem us from the clutches of sin, it was a monumental triumph for God and all of us. When he comes next to judge all the nations and put Satan in his place, it'll be another monumental triumph, but this time for God and only his sheep.

*Mending Relationships with Others

        Mending relationships with others is necessary but not always easy. The most important relationship we need to mend is our relationship with the Lord God, our maker. Once that is made whole, you'll be able to mend all other relationships with ease. 

**Dealing with Your Enemy

        Today is the day to pray the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. There is much to learn from how Jesus took the Passion he underwent. He remained meek and humble, and perfectly obedient to the Father. He even prayed for those who crucified him. When we are attacked unjustly by someone in any way, we get upset and tend to defend ourselves as best we can. Sometimes I think remaining silent is the best policy, especially when it's obvious that you cannot "convert" the attacker. Again, take your burden to the Lord is the way to go. Be like Jesus and not your enemy.

***Made Anew by Christ

        I was going thru my old papers and found something I wrote in preparation for attending an inner healing workshop in 1976. I recalled and wrote down all the things I wanted the Lord to heal. After reading all twelve pages (yes, it's that long), I felt I was reading about someone else. I was then truly a different person, very much like anyone else in the world. To find happiness, I tried so hard to fit myself into the world. The result was I found more unhappiness and little happiness. Today I follow the ways of Christ only and I no longer need to compromise myself, for he has made me anew, set me free, and made me forget all my poor past. In him, I remain new and content.

**Getting Ready to Meet God

        I remember watching the British TV sitcom Waiting for God in the 1990s about a pair of aging delinquents living in a retirement home, which was pretty funny. Since I am aging too (but no delinquent, thanks be to God), I don't think "waiting for God" is good enough. "Getting ready to meet God" would be more appropriate for oldsters. What I am happy about is that if this is what you desire, the Lord will actually prepare you for meeting him, and you can be sure that he'll do a bang-up job on you. 

***Bearing Burdens Together with God

        From today's Psalm 68, I read "Blessed day by day be the Lord, who bears our burdens..." It is true that God bears our burdens. He even died in our place on the cross for us. Every burden we feel he feels. And he wants to carry our burdens for us so that we may have some rest. Such is our loving Lord. By the way, bearing burdens along with the Lord is a most beautiful way to bond with him.

***Fleeing from God Impossible

        The enemies of God ignore, reject, or even attack God, but they don't realize that they will not be able to escape his judgment! No one can flee before the Lord, period. And whatever they do to others will come back hitting them like a boomerang a thousand times harder. We should let the love of God alone draw us to him. If we wait until we feel God's wrath, we should know that we are now being given our last chance to make peace with him.

**Suffering with God

        In today's first reading from Romans 8, Paul writes that we become heirs of God if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. To suffer with God is to feel or experience his sufferings. This unites us to him as one! The glory we receive will be joy now and heaven forever later.

Prayer Battle

         You ask the Lord to do a good thing and wait for him to respond. You know that he wants you to persist in asking, so you pray even harder. You don't give up until he gives in. Now, prayer becomes like a battle between God and you. Unless what you ask for is clearly wrong, I don't believe that the Lord minds.

**Response to Communion

         Today's Communion experience. I was speechless. Total submission was all I could think of.

***Realization Before Communion

        At Mass today when the bread and wine were consecrated to become the body and blood of the Lord, I realized that the Lord gave up his own body for our salvation and poured out his own blood for our redemption. This shows how truly precious we are to him! Therefore, we must not neglect ourselves spiritually anymore.  

***Our Only True Joy

        At Mass this morning, I felt that Christ was my only true joy. Sure, there are many things that do make me feel happy at times in this world, but that kind of happiness is never deep or permanent and is often just self-gratification, while the joy of Christ liberates your soul and permanently renews your spirit. All pleasures and delights of the world simply pale in comparison. That Christ is our only true joy is no exaggeration. 

*****Union Leads to Perfection

        To be perfect, we must be like Jesus. To be like him, we must seek to attain union with him first. And the perfect moment to do that is right after you receive the Holy Eucharist, which is a direct invitation from the Lord to ask you to be one with him in spirit.

***Goal of Receiving Holy Eucharist

        We receive the Holy Eucharist at Mass to be nourished by the Lord to become spiritually strong. But specifically, it is more important and a higher goal to receive the Lord so that you may attain union with him.

***Quality Prayer Needed

        The Lord needs our prayers to convert the world. For Catholics, the Holy Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy are powerful weapons. Of course, we can always pray in our own words too. The more people we have praying, the more we can be of help to the Lord. If there are not enough prayer warriors, we who pray can always increase our fervor. There is no limit to how earnestly we can say our prayers. Meaning every word we pray from our hearts is a lot more helpful than having a much greater number of people praying without zeal. So pray boldly, humbly, and with your heart on fire.   

***God a Joy to Deal With*

        I am a human being and as one who have lived long enough, I know that we beings love to be clever, to devise ingenious ways of attracting others or making things attractive, and plot and scheme to achieve our goals. Now, I look at the Lord. He is so refreshing because he is absolutely straight forward, completely transparent, always genuine, tells it like it is, and his "Yes" means "Yes" and his "No" means "No." He is a joy to deal with. That's why I love and trust in my Lord.

**Praying for Recourse to Mary

        Mary's favorite prayer is the one she instructed St. Catherine Labouré to inscribe on the Miraculous Medal: O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. (I know it's her favorite prayer after hearing the amazing conversion story on this video.) I thought for those who do not know the Holy Mother yet, we could pray "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for those who do not have recourse to thee yet."

**We Are Miracle Workers!

        God works all kinds of miracles. Many such miracles happen because of our prayer. So we are in that sense miracle workers too. We don't create miracles ourselves, but we can make God do it for our sake. In Matthew 17:21, Jesus said to his disciples, "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." Yes, have faith and become miracle workers.     

**God Grants Joys

        I have blogged that quite a number of years ago, some goats killed a tall tree whose leaves turned yellow beautifully in the fall on my property and I felt pretty bad about that. This morning as I was walking around the house praying, I looked out the window and saw a young tree with the same beautiful yellow leaves in the distance. Of course, that's a volunteer, for I have never planted anything out there. And it was a happy sight! I really felt that it was the Lord giving me something to make me happy. It's not a huge thing, but knowing that he rewards me like this is gratifying.

**Most Satisfying Knowledge

        When you are one with the Lord, you experience freedom, peace, and joy. But today I realize that just knowing that you are one with him is most satisfying. It may not be as "glamorous" as freedom and joy, but equally satisfying nevertheless.

**Wake Up to Reality*

        If you can see clearly that every single one of us will soon end up in heaven or in hell, you will change your entire outlook on life. For you will wonder why you still pile up perishable things on earth, why you waste so much time trying to humiliate someone you don't like, why you do not forgive anyone, why you still worry about things of this life so much, why you live such a self-centered life, etc. This should help you see that you need to focus upon God and the not-too-distant future and not upon how you are going to have your way the next day. Wake up and live a life worthy of being allowed into heaven. God is waiting.

**A Christian's Super Vision

        Knowing Christ well is like being given a pair of eyes with super vision. You see the world clearly as the Lord sees it. Both righteousness and evil markedly stand out. You see the the fakery and foolery of the world and the hollowness of people's ways. It can be depressing. Then you turn to the Lord and see all his glory, holiness, and mercy, and you are totally uplifted.

***God the Miracle Worker

        The birth of a new baby is a miracle. It's the Lord God creating a new life that never existed before. Then I thought of how the Lord can transform any one of us into a new creature. This is equally amazing. For one could have been a most wretched sinner and now he is a holy saint. It's all his doing and we should be excited about the Lord's amazing power and grace. 

***Cause of Division

        The Lord God can surely cause division among us. You can say you trust in God and people laugh at you. Then to justify your own action, you say I leave it up to God. Christians even quote Holy Scripture to attack other Christians. This is the cause: we still listen to ourselves and not to the Lord. It comes down to our lack of humility. Shame on us.

**What to Do with What You'll Leave Behind

        We all have possessions in life that mean something or a lot to us, and we think about how they should be taken care of after we leave this world. You certainly wouldn't like to see them disposed of as trash. This is a legitimate concern. Then it seems rather ridiculous to be concerned about that if you are not even sure that you're going to heaven. A natural disaster can happen and wipe out everything you have and there's nothing you can do about it. Once you are gone, people might do anything to what you had and there's nothing you can do about it either. So my advice is to make sure that you are heaven bound first, and then take care of what you'll be leaving behind and let it go. If our intent is to follow Christ all the way, we just don't look back, period.

***Getting Along with Others

        So many people can't get along with others for all kinds of reasons, not knowing or ignoring the fact that Christ can completely change us to make us get along with anyone. Nothing is impossible for God if we let him. The bottom line, if we can get along with Christ the Lord, we'll be able to get along with everyone else and have peace in this world!

The Miraculous Medal

         I wear the Miraculous Medal and it is truly a miraculous medal.  Originally, it was called the Medal of the Immaculate Conception, also know as the Medal of Our Lady of Good Graces, for the wearer receives many graces from God through Mary.

**Sacrilegious Communion!

        Working for the Devil and receiving the Holy Eucharist—how sacrilegious can you get! 

**Sharp Contrast for Us

        In today's first reading from Romans 6, Paul couldn't have made the contrast starker: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. We have "working for the Devil" vs. "receiving a great gift from God" and "death" vs. "eternal life."

***Deep Faith in God

        We may feel that we are not doing much for God and still fulfilling what he wants us to achieve. As long as we obey him always, our fruit may not be known to us. Just like prayer, if we pray from our heart, the Lord will accomplish what we pray for, even though we may not see the result at all or not yet. Only in the true God is blind faith a beautiful thing.

**How God Answers Our Prayers

        Since God loves us so much, you can be sure that he will answer our prayers in such a way that would benefit us spiritually the most. But we need to be patient, for only he knows the proper time for us to receive our answers. He'll never abandon us even if we abandon him. So keep your faith always. 

**Cause of Depression

         A sinner who does not know Christ can never be truly happy in this life, for his sins remain with him.

**Sinners Beware!

        We are not even holy and feel hurt when others offend us. Now, our Lord is totally holy and blameless, imagine how much he would feel hurt when we offend him! 

**Faith Essential

        Faith is essential to believing in God. Without faith, I can force myself to believe in God as hard as I can and I won't hear from him. God is always open to us. So if we have faith and open ourselves up to him, he easily enters to reveal himself to us and we can even attain full union with him. This is why faith is so precious.

*Jesus the Truth

        I prayed the Glorious Mysteries of the Holy Rosary this morning. The first three mysteries are Resurrection, Ascension, and Descent of the Holy Spirit. If you show me videos of these events, I might question their authenticity, but they were in fact all eyewitnessed by the disciples and in the case of Resurrection and Descent of the Holy Spirit, by a multitude of people. So I believe that they are all true. Besides, if one of them were not, then everything about Jesus cannot be true. Anyway, the best convincing evidence comes down to one's own experience with the Lord. Once you know him, you know that he is the Truth.

***Taking Care of Your Conscience*

        Daily examination of conscience is a good practice to perform before we go to bed so that we may not commit the same sins again tomorrow. The Lord showed me a superior way that offers a permanent solution—that is, you surrender yourself to him more and more daily until you attain union with him. Once there, he will totally take care of your conscience and everything else. It's focusing on his power and not on your own weakness that always works out best for us!

**Sign of End Times

         After Jesus had been detained and sentenced to death, no one came forward openly to defend him. After the crucifixion, standing by the cross were only John, Jesus' mother and her sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Of course, after Jesus rose from the dead, things completely turned around for his followers. Today Christ is being persecuted worldwide, even by his own people, and relatively few come forward to defend him, and we already knew that he had risen from the dead. So our situation is even worse than that of the people of Jesus' days.

***Readying Ourselves for Judgment***

        In Luke 21, Jesus said to his disciples, "Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man." Christians are facing tribulations right now. What we'll all face next is the Lord himself, and this will be our most important encounter with anyone of our entire existence. So we must truly be vigilant and pray that we'll have the strength needed for that moment. The great smart move is to submit ourselves to Christ totally to become one with him now, then we'll have all the strength we need for anything. 

***Doing God's Will a Delight

        From today's Psalm 40, we read "To do your will, O my God, is my delight." Doing God's will does become a delight once you have fallen in love with the Lord. When you are in love, you naturally would want to do everything to please your beloved. Since God is our most holy and loving Father, falling in love with him becomes pure gratifying joy. To get started, all you need to do is open wide to him to let him draw you all the way to his heart.

***Warning to Our Generation

         A serious, urgent message we need to hear, especially our youth.

***What Are You Doing in Life?

        Today is the Feast of St. Luke. The Gospel acclamation, John 15.16: I chose you from the world, to go and bear fruit that will last, says the Lord. To bear fruit for the Lord is what we should be doing. Otherwise, we waste our whole lifetime. Of course, you may not see it that way if you do not believe in Christ yet. Then let me ask you what you are doing. Are you only trying to keep yourself happy while you are in this world or just drifting on, not knowing where you are headed? Either way, you are being myopic and foolish, for you neglect your more precious possession, your soul.

****Praying Without Limit*

        I have posted about this before. To reject God, it's easy. You reject him and it's bye-bye forever. On the other hand, to love God, you can love him as much as you want, for there is no upper limit to that. And this is exciting! Now, prayer is the same way. You can say a prayer without paying any attention to it and it'd be worse than having not prayed at all. Or you can say it, meaning every single word with all your heart and focusing 100% on the Lord. And here too there's no upper limit to how sincere and devout you can be. This is also exciting, for you definitely would experience your closeness to the Lord and know that he hears you. An absolutely rewarding experience!

*****Where We Must Never Go!**********

        The lava flow that's continuing in its 4th week on La Palma is a terrifying sight. The suffering in hell is even more terrifying, for unlike the lava flow it continues on forever. So for the sake of your soul, aim for heaven. God wants to save all of us from going to hell and we'd better listen to him. I just can't emphasize that enough! I just can't emphasize that enough! I just can't emphasize that enough!

***That Uncomfortable Feeling

         The name Jesus is holy, for he is God. Yet there are many who, even though they may not use his name in vain, do not wish to hear it said. Obviously, the name, unlike any other subject, bothers them. Hearing it makes them feel uncomfortable. This is a clear sign that they need him as they try to avoid him. They should know that their reaction is a grace and that we were all created that way so that we may know that he is exactly the one we need in our lives.

*****Christ Our Greatest Gift

        Today's Communion experience. I know that receiving this bread from heaven can and will change me forever. The Lord is now all mine; he's all I need forever.

***How We Are Set Free

        Jesus said to those who believed in him, "If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32) Since Jesus is the truth, knowing him does set us free. So how are we set free? We are set free when we become free of ourselves so that we no longer lord it over ourselves and we let Jesus truly be our Lord. A very cool move.

**Jesus Speaking as Lord

       In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 10, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus to ask him to grant that in his glory they might sit one at his right and the other at his left. Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" They said to him, "We can." Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared." To me, the fact that Jesus knew exactly the answer to what James and John asked shows that he is indeed the Lord God. 
         He also said to all the Apostles, "You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." Here he revealed to us how to be great in heaven and that he was their perfect selfless example.

**A Church Divided

        In Luke 11:17, Jesus said, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house." Today, our Church, Christ's body, is completely divided. We have bishops against bishops, cardinals against cardinals, priests against priests, creating great confusion for the laity. If the Church had been united and remained strong, evil wouldn't have been able to infiltrate her. This is the critical time for all Catholics to choose sides, for our souls are at stake. This I know, if we stick with Christ and the original teachings of the Church, our souls will be secure.

*****How Great God's Love Is!

        God's love for us is infinite. Our Holy Mother who prays for us unceasingly loves us as her own children. It's not possible for us who are finite beings to feel or imagine how truly great God's loves is. One thing I know, if you can feel it, you'd want to surrender yourself to the Lord completely on the spot.

***Christ Truly My Lord

        Attended Sunday Mass this morning. There were so much on my heart I'd like to share with Christ and so much I'd like to receive from his heart. I felt great joy in him and also great sorrow for him. I desired to be one with him more than ever. He truly is my Lord.

*2023 Synod Prophesied

        An interesting message. If true, then the illumination of conscience probably won't take place until after the Synod ends. 

***Our Top Priority

        Christ is supposed to be our Lord and the most important and influential person in our lives, yet we Catholics hardly mention him outside our church or at any nonspiritual gatherings. This is not the way it should be. Protestants are used to giving testimonies, so it's easier for them to bring up Christ. Many prominent Catholics do talk about Christ with zeal, but not surprisingly many of them were converts from Protestantism. Anyway, a Christian needs to submit himself to Christ to the point he feel compelled by the Holy Spirit to do what Christ has instructed his apostles to do: "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature." So we must testify for the Lord.

***Our Body Is Not Ours

         You know you are getting old when you find it hard to get up from the floor and your joints start to hurt after doing your normal work a little too much. You get out of breath easily and walk slower in order not to fall. You notice the wrinkles on your hands and the pronounced blue veins around your ankles. Your bruises turns purple and it takes a longer time to recover from any physical injury. I am experiencing all these things and the Lord made me see that we were given our physical body for living on this physical earth only. When our short life ends, we just drop our body and it'll be gone from us forever. What we need to attach ourselves to and preserve is our soul, which lasts for all eternity. This is a great realization that liberates the spirit.

**God Makes All the Difference

        Here is one of the many videos showing the awesome and terrible power of the volcanic eruption at La Palma, one of the Canary Islands, which has intensified since it began three weeks ago. If I were an atheist, I would probably say that the whole thing is Mother Nature at work. Since I believe in God, the eruption scenes make me want to abandon myself to him more than ever. For without God, I would absolutely be helpless, but with him I'd be secure forever.

****Time to Go All Out

        We are in end times. Most people have abandoned God, including many of his own children who belonged to his Church. We who still hold onto the faith are the remnant. The Lord now depends upon us more than ever. It is because of our prayers that he's giving all more time. We are truly in a position to help him save the World! This is the perfect time for us to go all out for God. 

Mankind Stuck in a Rut

        Matthew 22.14: "Many are invited, but few are chosen." Today God is calling us through numerous messengers, but few pay serious attention to them. So it's "All are being called, but few will listen." Spiritually, mankind has not at all progressed.

*Looking for God

        You may not be aware that we are all looking for God. Then along the way, we run into something that makes us feel good and we hold onto it and it becomes our god. Some of these gods are money, power, fame, music, art, material possessions, worldly pleasures. Then there are some who have found the God of Christ to be their true God. They are the only ones who know they have found the right God and are now set for all eternity.

***Preempting the Lord

        This video again gives us messages coming from Mary, our Queen and Mother. There is nothing new, again pleading with us to believe in her Son, our Lord. God, out of love, always warns us in advance, never forces us to go against our will. Once more, I'd like to point out that in all the numerous messages coming to us, the Lord has never asked us to start a war, to go kill our enemies, or to apply force to get anything done. Instead he has always asked us to convert ourselves first. In Jonah 3, the Lord send Jonah to Nineveh to warn the people in the city that forty days more and Nineveh should be destroyed. People believed God, proclaimed a fast, and all put on sackcloth. When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he changed his mind about destroying the city. So the Lord only wants us to do what he asks of us; if we obey, he will take care of our problem. It is true that if we all convert, we'll have peace and make the Lord reconsider chastising us. Yes, we can preempt the Lord.

***Apostasy Before Apocalypse?

        The video may shock some of you, but I do believe what this priest has proclaimed. The fact that Pachamama was worshipped in the Vatican is revolting to me.

***Joy Comes from Knowing God***

        John 10:27 is today's Gospel acclamation: "My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me." For us, following the Lord always precedes knowing him well. We may be serving the Lord in many ways while we still do not know him that well yet. This is laudable, but may not be so rewarding. It is knowing the Lord that brings joy to following him! Surrender yourself to the Lord a little more each day to attain full union with him and you'll experience the greatest joy in following him.

****Beautiful Form of Prayer

        From today's Psalm 62, we read "Trust in him at all times, O my people! Pour out your hearts before him; God is our refuge!" Pouring out our hearts to God is most pleasing to him, for he is our most beloved Father. It shows that we hide nothing from God and love to let him know all about us. It is truly a beautiful form of prayer that endears us to him. With the aid of the Holy Eucharist, this puts us on the path to direct union with God.

**Our Choice to Make

       We know that when we do good works for the glory of God, we store up treasure in heaven. In today's first reading from Romans 1, Paul warns that those who judge others, do not esteem God's kindness, and remain impenitent are storing up wrath for the day of judgment. And God will repay everyone according to his works. What a contrast—storing up treasure vs. storing up wrath! The choice should be obvious.

***Today's Sad Reality

         God is absolutely real and wants us to return to him, and evil surrounds us and dwells in our hearts. Yet we are unaware of, or do not see or wish to see this. It's the saddest reality today.

**Our Omniscient Lord

        The Lord God is all-knowing. Being aware of this fact has made me feel secure and want to become holy and trust in him as well. It has also stopped me from worrying and judging others. Last, prayers are made so much easier.

*****Through Christ . . .

we are saved, we can enter heaven, we are able to remain alive on earth, we get to enjoy all the good things in life, we can directly reach our creator and Father, we become one with him and all others who love him, we learn what pure love is, we become selfless, we are liberated, ad infinitum—all good or great things!

****Most Wonderful Grace

         I feel that the Lord is preparing me for meeting him. This is such a wonderful grace. I know I can never reach him on my own. But once you have abandoned yourself to him, he just does all the work for you. This is his infinite mercy—he takes total care of you.

**What God is to me

        Besides the fact that God is my creator and savior, he is an anchor to keep me from drifting away, a ballast to hold me steady, a refuge to provide me protection, and a beacon to light my way. Above all, he's the sanctuary in which I find heavenly peace and joy. He is all I need.

**To Believe in Jesus or Not

        If you don't believe in Christ, you'll never know God. So what not try believing in and be open to him? Then when he reveals himself to you, you'll know that he is real. Talking common sense here. Of course, if you've already made up your mind not to look into Christ, then there's nothing anyone can do about it. Personally, I wouldn't want to be in such a state ever, for it's the most miserable state one can be in, not knowing the truth.

**Childlike Faith Leads to Liberation

        To have a childlike faith in God is a beautiful thing. Since the God of Christ is the true God, it works out beautifully. In fact, the older we get, the more childlike we should become. Let this lead you to total abandonment in God. Now the soul is completely liberated, and God and you become one, attaining your highest state of existence on earth. 

*Waiting for the Lord

         We wait for the Lord's Second Coming, but we also need to wait for the Lord to show us what to do every moment. This takes patience, for we tend to rush ahead thinking that this is a good thing to do for the sake of the Lord and end up failing. God has his timing for us and we must follow it for best results. To do God's will is to follow him in all things.

***Most Fundamental Relationship

         Speaking of relationships, our relationship with God is our most fundamental and important one. Let this relationship take care of all other relationships. Not the other way around. This is putting God first and making him truly your Lord. And your reward will be great!

***God Utterly Needed

         Communion experience. I feel I absolutely need the Lord. He not only sustains my life on earth, but also heals my soul to prepare me for entering heaven! There is nothing more important than these two things and I appreciate and am most grateful for that!

***What Not to Possess

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 10, Jesus said to a rich man who had observed all the commandments, "You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." Clearly, the Lord wants us to detach ourselves from our possessions. It's interesting that when we want to possess things, we are actually letting them possess us. Later, Jesus said to the disciples, "Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come." So, we should even detach ourselves from our families. When we are free of worldly possessions, we become free to let God possess us and we end up possessing the Lord as well.

*Extreme Foolishness

        From today's second reading from Hebrews 4, we heard "No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account." So it would be extremely foolish for us to do whatever we wish to do and ignore the will of God. In fact, we should never live apart from his will, for we are naked before him and will be judged by him. Wise up before it's too late.

***First Humility

        Man fell because of pride, so humility is the key to returning to God. Our first humility is to realize that we are sinners and need to repent of our sins. Before Mass started this morning, the Lord made me see that this realization is one of his great graces, for it can start our journey back to God. When Neil Armstrong took his first step on the moon, millions of us heard him say "That's one small step for a man, one giant step for mankind." Repentance might seem to be a small step, but it's a mighty step as far as the soul is concerned. Let's embrace humility and appreciate and treasure this great grace. 

**Leaving All to God

        We see some of the things happening around the world and do not know what's going to come next. We don't even know how much time we have left to live on earth. Does it matter? No, it shouldn't because the Lord God knows everything and is in charge, and that should be good enough for us. We just follow him and leave all else to him, and we'll enter eternal life in the end. 

***To Experience God's Wonders

        I believe I posted about this before, but it's worth sharing one more time. If you are in tune with the Lord, you experience wonders. "To be in tune with" is "to be totally open to." One example to illustrate what I mean. You may be familiar with the phenomenon of being slain in the Holy Spirit. That is, when you are blessed by a spirit-filled priest, you fall to the ground and experience great peace. It's as if the Holy Spirit had kissed you. I had experienced this quite a number of times. You just have to be totally receptive and open. I still remember the time a holy priest came to the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento, Ca, close to where I lived. He blessed all present with a piece of wood from the cross on which Jesus was crucified, and we all collapsed to the floor. Since you must leave space for others, you got up within a minute or so. Otherwise, you probably could remain in that peaceful state for a long time. Anyway, there's one time I went up to be blessed by a priest and didn't fall like the others. That's when I had a littler bit of extraneous thoughts on my mind and wasn't 100% in tune with the Lord. The lesson I learned was that God knows everything about us and we must be totally in peace with him to experience his wonders.

**What Makes Me Happy*

        Nothing can make me happier than making God happy, even though I don't always succeed.

***Abortion IS Evil!***

        Life begins at conception, this should be obvious. Anything that grows has life. Even the animals instinctively defend their newborn. Yet many human beings choose to exterminate the unborn. Evil has indeed taken possession of them.

****God's Way to Peace****

        It is significant to me that all the messages coming from heaven to us, whether from God the Father, Jesus, Mary, St. Michael the Archangel, or others, have asked us to continue to hold onto our faith, pray hard, convert ourselves, and do good works. Not once did a message tell us to go out and harm any evildoer. This is in total conformity with how Jesus lived his life on earth. It is clear that God wants us to rely upon him to fight the battle and not do what we feel like doing as human beings. This makes sense, for if we take matters into our own hands, we'll never have peace for long. The world's problem is like our own, which is best solved thru submission to God. Also, his way makes sense and is clearly best if you wish to save as many souls as possible.

***Presenting the True Reality

        Death is not the end, but the beginning. For the Christian, it's the beginning of the sweetest part of their journey and they eagerly look forward to it! Nothing can be happier than being taken care of by your most loving Father and creator for all eternity. This is true fulfillment! God has prepared the way to save us. We believe in the Son, follow him, and we pass the test. Now we are ready to enter heaven. It's all so clear and real. It's just terrible not to see this and be lost forever! But if you hear me, you still have time. May we all know Christ and see the true reality!

**Believing in Jesus' Promises

        Jesus has made many promises to us. His prophecies and many of his teachings are essentially promises. If we believe that he is God, then we must believe in all his promises. And the big promise I firmly believe in is that we will have eternal life if we believe in him. And the evidence for that is overwhelming.  

**Evildoers Are like Goats

        In Matthew 25, Jesus told his disciples, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left." Sheep and goats describe the good people and the bad people, respectively, well. I know a little about them, for I have used both in controlling weeds around my house. Goats are clever, wild, and destructive. They jump over fences, climb trees, and kill plants indiscriminately. They killed the only tree that displayed beautiful yellow leaves in the fall on my property. It was a sizable tree; they just chewed a ring around the trunk and that was it. I felt bad about that. The evildoers are like that. They don't care about others, and do and destroy whatever benefits them.

*****Best Gift for Us on Earth

         In today's Gospel reading from Luke 11, Jesus said to his disciples, "What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?" Obviously, the Holy Spirit is the best gift our Father can give us on earth. Therefore, ask for that from him so that you may become one with the Holy Trinity! 

***Most Fundamental Act

        In my last post, I talked about doing all things for God. What comes before that is even more fundamental. It is that we surrender ourselves completely to God. This forms the basis for doing everything else. If we can do that, we solve our biggest problem with God, will bring peace to the world and eliminate any chastisement coming our way.               

***To Be Great in God's Kingdom***

        Doing one simple little thing for the Lord God means infinitely more to him than doing a million big things for ourselves. So if we can do the million things all for God, imagine how great we will be in his kingdom!***

***Way To Be Perfect

        Obeying God is most important. But since we are human and cannot attain this perfectly, our intention to be totally obedient becomes more important than how perfect we turn out to be. 

**Why I Blog

      I've been told that my messages judge others. All I can say is that they may make some people feel uncomfortable, but God forbid that I should judge anyone. We have only one judge, the Lord God. I am merely a lowly servant spreading the gospel. I do it out of pure love for him and for all. I speak what I believe to be the truth, nothing more. Any reader is free to accept or dismiss what I say. I only wish the best for all.
        I've also been let known that what's coming from me might not be the truth, for it might not have come from the Lord. Sorry I can't prove to you in any way that it's from him, but I can say that everything I say is scripture based, not something I've made up. In fact, I never have to think about what to post next; the thoughts are just there in my heart and I experience great peace. If you want to hear from Jesus only, then there'd be no point in listening to any human speakers, saints included, anymore. That leaves reading the Gospels only to hear from Jesus. Then again, Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John only reported what they heard from or about Jesus. Open wide your heart to the Lord so that you may discern whether any message is from him or not.
        May God bless all of you, especially in turbulent times such as ours now.

**Trust in God's Love Only . . .

for no human being can love as perfectly as he loves. 

***Focusing on Jesus Alone

        To know Jesus, I have always advocated going to him directly, for this is the fast and effective way to get to know him. There is another reason for doing it this way. Many people seek signs and miracles in looking for God, but there are dangers here. First, signs and miracles can become their main focus instead of the Lord. Also, the Devil can produce deceptive signs and miracles to confuse you too. I would think of Jesus as the greatest of all signs or miracles. Go to him and ignore everything else would be fine.

**A Spiritual Breakthrough

        If you can realize your own ugly sinfulness and then see the truly beautiful holiness of the perfect God, you will want the Lord to bring you into his light to be transformed by him. It's like you were in darkness and discovered daylight, and you just want to enter that light to be able to see all the beautiful things.    

***Our Biggest Concern

        The Devil is already evil; you can't change that. And God will totally take care of him in the end. Besides, if we are with God, he cannot possibly hurt us. Our biggest concern is about ourselves. For we can obey God, even become saints, and be saved forever or, if we do not watch out, stray away from God, and become lost forever. The plan for our salvation has already been worked out by God and offered to us, so we only need to accept that while we are still alive on earth.

***Central Truth Revealed

      Look at Almighty God with his infinite power, he remains meek and humble. He never rushes to judge us. He wants to give us all the possible chances we can have to get ourselves saved. He respects us and pities those who need mercy. Then look at ourselves. What a contrast! We who need to be saved ourselves judge others, condemn others, and look down on many without any pity. Shame on us. The only cure for us is to surrender ourselves to God. I am revealing or reiterating this central truth for all to see and embrace. If you still don't want to hear it, I can only pray for you, but know that your own prayer here will always be most effective. 

***Live for Eternity

        You can watch the volcanic eruption on La Palma, Canary Islands, live now on YouTube. The power and force are spectacular and awesome. The sight made me think of God, evil, heaven, hell, and the fragility of life. Even though Canary Islands are over 5,700 miles away from where I am, disasters of such magnitude can happen here too. It'll be foolish to live as if I am not going to die. So wake up! In a fire like the one on La Palma right now, we'd be totally consumed in a second. Live for eternity and you'll have eternal life. Live for now and that's all the life you are going to get.

*Mastering Our Free Will

        Each of us possesses a free will and we get to exercise it wisely or foolishly. The ultimate choice for us is whether we follow God or not. We must not let our free will get out of control. Perhaps it helps to see that the free will is just a will there free for us to steer in any direction. We are still its master, responsible for all our choices. You just can't say "My free will made me do it."

*The Way to Be Wise and Strong

        1 Corinthians 1: 25, "For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength." Anyone who thinks that he is wiser and stronger than anyone else is basically a fool and a weakling. But if he will humble and submit himself to God, he receives both God's wisdom and strength and is set free. 

***Simple Truth Difficult for Many

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 10, Martha's sister Mary sat beside Jesus at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, was not happy that her sister did not help her, and complained to the Lord about it. He said to her in reply, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her." So we really only need to listen to Jesus speak. But this can be easily misinterpreted. If I speak the truth that I only need to trust in God, people think that I am living in a bubble or dream world and even laugh at me. This is how the world see Christians or even how some Christians see other Christians. It's a sad situation. 

***The Way to Be Free of Sin!

        From today's Psalm 130, we read "If you, O LORD, mark iniquities, LORD, who can stand? But with you is forgiveness, that you may be revered." Because God can forgives our sins and will, if we repent, we no longer need to fear sin anymore! This is such great news and relief that we can surely rejoice about. The only alternative is to carry your iniquities all your life and die.

**Foolish, Dangerous Living

        A lot of people still hear the small voice of their conscience telling them that they should do this or not do that from time to time. But being so much enslaved by the world, they easily turn away from that voice. Unless they already worship Satan, they do not outright reject Jesus. So it's living day to day, avoiding facing the Lord. To me, this is extremely foolish, dangerous living.

**Not Belonging to This World!

         During the trial before Pilate, Pilate asked Jesus, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here." (John 18:35-36) For us who follow Christ, our home is not in this world either. Since we belong to Christ, our permanent home is in heaven, awaiting us now!

**Not Knowing What They Do

         I pity the evildoers, for they know not what they do. But I also feel sorry for another category of people. These may even be nice people, but just totally lack humility. They may claim that they believe in God, but live life the way they want for themselves anyway. They think they know more than God, for when they believe that what they do is the right thing, it must be all right with God. They take full charge of their own life and think that those who trust in God to provide every need is not living in reality. Obviously, they erroneously believe that trust in God means doing nothing on your own and just letting God work all the miracles for you. Anyway, these people are usually judgmental, unforgiving, and look down on other less fortunate people; they do not know what they do either. Prayer seems to be the only resort to make them see, for they wouldn't listen to anyone speaking the truth to them. Pride can be as detrimental to the soul as doing evil.

*Great Error Causing Great Sorrow

        Great error: not taking Christ seriously. Great sorrow: being cut off from God for eternity.

***Most Special Reception***

        Today's Communion experience. I am receiving the Lord I am going to enjoy being with in heaven for all eternity! 

**A Most Special Trip

        Going to Mass is a so very special trip—you go to receive the Lord in person for him to enter you!

*Contrasty Effects

        The love of money causes us to do evil. By contrast, a pure heart enables us to preserve inner peace.

**Letting God Inspire You

        Alfred Cortot, the renowned French pianist of the the 20th century once said, "You should convey the music not just through the notes, but through some kind of inspiration drawn from its immortal spirit." This inspires me not to become a better piano player, but to become a better Christian. Imagine how the Holy Spirit of God can inspire us if we open up to him. The Lord is always yearning to be one with us; we are the ones who are usually reluctant to cooperate. So open wide to let him inspire you with his love, and you'll be filled with hope and zeal, feeling uplifted at all times. 

***Created for God*

        I do feel that there is no one in this world I can fully trust and rely upon. Close family members and friends can make me feel good to a certain degree, but ultimately, I am still alone. No so with the Lord, for I feel that he is always with and for me, warts and all. He never gives up on me as long as I live. This is exactly what we all need. We were truly created for him. 

**Best Thing for Us in This World

        Well-wishers on various occasions commonly wish others good health as if it were the most important thing for them. I suppose if you do not consider God, it is rather important. And they wish others success in whatever they do. Of course, success here usually implies making a lot of money. Then they also wish others happiness, but how do you acquire happiness? Anyway, we all more or less become worldly in this world. If I wish someone go to heaven, I am sure I would most likely offend that person. My point is that good health, becoming rich, and happiness in this world are not really the best things for us. The only thing that's truly good for us is knowing God

***Only Source of Mercy

        We can be merciful to others, but our mercy is only temporary and always limited, while God's mercy is forever and infinite. Only God can save our souls. If you need mercy, you must go to him, the God of Christ, for there is not another source besides him. 

**Our Most Urgent Task

        The reality is that we live in a sinful world and that should make fighting evil our most urgent task, for our souls are at stake! This means that we must choose God to lead us in this battle. If you don't see this, then you've already been deceived or captured by evil.

*Our Role in Serving God

        The first Joyful Mystery of today's Rosary, The Annunciation. God sent the angel Gabriel to Mary to tell her that he had chosen her to bear his only Son on earth. We must realize that as God's children, we each are given a role to play too, albeit how we are called may not be so dramatic and what we are asked to do is more ordinary. It's serving God humbly in our assigned role well that makes life meaning and helps him accomplish his plan for our good.

**Ego and Inner Peace

        As long as your ego remains active, you won't have inner peace. If you let God's will override yours, you begin to starve your ego. Once his will and your will become one, you are free and will enjoy inner peace.