***How to Experience Christ

         Be humble and open, show that you need him. After all, he is your Lord and your God. If you are too busy or have too much pride, forget it.

***Christian Joy Explained*

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 13, Jesus said to his disciples: "The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." This explains why a Christian who has discovered Christ is always filled with joy.

**Sensible Reality**

        Today is the memorial of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. Psalm 59 starts out with these two verses: Rescue me from my enemies, O my God; from my adversaries defend me. Rescue me from evildoers; from bloodthirsty men save me. Evil is real here. It follows that goodness is also real. Then God and Satan, heaven and hell—they all must be real. Removing any one of them makes the whole thing fall apart. The ancient Chinese concept of the two opposing forces yin and yang makes sense now after all.

***Maximum Security Forever*

        Do you know that we can form the strongest possible bond with almighty God, our most loving Father? Once you become obedient to him, you become like him and your eternal happiness is assured. Now nothing outside of you will be able to take you away from him anymore! 

**God Sees Us!

         This picture popped into mind. A large one-way glass window exists between God and us. We can't see him, but he sees everything about us from his side. Of course, God doesn't need anything between us to see us, but retaining such a picture in our mind can help us watch what we do on this side of the window.

***Joy in Union

         Communion experience. The heavy part: The Lord was all mine and I felt overwhelmed. The light part: I was all his and I felt completely liberated. Either way, I was filled with joy.

***Biggest Problem of Our Existence***

                 SIN—it must be resolved before we die.

*****Our Most Crucial Challenge*****

        To not accept Jesus as our Savior is saying not only that he is not God and has come to us and died on the cross for nothing, but also that he is someone who had lost his mind and didn't know what he's doing. This is the unique challenge we face: He must be all true or all false. There is no one else like that! You just can't dismiss him lightly and be sure that everything will be fine, for you could lose you life for all eternity! To me, this is a clear mark of truth.

***Most Personal Lord***

        Communion experience. The Lord is the only one who can purify my heart and heal my soul! You can't get more personal than that.

*****Our Foremost Concern Now*

        Today is the the memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. In the Gospel reading from John 11, Jesus told Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and anyone who lives and believe in me will never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world." Here Jesus made a bold proclamation and Martha gave a bold response. Because Jesus always speaks with great authority, he deserves our complete trust and obedience. In fact, since believing in Jesus determines that we'll live forever, that should be absolutely our foremost concern in this life!

**God's Mercy vs. Our Stupidity**

         The Lord God is most merciful. He waits patiently for us to surrender ourselves to him so that we may be saved. If we ignore him our whole life, then we simply get ourselves condemned in the end, which is the stupidest thing we can possibly do. I believe that in the following video, the Lord did give a nice sign to those who have offended him badly. The ball is now in their court. Pray that they will come to their senses before it's too late.

**The Lord's Humility

        In today's Gospel reading from John 6, Jesus multiplied five barley loaves and two fish to feed a crowd of five thousand. After they had their fill, Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, so he withdrew to the mountain alone. Here's the Lord showing his humility we can all emulate.. 

***The Big Picture

        The Lord showed me that we need to look at the big picture and focus on the important issues and not so much on our trivial problems, as we approach our judgment day. (1) Fundamental issues we should always focus on: conversion of all sinners of the world; God crushing all evil ... (2) Current pressing issues: purification and restoration of the Holy Church; saving this nation as a republic; ending abortion ... (3) More immediate concerns: mercy on those performers who mocked Jesus and Christianity at the blasphemous opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics; healing of a parishioner friend suffering badly at a hospital; safe return of some family members traveling away from home ... (4) Trivial problems: water leaking from a bathroom ceiling at home (cause unknown); some plants dying in this hot weather ... You get the picture.

**How to Be Truly Strong

        We all want to be strong, but if you try to do it on your own, then you are going about it the wrong way. The right way is to be weak before the Lord to let him make you strong. Now you derive all your strength from him and become super strong. A Christian who lives in the Lord is alway backed by him in everything he does.  

**It's so important that . . .**

our connection with the Lord God be completely open, most intimate, and absolutely secure. 

**Questions

        If we don't stop sinning, then we are doomed. This totally makes sense and I believe that most people would agree to that. Yet not many of them take it seriously—what gives? Are they simply asleep?

**Natural Consequences**

        If we love God, we become like him and beautiful. And if we hate God, we become like the Devil and ugly. Every cause has its effect. 

***A Reminder

        To not do anything bad is not good enough, for we must do as much good as possible. How else are we going to love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind?

***Good-Eniugh Warning for Us***

        Our final judgment by the Lord is imminent. It'll happen either after we die or at the Second Coming. This alone should make us want to live a holy life as best we can.

***How to Follow Christ (and Enjoy Peace)***

         To follow the Lord mean we always follow his will and never rush ahead of him. All glory and honor should go only to him. If the world ever notices us, it should see him and not us. With us out of the limelight, we simply enjoy his peace.

*****Incredible Love and Power of Christ*****

        Communion experience. It's like attending a banquet in heaven and was served the Lord himself—an unbelievable experience! You cannot remain the same old sinner anymore; in fact, you can now become a brand new saint! Praised be Jesus Christ, our most beloved Lord and God.

**How Do We Receive God's Word?*

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 13, Jesus told the parable of the sower to his disciples. He likened us hearing the word of the kingdom to the ground receiving the sower'e seed. The seed could be sown on the path, on rocky ground, among thorns, or on rich soil. I think the case of the seed sown among thorns best describes most of us today. This is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. Pray that we are like the seed sown on rich soil, the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.

***Inspiring Wake-Up Speech***

        Here's a clip of Bishop Barron's talk at this year's 10th National Eucharistic Congress which just concluded four days ago in Indianapolis, Indiana.

***Jesus Is LORD Because . . .

he can take away our sins.

***Baseless Fear***

        It is common that we follow Christ, but do not abandon ourselves completely to him for fear that he may make us do things against our will. Let me first say that this fear is totally baseless. You see, the Lord understands us thoroughly and knows how we can best serve him, so he would never make us do anything that is beyond our readiness or capability. He prefers that we offer to serve him first. Now, when we don't abandon ourselves all the way, it's because we still don't want him to be our Lord fully yet. This is due to our lack of humility. Let's recall what Jesus said in Luke 9:62: No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God. To follow Christ is to follow him only and not yourself!

***Heaven More Real than Earth

         We live in a real world, but I now see that heaven is even more real because up there with the Lord God, you'll see the whole truth clearly with your life on earth looking more like an old bad dream. To return to the loving Father in heaven is to wake up and leave all your nightmares behind forever!

***The Lord Knew Us All Along!***

        In today's reading 1 from Jeremiah 1, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you." We are the same to the Lord: He knew us before we were born and had a plan for each of us to follow. Our role may not be as distinct as Jeremiah's, but nevertheless, it should become as meaningful to him if we followed his plan. Realizing this alone should make us feel blessed and want to rejoice in the Lord.

***Limitless with God***

        With the Lord God, we are dealing with infinity, for nothing is impossible for him. And we can go infinity too! There is no limit to how much we can love him, abandon ourselves to him, ask for favors from him, obey him, and pray to him with great fervency. This is precisely what makes following the Lord God so exciting and such a joy!

**God to Be En...

        The Lord God is to be worshipped, adored, and praised, for we trust in and love him. But don't forget that he is to be enjoyed by us too! He is most enjoyable because if you love him with all your heart, he will fill it with unspeakable joy unexpectedly from time to time, totally delighting the soul.

**Only What Belongs to God Remains

        Tow days ago, I wasn't able to turn on the house alarm. Couldn't figure out what's wrong, as all window and door contacts looked fine. Arming and disarming it repeatedly didn't seem to reset anything. Then all of a sudden this morning before I left for Mass, the green light on the panel was on, showing that the house was ready to be armed. I realized that in this world, problems come and go, so don't let any of them make you lose your peace. They pass and only what belongs to God remains forever. Remain in the Lord and let everything else go by. 

**A Christian's Calling

        Taking care of just myself is easy since I already belong to Christ. It's taking care of all others in the world that takes much work and prayer. A Christian is called to help the Lord save as many souls as possible, as his last instruction to the Eleven before his ascension was "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15)

*****Secret to Enteriing Heaven*****

         In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 12, while Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him about this. But he said in reply to the one who told him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.” Now we know how to belong to God the Father's family in heaven! Joy should now fill us throughout our whole life!

***A Special Revelation*

        As sinners, we'll be held responsible for the sins we have committed in the end—no escape here! Once we realize this, we'll want to stop sinning and become perfect. And we realize that we are being called to become like Jesus Christ.

***Christ the Complete Truth***

        In today's Gospel reading from John 20, the resurrected Lord appeared to Mary Magdalene and these are his last words to her: "Go to my brothers and tell them, 'I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" I already quoted this in my last post, but it strikes me that he absolutely told the truth here, for if he hadn't, imagine how absurd the whole thing would have been—performing all those miracles, dying for us out of love, rising from the dead, and not even ascending to heaven? So when he said he's going to the Father, he knew precisely what he's talking about. We can be sure that Christ is the truth through and through.

*****God's Most Beautiful Love*****

      God's love for us is absolutely pure, and that makes it most passionate and overwhelming. Today is the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene. The antiphons, the verse from reading 1, and Gospel acclamation . . . all show how this most beautiful, powerful love is and has affected us.
        (1) The entrance antiphon from John 20:17. The Lord said to Mary Magdalene, "Go to my brothers and tell them, 'I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Jesus shares his Father and his God with us!
        (2) Verse 4 from Song of Songs 3. I have found him whom my soul loves. We love God with our soul, beyond our heart!       
        (3) Response from Psalm 63. My soul is thirsting for you, O loving God.
    (4) Gospel acclamation from John 20:15. Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" We who love the Lord look for him and weep for him often.
       (5) Communion antiphon from 2 Corinthians 5. The love of Christ impels us, so that those who live may no longer live for themselves but for him who died and was raised.
        This is the love for us to live in!

***By the Grace of God

 

**Overcoming the Ego*

        There were times I shared something that's true, but felt uncomfortable afterwards. And I realized that I was only trying to gain sympathy or understanding, not really serving any useful purpose—it's the old ego rearing its ugly head! So from now on, the moment I sense ever slightly a no, I'll obey that voice. The ego's got to go for good!

**Today's Stray Sheep

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 6, a vast crowd waited for Jesus to show up. When he arrived and saw them, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd. Today we have Christ as our shepherd, but many do not even choose to follow him—we have truly gone astray.  

***Mind Follows Heart*

        If your mind is easily cluttered with all kinds of thoughts that make you feel unsettled, trace it back to your heart. If the heart remains clean and calm, the mind will follow suit. Of course, attain union with God through the Holy Eucharist and you'll have a pure heart filled with peace. 

***Most Righteous Goal*****

        One goal of my blog is to spread the name of Jesus for the whole world to know. For he is our most beloved Lord, creator, and Savior. He alone deserves to be worshipped, adored, and praised. Without him, we'd be nothing. With him, we can have eternal life. He is the truth, the light, and the way. I want all to know and acknowledge all this so that they may be set free! May this goal be the goal of every one of us. 

***Ready to Face God?

         We'll never be perfect when we face God, but if you don't have any hesitation and is eager to go to him, you are OK—good enough to go. 

**Happiest Tears*

         These are the ones to which you are moved when you genuinely sense or feel God's love for all of us. It follows that you are a happiest person when you know that God truly loves you.

**The Lord's Doing

         Communion experience. The Lord made my soul presentable to him; I was ready for his judgment.

***We Are Precious to God***

         Know that God has shed his own blood to free us from spiritual death, so we are absolutely precious to him. Therefore, let's keep our soul as spotless as possible. With his help, this becomes practically effortless.

***Going All Out for God*

         The Lord God always goes all out for us and we need to go all out for him to live a purposeful and exciting life. So go all out to worship him, to adore him, to praise him, and to obey and serve him. Then we'll be blessed and rewarded to the max by him with eternal life securely in the bag. 

***Reconciliation with God, a Must***

          God has already paved the way for us to go to heaven. All we need to do is to reconcile with him. It's that plain and simple! So what's your problem?

***God's Beautiful Love*

         It' the most beautiful thing in the whole universe. It is pure, meek, humble, most forgiving, but also most powerful, transforming, and capable of solving all our problems—it's the Lord God himself.  

**God's Permanent Joy

         I use eyedrops to keep the my eye pressures down. As I lay down in bed this morning to do the drops, I first turned on the clock radio by the bedside to see what's playing on the classical music station. It was a guitar concerto that sounded quite beautiful. Then I realized that this listening pleasure was only a passing one, while the joy of Christ I experience is already mine, dwelling in me forever! This realization is in itself a joy!

**Letting Go in the Lord

         Communion experience. Receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist strengthens our union with him, readying us for living and dying for him. 

**Triumphant Proclamation**

         Today's psalm response from Isaiah 38.17: You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die. All faithful Christians already know this, but it sure was good to hear it proclaimed aloud five times at the reading of the psalm.

***Bravery or Cowardice

         If you don't believe in Christ, that doesn't mean that he is not our Savior, for you may be dead wrong. As a believer, I know that no one will ever be able to prove that Christ is not our Savior! So all unbelievers are simply avoiding facing reality. Risking losing your soul for all eternity is not an act of bravery, but one of sheer cowardice and stupidity.

*** Only One Final Judgment!***

         We do not know how and when we'll die. Will there be time for making a final confession of sins? What if we die unexpectedly all of a sudden? Know that after we die, there'll be just one judgment, with no higher court to which we can appeal our cases, for the Lord God is our final and only judge. If you don't have your eternal life secured by Jesus Christ yet, you absolutely need to think about it right now!

***Praying with Faith

         Pray earnestly with persistence, but always believe that the Lord will answer you, and remain in peace.  It's earnest sans anxiety. Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours." (Mark 11:24) 

**Living for Eternity*

         If you love the Lord, you'll always receive what's best for you. So be happy with what you have and the state you are in, and do not complain under any circumstances, for there's so much for us to be thankful for. This may be difficult to achieve, but as disciples of Christ, we live for him and what's to come. All hardships now are nothing compared to what we'll be receiving later. Live joyfully now and your joy will continue forever!

***All Are Relative*

         Relative to God, we are truly despicable sinners. The more you know the Lord, the more awesome he is to you. Once you know Christ well, all worldly pleasures become tiresome and I can even go so far as to say that everything we do for ourselves without involving the Lord in any way is basically frivolous.

*****True Flesh and Blood of Christ*****

         I'd like to quote all these verses from John 6. Except verse 52, they are all Jesus' sayings. 
        
        51: I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.

         52: The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" (Obviously, the Jews understood that the Lord meant it literally.)

          53: Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.

         54: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.

           55: For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.

           56: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.

           57: Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.

          58: This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.

          Clearly, when we receive the Holy Eucharist at Mass, we receive the true flesh and blood of the Lord, not just bread and wine. If not, all Catholics have surely committed the sin of idolatry! 

***Being Wise at the Highest Level***

         The Lord God is our creator and heavenly Father who loves us to death. He wants to save us from sin so that we may be with him in paradise forever. He is almighty, for nothing is impossible with him. Love and obey him, and our eternal happiness is guaranteed. He is truly our refuge and greatest resource for all that's best for us. Recognize this and take full advantage of it and he'll be most pleased. 

**Remember This!

         God's infinite mercy is to our great advantage. Anytime we repent our sins to him and ask for his forgiveness, he saves our soul for heaven.

*****Momentous Occasion**

        Communion experience. I see receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist as momentous as the creation of man as depicted in Michelangelo's painting. For this is the moment God creates a new you in Christ if you were open to him. In both instances, it's done out of love.

***Important Rule***

         Never follow your heart before giving it to Christ Jesus first.

*Sinner Has No Right to Judge

         In John 8, when the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery to Jesus. They said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus said to them, "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." Today so many people slander, and lie and say vicious things about others—they will have to answer to the Lord one day. May he have mercy on their souls.

**Be CHILDLIKE**

         In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 11,  Jesus exclaimed: "I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will." Be childlike and God the Father will reveal all his "secrets" to you! I still remember the time when I was 7 or 8, I felt so carefree, realizing that I just played most of the time while my parents and grandparents took care of everything else for me. This is how we should feel about our heavenly Father who can take better care of us than anyone else.

**God Is with You

         You know it in these two instances. (1) You are tempted to commit a sin and know that you shouldn't and you don't. (2) You commit a sin, lose all your peace, and feel really sorry about that.  

**Trust in the Lord Is All**

        God knows every one of us thoroughly and what we can do for him. We only need to trust in him and live a life as holy as possible. Dreaming about ourselves doing great works does not come from the Lord. He only wants us to listen for his voice and do his will. 

**Willing Follower of Christ*

         We follow Christ, but how willing are we? Not following him closely is not following him at all. A willing follower is one who remains joyfully in the Lord, eager to carry out his will at any time. 

*****Inevitable Endings (Another Warning)**

         Time marches on and we are getting closer and closer to facing the Lord to be evaluated by him. Think of living your life as making a movie that's going to be reviewed and rated by him. The finished work will be either added to his collection or tossed into the furnace. Think about it and be ready.

***Trump's Assassination Attempt Prophesied***

        This morning, I posted God Saved Trump. I just came across this brand new LifeSiteNews video titled Prophecy Unveiled: Pastor's Vision of Trump's Assassination Attempt. I think you'll find it very interesting. Here it is.

**The Lord Incredibly Good!

        Communion experience. Still hard for me to believe that my Lord could be this good to me. Hence I believe in him even more.

***What's Most Exciting*****

        There is nothing more exciting than letting the Lord God make us holy. Normally, we don't believe that this would be possible, so we don't think about it. Then we realize that this is what the Lord seriously wants from us and nothing is impossible for him, we submit ourselves to him completely and voilà, we discover that he can actually change us fundamentally, and moreover, there is no limit to how far we can go. We then get excited—the unbelievable is now real! When we follow God, the outcome can only be success!

***Becoming Better Lovers

        When we love God, our love for others becomes purer and less self-centered. You see, God is all love and most holy, and when we are influenced by him, we can't help but want to love others the way he loves us. Loving God makes us become like him. 

***God Saved Trump*****

        By now, the whole world knows that Trump has survived the assassination attempt made on him at a rally in Pennsylvania two days ago. Slow motion videos have now shown that just before the bullet struck, Trump tilted his head to the left enough for the bullet to pierce his right ear instead. I along with many others believe that God did intervene, for he still had work for him to accomplish on earth. The Lord holds all those who trust in him in his loving hands—praise him now and forever!

**Letting God Make Us Genuine**

         We become genuinely ourselves when we attain union with God and are set free. Conversely, when we remain out of tune with God, we develop a fake self and become unhappy with both life and ourselves.

***Why We Need God***

         God is forever holy while we need him to become holy.

***Today's Joy:

My Lord can make me whiter than snow.

**To the Proud:

         This perhaps is more a man thing because I see men often don't admit that they are wrong after they've made a mistake—it probably has something to do with a macho ego. This lack of humility makes repentance difficult, thus blocking the way to salvation. Know that God humbles the proud and exalts the humble.

***Existence Completed***

         Communion experience. When you have Christ, you have no more fears nor worries; he's now your only focus. Union with him completes your existence.

***Our Peace*

         Two days ago, I declared that God is our hope. Today I'd like to add that God is also peace.

***The Lord Teaching Us

         In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 10, Jesus said to his Apostles, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna." So if your soul is safe with the Lord, you should not be afraid of anything anymore! Who cares how or when you're going to die when you'll be with God forever? Jesus also said, "Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father." Now you know exactly how to get accepted by the heavenly Father. If you get denied by him later, you have only yourself to blame. The Lord is showing us how to be smart here!

***Resorting to Prayer Always*

         Prayer can be most powerful. In Mark 9, Jesus healed a boy possessed by a demon. When the disciples asked him why they could not drive it out, Jesus told them that this kind could only come out by prayer. So we should always resort to prayer. Whenever we wish to honor the Lord and don't have the means to accomplish that, we can turn to prayer. Coupled with deep faith, prayer is surely a Christian's best friend and weapon for fighting evil.

***Finding Rest in God***

         I have quoted this famous saying by St. Augustine quite a number of times in the past. It came to me again today. Here it is: "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you." First of all, this is absolutely true. Secondly, to rest in God is to submit yourself to him 100%, for If you fall short by even a tiny percentage, you'll still experience some unrest. But once you hit 100%, you'll taste peace and freedom and not want to fall short again.

***Minding Our Business Only***

         Since God alone is our judge, we should not ever judge others. It follows that we should not ever compare ourselves with anyone else either. Our only business should be to make sure that we pass God's judgment. 

***Lamentable State of the World

        The world is in total disorder. Just look at his country alone, evildoers spread lies and hatred, destroying the country and society in the process, in order to remain in power. The battle between the good and the evil has never been so clear. God has given each of us a conscience and these evil ones have already lost theirs. When you lose your conscience, you lose your soul as well. 

***Be Saints for God in Secret***

         We all should be saints for God's sake and known to him only. A true saint couldn't care less about being recognized, let alone venerated. We cannot love God and also ourselves (or the world).

***Joy-Filled Morning

         First, before morning Mass started, I felt the joy of just being aware of Christ's presence. Whenever I think of him, my heart is filled with joy. In today's reading from Psalm 51, the psalmist (David) asked God to cleanse him of sin so that he should be whiter than snow. Surely Christ could make me whiter than snow too—a joy for me. In the Gospel reading from Matthew 10, Jesus told his Apostles that in coming persecutions, the Spirit of their Father wouldl speak through them. It's clear that this Spirit is also mine, the Holy Spirit, who makes me see and guides me in the truth . . . my joy continued. Then when I received the Lord in the Eucharist, it reached a peak. All in all, a most memorable morning. 

***Discernment Called For*

         After Mass, I remained in prayer at the chapel. I noticed the reflections of the candle stand and other objects clearly in the shiny tiled floor of the sanctuary. These are virtual images like what you see in a mirror. The reflected objects do not exist; it's the light reflected fooling you into thinking that they are there. For example, I see myself in the mirror, but I don't really exist behind that mirror. This is how Satan fool us. He makes us see miracles to fool us into believing that they are from God. Someone could tell you that he's seen a vision or heard a message from heaven and he's telling the truth, but what he saw or heard might not be from God. So, be always discerning. If you don't need miracles to bolster your faith anymore, then leave them alone.

*****In Constant Communion with God*****

         It is essential that we communicate intimately with the Lord God unceasingly! For this is a wonderful way to maintain a vibrant close relationship with him. To neglect the Lord who is our most loving Father and creator has to be an abominable sin in my view. Seek full union with him thru the Holy Eucharist so that you may love him as you should.

**Communion Experience

         Receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist has to the topmost experience of my existence on earth above all other enjoyable experiences.

***Our Hope***

         Jesus is love, mercy, and joy. Today I see that he is our hope also; for without him, we'd be living in total darkness and possibly doomed for eternity! 

***Easy Come, Easy Go

         In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 10, Jesus sent out the Twelve to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to make the proclamation: "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." He also instructed them to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and drive out demons, and added, "Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give." Indeed, we need to realize that all our things have come from the Lord and we are to give them freely if need be. This'll teach us not to get attached to the world but to remain free in the Lord.

**Most Beautiful Life goal**

         Today is the memorial of St. Benedict, abbot. The entrance antiphon at Mass: There was a man of venerable life, Benedict, blessed by grace and by name, who, leaving home and patrimony and desiring to please God alone, sought out the habit of holy living. "Desiring to please God alone"—what a beautiful goal for us to have! That'll make us all go to heaven! That would surely bring the greatest joy to all of heaven and earth! So let's live like St. Benedict to please God alone.

**Levels of Awakeness

         What is your life's end destination? If you are just living from day to day and haven't thought about it yet, you don't know what you're doing. If you see that your life will end one day and haven't done anything beyond, you are not better off. But if you have already looked beyond this life and had your eternal destination all secured thru Jesus Christ, then you are truly being wise and awake, knowing the whole truth about life. 

**Becoming Spiritually Whole Again

         Communion experience—another opportunity for the Lord to cleanse my heart and heal my soul.

**No Middle Ground*

         The Lord God waits for us to turn to and go after him. To not do so is to ignore him. These are our only two options. With the Lord, there's no middle ground to take—we'll be either saved or condemned. So be prepared now.

****God's Urgent Call Now*

         God's omnipotence and omniscience are indeed awesome, but the beauty of his love and sanctity alone should be enough to make us want to submit ourselves to him totally. He is the only one who can save us from sin and make us fit for entering heaven—this is the absolute truth! It is urgent that you wake up and drop everything now to follow Christ our God and Savior—there's no time to waste.

***Self-Struggle Is Wrong!***

          This morning I heard the tragic news that the spiritual director, a priest, of our parish priest had taken his own life five days ago on July 4. I do not know him nor what caused him to do such a thing. Anyway, I feel called to share the following thoughts, which may not apply in his case.
         A lot of people struggle hard to know God, then when they realize that they are not succeeding well, they give up and lose hope. The secret to know God is to let him know you. That means you go passive. I had said before that to log onto God, the password is "passive." By remaining open, you don't struggle at all. You simply relax and trust, letting the Lord "do the work." This is abandonment to God, the formula for rapid spiritual growth.

***Receiving Revelation from God***

        Throughout Church history, there have been private revelations purportedly coming from heaven. They all try to teach us something about God or warn us about something that's coming from him. Many of them are inspiring, while others more dubious or even controversial. Anyway, the Church doesn't bind us to believe in any of them, even if they've been approved. The thought that came to me this morning at Mass was that the Lord does give messages to every one of us privately for the good of all humanity, even if we're not saints or mystics. Such revelations don't have to sound supernatural to be authentic. Especially when you are in union with the Lord, the communication between you and him are completely free and unobstructed, and you hear him speaking to your heart at all times. 

****Moving God with Your Heart****

         Online I've read about the Divine Mercy devotion controversy, the best devotions, and whether we should say the Holy Spirit or the Holy Ghost. Well, I have learned that the Lord only looks at our hearts. He does not care about exactly how we approach him as long as we believe in him. It's not that a better devotion will work better. You can pray to God in all your own words and that's good enough if you really mean what you say. It's the devotion of your heart, not the devotion you follow that matters.

**Mixed Feelings After Communion

         I rejoiced after receiving the Lord, but I also felt great sorrow for him as so many of the world still offended him nonstop. And I felt like crying amidst my joy.  

***Simplifying Our Readiness*

        This is a time of great confusion for the Catholics. The Vatican has been consistently pronouncing teachings and taking actions to destroy old traditions, fracturing the Church in the process. It seems to me that the Pope is aiming for a one-world religion. Meanwhile false prophecies pervade the internet, all presented in clickbait fashion. In my view, they are as bad as the moneychangers in the temple that offended Jesus if not worse. My advice is that we focus upon Christ and his teachings alone and shut out all distractions. As long as we are with him, we are saved and don't need to be concerned about whatever comes.  

*****Letting God Unify or Divide Us*****

        Union with God through the Holy Eucharist is the most exalted form of relationship you can possibly achieve in your existence. In this state, you are also in union with all others in union with him the same way. On the other hand, reject God and you put yourself in the most estranged state you can possibly be in. Letting God be your greatest unifier or greatest divider—it's your choice.

***How to Praise God More

        In general, we don't praise God enough. We can praise him vocally, but that's somewhat limited, as there are only so many ways we can say it. We can remedy this by doing everything for his glory. The surely would be an excellent way of offering our praises. 

****Most Important Decision to Make

        In this sinful world, it's so easy to ignore God and lose your soul forever. But for those who have looked into Christ and chosen to give themselves to him, their souls are secured for all eternity. Now you decide what to do with yourself. 

***Accepting What's from God Only (a Challenge)***

        What comes to us are either from God or from the Evil One. In the former case, we get drawn closer to the Lord; in the latter, we get prompted to sin. Example of an evil influence: A pop singer garners legions of fans, but the music and performance are basically impure that they pull them away from God. The way to free ourselves of such influences is to discern them and cut them off early at the outset. Of course, in a secular society like ours, this hardly happen, especially among the impressionable younger generation. The best solution is to seek union with the Lord first, then you'll be strong enough to ward off all evil influences which to you now are all abhorrent. 

***The Christian Way

        If we are to love Gold with all our heart, we are to do everything from our heart. It follows that we are to think, speak, pray, love, and behave always from the heart. It means that a Christian is always genuine and trustworthy, reflecting God's glory. This way you live with a clear conscience in peace.

****A Most Beautiful Thing Is . . .

to trust in the truth wholeheartedly with zero doubt, and that truth is Jesus Christ to whom you can even entrust your soul.. 

***Face of Jesus***

         The face of Jesus on the Shroud of Turin has been brought to life. You can view many other videos on Widerperspective Productions.

***Making Loving God Easy

        When you let the Lord love you, you want to do everything in his name because you now love him more than anything else.

****Making God Hear You

        When you love the Lord, he is "obligated" to hear you now. 

***Fear of Judgment Vanished***

        After morning Mass, I remained in the chapel alone with the Lord. As this is Independence Day weekend, not many came to Mass and those who did left early. I had the chance to remain completely open to the Lord to be in full communion with him—all my fear of judgment vanished! Be on good terms with the Lord and you don't need to be concerned about judgment day anymore. 

**Responding to God

         Communion experience. The Lord is now all mine; I am ready to do my small part as best I can.

***Upright Living***

        Live each day as if it were the only day that's worth living for. More specifically, live it selflessly for the sake of Christ alone. This is making the best use of your time on earth to honor God and live in peace. 

***All Except the Lord Are Distractions*

        In the homily this morning at Mass, I heard Fr. Steve say that everything but Christ is a distraction. I thought that was so true. Imagine how much time we waste on distractions. Focus our whole attention on the Lord and let everything else flow from it. This awareness you gain, once you attain union with God through the Holy Eucharist.  

***At Our Next Meeting with Christ (a Warning)***

        Christ is our Savior and we know that he is most loving and merciful. But when you meet him next, he'll strictly be your Judge and you can't ask for mercy or forgiveness then anymore! So make sure now that you'll get the best welcome, not the worse rejection, of your entire existence at judgment time. Your judgment is as critical to you as your salvation.

****Christ the Right One*

        Today I feel extra good that I have Christ the LORD to follow and treasure. He is so perfect for me that I know that without him, I would be absolutely lost, for he is the only truth out there! 

*****Most Satisfying, Fulfilling Experience*****

        At Mass this morning, I resolved to completely empty myself to let the Lord fill me with whatever he wished, knowing that he would always give me the best. And, of course, receiving the Holy Eucharist later was going to strengthen my union with him further. So this great opening up of the self leads to the most intimate possible bonding with God—there can't be anything more satisfying and fulfilling!

**Time to Say Goodbye

        Communion experience. Once you have the Lord in you, you are ready to say goodbye to the world.

**Repentance Is . . .

 the best medicine for the soul.        

***Judgment Reveals We're Saved or Not*

        If we take our salvation seriously, then we must take our judgment seriously too. In Matthew 7:21, Jesus says "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." At judgment time, we find out if we are saved or not. So Christians must not slack off. Growing holier daily is the antidote to being influenced by Satan. 

***Avoid Evil Totally

        Today many politicians, church officials, and lay people are serving Satan and remain firmly so. You can say that they have already reached the point of no return, and if true, it'd be absolutely tragic. It's literally throwing your life away by ignoring God's infinite mercy. It's best that we remain firmly in the Lord so that evil won't be able to touch us. We should always turn away from evil, not because we are afraid of it, but because this is the smart way to ward it off.