***Divided by a Sorrow***

        When people don't love the Lord, we who love him feel sorry for him and also those who hurt him. We now share how he felt when he was abandoned by his people. This creates a double sorrow that can be quite unbearable. The solution is to bear it and offer it up to the Lord for his disposal, and it becomes more bearable. So we are divided by whether we experience this sorrow or not.

*****God the Father's Greatest Love*****

        Today's Gospel reading was taken from Luke 15 on the parable of the lost son (verses 11-32). It's is perhaps the most beautiful of all Jesus' parables. If you are still not sure about how much God loves us, you must read it! You have to have a heart made of stone not to be moved by it. So read this parable, fall in love with God (by letting him love you) and become one happiest person in this (and also the next) world!

*****Serious Warning*****

        In Luke 10:13, Jesus said, "Whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me." Again in Matthew 10:33, "Whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father." These are serious sayings we cannot simply dismiss or ignore, for how we treat Christ has its consequences! After all, he is our Lord and God! I am warning all so that you may not get yourselves rejected by him in the end. If you love others, let them know of this truth too. Avoid hell like hell at any cost! Think clearly and don't ever let pride muddy your conscience.

***Another Reason Not to Judge Others

         It's easy to criticize or look down on others you don't approve of, then ask yourself this question: If you were in that person's situation and had experienced all that person had gone through, would you have done better in the end? We really don't know. Only God would know, So not judging is the right thing to do. 

****Key Prayer to Salvation

        Today's Communion antiphon, Luke 18:13: The tax collector stood at a distance, beating his breast and saying: O God, be merciful to me, a sinner. This is the prayer we must be humble enough to be able to say from our hearts if we ever expect to be saved.

***We Need Our Lord!***

         Today's entrance antiphon from Psalm 103: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all his benefits; it is he who forgives all your sins. Yes, the Lord God of Christ is that Lord. We need him, for without him we are doomed in sin!

**To Believe, Believe in, and Know God*

        To believe God is to merely believe that he exists, with no faith involved. To be saved, you need to have faith, so you need to believe in God. To know God is something else again. You may believe in God but do not know him well, then your salvation may not be that secure. The more you know him, the stronger is you faith, and the more secure is your salvation.

*****When Time Runs Out (Another Warning)*

        We are here on borrowed time, and when that time ends, we'll have to leave this life. In our next life, all the time will be ours, then time will be rather meaningless, for we'll be either with or without God for all eternity. 

**Having the Lord Perfect You

        Communion experience. I asked the Lord to reshape, remake me again, for it's always a joy to have him work on me and there's always something that needs to be taken away. reshaped, or cleaned out. 

**Another Case of Myopia**

        The last post has to do with being myopic. Here is anther example. We seek wealth, fame, success in business, friendship with others, knowledge about the many things of interest, etc., yet we don't really seek holiness for ourselves.

***Are We Myopic?***

        I still remember the time when I was attending college in Michigan. One afternoon six of us drove to a nearby lake to enjoy our leisure time. We rented two rowboats and took off on the lake. All of a sudden the weather changed dramatically with the sky turning grey and heavy rain pouring right down on us. The wind was so violent that our two boats started spinning in circles. We couldn't go back to where we came from, for that would be going directly against the wind. So we had no choice but to row toward the opposite shore which was invisible. The lake wasn't a big lake, but it's not a small one either. So we were forced to row ahead, virtually heading into the unknown. Since our lives were in danger, I rowed as hard as I could. Eventually, the shore appeared. We were greatly relieved, but I was totally exhausted. I mention this because we all automatically do our utmost to make sure that we don't lose our lives here on earth, yet we hardly do enough to make sure that we'll have happy eternal lives later. Isn't this rather ironic? Maybe we all suffer from short-sightedness!

***Most Important Question***

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 12,  A scribes came to Jesus and asked him, "Which is the first of all the commandments?" Jesus answered him and saw that he responded with understanding. And he said to him, "You are not far from the Kingdom of God." My question for all of us is "How far are we from the Kingdom of God?" This is such an important question that we must ask ourselves if we care about our eternal future at all!

*****Deeply Satisfying State*****

        The Lord does speak to our hearts! The more you are in tune with him, the more you receive his thoughts and insights for you. This communion is deeply satisfying when you realize that you and the Lord God of the whole universe are on such intimate terms! BTW, to be in tune with the Lord God is to be in a state of grace and complete abandonment to him. 

*****God's Ingenious Way***

        Communion time thought: What an ingenious way the Lord has come up to draw us into union with him! It's heavenly and most endearing—it's just awesome!

**Our Sad Mindset**

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 11, Jesus drove out a demon that was mute, and the mute man started to speak. Some of the witnesses said, "By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons." These people didn't have an open mind; they already wanted to take the Lord down. Today we have the same situation. Most people don't like anyone to tell them what to do, so when they hear about Jesus, they feel threatened and are ready to ignore him. Pride is the enemy here. When you have a lot of it, you become oblivious to its existence. 

***Proper Prayer Attitude*

        The burden of praying for this godless world is heavy. We can pray in gloom or pray with hope.  In Mark 11:40, 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." Therefore, no matter how heavy our burden is, pray joyfully with confidence, for faith makes all the difference. Doubts or worries cannot come from the Lord.

***Our Great Divider***

        Jesus said to his disciples in Mark 9:40, "Whoever is not against us is for us." And in Luke 11:23, he said, "Whoever is not with me is against me." It's clear that you are either for (with) him or against him. There is no middle ground, for he is our God and final judge.

***God's Divine Beauty

        Communion experience. I was overcome by the extraordinary beauty of Christ who is all holy and full of love. 

***Secret to Following God***

         Have an open and willing heart ready to absorb every single word that comes from the Lord. From Matthew 4:4, "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God."

**Today's Big Realization

         Faith in the God of Christ is such a wonderful delightful treasure!

**To Be Spiritually Intelligent*

        If we follow Christ, everything will work out well in the end—this is a given. I feel sorry for all those who still remain in darkness or try to find some way out of their quandary. Pursuing anything besides the God of Christ will only lead you to a dead end, also a given.

***Only God Can Transform Us***

        Only God can fundamentally change us. I am talking about changing to become holy, for any other change doesn't mean much. We can try to be holy, but we still can't remove our sins on our own, for only God has the power to do that. So if we want to become holy, turn to the God of Christ. Otherwise, we remain unholy!

**Awesome Experience

        At Communion time, it was receiving the most holy food in the presence of the most holy God.

***Our Source of Freedom and Peace***

        Once you surrender yourself completely to God, you immediately experience freedom and peace— that's because you don't need to struggle to be somebody or to fight your own ego anymore. God is now your ally; it was you who mistreated him as your enemy before. The Lord God can "groom" you so much better than you. There's no greater joy than returning to the loving Father after you've wandered away!

***IT HAS TO WORK!***

        The Lord God even sent his only Son to die on the cross in our place so that we might have eternal life—we'd better believe that he wants to and can save us! 

**Ready to Go to the Lord?

         If you hesitate and have to think about it even a little bit, you are not ready yet.

**Only One Thing Matters

        Communion experience. Your are now Christ's; relatively speaking, everything else doesn't matter much anymore. 

**Great Comfort**

        God becomes our security guard when we acknowledge him as our Lord and loving Father. He now makes sure that our souls remain safe with him. This is indeed a great comfort.

***Reason for Believing in Only One God*

        Today's first reading came from 2 Kings 5. Naaman, the army commander of the king of Aram, is a leper. After following the prophet Elisha's instructions, he was cured and became clean. So he returned to the man of God and said to him, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel." I know that there is no God other than the God of Christ because I have experienced his peace, the true peace you receive only after you have surrendered yourself to him.

***Beautiful Animation of the Lord***

         Jesus Brought to Life:

***Walking Right to Avoid Falling

        We are shaped by what we believe in. Most oldsters like me walk carefully for fear of falling. As a result, we end up shuffling along at a slow pace, even though we are capable of walking faster. I am posting this video to show that we can change our attitude and do better. I tried the suggestions given and felt the difference right away! Basically, we correct our mindset so that the problem doesn't get worse. This applies to the case of our spiritual growth too.

***The Living Water That Quenches All Thirst***

        In the Gospel reading today from John 4, a Samaritan woman came to a well to draw water. Jesus was resting there and told her that whoever drinks the living water he gives would never be thirsty again, that water would become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. I can personally testify to this truth, for Christ fulfills all my needs, absolutely nothing else out there can possibly satisfy me more. When the world has lost its attraction, you know that you have drunk that living water.

***Listen to God with Our Hearts*

       In today's Scrutiny Year A reading from Psalm 95, the psalmist wrote "If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts." This is like a direct plea coming from the Lord himself. We all sense the emptiness of life at one time or another—that's the Lord calling. If you ignore his voice, you have a hardened heart. God almost always speaks to our hearts, so we need to be extra sensitive to what we sense in our hearts.

*Peace for Keeps*

        Communion experience. The peace Christ gives is forever.

*Intention Matters

      Whether we are perfect or imperfect, as long as we intend to love God, he is pleased.  

*****Snart Responding to God's Love***

        Today we heard the parable of the lost (prodigal) son read from Luke 15 at Mass. It's been regarded by many to be the most beautiful of all Jesus' parables. It reveals how much God the Father loves us. I am reproducing the first part of the parable below and going to share a thought on it.   

          A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, "Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me." So the father divided the property between them. After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. Coming to his senses he thought, "How many of my father's hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.'" So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. His son said to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son." But his father ordered his servants, "Quickly, bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found." Then the celebration began.

         Now that we see how great our Father's love for us is, it would be smart of us to go to him, repent, and beg for his mercy the moment we realize we have sinned. Or you'd rather go thru what this lost son had gone thru and then come to your senses? 

***Who's to Blame?*

        Today's response from Psalm 103: The Lord is kind and merciful. True, the infinitely merciful God just wants to love us and save us from sin so that we may be happy forever, yet we ignore him, reject him, or even mock him! Who's at fault? Certainly, not the Lord. Has sin so muddied our conscience that we have become this thickheaded and heartless?

***Unleashing Your Potential for Doing Good

        We tend to sin, but we are also capable of doing good. So choose to do only good and our future is assured. Naturally, we would need help from the Lord God for whom nothing is impossible. Submit yourself completely to him and seek union with him and he can make that happen effortlessly for you. That's right because it all depends upon how much you let yourself go in him.

****Total Abandonment Time****

        As we age and get weaker physically day by day, we tend to depend on others more and more. But don't forget that this is the perfect time for us to abandon ourselves totally to the Lord God! We can't reverse the aging process, but we can surely accelerate our spiritual progress without limit. Looking our best to meet the Lord would certainly give both God and us great joy.

**Quick Way to Salvation*

        Let the love of God melt your heart and you are saved.

***Waking Up to Reality***

        Evil is real! So God has to be real! It follows that the spiritual battle fighting our souls must also be real! Realizing this should make us seek refuge in God, I already know Christ and all this—I am just trying to wake everyone up to this reality so that they may not lose their souls! That God truly loves us is our best possible news!

***Joy of the Holy Spirit*

         It is totally different from any enjoyable pleasure you encounter in the world. You experience it in your heart and soul, although something you see or hear could've triggered that. It simply bursts forth like a spring from within of which you have no control. It is both exhilarating and calming, always uplifting. You are drawn to the God's holiness, purity, and his sweet love. The whole experience is most refreshing and soul-cleansing; you just know that it's the Holt Spirit at work.

***Union with God***

        When you involve Christ in all your thoughts, your words, and your deeds at all times, you are in full union with him. There is now no separation between you and him.

*****To Have God's Company or Be Alone*****

        I have posted that we basically are all alone with God, for he is the only one who totally understands us and will judge us in the end. We may have a multitude of friends, fans, or followers in the world now, but when the time comes for us to face the Lord to give an account of ourselves, no one else will be around. He's really all we need for existence and survival. Separated from him, we really become alone, not a good thing. We absolutely need God's love and companionship!

***Learning from a Parable***

        Today's Gospel reading from Luke 19 is on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. It is a beautiful but poignant one. I am going to reproduce it in its entirety below and share some of my thoughts' 

         Jesus said to the Pharisees: "There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man's table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores. When the poor man died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he cried out, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these flames.' Abraham replied, 'My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented. Moreover, between us and you a great chasm is established to prevent anyone from crossing who might wish to go from our side to yours or from your side to ours.' He said, 'Then I beg you, father, send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment.' But Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.' He said, 'Oh no, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' Then Abraham said, 'If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.'"

       My thoughts: (1) Being rich and enjoying all the pleasures of the world won't make it any easier for you to get into heaven. If fact, it can make it even a lot harder. (2) Sufferings in this world as undergone by Lazarus are not necessarily meant to punish us. It can be part of our purgatory or a great blessing when we accept it for the Lord's sake. (3) Receiving what's good in this lifetime and what's bad after we die is so much worse than having it the other way around. (4) The eternal separation from God after we die is so terrible that everyone should take it most seriously and prevent it from ever happening. Losing our soul for betraying the Lord who has died for us is the most horrible thing that could ever happen to us. (5) That the rich man still asked Abraham to warn his brothers showed that he still had a heart. It seems that he was not really a bad person; he simply lacked compassion—a lesson for us here. (6) Abraham was right. People who did not listen to Moses and the prophets were not likely to listen to someone from the dead. Those who do not listen to the risen Christ the Lord today also are not likely to wake up to the whole truth right under their nose. Prayers that can change their hearts are urgently needed, for the Lord can change all things.

**Total Abandonment in God*

        A lot of things in life can get us down and it's good that we have the Lord to whom we can turn, to seek both guidance and comfort. We are just passing thru this world on the way to our permanent home in heaven. This realization should keep us awake and not to become overly concerned about any problems we face. Total abandon in God is the way to go always.

*****ONLY WAY TO HAPPINESS*****

        You can live for God or for yourself in this life. You may think that you'd be a lot happier to live for yourself, but I can guarantee that'll lead you to a most miserable life later. The truth is that living for God is infinitely better than living for yourself. This is something you absolutely need to realize, but it does take a leap of faith to get started. Once you get going, you'll experience freedom, peace, and joy, and never ever want to go back again! Letting the God of Christ be your God is the only way to permanent happiness! Letting the God of Christ be your God is the only way to permanent happiness! Letting the God of Christ be your God is the only way to permanent happiness!

***You Are God's Treasure***

         If you realize that Christ the Lord has already redeemed you from the power of sin, or eternal death, you must never ever look down on yourself again. Instead, you should rejoice and do your utmost to safeguard you soul so that you'll return to the heavenly Father to live with him happily forever! Don't mess it up!

***You Can Do Anything You Want . . .

if you do it out of love for God.

***God's Amazing Power**

         This morning I got out of bed and saw the bright sunlight that came thru the window hitting the large round mirror on the wall, and the reflected light from it casting a perfect circle of light on an opposite wall—it was quite a striking sight. The sun definitely made its presence known thru my visual sense. Then I thought of the Lord Lord. He has made his presence known to me thru my heart! I don't see him, yet I am more certain of his presence in me than that the sun will rise again tomorrow. Such is the power of our invisible God.

***Smart Way of Approaching God*

        Admit to God that you are foolish and you are being wise, that you are weak and you become strong, that you are sinful and you are made clean, that you need to submit yourself to him and you are set free, that you hunger and thirst for him and you are satisfied, that you are unworthy of him and you get uplifted, that you feel sorry for other souls and you are comforted . . . you get the idea.

*Prayer Tip*

        The more you mean what you pray for in your heart, the more effective your prayer will be. If you just say your prayer without feeling it, then of course the Lord is going to dismiss it right away. Always be fully sincere with God.

**How's Your Vision?

        Don't waste time building up your wealth on earth. Instead, spend time on storing up treasure in heaven, and your return will be infinitely greater. It's the difference between living selfishly for yourself and living selflessly for God. It's also the difference between being utterly foolish and being heavenly wise. 

***The Three Heavenly Gifts***

        Freedom, peace, and joy manifest our closeness to God. Someone in full union with God feels completely free in the Lord, enjoys deep peace in his own heart, and is always filled with great joy. The three come and go as one. Whatever the Lord gives, you always get the whole package. There is no such thing as partial salvation.

****Secret to Peace and Freedom***

        The more we surrender ourselves to God, the more we become free of ourselves and experience inner peace. This is how God has made us. If you realize this truth, you are not far from him. 

**Impressive Awareness

        At Mass this morning, the Lord impressed on me that he could indeed take away all my sins! 😇

**Wise Move

        In Mark 9:40, Jesus said to John, "Whoever is not against us is for us." So if you don't go deliberately against the Lord, you can still be saved. But in this case, I'd go all out to be for him so that I'll be saved for sure, not to mention all the other benefits I'll gain. 

***How to Know LOVE

         Know Jesus, for he is love.

***Greatest Human Tragedy***

        I'd say hands down it's rejecting Christ our Savior, for it would lead us to the greatest separation from God.

***Secret to Eternal Happiness*****

        If you read the Scriptures, you'll see that the Lord God was severe at times but most kind at all other times to his beloved people. In other word, he treats all of us as his beloved children. So if we love him as our dearest Father, everything shall work out beautifully for our whole existence!

***Infinity a Reality

        In today's first reading from Genesis 15, the Lord God took Abram outside and said, "Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so," he added, "shall your descendants be." As far as I am concerned, if the universe were infinitely large, I wouldn't be surprised, for the Lord God himself is infinite in every way. For someone who has always existed, I'd be shocked if he cannot make something infinite. In fact, I have difficulty in conceiving that we have a space that can only accommodate a limited number of stars. A finite God is no God at all.

***Best Way to Know the True God***

        The Lord God of Christ loves all of us equally. This is the Lord who reveals the truth to us and let us choose to believe or not believe in him thru our free will. If you choose to believe in him wholeheartedly, you'll know without a doubt that he is the true God. This is the best proof that he is. With any false god, it never works out this way!

***Pefect Command***

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 5, Jesus told his disciples to be perfect, just as their heavenly Father was perfect. This is a command for all of us. If that's not quite possible, it should at least be our No. 1 goal. Then nothing is impossible for God for sure, so here's our perfect chance to put his might to work by placing all our trust in him.

**Prerequisite for Reconciling with God

         In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 5, Jesus made it clear to his disciples that it's important that everyone should reconcile with his brother before bringing his gift to God. That is, to reconcile with God, we need to get along with others first. If we still judge and are unforgiving, we are being hypocritical and that displeases the Lord. 

*****To Be Considered Most Seriously*****

        Today's response from Psalm 130: If you, O LORD, mark iniquities, who can stand? Indeed, if God marks our iniquities, we are doomed. On the other hand, if he marks our virtues, we'll be saved for sure. The difference is as great as that between heaven and hell. You become either God's friend or enemy. The time to consider this seriously is now, for our judgment is imminent and can happen at any time. Anyway, love and obey the Lord always and you won't have a thing to worry about!

***Letting the Heart Lead You to God*

        You can believe in God with all your heart or with all your mind. If you believe with your mind only, you won't be able to achieve union with God. But if you believe with all your heart, your faith will come alive, setting your heart on fire with your mind automatically following. Now when you pray to the Lord, your prayer reaches the Sacred Heart. Let your heart go and it will seek and find the Lord..

***Lord God Formost***

        Pray for all sinners but weep only for God, for the Lord God must come first. 

**Rejecting Salvation?

        It's most amazing that God should offer to save us from sin so that we may have eternal life! And it's thickheaded and cruel of us not to even consider that offer! Don't you see that to save our souls, we need to give God our hearts and minds first?

**The Lord Eager to Please Us*

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 7, Jesus said to his disciples, "Everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." So let us ask, seek, and knock as much as we want and the Lord cannot refuse us. He only wants to give us life forever and we need to respond to him favorably always.

**At Your Service, Lord**

        Communion time thoughts. I was both an empty vessel and an open channel. As the former, I let the Lord fill me with whatever he deems to be the best for my spiritual growth. As the latter, I attempt to bring as many of his children as possible back to him, our most loving Father. There is no greater honor than being called to serve God. 

***Most Beautiful Heart*

        Today's response Psalms 51:19b at Mass: A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn. A heart contrite and humble is most beautiful to God. Anyone with such a heart who believes in Christ is bound to enter heaven.

***My Joy Forever

         That was what I experienced when I received the Lord today in Holy Communion.

*****Bold Statement of Truth*****

        It is impossible for us to have any sort of life without Christ, for he is God, our creator, our judge, and our Savior! I am making this sweeping statement because I know that it is true! I cannot prove it, but you cannot prove it otherwise either. Anyway, we are to believed in the Lord without any doubt. For that, he has given us the free will. 

**Timelessness in Heaven*

        On earth, we feel the passing of time and everything else as we grow old. Then I realize that in heaven, we'll be young and the same, and experience the constant peace and joy of being in union with God forever. When we embrace God's love fully, we are settled for all eternity and time is no longer a consideration.

***Everything Belongs to God***

        We came into the world all naked and will leave without being able to take anything with us. We ourselves and all the things we have in this life belong to God alone. Realizing this can greatly help us get detached from ourselves as well as all the things in the world. Otherwise, living can be most burdensome and leaving the world, a rough experience. And we could also end up in a place we never want to be. Traveling unburdened is the way to go.

***Are We Alone?*

        Aside from the Lord God, specifically Jesus Christ, there is no one whom you can totally trust, who totally understands you, or who can save you from sin and get you into heaven. So each of us is basically alone with God. If you do not have him, then you are really alone.

***Most Pitiful Ones***

         There are people who have so much pride that their hearts have hardened to the point that they turn away from Jesus totally. So Christ, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, who created all of us and the whole universe, the most humble and exalted holy God is not even good enough for them—this is absolutely insane, shocking and revolting! They are to be pitied the most.

**Heavenly Experience

        Communion experience. When you are in love with Christ, you feel that you are literally already in heaven! 

**Christ Deserves Our Full Trust*

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 4, the devil tempted Jesus three times. Jesus responded to the devil's last attempt by saying to him, "It is written You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test." So let's not ever be like the devil testing Jesus, but trust in him fully always.

***Appreciating the Lord***

         You can always see anything in opposite ways. For example, a glass of water may be seen as half empty or half full. Today I see the holy Lord God in the most favorable light. Because of him, I am now aware of all my imperfections (mainly sins) so that I can ask him to take them away all to make me holy. This is a huge deal! It is changing my life now, and is going to save my soul in the end—an even huger deal! 

**A Wake-Up Question**

        You believe in God, but do you also seek him? If you don't follow the Lord closely, you can lose him quickly! For the Lord is a dynamic Lord, not a static one.

***Most Desirable Virtue*

         Christ being most high is most humble. The more humble we are, the more we become like him and are exalted by him. Humility eradicates the ego, frees our soul to love others and brings peace to our innermost. When we remain most humble, we become invulnerable to Satan's attack and super safe in the Lord. Be humble and God will have a hard (or real easy) time judging you. Humility is the key to entering heaven.

***Greatest Spiritual Malady Today***

         The Communion antiphon based upon Matthew 9:13 today—I desire mercy, not sacrifice, says the Lord, for I did not come to call the just but sinners. Mercy stems from love, and is a virtue, while sacrifice is an act. If we love God, we'll automatically perform sacrifice for him when we are called to. So start from love always, that is, be merciful always. Tragically, much of the world today does not hear the Lord and and continue to remain in sin. Witness the current wars between Israel and the Hamas and between Ukraine and Russia—the killing and dying goes on with no side willing to give in a little bit to achieve peace.

***Jesus' Holy Face Again***

        My Lord and my God!

***Between Just You and God***

         Today's Psalm 51:6a: Against you [God] only have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight. Yes, when we sin, we truly hurt God only, for he is the holy one. And we'll all be judged by him alone. It all comes down to whether we obey God or not. Quoting Mother Teresa:—"In the final analysis, it is between you and God."

***Learning from the Lord***

         In today's Gospel reading from Luke 9, Jesus said to all, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?" Here are some of my thoughts. (1) The Lord has already carried his gigantic cross for our sake. How can we possibly not want to carry our own little ones and still wish to follow him? (2) "Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it": No one other than the Lord God can say this and make sense. He is awesome! (3) The last statement "What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?": This was addressed to all of us then and now. We all understand it, but how many of us take it seriously? The Lord leaves it up to us. By the way, we do reap what we sow.

***Most Foolish Are the Ones Who . . .

live as if God doesn't exist or doesn't know what's going on with them.

*****Miracle Food*****

         Communion experience. The heavenly bread nourishes, purifies, and heals the soul, wiping out all fears.

***Perfecting Your Reconciliation to God Is . . .

perfecting your return to him.

**Holy Habit

         No one likes complainers. Thank the Lord for whatever you experience, pleasant or painful, and he'll reward you many-fold.

**Day to Start Looking Beautiful

         Ash Wednesday is the perfect day to realize that we are nothing but dust. When we are humble, we look beautiful to the Lord. So this is also the perfect day for us to start looking beautiful to the Father if we are not that pretty yet.

*****Simple Secret We Must Know***

         In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 6, Jesus told his disciples to take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that the people might see them; otherwise, they would be like the hypocrites. In other words, we must be egoless and focus upon glorifying the Lord alone. This is the whole secret to peace and salvation: Let God all in and we are in! It's so simple, but are we smart enough to handle that?

*****What the World Misses***

        Today is Ash Wednesday. The response from Psalm 51 reads "Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned." It would be such an unbelievably beautiful thing if all of us in this world would want to shout this out from the heart! The deep joy the poor world sorely misses is the joy of repentance, that joy of being back in grace with our heavenly Dad!

***Greatest Miracle***

        At Mass this morning, I saw that Jesus is not only the King of kings and Lord of lords, he is also our greatest miracle for having such an incredible love for us sinners. 

**Prayer Priorities*

         As Pope Francis' health is faltering, many Catholics are praying for him, but there are also many who are praying for a new Pope who will keep the Church faithful to Christ and unified. I do see that the latter is urgent and encompassing. Now, at the fundamental level is praying for the conversion of all souls. So I'm going go follow this order in my prayer. As for praying for any individual, I'll alway pray for his soul before anything else.

***Abortion Worse than Suicide

        Both are grave sins, but abortion is much worse. People commit suicide when they have no more hope, not necessarily because they have committed any serious sin. In any case, they are to be pitied. As for abortion, you have a case of intentionally destroying an innocent, defenseless human life for your own sake. This makes it the antithesis of loving your neighbor as the Lord has taught us.

***Our Worst Sickness**

         Hearing about the messed-up lives of some people I more or less know is prompting me to share the following thoughts. When we catch COVID-19 or have cancer or hit by some other disease, we can become very sick. But this kind of sickness is nothing, for it only impairs your physical health temporarily. You are really sick when you sin against God and your soul is all soiled. We can't see that, but God can, cause and all. I am sure we'd be really shocked to see what he sees. The day will come when he reveals to us how our soul appears to him. The time to prepare for that day so as not to get shocked is right now!

*****What We Must Do Before Death***

         In today's first reading from Sirach 17, verse 28 struck me: No more can the dead give praise than those who have never lived; you who are alive and well shall glorify God in his mercies. This makes me think of the things we must do while we're still alive in this world. After we die, we can't do them anymore! Clearly, the most important thing to do on my list is to reconcile with God the Father thru believing in his Son, Christ the Savior, so that we may return to him in heaven after we die.

***Our Only Savior***

          Jesus Christ is it. He is our creator and the only one who truly loves us and can and wishes to save us from sin so that we may have eternal life in heaven. You probably have heard of this many times, but it's the truth! It'd be most wise for you to grab onto him and never let him go while you still can than to feel sorry forever later.

***Power of Prayer

         We feel the urgency to pray for world peace, conversion of all sinners, purification and restoration of the Holy Church, etc., and can be overwhelmed and wonder what we can do. The fact is that even if we remain unknown, little, humble and meek, as long as we trust in and pray hard to the God of Christ, we can make a lot of good things happen to change the world. For the Lord truly listens to his children who love him and pray to him from their very hearts. Yes, to God we can be powerful influencers.  

***The Only Trustworthy One

         In today's Gospel reading from Mark 10, people were bringing children to Jesus that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. Then Jesus said to them, "Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." You see, the world is pretty much godless, so we cannot trust in it al all. On the contrary, God is the absolute truth, so we can and should trust in him like a child. It's so good that we have such a God!

**Fear of God*

         In today's first reading from Sirach 17, we heard that God created man in his own image and put the fear of him in him. This is a healthy fear, for the LORD wants us to remain blameless so that we may return to him in heaven. The evildoers get it all wrong; they, remaining in darkness, fear that the LORD would expose them, not realizing that LORD specializes in seeing everything in the dark.

***Call to Believe in Christ Our Savior

         Believe in Jesus and you'll be saved from sin and have eternal life—I am sure that many (if not most) of us have heard this. It is truly a unique message that we mustn't dismiss quickly, for there are no similar messages so specifically spelled out like that. We all know that we are sinners. And Christ undeniably existed, rose from the dead, and is the holy God. To me, either he is our Savior or we don't have one. In our evil world, the fact that many do not believe in him only shows that he is the truth. Believe, so you don't deceive yourself.