**Clear Sign the Holy Spirit Dwells in You**

        Your love for Christ fills your heart with insuppressible joy.  

**What Do You Look Forward To?*

         This coming Saturday I've been invited to an evening of music at a friend's home. It'll be a chance to hear some beautiful music played by two talented musicians, one a violinist and the other, pianist. You might say that it's something to look forward to. We all look forward to the next vacation or something fun. Then that thing comes and passes and we wait for the next one. Eventually, we ourselves pass. In our next life, we don't look forward to anything anymore, for we'll remain either happy or sad forever. It becomes clear to me that in this life, the only thing worth looking forward to is eternal life with Christ in heaven.

**Our Ultimate Prayer Goal

         It is to glorify Lord by becoming fully obedient to him. 

***Only God Knows Our Innermost***

        I believe that the God of Christ, being our creator, is the only one who can see what's hidden in our hearts and minds. When we pray to him, he just knows that we are seeking him and not any other being. Consider the Devil or any other spirit, they may be aware of what we do, but they are incapable of deciphering our true thoughts or intentions. So we may disregard them outright. Remain in Christ and we are safe forever.

***Only One True God**

        Many people believe vaguely that God exists. By definition, God is unique, so there can be only one true God, whom we Christians know to be the God of Christ. So all who believe in someone (or something) other than Christ believes in a false god and that's idolatry.

**Good Having Christ to Go To*

        It's so good that I can turn and talk to Christ whenever my peace is disturbed, for he totally understands any situation and can correct me if I were wrong. He's also the one I shall return to forever after I leave this life. 

***Instantly Accessible Savior

        There are those who travel all around the world or read all the books they can get their hands on in hope of finding a savior. But you can call upon Jesus, the only true Savior, from your heart at any time and he instantly hears you and will respond to you. This can save you a lot of time and money and deliver results besides. 

***Becoming Sin-Free (and Falling in Love)*

        It is impossible for us to stop sinning to save ourselves on our own. Only the love of God can transform and save us. Since the Lord already loved us, we only need to be open to him to experience the power of his love to become sin-free. The best thing is once you realize that his love can truly free you from sin, you can't help but fall deeply in love with him.  

**God or the World**

        We cannot love God and the world at the same time. It's either one or the other. It should be God 100 and the world 0. Even 51-49 is not good enough. If you consider yourself to be a Christian, where do you stand? The basic questions: Are you going all out for God? How much are you attached to the world?

**Natural Consequences

        The more you are in union with God, the sharper your conscience becomes and as a result the more you see clearly what the Lord's will for you is.

*****Most Special Friend*****

         We all have family members and friends we know. Some have more and others less. I do count Jesus as a real friend. I do not see him, yet I feel his holy presence at all times and am more certain of his existence than that of anyone else, myself included! And it turns out that he is the most trustworthy and delightful friend you can ever have. He takes total care of me, guides and guards me the whole time, keeps me content and worry-free, inspires and comforts me, and then some! He's really the only friend you need! This is no exaggeration, only the simple truth. These thoughts came to me last night just before I went to sleep. This morning at Mass, lo and behold, in the Gospel reading from John 15, Jesus said to his disciples, "You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father." What a great honor and joy it is to have Jesus to be your best friend.

**Living the Secret Life**

        It is to live secretly in Christ, only allowing him to know what's going on with you. This is not being selfish; in fact, it's being completely selfless, for you only wish to know him well and do his will. Then over time you become more and more like him, which is exactly what he expects from you. This is an excellent way of remaining in union with the Lord..  

***Only Way to Happiness***

        This is today's complete Gospel reading from John 15: Jesus said to his disciples: "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete." Our joy will be complete if we remain in Christ's love. Let me say that we'll never feel truly happy until we let the God of Christ love us fully!

**Being Christian Full-Time

        Today's psalm response from Psalm 96: Proclaim God's marvelous deeds to all the nations. As Christians, we must never stop witnessing for the Lord, testifying to his greatness and kindness, and praising him. 

**Cause of Unrest**

        Ask yourself now if deep down you truly experience peace. If not, then it's basically because you haven't settled your eternal future yet. Since Christ is the only one who can settle that for you, the basic reason for your unrest is that you do not know and believe in Christ yet.

***Freedom with One Will**

        In today's Gospel reading from John 15, Jesus said to his disciples, "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you." This is indeed true because when we are in union with the Lord, we are free to ask for whatever we want and get it, for whatever we want is exactly whatever he wants.       

**Jesus IS Joy**

        Communion experience. The Lord filled me with joy. Jesus is indeed Joy!

***Beautiful Way to Exist

        Today's Communion antiphon, Romans 6:8: If we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall live with Christ, alleluia. To die with Christ to live with him—think about this a bit. What a beautiful way to exist!

*****GREATESTt POSSIBLE LOSS*****

         I had a nightmare early this morning. Unlike the other ones I had that usually woke me up in a hurry, this one was long and drawn-out. In the dream, my wife and I were exploring what seemed like a sparsely populated coastal area, then all of a sudden I didn't see her walking next to me anymore. I thought she might have gone somewhere for a reason, for we just went by some small buildings. After I waited quite a while and she didn't show up, I was worried and started to look for her by backtracking and moving further ahead, but to no avail. Finally, it hit me that I had lost her for whatever reason and started feeling the agony. I moaned and cry out aloud "Where are you, Maria?" In her sleep next to me, she must have heard me and responded, "I am here!" That didn't relieve me right away, for the pain I experienced was just too great. Anyway, this made me realize that people losing a loved one happens all the time, often tragically, and we must pray for any specific case we know of. Finally, I asked the Lord why he gave me such a painful dream. Here's what he wants me to realize: Although losing a loved one tragically in this life can wound us deeply and take us a long time to recover, it's nothing compared to losing him as our Savior which one day will make us suffer the greatest possible pain and sorrow for all eternity! For he is the way, the truth, and the life. Without him we'll be lost and dead forever! So rush to Christ right now and give all of yourself to him to experience true freedom and peace! In Matthew 16:25, Jesus said, "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." I am now spreading this most urgent and loving message tor the sake of the whole world, for it's truly of life-or-death importance.  

***Sad News***

        Jesus the Son of God has come to us in person and revealed to us that God the Father loves us to death so that whoever believes in the Son will have life eternal in heaven. If you don't think that this is good news, then no news can be good news. Yet people still ignore him. Pride can surely blind us and turn us into utter fools!

***One Great Feeling

        Communion experience. Christ is the only one I can totally entrust with my soul! It's is a most satisfying, comfortable feeling.

***Glorifying God Is Easy*

         In today's Gospel reading from John 13, at the Last Supper after Judas had left, Jesus said to the rest of the disciples, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him." We see that  whenever we obey God and do his will, we glorify him and he in turn glorifies us. How good it is that we are able to glorify the Lord continuously everyday! 

***How Not to Sin Again***

        This morning at Mass, the first thing the Lord made me see was that we must not sin against him at all. So how can we achieve that? The answer is that it all depends upon how you go about doing it. It you try to do it on your own, it would be so hard that you'll fail for sure. On the other hand, if you trust in the Lord completely to let him help you, it becomes effortless! Therefore, seek to attain union with God through the Holy Eucharist so that you may trust him in all things. 

***Bering the "Richest" Person*

        Communion experience. Christ is my Lord, my God, and all mine! I have to be the "richest" person in the whole universe!

*****BLUNT LOVING MESSAGE*****

        Life continuous on after death. It's the transition that can be smooth or jolting, for you'll experience either great joy or great sorrow. Never assume that everything is hunky-dory with you if you don't have Christ backing you yet! 

***Do You Know the Whole Truth?

         In today's Gospel reading from John 14, Jesus pretty much identified himself with the Father. I can claim confidently that since I already know Christ, I already know God and the whole truth. I challenge all of you to be able to make this same claim proudly. Remember that God loves you and will make everything possible for you if you love him.

***Rid Yourself of All Deadly Sins**

        In today's first reading from Acts 13, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and with violent abuse contradicted what Paul said. What I want to talk about is jealousy, a most common sin. The other one that comes readily to my mind is greed, which you can see all around in the world. Both jealousy and greed can be cured by humility. One immediate goal of imitating Christ is to become humble like him. When we are humble, there'll a place reserved in heaven for each of us. Anyway, submit yourself to Christ to let him take away jealousy, greed, and all other deadly sins to make you heaven bound. Alleluia! 

**The Light of Christ**

        Today's entrance antiphon (based upon 1 Peter 2:9): O chosen people, proclaim the mighty works of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light, alleluia. If you're a cradle Catholic, you probably have not experienced such a call, but you should at least be aware that you are now basking in the wonderful light of Christ!

***Full Life or No Life***

        As sinners, we need Christ to straighten us out. This needs to be done before we die, for after we die, it's judgment time. Facing the Lord directly is the way to go. Right now, as he's not judging us yet, it is the time to let him prepare us for eternal life. If you don't do anything, you are burying your head in the sand and could end up with no life whatsoever!

**Triumphant Realization*

        Communion experience. I already belong to Christ! :)

****Superior Goal****

        People of the world pay exorbitant prices for admission tickets to watch some big name popular entertainer perform. They also line up early to make sure that they gain entry to some store that has pre-announced a big sale on some name brand merchandise. Now, I just want to return to my new home in heaven, and I only need to believe in Jesus ... no line to wait in, no money to pay, no struggle to go through, and no anxiety felt whatsoever. I have chosen a superior goal!

**Common Sense Conclusion

        To be saved, we must at least love God more than ourselves—I believe that you'll agree with me here if you believe that God does exist. Of course, if we love God singularly, then our salvation is completely assured.

***To Follow Christ Every Moment Is . . .

to be with God every moment. ***  

***Living Wisely*

        With Christ, not matter what spiritual condition you are in, you can always start over anew. That is, you can always find hope in him as long as you are still alive on earth. After you die, you have no say anymore. Therefore, live every moment of your life wisely!

**Dealing with Prophecies

        There are so many prophets putting out warnings and predictions nowadays that it gets very confusing. Some give vague warnings, while others specific instructions as to how you should prepare yourself. Not all of them can be genuine. The role of a prophet is to get people ready for the coming of the Lord. If you are already following him faithfully, you are ready. In that case, you only need to remain holy. Personally, I'm only interested in the predictions and warnings of the various approved Marian apparitions.

*****Greatest Honor***

         It's being called by God to follow and serve him! Clearly, it's an invitation to return to him in heaven! 

***Sin Spoils Everything

        It was a beautiful spring day as I drove home after Mass. The temperature, the sky, the green fields, the flowering trees . . . everything looked almost prtfect. Then sin hit me and I saw it's grotesque ugliness. And I knew that heaven is infinitely more beautiful because it's pure sans sin. (Many who have been shown heaven by God all reported seeing most beautiful skies, trees, flowers, meadows, etc., up there. This makes me believe that the Lord God has modeled our world after heaven. Now, when we get to heaven, it wouldn't looke like a totally strange place to us.)

**Hanging over Our Head

         Is Jesus our Savior or not?

*****Glory Be to the Holy Eucharist*****

        Receiving Christ in the Holy Eucharist in the highlight of my each day and whole life. I am going to put in one quote what Jesus said to the Jews in John 6 that's relevant to this post: "I am the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. 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. Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 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. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." Now you see why I feel so upbeat about receiving the Eucharist. It is also the very mean of achieving union with God! A church without the Eucharist is like a crucifix with no Jesus on it.

**First Christians

        From today's first reading from Acts 11, we learned that Barnabas found Saul in Tarsus and brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the Church and taught a large number of people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians. So the first Christians were all Catholics. Unfortunately, there are Protestants today who do not know Church history and consider only themselves to be Christians. They, in fact, should be called Bible Christians, for the Bible alone became their guide, some 1500 years after Jesus established his Church. By the way, the Bible was only complied and put out by the Catholic Church near the end of the 4th century.

**You Come Before the World**

        To convert the world, convert yourself first. For if everyone converts, your goal is accomplished. God wants you to be holy foremost, and that really makes sense.

***Following God with Your Heart**

        At one extreme, we have sermons preached totally from the head, and at the other extreme, sermons totally preached from the heart. As you know, intellectual debates rarely change people's minds, while personal testimonies do change people's hearts. Serving the Lord, everything should originate from the heart with the mind always following the heart. Let the Lord reign in your heart to become an efficacious Christian 

***Life-Giving Repentance**

        In today's first reading from Acts 11, I came across the term "life-giving repentance." Indeed, repentance is life-giving. If you don't ever apologize to God for having offended him, how are you going to get into heaven? Repentance is the humility we need to reconcile with God. That you can feel so good after you get all your sins removed just shows that repentance is the right thing to do!

**A Stumbling Block*

        Once you decide to follow Christ with all your heart and soul, you do not ever look back anymore. So if you still "enjoy" dwelling much on the past, you are not ready to follow the Lord fully yet. Not going all out is dragging your feet.

***The Lord to Be Enjoyed!***

         Let the Lord transform you and he becomes most enjoyable to you and vice versa. This process knows no bounds, turning submitting yourself to him into a most exhilarating adventure!

***Assured Security in God's Hand***

        In today's Gospel reading from John 10, Jesus said to the Jews, "My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one." It is so good to know we who belong to the Lord are absolutely secure in his hand!

***Happy Mother's Day to Mary***

        Today is Mother's Day. We must remember to say Happy Mother's Day to our most holy Mother Mary. When we please her, we please her Divine Son Jesus. When we love Jesus, we gladden her. 

**Being Honest with God Essential*

        We are inclined to lie out of fear. Remember how Peter denied knowing Jesus three times? The last time I did something like that happened in 1998. I was attending a musical event in Kansas City. One evening someone I met and I decided to go to a nearby restaurant to have dinner together. When the waiter saw me, he asked me if I was the one who ate there the previous night. I more of less ignored him, even though it was true. I reacted this way because I did not want to appear to my companion that I actually ate alone without a friend. This might not be outright lying, but was nevertheless being dishonest out of fear. And I regret I did that. To follow Christ, we must be totally honest with him always. To be dishonest with anyone is to be dishonest with the Lord who knows all truths. 

**Exactly the One to Complete My Life*

        I came into this world, wondered what life was all about, and sensed that something was missing. Then I came upon Christ and believed in him. Now, many decades later I am more sure than ever that he is exactly the one I have needed to complete my life. So I did not come into this world in vain. And there is absolutely no one else who can replace him, for there can be only one God!

**Salvation Assured*

        Christ is to be followed to the letter ... no corner-cutting, no sloppy work, no cheating .... When mutual trust between you and God exists, you salvation is assured!

**Foretasting Heaven

        Communion experience. After receiving the Lord, it's as if time has stopped, for you are now with the eternal God, foretasting a little bit what it feels like to be in heaven! 

***Express Way to Heaven*

        Communion time thoughts. In heaven, we'll be in full union with the Lord God. On earth, we can virtually attain union with God through receiving him in the Holy Eucharist. I'd go the Eucharist way to ensure that I'll skip purgatory on my way to heaven. 

***Condition for Conversion*

         Today's first reading from Acts 9 tells about the conversion of Saul (Paul). He was a terrible threat to all the disciples of Jesus. Then on his journey to Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" He asked, "Who are you, sir?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you will be told what you must do." We know that he converted and became a chosen instrument to carry Jesus' name before Gentiles, kings, and children of Israel. We may think that if Jesus can convert someone like Saul, he should be able to convert anyone. The answer is yes with a condition. First, let me say that Jesus called Saul in a rather dramatic way—that was fitting because he was chosen to carry out a most important task. We are chosen to serve God in a more ordinary way, so we hear him calling us when we sense the emptiness of living a worldly life, when someone shares Jesus with us, when we are shocked by the unexpected death of a friend, etc. In Saul's case, after encountering Jesus, he believed and changed from persecuting Jesus to serving him—this is the condition for conversion to happen. If we hear God calling and remain unchanged, then we remain unconverted.

***Happy Realization*

        During Communion, after I saw how perfect and holy the Lord was, sin became absolutely ugly and abhorrent to me, and I never ever wanted to offend him again!

**To Be All for Christ!*

        Today's Communion antiphon 2 Corinthians 5:15: "Christ died for all, that those who live may live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and is risen, alleluia." We are to live for the one who died for us—this is totally proper, logical, and sensible.

***Becoming Free and Fearless***

        Jesus has given all of himself for us. If we can give all of ourselves for him, we become free and fearless! 

***Overwhelming Experience

        Communion experience. It's letting the Lord overwhelm you completely in the most delightful, fulfilling, and satisfying way.

**One Reason for Longing to Go to Christ

        When we follow Christ, our sins are taken care of by him. But we still need to remain vigilant as we still have the tendency to sin. This makes me long to go to him because there I'll be like him totally free of sin.

***The Unavoidable***

        In today's Gospel reading from John 6, Jesus said the following to the crowds: (1) "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst." (2) "Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. (3) "This is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day." Everything said here is pretty clear. Are you going to believe in Jesus or not? If not, can you prove that he's not telling the truth? We're put on the spot! To ignore him is just not the right thing to do. Facing God is unavoidable—it's best done when you are still alive now, not after you die! 

***Heavenly Experience on Earth***

        Communion experience. To be in union with Christ to be in heaven now.

***Great Mindset***

        From today's first reading from Acts 7, we read that as Stephen was being stoned to death before Saul, he called out, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." And today's response from Psalm 31 was "Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." "This was exactly how Jesus cried out to the Father before he breathed his last on the cross. We should be ready to commend our spirit to the Lord at any time. In fact, this would be a great prayer to say each time before we do his will to show that we fully entrust ourselves to his care!

*****Tragic Ignorance***

        Attaining union with God through the Holy Eucharist is a humongous deal! It's the sinner turning a physical union with the real body and blood of the LORD into a spiritual union! It's the highest spiritual state God has made it possible for us to attain. Sadly, there are many who do not take this sacrament seriously and no genuine union takes place. It's like a fruit tree being fed the best nutrients and remaining fruitless.

***Most Perfect Union*

        Union with God is the most perfect of all unions, simply because it makes you holy to become like him. Moreover, it gets you into heaven.

***Sin No Longer Popular***

        We depend upon God for everything. In other words, we cannot survive one nanosecond without his support. Separated from him and we become nothing. Yet even Christians hardly think of or talk about him most of the time. I think it's because we're no longer aware of the consequences of sin. When was the last time you heard a sermon that condemned sins, urged us to repent, warned us about going to hell, or stressed the importance of saving souls? 

***Faith Awesome*

        In today's Gospel reading from John 21, Jesus appeared to his disciples after being raised from the dead for the third time. In the previous appearance to them when Thomas was present for the first time, he said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." Now, many of us today have not seen and have believed—it just makes our faith so much sweeter. Regardless, to have faith in Christ Jesus is just awesome, being absolutely the right thing for us to do!

*****One Greatest Gift from God*****

        Jesus' Divine Mercy is available to all. If we ask for that, we are saved forever. Without it, we are virtually hanging off the edge of a cliff, as far as our soul is concerned. This is a most precious gift from God no one with any sense should ignore! I am posting this message on behalf of the Lord who loves all of us with the greatest possible love ever! (Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet if you can.)

***Curing Complaining

         Complaining about things shows that you are not happy with your existence. Get to know Christ, and he'll cure you and then some.

****The Very Best to Come***

        Waiting for going to heaven is waiting for the day to return to our most loving Father, become finally perfect ourselves, and start living the eternal life in bliss! (By the way, this is what God has always wished for all of us!)

***Jesus Challenging Us***

         Today is the Feast of Saints Philip and James, Apostles. Here are the first five verses of today's Gospel reading from John 14: Jesus said to Thomas, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him." Philip said to him, "Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own.The Father who dwells in me is doing his works." Jesus really challenges us here, revealing to us that he and the Father are one. This can't be true unless he is God himself! His question to Philip "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me?" makes us who've been with him for some time wonder if we truly know him. I know we definitely do when we attain union with him and he becomes our Lord, God, and soulmate.

***Time to Choose Sides***

           The ongoing spiritual war Satan is waging against God is fierce and we need to choose sides. Any Christian who says "I trust in God" but does not take up arms in some way is only being lukewarm. If you love the Lord with all your heart, with all soul, and with all you strength, you cannot remain complacent at such a time like this. A bona fide Christian is basically a warrior at heart. 

**Imperfections Revealed

        Communion experience. The Lord is like a mirror that shows all my imperfections! I am very happy about this because it shows that he really cares about my spiritual wellbeing. 

*Whom to follow?*

        The Devil and the world lord it over us through deception and intimidation, while the holy Lord simply shows his love and the truth, letting us make up our own minds. I hope this difference will help you see clearly the one you should follow.

**A Great Honor**

        In today's reading 1 from Acts 5, the Sanhedrin had the Apostles flogged, ordered them to stop speaking in the name of Jesus, and dismissed them. So they left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name. There is nothing wrong with their mental attitude, for I can totally understand rejoicing in suffering for the sake of Jesus. It's indeed a great honor to suffer dishonor for the Lord who loves us with the greatest love.

**Better Praying

        The Lord loves to hear prayers from our own hearts. There are some beautiful prayers out there we should definitely know, but there are also many prayers that are too wordy and hard to follow. I was handed a Prayer to St. Joseph the Worker this morning at church to be recited by all at the end of Mass. It consisted of just three sentences, one long one followed by two short ones, and the main long sentence exceeded one hundred words! To be honest, I really can't say what I specifically prayed for afterwards. I'd much prefer praying to St. Joseph using my own words. So pray to God in your own spontaneous way as often as you can and that would mean more to him and yourself.

***Only Trustworthy One***

        Sometimes we pray hard for something such as the conversion of someone we love and it seems that the Lord just doesn't respond. There's no doubt he hears all prayers said from our hearts, but he also tests our faith at times. We should see each time as an opportunity for us to trust in him even more! After all, the LORD is our only hope, for he is our creator, our loving Father, and our Savior.