***Leaving All Up to God

         For all these years since 2012, I've been posting on the average at least three messages per day. Once in a while I receive as many as ten messages almost at the same time. For the first time his month, while I am still as open to the Lord as ever, I've been receiving on most days at most two messages to post. Job 1:21 comes to my mind: "The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away." I had experienced this when I was actively involved in leading a charismatic prayer group decades ago. I would receive all the ideas from the Lord to share with the group in advance. (I still have the notebook that I wrote them in.) Then after years one day, thoughts suddenly stopped coming to me—I sensed it's time to let someone take over and phase out of the charismatic renewal movement. Now I have definitely been called to let the world know that the Lord desires that we all seek union with him thru the Holy Eucharist. Perhaps I am now going thru the final phase of my spiritual journey on earth; then again, perhaps not. I am leaving all up to my Lord and my God.

***Living in Christ Wisely***

         Always be open to and rejoice in him, knowing that he is leading you to eternal life and total spiritual freedom. Follow him every step of the way. Instead of expecting things to happen, let him surprise and amaze you. 

***Our Most Beautiful Act!***

         Bliss is the ecstatic joy of heaven. We experience bliss in heaven because we can do whatever we want in heaven as we only want to do God's will up there. And when we desire that, it's done for us! Therefore, the most beautiful act for us now on earth is to submit ourselves to God completely. When we attain union with God, we perfect his plan and the entire heaven rejoices!

***Our Ultimate Prayer***

         In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 8, we have the centurion who asked Jesus to cure his paralyzed servant, impressing the Lord with his faith by saying to him, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed." Faith is believing that God can do whatever you want him to do, not necessarily that he will do whatever you ask of him. And we must believe that whatever he wishes for us will always be the best for us. "Thy will be done" is to be our ultimate prayer.

***Perfect Way to Become Perfect***

         Today is the Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Jesus has surely given his Most Sacred Heart to us in saving us from sin. Now, we all follow our hearts. So if we give our hearts totally to Jesus, we would follow him perfectly! Do this to become perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48). 

***Proper Attire for Attending Mass*

         At daily or Sunday Mass, I do notice people who dress inappropriately because they reveal the body inappropriately, causing distractions. This video I came across is refreshing, so I'd like to share it with all.

***Poignant Warning*

         In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 7, Jesus said to his disciples: "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. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?' Then I will declare to them solemnly, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you evildoers.'" This is a warning as poignant  as the one that tells us that on that day when two people are together, one will be taken and the other left behind. For sure I know that anyone who's humble enough to know that he absolutely needs Christ to save him will make it to heaven, while one who thinks that he's already good enough will not. It's a matter of letting God be your Lord (doing his will).

***This Is How to Miss the Boat***

         Jesus has always advised us to remain alert and vigilant so that whenever he shows up to judge us, we'd be ready. It's clear that if you wait until you see him and then tell him you are now ready to follow him, it'll be too late!

**Primary Duty of a Christian*

         John the Baptist was called by God to go before Christ to prepare his way. We must realize that we who follow Christ have all been called by God to go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). To sit by and not do that is neglecting our primary duty of life, a great sin of omission. The more diligently we work to glorify God, the greater will our reward be in heaven. Life on earth is our time of sowing, then in heaven we reap what we sowed for all eternity.

***Wonderfully Made Are We**

         Today is the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist. Psalm 139:14a, the responsorial psalm response, reads: I praise you, for I am wonderfully made. To be a happy person, you must realize this and appreciate how wonderfully the Lord has made you! You are no junk; in fact he even died in your place in order you might have eternal life! If this were too hard for you to believe, then you either don't realize that you are wonderfully made or you are full of false humility. True humility is believing whatever the Lord tells you.

***Mark of True God

         Christ is true God because he attempts to subdue us only with the most tender selfless love.

***MY LORD & MY GOD***

        As the Apostle Thomas finally saw Jesus and realized that he was his Lord and his God, I know that he is also my Lord and my God. So I let Jesus my Lord lead and guide me in all things with total trust, not questioning any of his intentions. I also acknowledge the fact that I depend totally upon Jesus my God, for without him I wouldn't even exist. It's believing in and submitting yourself to him completely, knowing that before long you'll be with him in heaven for all eternity!

***Connecting with Heaven***

        Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. I find Christ to be the only one I can entrust fully with my soul and feel the greatest comfort in abiding in his love. Receiving him in the Holy Eucharist at Communion time is nothing short of partaking of a banquet in heaven!

***Only Way to True Happiness***

        Since only Christ can take away our sins, only he can fundamentally change us to make us fundamentally happy. We can only make others (or ourselves) momentarily happy without involving Christ. Therefore, to make others truly happy, we must aim at leading them to know and believe in Christ.  

***Christ Desperatelty Needed!*****

         This is a world filled with people who hate all other kinds of people. No matter who you are, what you believe in, there are people out there who don't like you. Basically, we have too many unhappy souls who "love" to judge others, but are blind to their own faults. This is why we so desperately need Christ to come into our lives to correct and transform us with his pure love! He is our only hope and Savior!

***God Can Make Us Wise!*****

         In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 6, Jesus said to his disciples: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be." That last sentence is the key: We must learn to see the truth with our heart! Tragically, we are so occupied with following our own desires that it hardly occurs to us that our omnipotent God can not only save us from sin, but also make us wise in this life. By the way, learning from the Lord is always a delight and an excellent way of getting to know him dearly.

**Simple Awareness

         Only God can grant us peace, while Evil causes only tumult and unrest in our hearts. Know this and live wisely.

***Time to Remind All Again*

         We are all passing thru this world on our way to face Christ, our Lord and only judge. You either look forward to that day or avoid thinking about it. The only way to get thru it successfully is to straighten out your relationship with him now before that day.

***Important Rule to Follow***

         In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 6, Jesus said to his disciples, "If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions." The Lord is asking us not to judge anyone, and let's accept it as a basic commandment. Of course, to be humble will take care of that. 

***Reap Your Reward in Heaven, Not Now***

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 6, Jesus teaches his disciples to do all things that are good and righteous in secret, not for people to see. In other words, we must be ego-free and never seek to glorify ourselves. Here the Lord is revealing to us the secret to living a life in peace. The Lord knows what we do already and his love alone is more than enough for our salvation. What anyone else thinks of us can only distract us from God. As a matter of fact, feeding the ego to feel good is exactly what the Devil wishes us to experience!

****Easiest One to Get Along With**

         In our world today, there are so many unhappy people hating others. There are also those who try to steal our personal information, to scam us, and do other bad things to us. Even our loved ones sometimes say unkind things to us. (And we in turn do the same to them.) This morning while waiting for Mass to begin, it dawned on me that the one we can really get along with great always is Jesus, for he's always loving and kind, never condemns us, and always looks at my intentions, not our failures—he just understands us perfectly. So I know I can live in perfect harmony with him! The gives me great joy. Now, whatever I experience in this life doesn't matter anymore as long as I am at peace with my most beloved Lord.

***Ready for Life Eternal*

         Communion experience. Jesus has ended my quest for the truth; my life and joy are now complete.

***Secure in God's Love***

         Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy trinity. I feel absolutely secure in the love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! 😇😇😇

**Holy Goal

         Communion time thought. I must be at least a little bit but preferably a lot holier after receiving the Lord again. 

***To Be Far-Sighted and Wise

         At morning Mass today, when the time arrived for all to proceed toward the altar to receive the Holy Eucharist, I saw the female of a couple got up to join the line, while the male didn't. Anyway, this poignant scene came to my mind. In Matthew 24 (and also Luke 17), Jesus told his disciples what would happen on the day of his coming: "Two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left." It's goodbye forever for one of the two! Let's definitely secure our eternal future first, so that we may live a carefree righteous life on earth.

*Dealing with Worldly Pleasures*

        All pleasures of the world can enslave us. The greater the pleasure, the greater its power to snare the soul. The more you experience the joy of the Lord, the more boring these worldly pleasures become. Then when you are obligated to experience some such pleasure (not a sinful one, of course), you can still "enjoy" them in a detached manner.

***Great New Feeling***

         In today's first reading from 2 Corinthians 5, Paul wrote: "Whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come." It's true that we become new and remain new as Christ renews and refreshes us continuously. Feeling new always, we are excited about ourselves and exult in the Lord. 

**Secure Walk with the Lord*

         Today's entrance antiphon based upon Psalm 27:1-2—The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; whom should I dread? When those who do evil draw near, they stumble and fall. I can say that anyone who follows and trusts in the Lord every step of the way for sure does not stumble nor fall.

**Chasing Emptiness

         I an coming right to the point again. Doing anything without involving Christ is a waste of time and energy and you'll regret that one day.

***Way to Remain Humble

         In order not to judge anyone, see yourself as the worst sinner of all. So focus upon improving your own sanctity and live for the Lord alone.

***Lopsided Love***

        In praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, we say "Eternal Father, I offer You the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world. For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world." Saying this prayer acknowledges that God's love for us is so powerful that it can save all of us. It's a lopsided love impossible for us to match, but should we accept it with all our heart, it'll be good enough for the merciful Lord. 

***Faith in God Is Beautiful . . .

because you know that what God knows is all true.         

**Work and Diligence Essential

         In today's Gospel reading from Mathew 5, Jesus taught his disciples many things. For example, he said to them, "Whoever is angry with his brothers will be liable to judgment." It seems that to be saved, it's rather like to graduate from a school: there is a certain amount of work you are required to do to succeed. At school, if you play too much and don't work hard enough, you won't make it. Similarly, if you get angry a lot and don't try to become holier, you won'e make it either. Play it safe by surrendering yourself completely to the Lord and you are being absolutely wise!

***Why Be Holy*

        The primary reason is that we should love and obey the Lord God. And here's the most wonderful side benefit: When we are holy, we not only enjoy living a free, peaceful, joyous life, we are also ready to receive the Holy Eucharist to attain union with God, getting to enjoy him to the fullest extent.

**God's Mercy for All*

         When the Lord grants mercy on me, he's going to consider what my heart really desires. Now, I truly wish that he'd save all of us by converting the whole world. So when I pray "Have mercy on me, Lord." he knows that I am also praying for the whole world, including my own family.

***Counting on Christ***

         This is what I received from the Lord today. Whatever he tells us, we can trust completely. In Matthew 10, Jesus sent out the twelve to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to proclaim that "the kingdom of heaven is at hand." He asked them to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons, and they received that power! We may not receive such specific instructions from the Lord, but we can surely count on his promise that whoever believes in him will have eternal life!

***What We Must Not Delay

         When we are in sin, we cause the Lord great sorrow, for he truly loves us. It's our duty for the sake of both God and ourselves to remain holy at all times. The moment you commit a sin, repent of it to let Christ remove it pronto. Delay this process can put you soul at risk, especially if the sin is serious. When we please God, the whole heaven rejoices and we receive great joy ourselves in return. 

*****Perfect, Sweetest, Heavenly Moment***

         Communion experience. Our church has finally resumed offering the wine of the Eucharist again. Receiving Communion under both species was truly a perfect, sweetest, heavenly moment of life with the Spirit permeating my entire soul!

***REJOICING in the SPIRIT of the LORD***

         Today is Pentecost Sunday. I love the last two verses read from Psalm 104: Lord, if you take away their breath, they perish and return to their dust. When you send forth your spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth. This shows our utter dependence upon the Lord, and I rejoice that I have such a loving, wonderful, trustworthy Lord to depend upon! 

**It's Our Choice

         A glass can be seen to be half full or half empty. Science can make us believe that God exists or God doesn't exist. Similarly, sin can make us turn to God to ask for his forgiveness or turn away from God to hide from him.

**The One Who Gives Peace

        No matter how much turmoil you experience within, you can have your peace restored when you turn to Christ and surrender yourself to him. 

**Practical Conclusion*

        Whether you follow the Lord or not, he knows all about you. Hiding or escaping from him is impossible. So you might as well get to know him to receive his love, protection, and all the other benefits from him. Otherwise, you just end up alone, not being loved by anyone for all eternity!

**Narrow Horizons

         If you do not believe that nothing is impossible with God, you limit not God, only yourself!

*****Our No. 1 Calling (Often Forgotten)***

         In today's Gospel reading from John 17, Jesus asked the Father to keep all those he had given him from the Evil One. This reminds me that the No. 1 calling for all of us in life is to remain holy in this evil world. Once we accept this calling, any specific calling as to what each of us should do will become clear. All in all, to wish to remain holy shows that we truly love God and are obedient to him. Furthermore, it reveals that we are now free.

***God Completes Our Existence*

        We don't see God, but he sees us. We may not know him, yet he knows all about us. Under such circumstances, don't you think that we'd better get to know him? I now know the Lord intimately and can say that my life is complete, for knowing him has absolutely secured our eternity.

***Go to Christ First Always*

        See your spiritual journey as a process of letting Christ become more and more your only Lord and master. I have been advocating "go to the Lord directly," "focus upon the Lord alone," "be completely open to him" . . . so I am reiterating things here. Think about how you can serve and love God is good, but great progress can only come from shifting your attention to the Lord to let him inspire you directly! Basically, know God and you'll know what to do.

**Practical Advice

        Jesus said to Thomas in John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." So we might as well let Christ transform us to get us ready now for our return to the Father.

***Our Great Ignorance***

        If you think that your God is way up somewhere in heaven and you are way down here on earth in a totally separate world, then you've got the wrong God. The true God we have is most personal whom we can know most intimately through Jesus the Son, for the Father and the Son are alike. In fact, we can achieve spiritual union with him through receiving Christ in the Holy Eucharist. If we open ourselves up to God completely, he is all ours! It's ironic that so many of us choose to run away from him and end up lost forever. Basically, we treat ourselves who are dearest and most precious to God the Father as worthless junk. All the more we need to turn to the Lord and ask him to take away our pride and ego!

**Union Through Belonging**

        In today's Gospel reading from John17, Jesus prayed to the Father, saying "I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, . . . I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine." How good it is that God the Father completely owns us whom he has chosen and who now completely belong to him! This is union all right. 

*****A Breakthrough Secret!*****

        We ponder how we can love God more, we meditate upon God's beauty, we reflect upon our own feelings about the Lord, we try to understand our innermost feelings . . . all these things I can do on my own, but I can do so much better if I remain completely open to the Lord. For then I see all things clearly with his light shining on them. This is absolutely the key to knowing the Lord and understanding all truths! So, be wide open to God at all times to be enlightened.

***Not as Able as We Think

        When we are young and physically fit, we tend to believe that we can do anything in this world. So we're just not concerned about our spiritual wellbeing. Then finally we grow old enough to see the end of life approaching and realize that we cannot do many things anymore. Having been ingrained in the way of the world for so long, we find turning to God not always easy. Some may not fully wake up to reality until their last moments on earth. This message is to remind all that we are finite beings on our way returning to our infinite God to be judged by him. So the earlier we realize this to get ready, the better for us. 

***Taking Another Look at Jesus***

        Here's why we should believe that Jesus is our Lord, our God, and our Savior. The fact that he rose from the dead on the third day is undeniable. He taught and spoke to us with authority as God and performed numerous miracles. Today we are still seeing such wonders happening among us, not to mention the vast number of people whose lives have been transformed by his love. As sinners, we are grateful that he can cleanse us from sin and make us heaven bound. He is unique, for no one else loves us to death and challenges us to the core at the same time. Of course, many of us still have trouble believing in him. So let's try looking at the whole thing rationally. Suppose that the chance Jesus is true is just 50-50. If you don't believe in him and he turns out to be true, you are doomed. On the other hand, if you believe in him and he turns out to be false, you are not in any worse shape. So if you have any sense at all, you would choose to believe in him, as the risk of losing your soul forever is unthinkable! You have to be out of your mind not to believe in him, especially if you cannot prove beyond any doubt that he is all false.  

**Following Christ Better Aim

         Trying to be a good Christian is fine, but to be more precise and effective, follow his will at all times. 

**Eternal Gratitude**

         Communion time thought: Who am I that the Lord should favor so much as to die in my place to save me from eternal death? 

**Most Beautiful Gratifying Emotion:

love and yearning for the LORD.

***Compelling Reason We Need Christ**

            He can perfect us and grant us eternal life.

**The Ball Is in Our Court**

        Jesus is fully ready to save us. The key question for us: Are we ready to let him do that? 

**To Be Dumb by Choice*

        The Lord God wishes that we surrender ourselves to him so that we may have life eternal, but our prideful nature comes up with all kinds of reasons to say no to that. How dumb can you get?