**Laura's Testimony*

         A short that's beautifully honest which I forgot to post when I first caught it earlier.

***The Lord My Defender***

         Communion experience. We do get to drink from the chalice of Jesus' Most Precious Blood at Sunday Masses. This Sacred Blood is so powerful that it can ward off attacks from all evil spirits. The Lord is now my defender!

***Best Preparation for Entering Heaven***

         Attain union with Christ through the Holy Eucharist.

**How Do We Straighten the Lord's Paths?*

         In the Gospel reading from Matthew 3, John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: A voice of one crying out in the desert, Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. The Lord is already here, so how do we prepare his way by making straight his paths? The answer: We remain wide open to him so as not to obstruct his paths in any way. 

**Trusting in God's Justice**

         We learn today from the first reading from Isaiah 11 and the Responsorial Psalm 72 that the Lord will judge all of us with perfect justice. This should put all of us who follow him at ease, for whatever each person receives in the end will be perfectly justified.  

***Warning Continued***

         In my last post, I stated "if you think that you are good enough to get into heaven, you are not taking the whole matter seriously." So you may not even make it. The sure way is to do the very opposite: You assume that you are not good enough to enter heaven, and you submit yourself totally to God's mercy and humbly follow his will as best as you can. Now you have ensured the opposite effect.

*****Dire Warning*****

         If you think that you are good enough to get into heaven, you are not taking the whole matter seriously. To be serious, we must realize how horrible it'd be to end up in hell! What's truly horrible is that our separation from God and the agony and suffering we experience there is forever! For this alone, we need to believe in Christ our Savior right now. Going to hell is a no-fun oneway trip—don't ever let it happen to you!

**How Christ Sees Us**

         While Jesus was on earth, he never really judged others. He always loved everyone and felt sorry for those who were lost. He even pray for his enemies: "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do" after they crucified him. The Lord is truly magnanimous!

**How We Are Tested**

        In this evil world, we are being tested to see how faithful we are in following Christ, which translates to if we show love for others in all that we do.

**Do You Know?**

        Jesus has died on the cross in our place so that we may have life eternal, so it's no surprise that he'll be the one to judge all of us in the end. He has loved us to death and we're being tested by how we respond to this love.

**Jesus Comforts Us**

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 9, two blind men cried out as Jesus passed by,"Son of David, have pity on us!" He said to them, "Do you believe that I can do this?" "Yes, Lord," they said to him. Then he touched their eyes and said, "Let it be done for you according to your faith." And their eyes were opened. This last saying of the Lord is so good for us to hear from him! In turn, it'd be good for us to always pray "Let it be done for us according to your will."   

***God's Most Ardent Wish***

         Today's Entrance Antiphon: Behold, the Lord will come descending with splendor to visit his people with peace, and he will bestow on them eternal life. God, because he loves us so much, wants to bestow on us eternal life. I am sure many know about it, yet they don't seem to care. So for their sake, I am restating it here loud and clear: God's most ardent wish is to bestow eternal life on all of us!

***How to Be Prepared*

         For the Christian, it's to be ready to leave this world and go home to the Father in heaven. It's the best to come, something really to look forward to.

**Just Believing Is Not Good Enough

         To Believe is not the same as to want to believe. If we believe in God only halfheartedly, or with no zeal, then we are Christians in name only. Christians who want to believe in God are always on the move, alive and eager to serve the Lord.

**Self-Examination Time

         This begins my posting for today, Dec. 4. The Gospel acclamation from today's reading from Matthew 7: Whoever does the will of my Father will enter the Kingdom of heaven. This is so easy to know and remember for us to get into heaven. To do the will of the Father, we only need to listen to and follow Jesus the Son! God makes everything simple for us, yet we make it complicated for ourselves. We need to make a good examination of ourselves and start to see and live right!

***Most Powerful Bond***

         Communion experience: In union with the Lord, your invisible bond with him is stronger than any visible or physical bond, and you are closer to him than to anyone else! 

*****The Lord Is Perfection*****

         Jesus is the embodiment of perfection. It there are others who are perfect, there have all been all been made perfect by or thru him. So Jesus is the first and eternal perfection.

**In Case You Don't Know . . .*

         It's our pride that prevents us from obeying God and gets our soul ruined in the end if we don't follow the example of our most humble Lord.