**Communicating with God, a Joy**

        Communicating with other fellow humans is not always easy. Sometimes it's not even possible no matter how hard you try. Now, communicating with the Lord God is an absolute delight, for you don't even need to use words and he already knows what's in your heart. He can never misunderstand you and will speak to your heart to inspire, illuminate, guide, or comfort you. 

*****God Becoming Real*****

         Since God is real, he can become real to you. Attain union with Christ through the Holy Eucharist and he becomes more real to you than anyone else you know. Such intimacy changes you to the core. All this proves that Christ is God.

**Bestest Prize*

        Communion experience. What I have won is infinitely better and richer than the lottery—ETERNAL LIFE!

***What God Wants of Us***

        The Lord God simply wants us to accept his love! Is this too much to ask, huh?

**Play the Ball Game Right*

        God respects our feee will, so the ball is in our court now. Choose him and we live. Reject him and we perish. This should now help you hit the ball the ball back right.

**Myopic and Dumb?*

        We are good at making sure that we remain physically healthy so that we may live as long as possible on earth. Yet we seem to be unconcerned about our spiritual well-being as to what will happen to our souls after we die. What has made us so myopic? Are we dumb or what?

**Intention Matters**

        In Matthew 5, Jesus said to his disciples: Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. Of course, being mortal and on earth, we can never be as perfect as God is, but we must do the best we can. The Lord would be pleased if we have this intention. In Matthew 19, Jesus said to a young man: If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me. Now, many of us are married and have a family to support, so the Lord's advice is not practical for us. But we should be willing to follow it if it were practical. Again, intention matters. The Lord will judge us by our intentions, not just our outward actions. Proverbs 16:2: All one’s ways are pure in one’s own eyes, but the measurer of motives is the LORD. Again, in 1 Samuel 16:7, the Lord said to Samuel: God does not see as a mortal, who sees the appearance. The LORD looks into the heart. Amen.

**What Keeps Us Alive**

        Today's psalm response from Psalm 13: My hope, O Lord, is in your mercy. I, a poor sinner, dare to approach the Lord only because he is merciful. None of us can possibly survive without his great mercy.

**Beautiful Truth**

        In today's reading 1 from Romans 8, Paul wrote, "All things work to the good for those who love God." Here's a truth to believe in. Put simply, we love God and all will end well for us! Amen.

***What Much Longer to Keep God Waiting?*

        The Lord God awaits us to submit ourselves to him completely, that is, to acknowledge that he is our Lord, so that we may enter paradise. If you haven't done so yet, how much longer are you going to keep him waiting? Know that God will always win in any game you play with him. Lose to him and you win every time.

**Can You Really Escape from God?**

        This is a challenging question for every non-believer. I suppose that if you are a staunch atheist, the question wouldn't concern you. All I can say to you is "Good luck." Otherwise, if you have any common sense, the answer should clearly be no; and if you are wise, you would want to become a believer.

***Smart Approach to Knowing God**

        Seeking God is not the same as seeking how to know God. Unfortunately, many people follow the latter, spending a lot of time and still failing to know God. The smart approach is to go to Jesus directly, for he is ever present and ready to receive you. People don't do that—I think it's because they are not quite ready to abandon themselves to God yet. Once you turn to Christ, just open yourself up wide to him and he'll reciprocate by revealing himself to you—now you know him. (This is not a new message; it's just important enough to be reiterated.)

***Jesus' Death Accepted***

        Today Tuesday is the day of praying the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. Here are my thoughts. If anyone suffers a death like Jesus', I would feel most sorry for that person. But Jesus' suffering and death are different and most personal, for he died for my sins so that I might live! And I don't mind that because deep down I know I am a sinner. This to me is a great blessing!

***Our Big Fault**

        In today's Gospel  reading from Luke 13, Jesus cured a crippled woman in a synagogue. The leader of the synagogue got indignant that Jesus had done it on the sabbath. Our big fault is also to find fault with others. Instead of trying to help or understand others, we criticize and judge them outright. It's this hypocritical holier-than-thou attitude that really displeases the Lord.

**Important Realizations**

        Today's psalm response from Psalm 68: Our God is the God of salvation. Critical realization: We are sinners and we need the salvation of our souls. Most heartening realization: God has given his only Jesus so that we may not perish but have eternal life. 

**Evidence the Spirit Dwells in You**

        In today's first reading from Romans 8, Paul wrote, "You did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, 'Abba, Father!'" Addressing God as Abba in Aramaic is like calling God Dad in a close and intimate relation. So if you turn to the Lord and "Abba" spontaneously bursts forth from your heart, the Holy Spirit dwells in you!

***We'll Have No Peace . . .

until we accept death and live for Christ.

**Use of Our Free Will**

        God gave us the free will, so we have the freedom to choose to be free from sin or to remain in sin. If you believe that God loves you, the right choice is a no-brainer.