**We Condemn Ourselves!

      First part of today's entrance antiphon, Psalm 43 1: Give me justice, O God, and plead my cause against a nation that is faithless. From the deceitful and cunning rescue me. This is how I feel about my own country right now. In today's Gospel reading from John 8, the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus, asking him whether she should be stoned according to the law of Moses. They did this to test Jesus, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. This made me think of the leftists today in this nation who are trying so hard to come up with some false charge against our duly elected President.

        The wonderful, astounding thing about Jesus was that he did not condemn the woman in the end at all. He simply asked her not to sin anymore. Yes, God does not condemn us. If we get condemned in the end, it would be due to our own doing, not the lack of God's mercy! A world which keeps rejecting God is one heading toward self-destruction.

**How to Serve God Right*

      Never consider how much you have done for God; care only about how faithful you are in following his every will.

***Falling Short of God's Expectations

        Many love God, but few are willing to go all the way. It's as if we want God to come close to us, but not too close. There's that last barrier to keep God at a distance. Most of the prayers we hear, read, or come across reflect this. We pray for God's mercy, favors, etc., which is right and just. And we pray that we will be more forgiving, loving, etc., which is also proper. But I have never heard us openly expressing our desire to surrender ourselves completely to God to allow him to do whatever he wishes with us. This is falling short of total abandonment to God and is our great shortcoming. 

*Why Truth Causes Division

        In today's Gospel reading from John 7, some in the crowd believed that Jesus was the Prophet, while others said that he was the Christ. Still others did not believe that the Christ could have come from Galilee. So a division occurred in the crowd. Of course, the chief priests and the Pharisees did not believe in Jesus at all and were intent on arresting him. Simply put, truth always causes division because the world is in sin.

**Fighting Evil

        Today's entrance antiphon from Psalm 18: The waves of death rose about me; the pains of the netherworld surrounded me. In my anguish I called to the Lord . . . . This is how I feel now when I hear about the insane, out-of-control, crazy liberals demanding the killing of our own children (see my post of yesterday "Today's Radical Evil"). Today's response to Psalm 7 provides the answer: O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge. We seek refuge in God not to escape from evil, but to find more courage and strength to fight it. 

Reciprocal Treatment

        If we are proud of Jesus, he will be proud of us. If are are ashamed of Jesus, he will be ashamed of us.

*Today's Radical Evil*

        How should we react when we face evil? For example, we now have crazy, insane radicals who want the mother to have the right to order her child killed even after birth! It's hard to believe that evil has taken hold of so many of us today. One extreme thought is to round them up and kill them all, but we know that would make us as evil as they. So the clear action to take is go the other extreme as Christ did when he came to save sinners. Since only God has the power to turn evil into good, we must pray extra hard asking the Lord to crush evil and at the same time make us holier than ever so that we might be more effective in fighting evil.

*Glorious Final Hours

        In today's Gospel reading from John 7, some of the Jews tried to arrest Jesus, but no one laid a hand upon him because his hour had not yet come. We all have our hours for various things to happen in our lives, and only God knows them. We who follow the Lord faithfully know that we can move on with confidence without fear. When our final hours arrive, glory will be ours. 

**Saving All Souls

        In today's Gospel reading from John 5, we read that many did not believe in Jesus. It's no different nowadays. Satan has blinded the eyes, hardened the hearts, and polluted the conscience of many among us. The pro-abortionists and the extreme leftists are prime examples. They no longer listen to reason; they are like zombies or wild animals that have been trapped, not even understanding why they so behave. You can't help pitying them. Under the circumstances, we need to double our efforts to become holy and pray for those who have fallen into the clutches of Satan.

**Meet Me on the Bridge*

        After the preceding post, I think you'll enjoy watching this much happier BBC story. Here's a brief description of it: 

         

        When Kati Pohler was three days old, she was left at a market in China and was later adopted by an American family. When she was 20, Kati discovered her birth parents had left her a note, and that every year on the same day, they waited for her on a famous bridge in Hangzhou.