Be Prepared to Give Up All Things

         With hundreds of wildfires burning throughout the state, we are now asked to stay indoors as much as possible, as the polluted air out there is very unhealthy to breathe in. The sunlight has turned red because of the heavy smoke. So far many people have lost their homes. My area is not immune from wildfires either. Should a fire happens quickly, I pretty much have to let everything go. I'll probably just grab the laptop I am using right now and flee. So we are all at God's mercy. Learn to be detached from everything except the Lord is the way to prepare ourselves. In the overall scheme of things, only having God matters.

*To Live Without Fear

          Jesus will come again to judge all of us. We may leave this world before his Second Coming, but we can't escaping facing him right after we die. If we are not prepared, we may be in for the shock of our whole existence. Take my advice seriously. Reconcile yourself to the Lord now so that you'll never experience fear anymore.

*JFA & AFJ

           JFA stands for "Jesus For all." He came into the world to die for all of us in order to save us. AFJ stands for "All For Jesus"—that's exactly how we should respond to his love for us.

***God Always Reveals the Truth

          In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 16, Jesus asked his disciple, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father." 
        When I first accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior, I for the greater part became intellectually convinced and decided to take a leap of faith. To know without a doubt that Christ is the Lord and God has to be revealed by God himself. I know this because I've learned that when the Lord reveals a truth to me in my heart, I just know that it is true, no explanation needed. Intimate revelations from the Lord to your heart is one great beauty and joy of knowing the Lord.

**Letting God Shape Our Conscience

         I personally know of Catholics who are for abortion and/or gay marriage. Quite a number of prominent public figures also belong in that category. To follow Christ, we need to let him shape our conscience to be like his. Otherwise, you are not really with him. It is worse for a Catholic to go against the teachings of the Church than a nonbeliever who holds the same views. To imitate Christ is to be as conscientious as the Lord.

*Being Chosen by God

            In John 15, Jesus said to his disciples, "It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you." If you are already following the Lord, feel honored and blessed that he has chosen you to serve him. There is no more satisfying and rewarding role you can take on in this world! 

**Loving as the Lord Loves

          The love of Christ is absolutely pure. It is not tinted with sentimentality and is ego-free. We love not in order to please others; we love only because God so wills. Like the Lord, we love others in order to save their souls, regardless of how we are received. It is a clean love not attached to anything in this world.  

**How Evildoers Attack

         When evildoers are exposed and cornered, they panic and become like wild animals trapped. Since they have no truth on their side, all they can do is to lash out at anyone they consider threatening, verbally and physically with no good reason. They become totally hypocritical, irrational, crazy, and destructive. You see plenty of such examples today, for we live in a world full of evildoers.   

**The Lord's Most Inspiring Deed

           It came to me that the most inspiring of all the Lord's deeds on earth has to be his Resurrection! Ir shows that he is the life, that he lives forever, and that if we believe in him, we'll have life and live forever too. The Resurrection gives us the very hope we need, and I thank and praise my God for it.

*Amazing God!

         Here in California, we have some 500 wild fires burning at the same time. The sun through the heavy smoky air appeared like a bright red full moon. The thought came to me that even though the sun by volume is some 64 million times larger the moon, the Lord God had placed the much smaller moon close enough to us so that both appear about the same size in the sky, making a solar eclipse possible. Our God is truly amazing!