**Greater than You Think

        That's our Lord God. His power of creation and his wisdom are infinite. His love and mercy for us are beyond our comprehension. Heaven is more beautiful than we can possibly imagine. His proximity to us is closer than we think. He is greater than we can think in every way. I am just so happy that I have such a great God to worship and trust in.

**Forgiving Others

        Someone on Facebook just posted a picture of Pope John Paul II (now Saint John Paul II) showing him forgiving the man who shot him. The poster also supplied the following text: Keep in mind that forgiveness is not for others. It is for you. Forgiving is not forgetting; it is remembering without anger. It frees up your power and heals your body, mind, and spirit. Forgiveness open up a pathway to a new place of peace where you can persist despite what happened to you. Then I also saw Fr. Larry Richards posting the same picture on Pinterest with these words: "Forgiveness is above all a personal choice, a decision of the heart to go against the natural instinct to pay back evil with evil" (St. John Paul II). "For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment" (James 2:13). Forgive others and show them mercy and you will know God's mercy! When you become an instrument of mercy, you will have the peace you seek. Forgive and be at peace. Amen.

Realistic Assessment of Our State

       We are all on a spiritual journey. As of any moment, we have those who are heaven bound, those who appear doomed, and the rest teetering between these two extremes. Of course, the Lord does not condemn us until after we die, and things can change at any time. But what I have described is a realistic picture of all of us. Being aware of it can help us do the right thing while living. It is right to always do the best thing for ourselves spiritually.

***Back to the Basics

         (1) Prayer turns you to God. How much you enjoy praying shows how much you love him. (2) Faith in Christ can sustain us through our entire life on earth, for it opens the door to receiving power from the Lord. (3) Submission to God as your Lord is the key to experiencing the greatest freedom! This explains why we are unhappy without God. (Believing that God will enslave you has to be one great untruth.) (4) Spiritual Priority—there is only one—serving and pleasing the Lord God alone. Putting anything else ahead of it is to court disaster.

***Knowing God in Stillness

        To know God, you need to be still. So you need to enter solitude first. Whenever I wake up from sleep late at night or early before dawn and it's all dark and quiet all around, I feel the presence of God in stillness. I also felt it years back at the chapel where I attended daily Mass. After I received the Holy Eucharist and Mass ended, I remained alone in peace, experiencing and enjoying the Lord's companionship in stillness. Of course, I am now aware of. his dwelling within me at all times, but in stillness, that awareness becomes most acute. It's a pity that people do not seek solitude and hardly reman still nowadays, so they never know God. 

Divine Guidance

        The Lord Jesus me made me see that how he treats us is exactly how we should treat others. Be like him is all we need to remember.

Another End Times Warning

          Our souls are at stake. We must choose sides, as our time on earth is limited.  

***Do You Know . . .

that when you follow God's will to benefit others spiritually, you become his first beneficiary?

***Joy of Being Made Perfect

         One great joy of getting to heaven I must mention. It is knowing that the Lord will make you perfect to be like him. 

Extra Joy in Heaven

        Of course, we'll experience the greatest joy when we get to heaven. Another joy would be meeting some of the friends and loved ones who had gone there before you. Then you'll probably feel sorry for those you knew, but didn't show up in heaven. I believe that this sorrow will be short-lived, for there isn't a thing you can do about it and you know that God is perfectly just.