**Pure Love is Totally Self-Giving

        Pure love is never self-centered. I mention this because in loving someone our ego can still get in the way. The loss of peace is a sign that our motive is not quite pure. To show our love is a great opportunity to abandon ourselves totally to God. Know that loving others is loving God, and you can't love God if you are not totally centered on him.

**Pity the Evildoers

        The fact that today's evildoers outwardly no longer show any fear of God shows that evil has already ensnared their souls. You can only pity and pray for them who are unaware that they are on their way to losing their souls altogether.  A most sad sight. Pray that they will realize that it only takes a change of heart for God to save them outright. By contrast, the wise and righteous submit their free will to God to get their souls safeguarded first. What a smart brilliant move! 

*Living Comfortably Now Is Not Enough

         If you live a very comfortable life but do not have God, what would be your gain? I would say none and you may even lose your soul in the end! If living a comfortable life before you die is all you wish for, you need to wise up and realize that there is so much more you can have, unless you don't believe that there is life after death. If you do believe that you possess an everlasting soul, then you'd better make sure that you'll live comfortably after you die too.

*God Doesn't Play Hide-and-Seek

         From today's Gospel reading from Matthew 11, we see that God hides things from the wise and the learned and reveals them to the childlike. I think this is because the wise and the learned are full of pride and remain closed to God, whereas the childlike are humble and remain open to whatever the Lord wishes to reveal to them. It is not God being unfair, but us who put the blocks on God or let our guard down before him.

**God Always with Us

         In today's first reading from Exodus 3, the Lord God told Moses that he's going to send him to Pharaoh to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?" He answered, "I will be with you." When the Lord God asks you to do something, know that you won't be doing it on you own, for he'll surely be with you. Then, live for the Lord and do everything for his sake, and he's right there with you at all times.

**Eliminating Our Point of No Return*

        There are different points of no return, but only one is of critical importance to us. This is the point beyond which we won't be able to save our soul. For example, if you think that you are not ready to turn to God yet and you suddenly die, you miss your point of no return. This happens only if you are not ready. To those who are ready, the point of no return no longer exists. I personally believe that at the Second Coming of Christ, the moment you realize that the Lord is here, the time for your repentance is no more. Nowadays so many warnings coming from heaven asking us to pray and convert, if we do not comply, we'll likely miss our point of no return. Be smart and return to God now to eliminate our point of no return.

*****Best Path for Us to Take!

          The 18th International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition has begun in Warsaw, Poland. You can now watch all the contestants playing in the preliminary round live on YouTube. I believe there are over a hundred pianists coming from around the world now strutting their stuff, hoping to advance to the next round. All pianists who wished to be considered applied for admission in 2019 and found out if they qualify to play in the preliminary round or not in March last year. The screening process continues on right now and the real competition won't start until this October. There will be three stages to go through. Imagine the amount of work, practice, preparation, anticipation, and pressure you have to undergo, hoping to emerge as the best among so many talented players! Is all this worth it? I am sure the answer is yes for many of them. This is truly more difficult than following Christ to become a saint. To succeed in following Christ, you simply relax in the Lord to let him do all the work, and it's definitely worth it, for the tremendous reward you'll reap is completely assured. Yes, following Christ is absolutely the most sensible, rewarding, and worthwhile path for us to take.

***Removal of My Greatest Burden

        As I was doing my daily walk this morning, I felt great inner peace and knew that's because I had completely reconciled myself to God and had my sins, my greatest burden, removed by him. This is also proof to me that the God of Christ is the real true God.

***Fr. Calloway's Conversion

         Fr. Calloway's conversion was told in the video Encouraging Stories I posted on July 10, just three days ago. Here is a longer, more complete version worth hearing. Realizing that we need God or life remains empty brings about true conversion. That had been my experience too. 

 

***Living the Sweet Life in God

        It would be nice to let the Lord inspire you daily. Best yet, be completely open to him so that you may get inspired as much as possible by him. Let him illuminate you to understand his ways and thoughts. Knowing him intimately should be our primary goal. Once you know him well, you won't be able to help but fall deeply in love with your God. Now you grow spiritually by leaps and bounds, living the sweet life in him.