*Suffering for a Good Reason

        As humans, we don't like to suffer. But if we have a good reason for suffering, we may not mind or even welcome it. And there is no better reason than glorifying the Lord. First of all, if we love the Lord, he'll never send us sufferings we won't be able to bear. And when he sends us sufferings, there's always a purpose. It may be to strengthen us spiritually or if we offer the suffering up to him, he can use the merit we have acquired to help others in some way. Don't forget that suffering also greatly helps uniting us to the Lord in suffering! So accept your sufferings gracefully for the glory of the Lord. By the way, the Lord will always glorify those who suffer for him.

*To Be Self-Centered or Not

         Of course, we should never be self-centered when dealing with God or others. But when it comes dealing with our own spiritual growth, we need to focus upon ourselves entirely, asking the Lord to make us as holy as possible. This is good self-centeredness. Anyway, the ultimate center should always be the Lord God, no matter whom we deal with. We need to do everything for his glory.

***Hidden Secret of the Our Father

         The Our Father is the most fundamental prayer Christ has taught us. This is a perfect prayer, for it properly defines our relationship to the Lord God. Today I see that praying this prayer with all sincerity can make us become like Christ! This has to be the hidden secret. So pray it with all your heart and soul to let the Lord perfect you. The Our Father is now the most exiting prayer of all to me.

**Tears of Joy Mixed with Sorrow

         The Lord often moves me to tears. These are often tears of joy, for the Lord is joy—how can you not feel elated when you have him who loves and cares for you so much? But in dark times like now, my joy is mixed with deep sorrow. I shed tears because so many people have turned against the Lord, the God of Christ, causing him to suffer greatly and themselves to possibly lose their only hope of being saved. 

**A Spiritual Law

         When you do your very best to glorify God, God will do his very best to bless you, fulfill all your wishes, and make sure that you'll be amply rewarded. This is a spiritual law you can count on. Know that we have an infinite, loving God whose riches are inexhaustible. 

***How to Fight Evil

         The World has gone bonkers because it has abandoned God. How should Christians respond to that. One thing we should not do is taking the matter into our own hands. To maintain our own sanity, we need to abandon ourselves completely to the Lord to let him direct us in fighting the battle. The Lord is our leader and we are to follow his every order. Becoming holy will make you most effective. Obedience to God will best help him accomplish his plan. 

*****Our First Order of Business*****

        We need to take care of our own sins before minding other people's sins. So, to know God should be our first order of business. If we don't know God, we'll surely do things blindly wrong most of the time! Many people don't see this because they lack humility. 

***Our Dearest Lord!

          I prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy this morning. As I was saying the prayer that began each decade: Eternal Father, I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your Dearly Beloved Son, Our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world, I realized that Christ the Dearly Beloved Son of God the Father is our Dearly Beloved Lord, in fact, our Dearest Lord. Dearest because no one else can be dearer than Christ to us. That we have such a Beloved Lord is indeed something to rejoice about! We who love Him will be well taken of by Him for all eternity. 

***Fear of God

        We need to fear God enough so that we do not ever offend him. This is the good fear. On the other hand, if we think that God can no longer forgive us for a sin we have committed against him, this would be an extremely bad fear we must never entertain, for that can only come from the devil.

*In Gratitude to the Lord

        Communion joy today. Experiencing the joy of union with my Lord, I couldn't help asking him "Who am I that you should care for so much?" I felt so grateful that I asked him to give me whatever he wished to give me.