**Learning How to Love from God*

        God is so loving that he wants us to love our enemies. He wants us to pray for the conversion of all evildoers, his enemy, and not wish them ill. This is something we followers need to learn from the Lord. To wish ill on anyone shows that we do not know how great God's love is yet. To learn from God is learn how he loves. God does not want us to condemn anyone. That's why he does not want us to judge anyone. If we hate anyone, we follow Satan, not the Lord.

*To Be Happy Now or Forever

        We all want to live happily in this life, but without God, it'd be impossible for us to succeed, I can tell you that. It is more important that you'll have a happy death and most importantly, a happy afterlife. With God, all three goals can be attained. In fact, a happy death and a happy afterlife are assured. To be happy in this life matters the least, for in the overall scheme of things, our life doesn't last much longer than the blink of an eye. 

***Simple and Reliable Guide for Us

        The world can perish, with all the things in it. Everything passes except the Lord God. If we hold onto him, we become everlasting like him! So let everything go and hold onto Christ our Lord and Savior. This is such a simple and reliable guide for us. He is the only shining beacon in this universe and beyond, for he is the Lord of all. Without him, we would have totally darkness. Wake up, while the light is still shining. Lose him and you live in darkness forever.

*****Falling in Love with God (Love)

        God is love. If you fall in love with God, you are in love with love and that love can completely transform you. Love is God's power that can vanquish all evil and transport us to paradise. Falling in love with love is the most exalted feeling you can ever have on earth. To experience that, all you need to do is be wide open to God to let him reveal himself to you fully, then you can't help but fall in love with him. Yes, he becomes your Lord and soulmate. The opposite to falling in love with God is unthinkable, for you could end up hating everyone and yourself for all eternity.

***When to Get Ready

        Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of the coming of the Messiah centuries later. Today we are seeing many things happening that were prophesied two millenniums ago. At present we do sense the urgency of numerous warnings coming to us from heaven through many seers. The Lord himself had asked us to remain ready and alert always, for he'd be coming again. Whether prophecies will be fulfilled soon or later, our Lord has given us the best advice. More to the point, since we may die and face the Lord anytime, shouldn't we get ready right now? You can wait until that last moment, but that's taking an awfully big chance. Besides, the Lord can spot your insincerity instantly. Thinking that you can outsmart the Lord is surely not a smart move.

**God's Miracles

        It seems that all the other planets are all barren except our earth. I believe that God created the earth just right for us to live on. Today after visiting a friend, I saw on the way home the sun in the smoky sky. I could directly look at it, and it looked as big as the moon. I know it's so much bigger and farther away than the moon, yet God placed the moon at the right distance so that it blocks the sun perfectly during a total eclipse. This to me is also a great miracle of God.   

**Us Against Ourselves*

         This is not a new message. I am giving it a little differently because it is an important basic message. We can safely leave Satan out of the picture when we focus on the Lord God alone. Living is all about deciding whether to submit yourself to God or not. In most cases, we struggle with this question our whole life. Yet unknowingly, we know that we'll be facing the Lord alone one day. It won't be like facing a judge in a court on earth where you can hire lawyers to speak for you. We'll have to answer to the Lord for everything we've done ourselves. Anyway, know that the Lord loves you and is totally on your side, so give in to him. Stopping fighting yourself and submitting yourself to God go hand in hand—they are the two prongs of attack for restoring harmony with heaven and bringing peace to yourself on earth.

*****Most Glorious Miracle*****

        The last Luminous Mysteries of the Holy Rosary is The Institution of the Holy Eucharist. It is a miracle that the Lord changes bread and wine into his own flesh and blood. This is not one of those miracles you can see and would say wow after seeing it. To me, this is the most glorious of all miracles because it is most personal and humble. The Lord offering himself to us, again. It should absolutely humble us and make us praise and thank him forever! (To learn more about the Eucharist, search "Eucharist" or "Eucharistic miracle" on this blog.)

**Becoming Free of the Past

        Because wildfire smoke has polluted the air outdoors, I've been doing my daily walk inside the house. This morning I noticed the tiled floor I was walking on and recalled the unpleasant experience I had with the tile layer over a decade ago. He was a personable, cordial young man. Immediately after the job was done, I had to get him back to replace some cracked tiles. He showed up, no problem. I trusted in him and wasn't even around when he finished the repairs and left. After I got home, I noticed that the long extension ladder in my garage was gone. This ladder belonged to a handyman who was still doing work around the house. I was puzzled. Luckily, my son's camera at the gate had recorded all the people who entered and left our property that day. The recording showed that the ladder was on the truck of my tile guy on his way out. Of course, we confronted him and got the ladder back. I didn't press charges against him though. Incidents such as this one tend to stick in one's memory. Then I saw that I must let the Lord truly be my refuge. Then I would not look back on the past anymore—he must now occupy my mind my entire life. This is how we become free of the past.

**Not of Our Concern

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 20, we have the parable of the workers of the vineyard. In it, all workers hired at different times of the day got paid the same at the end of the day, and this made the ones hired first unhappy. Jesus concluded the parable by saying: "Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last." What I learned here was that the Lord wants us to serve him well and not be concerned about whether we get rewarded first or last, or the most or the least. Getting rewarded by him alone is good enough. Jealousy has no place when you work for the Lord. If you want to get to heaven ahead of all others who go there, you may not even make it.