****Having God Forever

        The Lord God exists forever and remains the same forever. He loves us forever and want us to go to heaven to be happy with him forever. He is absolutely trustworthy. If you lose him, you lose him forever too. Hold onto him and you'll have not a thing to worry about forever.

**Big Deal for Christians

        Today is the memorial of St. Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin. The entrance antiphon: Here is a wise virgin, from among the number of the prudent who went forth with lighted lamp to meet Christ. You are probably familiar with the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. It is poignant to hear that someone is ready to meet the Lord when he comes. It's equally poignant to learn that someone is caught unprepared when he appears. For Christians, this is a big deal.

****Wonderful Old Age Opportunity

        I watched a short tonebase video in which the celebrated pianist Leon Fleisher gave a master class on the opening five bars of the Beethoven's 4th piano concerto. I mention this because I met him at his 70th birthday celebration at the University of Kansas in 1998. This video was probably made more recently, in which he looked older. My thoughts are that as we age, our hair, our skin, our teeth . . . all exterior parts of our body show our age. If you examine the X-ray or CT scan images of an older person, you'll find that the interior parts also no longe look as pristine as before. Nevertheless, spiritually we can always become more robust and beautiful. What an opportunity for us to grow holier and more pleasing to the Lord! The body deteriorates, but the soul becomes more immaculate! Growing old affords us the time to get perfectly ready for meeting our Lord.

*****What God Wishes the Most from Us*****

        God wants us to pray for the world and many other things, but most of all he want us to pray for ourselves. He wishes the most that we surrender ourselves completely to him so that we may receive power to become holy and blameless. Whether you are happy or feel uncomfortable upon hearing this, he is calling you!

****Never Lock God Out

        Never lock God out of your heart. If you do, you cut off your lifeblood. Seek the God of Christ with an open heart and he will enter and become your dearest friend, then you'll have more life than ever. (John 10:10)  We can be stone dead or filled with abundant life! Which would you rather prefer?

**Greatest Fulfillment or Tragedy

        Knowing Christ is the greatest fulfillment of my life. So I see that not knowing him can be the greatest tragedy of one's life.

**To Be Freed from Now On

        In this life, we are stuck with our physical body and original sin. The body will always be a burden to us while we're on earth, so there's not much we can do about it. As for the original sin, we can take care of that by believing in and following the God of Christ. In fact, by so doing, not only are we set free from sin now, we'll also remain free forever after we lose our physical body.

**Taking Holy Eucharist Seriously

        Early at morning Mass today, it came to me that I was to receive the Lord shortly, so I must not sin again. To receive the body and blood of the Lord while having no intention of stopping sinning is in itself a serious sin.

***The Virtue We Need the Most

        Humility is what we sinners need the most. The lack of it causes us to rebel against God and judge our neighbors. It is a virtue we must never stopping praying for. Imitating or seeking union with Christ is the effective way of acquiring humility.

***Urgent Message to Us

       The Holy Mother's messages have fundamentally remained the same, so we need to heed her call.