***Our Only Savior*

        We were born sinners. We can try to stop sinning on our own, but what guidelines should we follow? Our own or someone else's? Living in this secular, material world filled with temptations, how long can we remain untouched? But we have Christ who can not only take away our sins after we repent of them, but also remove our tendency to sin as well! For he is our Lord and creator, the only one capable of fundamentally changing us to save us from sin. 

*Motives of the Heart

        In today's first reading from 1 Corinthians 4, Paul writes that the Lord will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will manifest the motives of our hearts. If our motives are always good and pure, even if we fail in what we do, we do not need to worry about God's judgment. Know the Lord well and he'll take care of your motives.

***Standing Up for Faith and Tradition

         I wish this would happen in this country too.

**Becoming like God

        We surrender ourselves to God so that can become like him. Once we become like him, we experience tremendous freedom and satisfaction. 

**True Humility

        One who is humble is not affected by what others think of him nor what he thinks of himself; he only cares about what God thinks of him.

**Responding to God's call

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 5, Jesus called Peter, James, and John, and they left everything and followed him. This is way the we should respond to the Lord's call, and he is always calling us! He may want us to pray more, to fast, to tell a friend about Christ, to stop complaining or worrying, to watch less TV, to get up early in the morning, etc. We must respond without hesitation. It does take discipline, but to say "I'll do if for your sake" to the Lord each time starting out can get you going. Soon you'll know the joy and satisfaction of always answering his call.

**Be Truly Wise in the World

        In today's first reading from 1 Corinthians 3, Paul writes that the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God and that the thoughts of the wise, as it is written, are vain. To me, the world knows how to make gains for itself well, but what profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? (Matthew 16:26) We all are going to depart from this world one day. True wisdom is following the Lord now so that you gain life for all eternity. It goes way beyond and above the wisdom of the world.

*God's Powerful Presence

        Communion experience. The LORD was so powerful that I almost stopped breathing freely. I didn't mind that at all as I had experienced that before when I was praying, reading, blogging, or hearing something special said. When the Spirit of God takes over, you gladly submit yourself to him. 

**Most Beneficial Thing to Do

        It dawned on me this morning that attending Mass is the most beneficial of all the things I do. When l go to Mass, I get to receive the LORD in the Holy Eucharist, enter into union with him, and be assured again of going to heaven, not to mention the blessings I receive continuously throughout my life as a result of it. Nothing else I do can make such great gains.

**Prerequisite to Exaltation

         To forget about yourself is to forget about your ego. Without an ego, God is ready to exalt you.