**Being Choked by the World

         In today's Gospel reading from Luke 8, Jesus told the crowd the parable of the sower. "A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell on the path and was trampled, and the birds of the sky ate it up. Some seed fell on rocky ground, and when it grew, it withered for lack of moisture. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some seed fell on good soil, and when it grew, it produced fruit a hundredfold." When the disciples asked him what the meaning of this parable might be. He explained it all. First of all, the seed is the word of God. About the seed that fell among thorns, the explained that they are the ones who have heard, but as they go along, they are choked by the anxieties and riches and pleasure of life, and they fail to produce mature fruit. I see a lot of people today in this category, being choked by the world.

****One Cause of an Unrestful Heart

        When your motivation is somewhat impure or egoistic, you can feel the unrest in your heart. A troubled heart is always self-made; it has nothing to do with God. Becoming more Christlike is needed.

***God to Be Revered

        It's the lack of reverence for the Lord God that leads people to commit sacrileges nowadays. The Lord God may be our friend, my brother, and even our servant, but he is foremost our Most Holy God, our Father, and our Creator. Hence, he deserves the highest reverence, praise, and deference from us.

**God Matching You

         When you trust in God ____%, he'll trust in you ___%.
         When you are ____% open to God, you'll experience ____% of his wonders.

       Whatever number you put in the first blank, the same number appears in the second blank. 

**Overwhelmed by God

        Communion experience. Receiving the Lord into us is overwhelming. After he filled us to overflowing, it's our turn to offer all of ourselves to him. 

***Piece of Precious Knowledge

         Knowing that we can trust in Christ Jesus and be saved forever is most precious. We ought to treasure and rejoice in it every moment!

***Christ Alone Fulfills Us

        The Lord of Christ can completely fulfill us; to this I can testify. If not, then we are doomed. 

***Suffering to Make Us Holier

        Today is Friday, the day for praying the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. It came to me that it would please God and make us holier to practice embracing suffering for Christ at least once a day. Hopefully, over time we'll be able to accept all sufferings as blessings from God with joy. 

**Knowing Our Role and Duty

        The Lord God being our Lord and God, we should serve and love him with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength. This is our proper role and duty. If we accomplish anything, don't expect any reward. It's entire up to the Lord to do whatever he wishes. But today we pretty much have rejected the Lord and even blame him for all the mess our sins have caused. We have fallen badly and need to beg for his mercy more than ever. As sinners, we don't deserve anything good. It's his love and mercy that we should appreciate forever. 

****A Sacrilegious Mass*

         A priest offers a Mass with total lack of reverence. This is an abomination! Pray for him and others like him.

         I'd like to add a note of clarification today on this video I posted yesterday. This video is not particularly clear in showing what happened. I watched another one which showed clearly that after the consecration of the bread and wine, but before Communion took place, a gust of wind hit the table and blew many hosts off the table.