**Cause of Great Joy

        Again on this Friday I prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. I felt the greatest possible joy when I realized that God offered himself up for me.

***Love 'Calls for Response

        In today's Gospel reading from John 21, Jesus revealed himself to his disciples and ate breakfast with them. He asked Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Simon Peter answered him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs." He then asked Simon Peter the same question a second time. Simon Peter gave him the same answer as before. He said to him, "Tend my sheep." He now asked him the same question a third time and Peter again affirmed his love for him. Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep." What I see here is that the more we love God, the more we are called to serve him. This is the process that leads to total trust and abandonment in God.

**Most Special Calling

        Communion experience. We who follow Christ were first chosen by God the Father and given to his Son and our Lord, to keep. And none of us should be lost (John 17). Imagine how special we are and the benefits we're going to reap!

**How to Sense God

        Even if you visually see and audibly hear God, it doesn't mean that you now know him. You can know him only through the innermost of your heart. So solitude is needed. It's in the stillness of the heart that you sense God's presence. (In union with God, you do sense his dwelling within you at all times.)

****Our Greatest Influencer

        Being good or bad does affect others. If you are a good example, people will be impressed and inspired by you. So I advocate that we all go straight to Jesus Christ, for he is the perfect example of love. Let him impress and inspire us and we can become like him. In this case, he also has the power to make it happen effortlessly for us! He is the greatest influencer we can possibly have.    

**God Always Speaking to Us

        Volcanos are erupting all around the world. The current ones in Italy, Indonesia, and Mexico are particularly alarming, for they can potentially affect hundreds of thousands of people. Of course, you can say volcanos have always been around, but I see all such happenings as God warning us and calling us to return to him. God is always speaking to us through various means. For the faithful who already believe in him, no sign is necessary. But if you still don't believe and can shrug off volcano eruptions, hurricanes, tsunamis and the like, then most likely you are not going to succumb to the LORD easily.

**God's Special Peace

        Communion experience. You know that the peace you receive can only be given by the Lord, the one who knows you heart and soul. It is that special.

**Outstanding Difference

        On earth, we all are just passing through until life ends, but the Christians also see themselves on a pilgrimage to their eternal home in heaven. This is the outstanding difference.

**Loving God Makes You Lovely

        As Christians, we must love everyone as ourselves. But you can't help noticing that those who love God dearly are extra lovely. 

**Being One with God*

        In today's Gospel reading from John 17, Jesus prayed for those whom the Father gave him out of the world that they might be one just as he and the Father are one. To choose to be on God's side is not good enough, we need to be one in the Lord. And there is no better way to attain union with God than through the Holy Eucharist.