***God's Unique, Powerful Joy***

        Today is the feast of Saint John, Apostle. I love this Apostle who referred to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. Here's the entire reading 1, 1 John 1:1-4. "Beloved: What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked upon and touched with our hands concerns the Word of life—for the life was made visible; we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was made visible to us—what we have seen and heard we proclaim now to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; for our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing this so that our joy may be complete." St. John had to write what he knew, for the joy of knowing Christ is impossible to suppress. This joy touches the soul and makes you selfless to want to share it with everyone else. You now know that you've been set free from sin and belong to the Lord.

****No God, No Success

        Any success achieved without God is ultimately a failure. When God is with you, all your failures are only parts of your ultimate success.

***"Never Look back"***

          This is Christ's command to his followers. When we are unhappy about how things are going, it's easy to look back and wonder if things would be better if we had chosen a different major in college or accepted a different job offer or married a different girl or done something else differently. But all this is a total waste of time, for what's gone is gone forever. The healthy, realistic outlook is to realize that we are finite things and we are prone to make mistakes. But mistakes are not sins and may even turn out to be blessings! No matter how bad things are, if we turn to God and follow him, he will make the best of our situation and set everything right for us. The bottom line is that we get to heaven. So say bye-bye to the past and follow the Lord onward.

***Blessed Golden Opportunity*

        Any time you feel helpless, it's the perfect time for you to abandon yourself totally to God! This is your blessed golden opportunity.

***Secret to Being Saved***

        Today is the feast of Saint Stephen, first martyr. The Gospel reading comes from Matthew 10. Jesus commissioned the Twelve and spoke of their coming persecutions. The last verse of the reading is "You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved." This last part in boldface is what we Christians must remember no matter what we undergo. For our reward will be great! 

**Our Tragic Downfall*

        We live in a material world, but we must realize that the "real" world that matters is the spiritual one in which God dwells and which we shall enter after we depart from this world. When we are not aware of its existence, we are easily amazed by our material accomplishments in the world, not realizing that they are all made possible by God. Instead of feeling more humble, we become more prideful. This is our big downfall. And it'll be most tragic if we do not wake up to it.

***Simple Way to Be Eternally Happy

        While recovering from COVID at home, I have plenty of time to think about God and life. I see that what matter only in life are how we let God impact us and how we impact others. If we are openly receptive to the Lord, he will fill us with joy, making the whole heaven rejoice. If we draw others to him through his love for us, our eternal happiness is assured! It all comes down to pleasing the Lord God, our Father and creator.

***What God Desires the Most from Us***

        I thought I caught a cold two days ago Saturday. I coughed a little bit and had a stuffy nose. So I chose not to go to Sunday Mass. Today Christmas Day I also stayed home, tested myself for COVID and the result was positive. That was unexpected. A year ago, when I first had COVID, I had a fever and the cough was unbearable. Maybe because of that, I am not feeling so badly this time around. So I am going to stay isolated thru the rest of this year. As I rested in bed yesterday, I turned on the clock radio on the nightstand. It was the local PBS music station broadcasting classical Christmas carols, both old and new. They were beautifully composed and performed by accomplished musicians. I don't know if such music actually draws any listener closer to Christ. Only the Lord knows. At around 6 p.m. The music switched over to popular jazz Christmas carols. They were more light-hearted and easy to listen to, but pretty much secular in most cases when Christ wasn't even hinted at. Surely, these songs are not going to convert any hearts. All this leads me the see that writing music to celebrate Christmas may be a good thing, but the best way to glorify the Lord is what he desires from us the most—it is that we obey him in all things. This is also how we earn the most merit from heaven.

***Christ My Lifeline***

        Because of my knee problem which came up last Monday morning, I didn't attend Mass the last five days. It's Saturday today and I felt good enough to go back to church, and it's goof to receive christ again. After all, he's the one who means the most to my existence. If I have to cut all my ties, this is the one I can never sever, for he is absolutely my lifeline!

**Being Social vs. Being Friendly

       Friendly people are usually social, but the converse may not be true. People wrongly assume that if you are unsocial, then you are unfriendly. I think the criterion should be whether one is friendly to God or not. To be friendly to others is good, but to be friendly to God is critically important. To be social or not matters even less. Anyway, make the Lord your best friend and don't worry about whether you are social or not.