**One Reason for Longing to Go to Christ

        When we follow Christ, our sins are taken care of by him. But we still need to remain vigilant as we still have the tendency to sin. This makes me long to go to him because there I'll be like him totally free of sin.

***The Unavoidable***

        In today's Gospel reading from John 6, Jesus said the following to the crowds: (1) "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst." (2) "Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. (3) "This is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day." Everything said here is pretty clear. Are you going to believe in Jesus or not? If not, can you prove that he's not telling the truth? We're put on the spot! To ignore him is just not the right thing to do. Facing God is unavoidable—it's best done when you are still alive now, not after you die! 

***Heavenly Experience on Earth***

        Communion experience. To be in union with Christ to be in heaven now.

***Great Mindset***

        From today's first reading from Acts 7, we read that as Stephen was being stoned to death before Saul, he called out, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." And today's response from Psalm 31 was "Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." "This was exactly how Jesus cried out to the Father before he breathed his last on the cross. We should be ready to commend our spirit to the Lord at any time. In fact, this would be a great prayer to say each time before we do his will to show that we fully entrust ourselves to his care!

*****Tragic Ignorance***

        Attaining union with God through the Holy Eucharist is a humongous deal! It's the sinner turning a physical union with the real body and blood of the LORD into a spiritual union! It's the highest spiritual state God has made it possible for us to attain. Sadly, there are many who do not take this sacrament seriously and no genuine union takes place. It's like a fruit tree being fed the best nutrients and remaining fruitless.

***Most Perfect Union*

        Union with God is the most perfect of all unions, simply because it makes you holy to become like him. Moreover, it gets you into heaven.

***Sin No Longer Popular***

        We depend upon God for everything. In other words, we cannot survive one nanosecond without his support. Separated from him and we become nothing. Yet even Christians hardly think of or talk about him most of the time. I think it's because we're no longer aware of the consequences of sin. When was the last time you heard a sermon that condemned sins, urged us to repent, warned us about going to hell, or stressed the importance of saving souls? 

***Faith Awesome*

        In today's Gospel reading from John 21, Jesus appeared to his disciples after being raised from the dead for the third time. In the previous appearance to them when Thomas was present for the first time, he said to him, "Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." Now, many of us today have not seen and have believed—it just makes our faith so much sweeter. Regardless, to have faith in Christ Jesus is just awesome, being absolutely the right thing for us to do!

*****One Greatest Gift from God*****

        Jesus' Divine Mercy is available to all. If we ask for that, we are saved forever. Without it, we are virtually hanging off the edge of a cliff, as far as our soul is concerned. This is a most precious gift from God no one with any sense should ignore! I am posting this message on behalf of the Lord who loves all of us with the greatest possible love ever! (Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet if you can.)

***Curing Complaining

         Complaining about things shows that you are not happy with your existence. Get to know Christ, and he'll cure you and then some.