***Shame on Us***

        We Christians are supposed to love the Lord more than anything else; however, we usually focus exclusively on pleasing ourselves, treating him like an afterthought.

**Signs You've Been Born of the Spirit**

        In today's Gospel reading from John 3, Jesus said to the Pharisee Nicodemus, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God." You know you have been born of the Spirit when you feel the holy presence of the Lord at all times, are on fire with love for him, and find it impossible not to spread the gospel to everyone.

***Feeling the Disciples' Joy**

        Today's Gospel reading came from John 20. It started with verses 19 and 20: On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. At this point, the Holy Spirit also filled me with unspeakable joy! Alleluia.

**Heard from Peter**

        Today's Reading 2 came from 1 Peter 1. When I heard the last two verses, 8 and 9, read, I felt as if Peter was speaking directly to me, and I was deeply moved. Here they are: "Although you have not seen him you love him; even though you do not see him now, yet believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls." Amen.

**An Elementary Truth**

        Christ has already died for us. If we are now willing to die for him, we are saved and gain eternal life in heaven. 

***How to Receive Complete Forgiveness***

        With Divine Mercy Sunday approaching, it is a blessing to know we can receive this extraordinary grace from God.

***Perfect Resolution***

        Whatever the Lord wills, it is done! So we need to get the Lord to will what we will and we shall have our way. But to achieve that, we must will what he wills first. The perfect resolution is reached when we attain union with the Lord, for now his and our wills are the same.

****Revere the Lord, Please****

        It seems that as Christians, we always fall short of loving God. I believe that the cause is the lack of reverence for the Lord; people are too casual in their approach. They fail to realize that the Lord is ever-present and sustaining every moment of our existence. We must remember that he is Love and our mighty creator, deserving our utmost respect and reverence. In other words, we must take him most seriously. If we have already been too much influenced by the world, a significant change ln our lives will be needed before it is too late.

**Why Not Rely upon God?**

         We are finite and weak, but we have a loving Lord who is infinitely strong. Why don't we go all out to trust in and rely upon him totally? This is how we can become super strong and also holy and free of ourselves.

****It Is the Lord!****

        In today's Gospel reading from John 21, Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. Peter with six other disciples went fishing and caught nothing the whole night. When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was he. Jesus said to them, "Children, have you caught anything to eat?" They answered him, "No." So he said to them, "Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something." So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish. So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord." When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tucked in his garment and jumped into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net with the fish.

        The moment you recognize that it is the Lord ought to be one of the most exhilarating moments for any of his followers. You don't have to actually see him—you only need to see that it's his doing or that he has a hand in what you see. Come to think of it, since the Lord is ever present, every moment should be an "it-is-the-Lord" moment. Realizing this can help us live a truly intimate life in Christ!