Year-End Thoughts

      2016 is just a few hours away. For me, every moment of this year has been good. I feel that the Lord is teaching me using less words, now that I am a better learner. Final thoughts: one can be a good person in every way, but without Christ his life is just not complete, for it is through Christ that we get to return to my eternal Father for good. A blessed and safe New Year to all!

Consider Hell

        It's New Year's Eve. Why should I bring up hell? It so happens that I have caught a bad cold despite the great precaution I took against catching any germs. I first felt it in the throat, then the nose, and finally started coughing. Feeling miserable, I thought about the misery of hell. What's worst is the longevity of suffering in hell, for it never ends. If there are good and evil, and God and Satan, then there has to be heaven and hell. Jesus himself mentioned the place of damnation about a dozen times in the Gospels. The awareness that horrible hell exists could help people turn to God. The world is in such a bad shape that applying a shock treatment may do much good. Besides, doing our best to save as many people as possible from ending up in hell makes a good resolution for the New Year.

God's Beauty

      There is much beauty for us to see, hear, and enjoy in the world, but all such beauty pales next to the heavenly beauty of God. Then if we do sense the beauty of God, the beauty we sense in this world is enhanced because we see that it all came from God.

Christians' Unique Joy

        They have Christ the Lord and God of all to live and die for.

Heartbreaking

        I am now in a big city away from home. This morning I attended Mass at a local church on the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. My heart almost reached the breaking point when I thought about the many families, my own included, that are divided. All family members should be close together, yet great separation exists because not all believe in Christ. This is heartbreaking for those who already believe in the Lord. God is now even more my refuge.

Living the Genuine Life

        There is the inner life and the outer life. Normally, the inner life is the secret one known to ourselves (and God) only and the outer life, the one we live for others to see. In other words, we lead a double life, hiding our inner life behind the outer one. But we can let God put our inner life in order, thus eliminating the need for presenting a false front. The result is living one honest, genuine life, not ashamed for all to witness.

Staying Afloat

        You can let your ego keep you afloat. When it gets punctured inevitably, you fall hard and hurt badly. Or you can let the Holy Spirit keep you afloat, with him lifting you up high heavenwards with no risk of falling or getting hurt. 

Christmas Blessing

        What a beautiful way to live! We let the love of God be our love for him. Then we let this love motivate everything we do and we are connected with God and remain in profound peace. All this is nothing new, but the Holy Spirit made me see and feel this as if I was hearing it for the first time. This was my Christmas blessing.

Sin and Mercy in Balance

        Christmas deepens my joy. Jesus is our Savior, precisely what mankind needs, yet so many of us do not recognize his coming. Then I realize that indeed we are born with original sin, and that God is balancing it with his infinite mercy. The good news is that we can easily tip this balance by our free choice. 

All About Life

        Communion time thoughts. We were born and we die. Life and death are unavoidable realities. Jesus says, "Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." He reveals to us what we need to know about life with no mention of physical death. It's enough to see that if we live for him, we shall always have life with him.