Some thoughts as the year concludes. As my time on earth becomes increasingly limited, doing the will of God is now my only priority. Prayer comes first. At this point, blogging to draw as many people to the Lord as possible through the Holy Eucharist is my primary mission. I leave how much I can achieve entirely to Christ and care only about how obedient I am to him. I still enjoy playing the piano and photographing with my iPhone, but they no longer have any hold on me. It's a beautiful day today with blue skies, white clouds, and green grasslands all around, begging me to go outside to enjoy the outdoors, yet no feeling can ever be more exhilarating than knowing that the Lord God dwells within you.
My prayer is that every single person will come to know that Christ is our Lord and Savior. I wish more than anything else that you will let him love you so that you may love him and enter heaven. There is no greater joy than giving Christ joy.
Friday, December 31, 2021
****Year-End Reflections and Wishes
***Glory Be to Our Lord***
Today's Gospel reading at Mass began with the Gospel of John. I'd like to present the first 5 verses below to glorify our Lord on this last day of the year 2021.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. he was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
***Greatest Revelation and Test
John 1:14a, 12a is today's Gospel acclamation. "The word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. To those who accepted him he gave power to become the children of God." This has to be the greatest revelation to us, for it is stunning, awesome, and incredible! Of course, to those who do not believe, it means nothing. But for those who believe, it is everything! The Lord wishes to take complete care of us— and it's up to us to say yes or no to him. So this greatest revelation is also our greatest test.
Thursday, December 30, 2021
*****God's Love at Work
This year is coming to an end tomorrow. I'd like to share this story which is basically a happy one, for it shows how beautifully God's love works. Here's the site. If you are looking for a good charity to make a donation to, you have an ideal candidate here.
May you have the brightest New Year coming to you!
***Same Old Dilemma
In today's first reading from 1 John 2, the Apostle writes, "Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life, is not from the Father but is from the world. Yet the world and its enticement are passing away. But whoever does the will of God remains forever." It seems as if the Apostle had just seen our world today. To love the Father and not what's in the world is indeed most difficult. The only remedy is to do the will of God. So we must know God first. To attain union with God is of course the way to go. It again comes down to how we respond to God's call. We can keep on loving the world, which is easy, or turn to loving God, which is possible if we were humble enough.
**Nobody Becomes Somebody
Be a nobody in the eyes of the world and you become somebody before the Lord. (You can achieve the same result by living for Christ only in secret.)
**False Humility & True Lack of Pride
If God asks you to become a saint and you say "Oh no, I am not good enough"—do you know that this is false humility? On the other hand, if you say "Yes, I'll do it"—this shows that you are humble enough to know that nothing is impossible for God and you do not let the your pride get in the way.
**Are You a Burden or Joy to God?*
Do Christians carry a heavier burden than non-Christians? I believe so. That's because a Christian feels the tremendous pain the Lord suffers as the entire world sins against him. What is amazing is that Lord helps carrying the burdens of all his servants with joy!
***Purify the Vaccines!
Fr. Mark Goring follows up his video Tainted Vaccines of yesterday with a new one today. You can learn more and do something about it by visiting the website https://cogforlife.org/. (Note: Today is 1/26/2022. It looks like YouTube has removed this video. Anyway, you can still visit the website given here.)