***Storing up Treasures in Heaven

        In today's Gospel reading from John 20, the resurrected Lord appeared to the disciples when Thomas was absent. Later after the disciples told Thomas that they had seen the Lord, Thomas said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe." A week later Jesus came again and this time Thomas was present. He said to Thomas, "Put you finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe." The Lord knows everything that's going on. This makes me happy, for I can do every little thing for his sake and he knows and will reward me for it. Little things add up to bigs things. This is how you can store up treasures in heaven.

***Plea for Accepting Divine Mercy

        Today is Divine Mercy Sunday. God's mercy is great. He'll save you in the last second of your life if you repent all your sins and ask for his forgiveness. If you are reading this message, you heart is still beating and there's still time for you. But one day that beating will stop—where would your soul go then? Divine Mercy is meant for you, but you need to accept it to be benefited. Please don't wait until your heart stops beating.

***Preserving Inner Peace

        The peace of Christ is so precious that you want to guard it against anything that might take it away from you. This means you don't ever want to sin against the Lord. Protect this peace as if it's your own life. As a matter of fact, protecting it protects your eternal life!

***Prophecies to Heed

        Know what's coming now. 

***Simple Reality

        God has shown us that he loves us with an undying tender love, and this will never change. It seems to me that we should then listen to and obey him. Otherwise, we remain lost in sin. As simple as that.

**Unique Fulfilling Experience*

        At morning Mass, Fr. Steven consecrates the bread and wine and they become the body and blood of Christ. I receive the Holy Eucharist and the Lord now dwells in me. This is no ordinary encounter. What happened was the greatest miracle producing the greatest possible gift for us, enabling almighty God to enter to be one with us! You desire the Lord and he is all yours. It has to be the most fulfilling experience one can possibly have.

**The Christian Assurance

        Faithful Christians know that they can trust in their God and that he will always back them up. You just can't get that kind of assured support anywhere or from anyone else, for the God of Christ is the true God.

**All Traced Back to God*

        If you can't get along with other people, mostly likely that's because you are not getting along with yourself. If you are not happy with yourself, definitely it's because you haven't reconciled yourself with God yet. So make peace with God first and everything else will fall into place.

***To Be Made Anew

        To be made wholesome spiritually by Christ, you need to let him heal your soul first. Then the healing of your heart and mind follows and you become fundamentally a new person in him. Any other way may change you superficially, leaving the innermost untouched. Only the one who created you can recreate you!

**Christ for Total Fulfillment*

        I see people who own many nice things and enjoy doing fun things. They seem to be happy and are admired by others not so fortunate. And they are not bad people either. Yet I still pity them if they do not know Christ. For without Christ, all the good fun, happy times, and material enjoyment are empty. Only he can make our lives truly meaningful and completely fulfill us. Anyway, if you don't know the Lord, you have no idea what you are missing. Once you have him, you'll know that you miss nothing. 

***Secret of Peace

        Sins rob us of peace. But even if we don't sin, as long as our ego still exists, we won't experience perfect peace. So forget ourselves by acknowledging that we are weak and need to depend totally upon God. Let bygones be bygones and always look forward and focus upon the Lord's complete selflessness and mercy.

**Amazing Convergence

        A video on the image on the Shroud of Turin and the original Divine Mercy image.