**Pity the Perfectionist*

         There are people who want everything to work out perfectly. When that doesn't happen, they can get very upset. I was somewhat like that, way back when I was a spoiled kid. I had a friend once who always put everything he didn't need anymore back into it's original box and you could see all the boxes stored neatly in one place. By the way, he also kept a giant snake in a wired cage under his bed in the bedroom, and he was a married man! You figure that out. And there are car lovers out there who make sure that there is not a single scratch or dent on their cars. I pity such "perfectionists," should they only see and care about all the imperfections except their own. This in itself is a big imperfection that could easily lead to their downfall.

****Faith = Power****

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 7, a Greek woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit came and fell at Jesus' feet to beg him to drive the demon out of her. He said to her, "Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs." She replied, "Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children's scraps." Then he said to her, "For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter."
        We see that the Lord can drive a demon out of anyone unseen, as long as we have faith in him. Now, our world has been pretty much taken over by the ever spirits. If enough of us would persist in praying for the deliverance of the entire world from them, it will surely happen. Never, never underestimate the power of the Lord and our own faith! Hope in him always and we are indestructible!

***Be Inspired by the Lord God**

        It is important that we remain 100% open to the Lord God so that we may be inspired to think, say, and do only things that delight him. Then in turn we'll receive great joy and peace. On our own, what we think, say, and do can easily descend to a mundane level. When we are inspired, it becomes easy to remain holy, wise, and in union with the Lord.

****Letting Nothing Defile You**

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 7, Jesus said to the crowd, "Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile. From within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile." That's a lot of things to worry about! But no worry, for all you need is a pure heart for you to remain clean. To achieve this, seek union with the Lord thru the Holy Eucharist. Once you attain union, the Lord as your housekeeper will keep your heart free of all evils and give you a super sharp conscience to guard it to boot.

**Life Continues on Beautifully

        Communion experience. I am already living for the Lord. Now I am ready to die in him to begin eternal life with him. 

**Following God or Human Tradition*

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 7, Jesus scolded the Pharisees and scribes for clinging to human tradition, but disregarding God's commandment. We pretty much do the same today. As one example, if someone we know dies, we customarily send the family of the deceased a sympathy card and even feel obligated to attend the funeral service when we wasn't really close to that person. We simply follow the tradition to serve ourselves. Prayers would have been more appropriate and done a lot more good for the soul. It comes down to following God's love you feel in your heart or exhibiting your "fake love" for others to see.

*****We Are Meant to Become like God*****

        In today's 1st reading from Genesis 1, God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." Jesus came to us and he appeared as one of us. In John 14:9, he said to Philip, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." We haven't seen the Father, but we'll instantly recognize him when we see him. This is a huge realization for us. We are special, unique creatures made by God: He has made us in his image after his likeness so that we can become like him! His genuine love for us coming thru his Son Jesus is obvious and we are meant to return to him to live happily with him forever. So start embracing and rejoicing in his love for us right this moment!

*****Ultimate Fulfillment (Power of Love)*****

        When we fall in love with God, everything starts happening! We become all fired up, willing to serve and please him with all our hearts. We yearn for him so much that we want to be totally united with him, body and soul. We now enjoy him day and night. Our most holy Lord is now our dearest soulmate. Living and dying for him is no problem and a joy. It's truly incredible that God's love has such power to transform us in the best possible way. And the best is yet to come! Praise be to him forever.

**A Tug-of-War Depiction**

         Here's a picture depicting the spiritual battle in which both God and Satan are fighting for our souls. Let's start with a picture of you holding the end of a rope in each hand. Say God to your right holds the other end of the rope in your right hand and Satan to your left, that in your left hand. The battle begins when both God and Satan pull on you and you experience the pain of being pulled apart, This depicts your struggle in deciding which way to go. Now, if you let the left hand go, you are drawn all the way to God and saved for all eternity—both God and you win. Then if you let the right hand go, you are drawn all the way to Satan and are doomed forever—both God and you lose. So it's win-win or lose-lose for God and you. I hope this elementary presentation shows clearly what's going on with us.

*****Heavenly Private Joy***

        Communion joy. Receiving Christ in the Holy Eucharist completes and perfects my joy. This is a joy like his peace that surpasses all understanding. I can bring various kinds of joys to others, but this joy is totally private that only the Lord can impart. It is impossible to share or explain; you just have to experience it yourself. A profound peace comes right with it, and I greatly treasure that. Furthermore, no one can possibly remove the source of this joy from me ever!

****Perfect Way of Perfecting Ourselves

         God is perfect and omnipotent, so we can seek perfection from him and have him make us perfect.

*****Awesome Incredible Love*

        We are most precious to God because he has taken all our sins upon himself and redeemed us from the consequences of sin and death by dying in our place on the cross!