The gate to heaven is narrow to those who have a lot of pride. To the most humble, it's wide open. I've just given you the first key to salvation. To have zero pride is hard, but if your pride causes you to reject Christ as your Savior, you are going overboard.
Sunday, August 24, 2025
**Be Last to Be First**
In today's Gospel reading from Luke 13, Jesus talked about the narrow door, salvation and rejection. He revealed that many who think that they are good enough to be saved may end up being cast out of God's kingdom instead. Then he added, "Behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last." It's clear that if we see ourselves to be poor sinners needing all the help from God to get into heaven, we will be saved. Heaven has no room for pride.
*****Encountering the Lord Head-On*****
From today's entrance antiphon based upon Psalms 86:1-3, we have the verse Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I cry to you all the day long. Have you ever cried to the Lord? I recommend that you do that from time to time. Find a time and place you can be alone, then cry to God straight from your heart, telling him everything you want him to know. You can even beg for his mercy the whole time. When you are this open with him, he'll absolutely be open with you. If you've never done this before, it could very well turn out to be a most exhilarating experience! I was prompted by the Holy Spirit recently to do this one morning after I woke up in bed and ended up shedding many tears of joy and feeling completely relieved and free! This is encountering the Lord head-on. When God listens to you, you are healed spiritually!
***God's Ultimate Beauty***
I just discovered the amazingly talented Uruguayan water-color painter Alvaro Castagnet. You can see his works featured on many YouTube videos. It's true that many of our creations are beautiful, but the beauty of the Lord God who created us all is on an entirely different level. Everything beautiful we create merely reflects his beauty in an imperfect way, whereas God's beauty is more abstract, pure and righteous, affecting the soul and spirit. Once you sense it, your life's never the same again. Let his supreme beauty change you forever!
Saturday, August 23, 2025
***God Needs to Be Taken Seriously*
Each time at Mass, we are invited to receive the Lord present in the Holy Eucharist—he's ready to lift our spirit to the highest possible level to be in union with him! Yet there are those who are not interested in such an opportunity due to their pride. And there are also those who do accept the invitation but don't take it seriously enough. They are in no better state. In the Parable of the Wedding Feast (Matthew 22), one guest who did accept the invitation but showed up without wearing a wedding garment got cast outside into the darkness.
*** Power We Possess**
Everything we do on earth counts, and every prayer we say to the Father from the heart goes straight to him and produces fruit. This is the Lord's amazing power those of us who follow him possess!
***Daring to Be Different*
In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 23, Jesus denounced the scribes and Pharisees for being hypocrites, not practicing what they preach and performing works only to be seen. As Christians, we must exemplify Christ as shining lights in the dark world. This is our mission and we must dare to be different for the sake of Christ. This is living in the Lord and not being of the world.
Friday, August 22, 2025
**Communion Aspiration*
Communion experience. I totally let the Lord assimilate me so that I might enter the deepest possible union with him.
***Connected to God Are We**
We should know that God has created us out of love to be his children, intending that we become heirs to his kingdom. If you're unaware of this, let it be a realization that can change your perception of both God and yourself to help you connect with him most intimately!
***Simple Way to Be Saved***
When you go before the Lord, the slightest sincerity or hypocrisy he detects right away. Always approach the Lord with complete candidness and you'll have no fear and be saved by him.
Thursday, August 21, 2025
***Yearning as Christ
Communion experience. Loving the Lord automatically makes you want to save all souls, for that's what he yearns for the most!
^***Boosting Your Union with God****
The more you pray for mercy on you for falling short of loving Christ the Lord, the more he draws you into deeper union with him.
*****The LORD's Commanding Presence***
In Exodus 3:14, God said to Moses: I am who I am. Then he added: This is what you will tell the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you. The Lord God has always existed and will always exist; there is no beginning nor end for him. I see him as the only absolute reality. We now also know thru Christ that he is the very embodiment of love. Knowing all this, it behooves us to submit ourselves to him completely.
A Wake-up Warning!
In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 22, Jesus told the Parable of the Wedding Feast to the chief priests and the elders of the people. At the end, he concluded, "Many are invited, but few are chosen." This has remained true to this very day. The Lord deals with eternity and we'll have to deal with it too, for we do not live forever on earth. The day will come when we'll end up with either the greatest joy or the greatest sorrow.
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