Flood Control by Us

        The love of God flows like a flood and our heart is the floodgate. The trouble with most of us is that we do not open wide that gate to let God's love flood us. 

Fighting Satan

        Satan is an expert fisherman who tosses out bait to lure and snare human souls. If you take the bait, he will haul you in and you are in for a struggle. The loss of inner peace indicates that you have trespassed against the Lord. The proper action to take when you first sense the temptation is to nip it in the bud by running away to God immediately ~ never fight a temptation head-on. Once you are back in God, Satan no longer sees you. Remain in God always and Satan ceases to exist.

Making Jesus Our Foundation

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 6, Jesus talked about the two foundations. He said to the crowds, "Someone who comes to me, listens to my words, and acts on them is like a person building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built. But the one who listens and does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed." The lesson is clearly that we cannot have "all listen and no action"; we must do what the Lord commands to build a strong, firm foundation. 

How to Remain Cool

      Immerse yourself completely in the soothing, calming, healing love of Christ. 

*Reality Check on Life

        The people of the world either do not know God, or believe in him falsely, or know about the true God (the God of Abraham and the God who is Christ). Among those who know about him, many get to know him personally. It's fair to say that those who claim that they know him are at various stages of rebellion against God, for few become totally obedient. As long as one is not in complete union with God yet, he is, strictly speaking, still a rebel. Dare we say that life is all about whether we submit to God or not?   

*Why Do We Make It Hard?

        God has already loved us. So if we let him love us, we and God become one. It's all so very simple. 

We Are No Judge

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 6, Jesus taught his disciples to notice and remove the wooden beam in their own eye first before attempting to remove the splinter in their brother's eye. Of course, the lesson here is that we are not to judge others. We are not even to judge sinners, yet there are many who still question or blame God, who is all holy, for various things. Sinners must realize their own state and their need for salvation or they are doomed.

Most Rewarding Experience

        Our transformation by God into a new creature in union with him has to be the most refreshing, joyful, and rewarding experience we can ever have in this life, for it is all brought about by God.

The Jesus Effect

        Why are so many Christians happy and eager to tell others about Jesus? I may feel happy after finding a good job or winning a free vacation, but there is no urge for me to tell others about it. My conclusion is that Christ has actually changed many of his followers into more loving and selfless persons. 

*Demanding Love

        Jesus' greatest commandment for us is to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. Why? It's because he loves us so much that his joy will not be complete unless we love him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. Obviously, if God doesn't love us so much, he wouldn't mind how much we love him either.

Simple, Straight, and Clear

        Communion thoughts. Today is the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Communion verse was based upon Isaiah 7.14 and Matthew 1.21: Behold, the Virgin will bear a son who will save his people from their sins. I have a simple mind and see clearly that I am a sinner in need of salvation, and Jesus is exactly whom I need. There's nothing more to elaborate.

Natural Consequence

        The more you let Jesus increase in you, the more you decrease and your love for God increases.

*Tell God Everything

        When I woke up in the middle of the night early this morning, I shared my most immediate intimate thoughts with Jesus ~ I just poured my heart out. And I was greatly comforted. We all feel good when we find someone who's willing to listen to us. The wealthy pay big money to unload themselves before psychiatrists. Here we have the greatest psychiatrist and healer in the whole universe, who knows everything about us and can even take away our sins, what more can we ask? Tell God everything as often as possible and you'll enjoy inner peace. It's a most wonderful feeling to know that you have nothing to hide from the Lord.  

Remain in the Light

        It's easier to sin in darkness than in broad daylight because darkness falsely leads you to believe that God does not see you. When you close your eyes to get ready to fall sleep, impure thoughts easily surface in darkness. And in sleep, you can get nightmares. In both cases, waking up to light restores your senses and assures you that everything is all right. Remain in the light of Christ always and you'll remain clear-headed and vanquish all fears.

*Gift From Heaven

        Communion experience. The Holy Eucharist is a gift from heaven, the Lord himself. When it entered me, I was directly linked to heaven. I must do my utmost to keep the Lord dwelling happily in me.

*Worst Happening

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 6, we heard four of Jesus' Beatitudes. They are (1) Blessed are you who are poor ..., (2) Blessed are you who are now hungry ..., (3) Blesses are you who are now weeping ..., (4) Blessed are you when people hate you ... on account of the Son of Man. Let's remember that being poor, hungry, mournful, or persecuted in this life is nothing compared to being separated from God for all eternity! In fact, they are blessings! What we must not ever let happen to us is losing our God forever. 

Rejoice and Be Glad!

        Today's Gospel Acclamation taken from Jesus' Sermon on the Plain: Rejoice and be glad: your reward will be great in heaven. If you know that you have been chosen by the Father, that you hear the voice of Jesus your shepherd and follow him, and that the Holy Spirit is guiding you on your journey back to God, why shouldn't you rejoice and be glad in advance of receiving your reward in heaven? You really should be the happiest person(s) in the whole world. Let this joy overcome any obstacles you encounter along the way. Keep loving God and nothing will be able to stop you from winning your glory! 

Joy in Christ Video

        I was going through the videos on the recommended list displayed in the right margin of my blog to see if they were still running on YouTube. The video Infectious Joy in Christ was posted almost 6 years ago. I watched it again and was moved to tears of joy. In case you haven't seen it yet, you may enjoy watching it now. It's just under 6 minutes.