*What Truly Matters

        In the final analysis, it's not what happens to you in this life that matters, but how you follow and obey God under all circumstances.

Obedience Pays

        If you want to go wherever God wants you to go, you'll end up where you want to be. If you don't want to go where God wants you to go, you'll end up where you don't want to be.

*Beyond Repentance

        Letting go in God is to trust God in all things. That means you no longer attach yourself to anything but God. That means you keep the word of Christ to the letter. That means you are no longer influenced by what others think of you. Letting go goes beyond repentance, made possible by God.

Obedience Makes Perfect

        Communion thought at Vigil Mass. The only appropriate response to God for us is to obey him in all things, making us his perfect children. 

Even Better Feeling

        It's a good feeling to know that you and God are getting along, but it's a terrific feeling when you are in union with God, knowing his will and obeying him always.

*How God Teaches Us

        The way the Holy Spirit teaches us is unique. It's not an intellectual illumination because it doesn't require any harding thinking or reasoning on our part. It is a spiritual illumination, as God speaks directly to the heart, bypassing the brain. Truly original and most refreshing. 

Exploring God's Space

        Communion experience. The deeper I enter the Lord, the more beauty I see, and the more I want to go even deeper. This is exploring the Lord's infinite space. It's excitingly peaceful!

No Way Around Jesus

        Today's Communion antiphon is based upon Jesus saying in Matthew 10.39: Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. It is clear that whether we lose or find our life involves Jesus explicitly, which brings to mind Jesus' proclamation in John 14.6: I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Therefore, Jesus is in our way, but the good thing is that he is our way.

Effective Praying

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 18, Jesus, via a parable, teaches his disciples the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. Foremost, prayer needs to come from the depth of the heart. Sometimes God tests your persistence, so do not stop communicating with him if you love him.

No Secret Way

        When people find out that I am truly happy in the Lord, they congratulate me and are happy that I have found happiness. What I want to make it known to all is that what I have found is not something by luck I happen to stumble upon and happen to work for me. No, this is God's familiar, universal call to every one of his beloved children. There is no secret, and only your response matters.

How God Sees Us

        When God looks at us as our creator and Father, he sees the beauty of each soul, but is grieved by the sins that have stained us. Say you have a favorite vase and it falls into mud and gets dirty all over, would you throw it away? Of course not, and this is how God sees us, for the sin is not the sinner. Mary asked us to recite the Fatima Prayer at the end of each Rosary decade: Oh My Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of Hell, lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy. We are not to judge anyone, but pray for everyone.

*God's Beauty*

        The beauty of God's creation we can see with our eyes, but the beauty of God himself we can only see with the eye of our soul. It's this vision of the soul that imparts great inner joy to the beholder.

God Has Made Us

        As I headed for morning Mass today, I saw the blue skies, white clouds, and the colorful fall foliage in hues of yellow, amber, and red. Why weren't they in some other colors? I immediately knew that God was real, for he had made them beautiful for us to behold. We also understand what good and evil mean, and can feel joy or sadness ~ again pointing to his existence. All I can say is that God has made us this way. Don't forget that he has made us in his image so that we can choose to believe in him too!

Another Simple Fact

        Jesus said in John 8: "Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin" and "If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." So the fact about us is that, first, as sinners we easily become our own slaves. Then we hear Christ calling us, we believe and follow him, and we are set free.     

*Assured Facts

        Those who live for the world will die with the world, and those who die for God will live with God.

To Be in God

        When God and you are in each other, he and you become one. But since he is infinite and you are finite, it's difficult to see that you can possibly contain him. So, why not picture that you are in him, totally containing you? Surely, you are now one with him, since you now dwell in and belong to him wholly. 

Power of Transformation

        The Holy Eucharist, being the true body and blood of our Lord, is packed with grace to make you holy, new, and beautiful for God to behold. Therefore, consume it with complete submission to his holy will and wonderful transformation will take place in your heart and soul. In Matthew 8, when Jesus was ready to go to the house of a centurion to cure his paralyzed servant, the centurion said, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed." This is the kind of attitude and faith we should hold.

Be Alert and Ready!

        Jesus will come again to judge us, but no one knows when that will happen. Therefore, we must absolutely be ready, for when he surprises us by his unexpected appearance, there will not be any time left for repentance.