*Spiritual Warfare

        The spiritual warfare going on between God and Satan is in a way one that involves just God and you, for you are the swing vote – if you join God on his side, you are saved and both you and God win; otherwise, Satan wins. Sadly, many are so deeply mired in sin that they do not not see this truth until some unfortunate event befalls them.

*All-Encompassing Prayer

        That every one of us living will attain union with God in this life.        

*Beauty Through Christ

        Communion experience. Through Christ, we are transformed into beautiful beings for him to behold. Through Christ we enter his beautiful world to enjoy him forever.

Proofs Jesus Is God

        The Resurrection of Jesus is clear proof he is God. Another subtler evidence easily overlooked is that he forgives sins! 

*Zeroing in on Christ

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 12, Jesus gave us the greatest commandment: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength." You have to go against logic and common sense to disagree with that. To me, this is saying that we are to focus on the Lord alone with full attention and maximum trust. Therefore, seeking union with him would be the way to go, for to want to be one with him is to show our greatest love for him.

Great Calming Force

        Communion experience. Jesus always advises us not to worry, not to be anxious or afraid. It is true that he is my greatest calming force. After I received him, I felt time stopped and it was just he and I communing with each other. His peace is what the world sorely needs.

Learning to Know God

        When I first started following Jesus, doubts still surfaced in my mind from time to time. As I let myself go deeper and deeper into him, I found the Lord to be more beautiful than I could have imagined and everything I knew about him was absolutely true. I knew then it was I who did not open myself up to God fully earlier on, and never his fault, for he's been the same yesterday, today, and forever.

God's Plain Message

        Today's Gospel acclamation taken from John 11 and John 14: I am the way and the truth and the life; whoever believes in me will never die. Can you possibly make the meaning any clearer? What do you not understand about it?

Never a Dull Moment With God

        Do you want to find out what you are really like? To get an accurate picture, we must see ourselves through the eyes of God, for he knows us more than we know ourselves. When we let him show us what we are like, he also reveals how he can transform us to make us perfect to please him. Self-understanding now leads us to new freedom. This is only the beginning. Anyway, with God life is certainly a lot more exciting, and I love it!

Quick Recipe for Peace

        Today's entrance antiphon came from Psalm 25: Turn to me and have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am alone and poor. See my lowliness and suffering and take away all my sins, my God. If everyone in the world feels the same way and begs God like this, we'll have instant worldwide peace.

Banishing False Security

        When everything is fine, we tend to think about ourselves and our present life only. But we do get old and things do go wrong, then we start turning to God. If you believe in preventive maintenance so that you'll feel secure no matter what happens, turn to God now, especially if things are going well.

Life-Changing Joy

        The joy of the Lord is insuppressable, for it bubbles forth from him who dwells in your heart. Let this joy transform your outlook on life and your life joyfully.

*To Know God's Heart

         No question that God can do anything. What matters is what God wills to do for us. Therefore, get to know the Lord so that we may know his heart and listen in.

**On Our Own or With God

        If you submit yourself to God, you let him take over and are taken care of by him for all eternity. On the other hand, if you say no to God and decide to strike out on your own, even if you work hard, you'd be extremely lucky to be able to take care of yourself in your brief time on earth. After this life is over, you have no more control. The best comment out of pity I could think of for you is "What a damn 'brave' fool!"

*Between Us and God*

        The Do It Anyway poem was found written on the wall of Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta, India, and is widely attributed to her. It is always good to read it, whether for the first or umpteenth time. I posted it in 2010 and am posting it again with some thoughts added at the end.

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind,
people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful,
you will win some false friends and some true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank,
people may cheat you.
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building,
someone could destroy overnight.
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness,
they may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,
people will often forget tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,
and it may never be enough.
Give the best you've got sanyway.

You see,
in the final analysis it is between you and God;
it was never between you and them anyway.

        That last verse remains poignantly with me. Each of us stands alone in the universe, responsible for our every single thought, word, and deed to God alone. Whether we go to or away from him for all eternity, each of us has the final say.   

Simple but Hard

        The saying of Thomas à Kempis from his book The Imitation of Christ came to my mind: All is vanity except to love God and serve him alone. We can all agree that this is supreme wisdom, but not something we can easily practice. As usual, God makes the truth simple and we make it hard.

Great Blessed Feeling

        Communion experience. I had two great feelings: knowing that I possess the Lord and knowing that I also belong to him. That is, we have each other. How more blessed can one be?

God's Straight Way

        Today's Communion antiphon, Matthew16.24 or 10.39. Both are Jesus' saying to his disciples. First one: "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." Second one: Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Here Jesus spoke as God with authority. He is to be No. 1 and tells you how to find life. He gives you the straight truth and you have your free will to make the choice. (By contrast, Satan never tells it like it is and always uses deception to lure you into his trap.)