**Creating Awareness of God's Presence*

        I believe that all of us who follow Christ have had moments in which we feel or sense the presence or reality of God in our spiritual journey. These fleeting moments vary in duration, but we can create them! Rather than waiting for God to grant us such glimpses of him, we can turn to God with our heart and mind completely open and desire and seek union with him. Then, once you attain union, you will feel his constant presence within you. Even when you go through the dark night of the soul, not hearing his voice or receiving any consolation from him, you still know that he is present within you.   

Obligation to Save Souls

        If you see someone about to fall off a precipice into a giant firepit at the bottom below, most of us would instinctively reach forward to try to save that person if possible. Now, if you are a Christian and realize that many lost fouls will probably meet a similar fate after they die, wouldn't you want to try your best to save as many of them as possible now? 

Simple Wish

        Communion experience. I was not inspired to ask the Lord to overwhelm me with his love, nor uplift me to some great heights – I just asked to remain in him. 

*God, Our Supreme Example

        Today's 1st reading came from Genesis 22. We heard how God tested Abraham. The Lord instructed Abraham to offer up his only son Isaac up as a burnt offering to him. When Abraham and Issac came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Next he bound Isaac and put him on top of the wood on the altar. Just as Abraham was about to slaughter his son, the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven to stop him, for he passed the test. My first reaction: how could God be so cruel to Abraham? Then I realized that the Lord had sacrificed his only Son for our sake! I am not in any position to question him again. 

Today's Hypocrites

        In the old days, the news media were quite honest, for they reported all the news factually without bias. Today, it's a different world ~ a lot worse, I am afraid. Most news media even manufacture fake news or distort facts as they please. For example, they would not report on any bad deed done by some politician they like, no matter how horrible it might be; but twist and magnify every fault of another they don't like, ignoring altogether his accomplishments. Holding such a double standard is being unpatriotic and hypocritical. Hear what Jesus said to the Pharisees and scribes and you'll see how hypocrisy offends the Lord. The need to turn to God now is more urgent than ever.

**Going Direct to God

          God is our Father, brother, friend, teacher, spiritual guide and inspiration, protector, Savior, creator, life-sustainer and much more. Therefore, we should be his best children, siblings, friends, students, imitators, etc., and share all our thoughts, feelings, burdens, needs, and everything else with him. The communication and relationship must be direct and open, as we are entirely dependent upon him. This is trust and obedience. Direct learning from him follows. It goes without saying that no one can teach us spiritually as well as the Lord himself. Once you know him intimately, as in union, he speaks directly to your heart and effectively transforms you into a new creature. For results, always go straight to the top.

***No Small Act

        Communion experience. The Lord entered me, with his body and blood, soul and divinity! This was no small act; this was giving me the most loving, awesome, and powerful gift, the Lord God himself! It was the perfect time to open oneself to union with him and be set free!

Faithless Generation

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 8, Jesus rebuked the winds and the sea, calming a storm from a boat he's in. Today if we pray to God for rain or a hurricane to change its course, people would laugh at us – pity they don't know that nothing is impossible with God. No wonder that this faithless generation does not get to see many wonders of God. 

*Self-Importance has No Place

      There is danger in doing the Lord's work to believe that you are indispensable to him, forgetting that he has chosen you to do his work. For example, even though I am blogging almost daily for the benefit of many readers around the world, it is really not me doing my work. I must remember that it is the Lord using me for his glory and no more. If I cannot let my blog go, then I become a slave to myself. Anytime the Lords wants me to stop, it should be OK with me. The detachment to oneself must be thorough or you are not truly free in the Lord. Let all be accomplished through or without us by the Master, for we are mere servants doing what we should do.

**Most Urgent Goal!*

        Do you know that one day when you are with God, all your worries, questions, inner conflicts, unsettled issues, emotional complications, etc., will all be cleared up and resolved, and you shall simply enjoy the peace and freedom in God forever? Hence, to be with God now and forever should properly be your ultimate and most urgent goal!

Good Reason We Need God

        Another good reason why we absolutely need God. The world is full of evil caused by sin and to overcome evil, no one can help us but the living God of love, the Father of Christ our Lord, who alone has the power to take away our sins. 

*Huge Difference*

        I know and can tell you that if you live without Christ, you are a nobody, alone and lost in the universe. If you have Christ with you in your life, you will know that you are a most beloved son or daughter of God the Father and a brother or sister and dearest friend to Christ the Lord.

Tremendous Blessing . . .

when you abandon yourself in God and he takes you completely under his wing.               

*Never Look Back

        Most of us have all kinds of old memories, some pleasant and others less so. Anyhow, dwelling upon them is unhealthy, for it impedes spiritual progress. We need to focus on God alone and let go of bygones, and you'd experience greater freedom. Luke 9.62: Jesus said, "No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was behind is fit for the kingdom of God." So, be disciplined and tough.

**How God Has Made Us

        God has made us in such a way that (1) we understand good and evil, (2) we can get to know him, (3) there will be no rest for us until we find rest in him (St. Augustine), (4) we won't be happy until we know we can be happy forever, (5) our joy won't be complete until we possess all of God (become his), (6) we absolutely need him, for only he can take away our sins, and lastly (7) we can discover that he loves us so much that he wishes to be one with us.  

**Greatest Joy of Giving

        Communion experience. Jesus let me know that he had given all of himself to me. So now it was time for me to give myself to him, which is the same as letting him have all of me. Giving yourself to God actually brings one the greatest joy of giving!

God Alone Gives Life

        At Mass, I was aware that my heart is beating and my lungs breathing, continuously. Even if our science is so advanced that we can produce a body identical to any living animal to the last molecule, I do not believe that it will come to life, for you need God to breathe life into it. We who are living now are all being sustained by our creator for the time being. 

Most Astounding Sayings

        Today's Gospel reading from Matthew 10 at Mass was absolutely astounding! Jesus said to his apostles: "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." It is amply clear that only God would and can make statements like these. They make me fully believe that Jesus is my Lord and my God.