**Best Exchange There Is!

        Attain union with God, then all his thoughts and ways are yours and all your problems and burdens are now his. 

How We Are Set Free

        Jesus said that the truth would set us free. It sets us free by letting us know that God loves us, has redeemed us and cleared our way to eternal happiness in heaven with him, and no one except us can change that – we are set for eternity. 

Compelling Examples

        The Apostles Thomas and Paul are great examples that can help turning unbelievers into believers. Thomas doubted that Jesus had risen, but he got to touch his wounds personally when he appeared to him and Thomas proclaimed "My Lord and my God!" Paul on the other hand was a ruthless persecutor of all those who followed Jesus after his Resurrection, then the Lord called him and he turned 180 degrees around and became his apostle, spreading the good news to the gentiles until he was martyred. To me, these two examples validate the fact that Jesus is God and can change any of us.    

**Start Dancing With God*

        God is all powerful and know exactly what's best for us, but we are the weak ones, the guilty ones, full of pride, not willing to connect ourselves to him. It really takes two to tango to make things happen. So, start "dancing" with the Lord so that his power and knowledge may be ours too!

On Doing God's Will

        To do God's will, seek union with him first. Then you'll know his will when the Holy Spirit prompts you. Pray for a sign only when you are not sure about what his will is.

***How to Know God

        How well we know God depends entirely upon how much we surrender ourselves to him. To surrender to God is simply to give him complete freedom to enter your heart to do whatever he wishes. Naturally, he wants to be your most intimate friend, and you end up knowing him as your most intimate friend as well. 

Inescapable Meeting

        At Mass this morning, I knew that I would see Jesus again, whether at his Second Coming or after I die. Meeting him is unavoidable, since we were created through him and will have our eternal destiny determined by him. He is King of the Universe and rules over all in heaven and on earth. Only in him shall we find life forever.

*Disbelieve at Your Own Risk

        Yesterday I watched the film "The Case for Christ" on Netflix. It's based upon a true story of an atheist journalist who set out to prove that the Resurrection of Christ never happened. In the end, he found the evidence against him overwhelming and believed. There are still many out there today who do not even believe that Jesus ever existed. In any case, if one cannot prove that he is right, the logical and wise choice for him would be to believe, for Christ must be accepted fully or rejected. When you chooses not to believe, you are gambling with your soul! 

***Dream Relationship With God

         We may feel the peace of the Lord most of the time, but the test comes when someone misunderstands you or says something you feel uncalled for about you. Then you lose your cool. To remain objective and admit that we can be wrong is most difficult for mankind to deal with. 

       We know that God is always present with us, but we need to practice this awareness. If I am aware that he is watching me at all times, I know I would behave a lot better before others. Since Jesus and the Father are in each other, I believe that the even better practice is be aware that God actually dwells in us. Catholics are blessed to have the Lord truly present in the Holy Eucharist and receiving this Blessed Sacrament regularly greatly facilitates or strengthens our union with him. Now we have the Lord sitting on a throne in our hearts. Yes, we have been dethroned – the best thing that could possibly happen to us. Now, not only God is with us, we are in each other as one, doing all things together in perfect harmony. 

Highest Privilege

        Communion experience. Receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist is the highest, biggest, most special and rewarding privilege of my life on earth.

Matching God's Mercy

        We plead God to have mercy on us a lot, but we also need to do our part as recipients of his mercy. To expect 100% of his mercy, give 100% of yourself to him, and this means complete submission of ourselves to him. You reap what you sow.  

**Taking Advantage of God

        God is infinite and powerful, and he loves us. We were made in his image and can call him Father. His ardent wish is not to control us, not to force us to be holy, but for us to trust in him so that we may get to heaven to live in everlasting joy with him! Please do understand him correctly! Therefore, we should take maximum advantage of our most privileged and favorable position and ask for and get all the help we need from him – there is no better way to show our trust. This is truly a no-brainer unless your brain is disordered. First thing we need do is to settle our eternal destiny with God. Then we can relax and enjoy serving him the rest of our lives.     

Reacting to a Speedster

        On my way home after Mass, I was driving at a decent speed and a speeding car behind me all of a sudden illegally crossed the double solid lines to pass me when we were already nearing a stop sign ahead. Here are some of my reactions: (1) It is alarming that someone would drive in such an unsafe way. (2) He got in front of me and I don't like it (it's the bad pride surfacing). (3) He might get into an accident – should I care? (4) Perhaps he has a good reason for speeding. (5) I hope he realizes that everything we do will have consequences. (6) He cannot be my enemy, for he doesn't even know me. I feel sorry for him and pray that God will illuminate and bless him (as I come to my senses).

**Preparing for Jesus' Coming

       In today's Gospel reading from Luke 21, Jesus told his disciples to be vigilant at all times and pray that they have the strength to stand before the Son of Man when he comes, for that day would catch everyone who lives on the face of the earth by surprise like a trap. I belief that before he comes to judge us, to separate the sheep from the goats, he already knew everything about us. And the moment you realize that he is here, your time for reconciliation with him also expires. After not listening to him and not paying attention to his warning your whole lifetime, do you think he still should hear your last confession? God's mercy is ever present and his love, ever wanting to unite us with him. Seek and attain union with him now and you don't ever need to be concerned about his coming anymore.

**Evil of Abortion

        Jesus said in John 15.13: "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." He lived up to what he had preached and demonstrated it by going on the cross himself. (We certainly can at the least demonstrate our love for the Lord by living, if not dying, for him.) The diametrical opposite would be to take other human lives for our own benefit or convenience. Then it can be said that there is no greater evil than terminating the lives of innocent, defenseless babies for selfish reasons. I do understand that choosing to abort an unborn child is not easy and can be most agonizing to the mother, so the large blame must be placed upon those who are pro-abortion and have contributed to making the mother choose abortion. If such holocaust does not horrify us, then we have indeed become an ally of the devil. 

God Determines Eternity

        Only God, being eternal, knows eternity and has the power to determine all things that have to do with eternity. Since our soul lives on forever, we'll have to deal with eternity. In this way, God becomes our agent. Therefore, we must take God seriously, as he'll be determining our eternity. 

To be Like Jesus Is . . .

to remain humble, pure, and holy, and be filled with great love for all our brothers and sisters without exception. (I underlined "and" because the part that followed is specifically most difficult for us to put into practice.)    

*Imitating Christ, Our Aim

        God has created us in his own image. The difference is that we were created at various times, while God has existed forever. We are the only creatures on earth who can understand good and evil, virtue and sin, and our creator. Thus Jesus asks only us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is (Matthew 5.48). Therefore, we should aim to imitate Jesus to become perfect. First, let him purify us and fill us with his love. Then yield to him with an open heart so that he may teach us his thoughts and his ways for us to follow the Father's will perfectly as he did.