*Moving God's Will

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 7, a Greek woman begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. Jesus tested her by saying to her, "Let the children be fed first. For it is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs." She replied and said to him, "Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children's scraps." Then he said to her, "For saying this, you may go. The demon has gone out of your daughter." When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. We see and learn here that when the Lords wills something, it is done, and that faith can move God's will!

**God All-Knowing

        You can conjure up many gods, but there can be only one true God and he is God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Lord God knows everything about us, his handiwork. If you do not know him, but mean to pray to him, he knows it. If you're misguided and have a false image of him but still mean to seek him, he knows that too. In other words, as long as you believe that there is only one true God and wish to know him, he will reveal himself to you. The Lord knows us before we were born. He sees what's in our hearts and understands us more than we can ourselves. It's such a blessing that we have an all-knowing God, which means that we are well looked after by him. 

Be Ruthless to Sin

        Realizing that you have sinned is good, but to not sin again is so much better. In fact, that should be your goal. Therefore, be absolutely ruthless to sin and become a saint. 

How to Live for God Effectively

        Get out of the way of the Lord, which means that ego must be absent, completely. 

God Our Liberator

        We on our own are easily shackled by all the material things of the world – a simple fact. The God of Christ is the only one who can shatter all our shackles and liberate us into eternal freedom – a simple truth. Submit yourself to God to make it happen – a simple act of will.

Cleaning the Heart 1st

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 7, Jesus said to the crowd, "Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile." Jesus used such examples as evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, and folly. These all come from the unclean heart. The first order of business of loving God is to let him purify your heart and keep it clean. Then you'll be ready to love your neighbors as God loves us, for he is all pure and holy.

God's Will Satisfies

        Matthew 5.6, one of the Beatitudes: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall have their fill. This tells me that if whatever you want is what God wants, then you shall have it. Therefore, follow God's will and you will be satisfied. 

Why Not Talk to God More?

        Most people love to talk. The moment Mass is over, you hear the buzz of conversations. Since the Lord God is supposed to be the most intimate one of all to us, it seems logical that we should talk to him more that to anyone else. Of course, with God, we can easily talk to him in thoughts, for he knows all our mind as well as our heart. 

Being Chosen

        Communion experience. It was God who had chosen and called me – I felt fully fulfilled.

Focusing on Christ Alone

        Christ has come to us in person 2,000 years ago. He, being God and love, is the perfect and most beautiful being there is. Therefore, worship him, adore him, praise him, love him, and listen to and learn from him directly, while following the teachings of the Holy Church. Disregard instantly anyone who claims that he or she has received new revelations about the Lord, for they are all false prophets.  

Best Kind of Help Is . . .

getting others to know Christ so that he might directly help them and save their souls as well.      

***It Will Be Forever!

        Today is Memorial of Saint Miki and Companions, Martyrs. The entrance antiphon: The souls of the saints are rejoicing in heaven, the saints who followed the footsteps of Christ, and since for love of him they shed their blood, they now exult with Christ for ever. Heaven is a place where you exult in joy. By contrast, hell is an abode where you wail in sorrow. What make the joy in heaven so great and the sorrow in hell so horrible is that they both continue on forever!

**No Cheering at the Second Coming

        I just saw in the news that the Philadelphia Eagles, this year's Super Bowl champ, got back home with the trophy held high, and the excited adoring fans that had waited at the airport cheered and applauded enthusiastically. I wonder what it will be like when Jesus arrives at his next coming. I believe that there will be only wailing and no cheering. Those who are saved will be overjoyed, but at the same time they will feel great sorrow for those who will be separated from them and the Lord forever. This has been quietly going on ever since the human race fell from grace.

***Living the Full Catholic Life*

        Ask Jesus to baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. The Holy Spirit is the fire that can set your heart ablaze with the love of God. Be completely open to the Holy Spirit and he will reveal to you with absolute certainty that God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit loves you and yearns to be one with you. And you'll never be the same person again! Those who say that God is hard to find do not know what they are talking about! The Lord is all yours if you let yourself be all his.

*More Than Recognizing Jesus*

        Today is Memorial of St. Agatha. From the Gospel reading from Mark 6, we heard that Jesus and his disciples crossed the sea to land at Gennesaret and tied up there. And as they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him. They scurried about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. Recognition of Jesus drew the people to him. Do we also recognize the Lord? Of course, we do not see him today, but we certainly can get to know him most intimately. In fact, knowing him dwelling in us far exceeds recognizing him, for he is now one with us.

*Our Choice

        First of all, we are completely at God's mercy, for nothing can pass without his knowledge nor happen without his permission. And we can choose to rebel against or to obey him. You needn't rack your brain to figure out what we should do.

Minding Our Own Business

        Our business is to let God make us holy, and this is what we need to focus upon exclusively. We need not be concerned about loving others, as that will become part of us as we grow holier. You could say that we need to love ourselves first, but not more than others. The foremost aim is to become like Christ ourselves.    

The All-Encompassing God

        There are many religions, but there is only one God, the God of Christ. This is the God who has created and knows everything about us and upon whom we depend completely for existence! And it'd be impossible for us to hide or escape from him ever. Therefore, we might as well submit ourselves willingly to him. Especially, after he has revealed through his Son how much he loves us, there is absolutely no excuse for us to ignore him anymore.