*Your Way or God's Way

        When you let go of your own ways and let God take over, you, who have been your own biggest obstacle, are now out of his way to liberate you. Since you no longer fight against the Lord, you become carefree and relaxed, knowing that you are on your way to your home in heaven. This is exactly the way God has wanted for you and for him.

Choosing Your Master

        God gave us the free will, so he never forces us to do what we do not wish to do; he does not browbeat us. We are the ones who can choose to obey or disobey him freely. You could say that we are our own masters only in this fleeting life of ours. The wise would choose to follow the only eternal Master for now and forever.

*Commandment, Not Amendment

        As the First Amendment of our Constitution guarantees our freedom of speech, that right also gets abused. In the name of free speech, people attack others unjustly, spread false rumors, or even defend what is immoral and ungodly. At the same time, this freedom also fosters our pride and we end up not willing to listen to anyone anymore – the don't-tell-me-what-to-do attitude. The bottom line is this: without God, no amendment we make can solve our problems; with God, we only need to follow his commandments and we'll have peace.

Reciprocating God's Love

        Not a new message, but it still needs to be said. God has given all of himself to us, so it is time for us to given all of ourselves to him. To be lukewarm about it won't do. We must go all out, put in our best effort, and go to extremes to love him, for God can never be loved enough. And you can easily accomplish all this simply by surrendering yourself to God for him to make it happen!

Hypocrisy Widespread

        Obvious to the common people today, many politicians, entertainers, celebrities, and the various news media display their blatant hypocrisy. They are motivated purely by hatred, pettiness, narrow-mindedness, self-centeredness, and huge egos. The total lack of humility has blinded them from seeing any true fact objectively. This is the result of not knowing God. I truly feel sorry for them, so I ask for your prayers for their souls.

*Forever for Us!

        God exists forever. He shall love us forever and has planned for us to dwell with him in paradise forever. Who would want a god who can only take care of us temporarily? Trust and follow the Lord now and you'll be happy forever later. We are so made that we can be truly happy only when we can be happy forever.   

***Being One With God!

        Suppose that wherever you are, Christ is right there standing or sitting next to you, and wherever you go, he walks right next to you – you would feel so elated that you don't ever want to sin again. Receiving him in the Holy Eucharist is even better – he enters you to dwell within your heart! Nothing on earth can be more beautiful than becoming one in body and spirit with your loving creator, for he has raises your existence to the highest possible level! 

Exalting Time

        Communion experience. The Lord exalted me as I humbled myself before him.

*Precious Lifetime

        Treasure your lifetime, for it's only in your lifetime that you get to forgive others, to be forgiven by God, and to chose to go to or away from God for all eternity.

*To Forgive or Not to Forgive

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 18, Jesus teaches us to always forgive our brothers and sisters who sin against us, unconditionally. Naturally, we also sin against our brothers and sisters and the Lord wants them to forgive us too. It comes down to that not forgiving anyone is a sin and the Lord doesn't want us to commit that sin. This is certain – we'll never have peace in our hearts and in our world if we do not forgive those who offend us or can only forgive them a limited number of times. 

God Did Create Us

        I believe that we have all lied at one time or another in our lifetime, not counting the white lies. It amazes me that most of us do tell the truth most of the time. This made me see that we definitely possess a conscience, which further made me see that God must have created us to know good and evil. There's not another way possible.

How Significant Are We?

        If we look at the stars, ponder upon the billions of galaxies out there, and look at ourselves, we begin to realize our puniness in the whole universe. Then there are times we are so overcome by things that happen to us or are going on in the world that we feel there is not a thing we can do about it. Let's change our perceptions. The Lord God who created this vast universe had already come into the world and died for our sins in order to save us for all eternity! And he can and will now help us overcome whatever overwhelms us in the world! Now that we see we are indeed most significant to God, we must never consider ourselves insignificant again.   

**God to Be #1*

        God to be #1 in our life means that he is to be #1 in every category of our life. Simply, he must be the one we desire the must. If you still long for something more than God, he is not first in your life yet.  

***Most Loving Father

        Today we heard from Luke 15 the parable of the lost son read at Mass. This to me is the most beautiful and moving parable of Jesus. To know how much God the Father loves us, read this parable. The father in the parable expresses his true feeling when he says to the older son, who has always served him faithfully but is now angry that his lost brother is being treated better than he ever has been, "My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found." We were all dead and lost once, and may still be. My joy is that we have such a loving and forgiving Father that we can come to life and be home anytime we wish to return to him – he is always there waiting for us. 

Migrating Toward God?

        The battle with the self goes on. We have the two extremes: Holding tightly onto ourselves at one end and abandoning ourselves totally to God at the other. Each one of us knows where he is at. We falsely think that we are secure and free when we hold onto ourselves, taking up our defense position, but we can never be our own savior! The truth is that the more we abandon ourselves to God, the more we become secure and free in God. So, start migrating toward him.

*Prevalent Spirit of the Antichrist

        Recently, one TV show host accused Christians of being delusional in thinking that God speaks to their hearts, while another TV commentator belittled church, family, the police, the military, and the national anthem. My great sorrow for them prevents me from laughing at their ignorance and self-importance. These hardened hearts exhibited their total lack of humility. 1 John 4.3: Every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus does not belong to God. This is the spirit of the antichrist that, as you heard, is to come, but in fact is already in the world. Today it has spread wide over our world more than ever, bringing us ever closer to our last hour.

Extraordinary Status

        Communion experience. Christ now dwells in me. I am no longer an alien sinner, for the Lord has made me part of him. 

**Last Reminder Reinforced

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 16.19-31, Jesus' parable of the rich man and Lazarus told to the Pharisees bolsters the reminder of my last post. Both the rich man and poor Lazarus died. Lazarus was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham, while the rich man descended to the netherworld where he remained in torment. The parable makes it clear that there is heaven and there is hell, and a great chasm exists between the two abodes preventing anyone from crossing from one side to the other. Furthermore, the parable reveals that the only way to avoid ending up in the place of torment is to believe that it exists and repent now before you die. God has been telling us this all along and we need to listen to him.