Best Possible Move

        God has created us to have him to be our center, and to obey him. Otherwise, we only create disorder and chaos in ourselves and for others. Broadly speaking, we are the ones who can mess up the whole universe. If you see this, then you should run toward him, your Father, without delay, and everything for you will turn out fine and then some. That would certainly be the best possible move of your existence. 

Improving Our Health

        People are so concerned about their health that they read and talk about what they should eat, how they should exercise, or even the kind of cookware safest to use. But they often forget that the most serious threat to our health are the stresses we face in life, and overconcern about our health only creates more stress. Christians overlook the fact that by abandoning themselves to God, they can actually become stress-free, thus benefiting their health greatly. God can take care of us in all things – we only need to put our faith in him.  

Sweet Sorrow

        Christians, being human, feel sorrow like anyone else, but their sorrow is always lined with joy. Once the soul has experienced the joy of knowing Christ, no sorrow can ever crush his or her spirit anymore. Sorrow normally burdens the soul, but to the Christian, all sorrows experienced for the sake of Christ are essentially sweet, for they always draw him or her closer to the Lord.

Securing Our Soul

        What is most important to us is our soul. If you can entrust your soul to God, then you indeed have faith in him and your soul will be secure in his care forever!

The Best Part

        Communion thoughts. You watch the news and see everyone talking a mile a minute, nonstop, and you realize how infinitely more beautiful and peaceful it is to remain silent in union with Christ. The world is in total unrest because it does not know him. What came to my mind was what the Lord said to Martha who was anxious and worried about many things, while her sister Mary was sitting at Jesus' feet listening to him speak: "There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her." (Luke 10:42.)

*Extraordinary State

          Living in Christ is an extraordinary state, for it remains so, as everything around you passes.         

*Ruining God's Plan

       In today's Gospel reading from Acts 16, we heard read that at Philippi, the crowd attacked Paul and Silas, and the magistrates had them stripped and beaten with rods. Afterwards, they threw them into prison. About midnight, there was suddenly a severe earthquake; all the doors flew open and the chains of all were pulled loose. The jailer woke up and was alarmed when he saw the prison doors wide open. He rushed in, saw Paul and Silas, and trembling with fear, fell down before them. He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved." God has truly made his plan for our salvation simple, but we often make it as complicated as possible. Instead of making his way straight, we make it crooked or set up roadblocks in our own way. A tragedy in the making!

Expecting God's Wonders

        It's true that we reap what we sow. The more we trust in God, the more we see how wonderful and amazing he is. Let God become more and more wonderful and amazing to you. The sky's the limit!

*Justice Without Guidance

       In the news today. A New York doctor who says he's done 40,000 abortions is accused of being negligent in saving the life of a mother who died after he performed an abortion on her. By the way, he charged $6,000 for the procedure. His lawyer says his client has not committed a crime and predicts that he'll end up with only months in jail when he is sentenced next month. In 2013, a Philadelphia doctor Kermit Gosnell was convicted of involuntary manslaughter after a patient got a fatal overdose of sedatives during an abortion. He also was convicted of murder for snipping the spines of several infants born alive during the procedures. 

       Our justice is warped. Killing the infant within the mother's womb is OK, but not outside of it. That life begins at conception is completely ignored. God created us out of love and loved us before we were born! Without the guidance of God, mankind further strays away from his ways. It is good that we'll all be judged by him in the end. 

*What Must Come First

        Communion experience. When Jesus was offering his own Body and Blood to us during the consecration of the bread and the wine, he was declaring his greatest love for us. And I saw that loving and worshipping the Lord must come before anything else in life.

**Simplest Formula

        How to succeed in loving others, attaining union with God, becoming free, receiving inner peace, losing the desire to sin, making life meaningful, getting into heaven . . . ? You only need to obey Jesus alone. 

God's Love, Our Truth

        In today's reading 2 from 1 John 4, the Apostle talks about God's love. God wants us to love one another, because God is love and he loves us so much that he wants us to be just like him. It is this love that makes us selfless, refrains us from judging others, and draws us to him. It is the key to freedom, inner peace, and eternal life. 

*Encountering the Holy Spirit

        In today's reading 1 from Acts 10, the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out on the Gentiles while Peter was still speaking to them about God's impartiality. When the Holy Spirit falls upon you, he touches your soul, making you feel your own soul too. This direct connection with God enables you to see that you were indeed made by him, a most memorable and refreshing experience.      

Foolish Living

        We'll face Christ after we die or at his Second Coming if that happens before we die. Either way, it won't be long. Therefore, extremely foolish is the person who plans and lives his life as if he will never die. 

Grateful to God

        I am most grateful to God for having revealed so clearly his great love for us and his plan of salvation to us so that we might have eternal life in him through his Son. This has made all the difference to my existence like night and day! It has to be one of the greatest blessings.

*Jesus Most Compelling

        Communion experience. Jesus entered me through the Holy Eucharist and was 100% willing and ready to be one with me. How could I possibly not be 100% willing and ready to be one with him? Such is the power of love!

Preparing for Meeting God

        Communion experience. We shall all meet God one day. Achieving union with God smoothes out our journey the rest of the way, removing all obstacles. Otherwise, we might have a rougher time ahead.   

*Christians Know God!

     Today is the Feast of Saints Philip and James, Apostles. In the Gospel reading from John 14, Jesus said to Thomas, "If you know me, you will also know my Father. Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?" We all remember the time we saw a celebrity or someone special. My wife recalls spotting President Reagan in the distance once, after he had landed at the airport in Washington, D. C. I personally saw Linus Pauling, the Nobel Prize winner in chemistry and peace, also at an airport as we both lined up to board the same plane. These chance sightings we remember. Now, devout Christians know Christ well, who is no ordinary celebrity, but God himself! This is certainly something we can truly feel good and rejoice about!