***My Pure Joy

        Communion experience. The Lord defends me as his treasure! He is my pure joy!

To Be Unstained by the World

        In today's second reading from James 1, the Apostle advised his readers to keep themselves unstained by the world. I say amen to that because the secular, ungodly world is much like a huge mud pond – it's just so easy to get stained by it. But Christ can keep us pure and clean if we'll abandon ourselves in him. For he is our one and only Savior!

*To Forgive Is Divine Indeed

        A prominent politician has just passed away and had a most prominent funeral service held for him. He had planned it to make sure that some of his political enemies wouldn't be invited to attend his funeral. He had the right to do so, but my thought is that if you are already on your way to meet your Maker, shouldn't you at least make sure that you no longer hold any grudge against anyone anymore?

***God Forever Our Hope

        God is our great hope. With God our Father, you can alway start afresh – no matter what your past is like – it's never too late – the past is gone, let it go – now you can start with God again with a clean slate – he always waits for you – you are now the prodigal son returning home – get ready for the welcome party – rejoice! – he's ready to cleanse you of your sins and make you holy – amen, now you are set to enjoy heaven in your Father's house for all eternity!      

Connecting With God Intimately

         Communion experience. I connected with my God most intimately, at the heart, soul, and spirit levels through the Holy Eucharist.

How do We Serve the Lord?

        The Gospel reading from Matthew 26 today gave us the parable of talents. Three servants all received talents from their master. Two of them traded with their talents and doubled their money, while the third one just buried his one talent in a hole. On the master's return, the two productive servants were given great responsibilities, while the nonproductive one not only had his talent taken away from him, but also got thrown into the darkness outside. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

         It so happened that early this morning before Mass, the Lord got me thinking about how we serve him at different levels. At the highest level, we do everything for the sake of glorifying him. Then we also do things indirectly to serve him better, such as exercising our body, enjoying certain recreation to get us recharged, etc. Descending lower, we do nothing for the Lord nor anything bad. At the lowest lever, we simply go against him in all things. A productive Christian will grow rich (spiritually), while a lazy Christian will lose everything at the end.

**Free and Content

        Communion experience. I experienced true freedom in the Lord, having been liberated by him in spirit. I was content, having seen his unique beauty with my heart.

***Real Flesh and Blood

        Today's Communion antiphon, John 6.54: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, says the Lord, and I will raise him up on the last day. If Jesus had said, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, I mean symbolically, of course, would have eternal life . . ." – anyone could have picked up some bread to eat and some wine to drink anywhere anytime and have eternal life.

Being Extremely Foolish or Wise

         Today's Gospel reading from Matthew 25 is on the parable of the ten virgins. The five foolish ones were not ready when the bridegroom showed up, while the five wise ones were all prepared to meet him. So we have the foolish and the wise. We'll all fall into one of the two categories when Christ comes next. 

**Which Possession for You?

        When you are possessed by the devil, you become totally enslaved and can only be delivered by God. On the other hand, when God possesses you, it means that you now belong to him completely. Since God never violates your free will, his gift for you, it means you must have wanted to belong to him, which means you've been liberated from yourself. Of course, you are still free to leave the Lord anytime you wish to, but why would you, now that God also belongs to you?

**Question for Thought

        If Jesus comes right now, what would you like him to find you doing? Watching an R-rated movie? Quarreling with someone? Thinking about taking revenge on someone? Not liking yourself? Feeling down or upset? I hope not.

*Protection of the Soul

        Communion thoughts. The Holy Spirit protects us by purifying our soul. Once the soul is clean and made whole, it is safeguarded for eternity.

*Power of the Spirit of God

        During the liturgy of the Eucharist, the Spirit of the Lord descends upon the bread and wine, transforming them into the Body and Blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ. As we receive the Eucharist, we may ask the same Spirit to descend upon us to transform us into new, clean and undefiled souls.

***Temptation to Be Avoided

        The current movie Crazy Rich Asians is a box office hit. It's a romantic comedy rated PG-13, but reviews do mention sexual and drinking scenes in it. No doubt, it's a film made to appeal to the world to make a lot of money. Seriously, if you do say the Lord's Prayer and ask him not to lead you into temptation, then avoid seeing it. In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 24, Jesus said to his disciples, "Stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come." How would you feel if he comes and find you watching a worldly, impure movie in a theater?

Union Begets Peace

        There will be no peace in any house if there is no unity among the residents of the house. To dwell in the house of the Lord, we must surrender ourselves to be in union with him, thus remaining obedient and pure. And we'll have peace in our lives.

***Key to Spiritual Success

        We are told to love God and be holy over and again, and find the going hard. The secret of achieving the goal is again to yield to God, allowing him to love us and make us holy. It's being passive to God, with us out of the way. You can't get away from the truth that surrendering to God is the key to any spiritual success.  

**Following God the Smart Way

        To follow God on your own is hard because you are involved in fighting yourself all the time. The smart way is to open yourself up to God to let him draw you to him.

**Perfect Relationship With God

        You are completely comfortable with God, in a state of complete ease with him, in total harmony with him. You and God are inseparably one.