**Habitual Sins

        I used to sleep late and get up late every morning for many years. Then I was able to change all that by going to bed early and rising early the next morning everyday. I used to sit with my legs crossed most of the time. Then I realized that I really shouldn't do that sitting in a church pew during Mass, and I was able to change that too. Now I actually feel better sitting anywhere without crossing my legs. The point I am getting at is that many of our sins are also habitual and you can change your habit to stop committing them again. 

**Fearless Living in Christ

        Christ our Savior has already come, making it clear that we can have life in him forever. Once we know that our soul is safe in him and our body will pass away anyway, there is truly nothing left for us to fear. Let the Lord remove all your sins first and then all your fears.

*A Big Deal*

        It strikes me that the fact that God can forgive our sins is a big deal. Because if you are stuck with sins, you simply won't be able to get into heaven! In today's Gospel reading from Luke 5, Jesus forgives the sins of a paralytic for having faith in him. Anyhow, the sure way is to repent of your sins and ask the Lord to forgive you. Having God cleanse you spiritually is more amazing than having him heal you physically. For only he can do this, and it's a request with which he'll always gladly comply.  

Sharing the Joy of the Holy Spirit

        When you are in union with God, your spirit is in union with the Holy Spirit, sharing the same joy.

***Real Presence in the Eucharist

        Communion experience. I received the greatest possible gift on earth, the Lord himself. By the way, a Eucharistic miracle just occurred in Buffalo, NY. This is not the first miracle of it kind. I personally saw one Host which once bled and is now preserved in Betania, Venezuela. You can google and find others preserved around the world. Unfortunately, the bishops in Buffalo for inexplicable reasons to me, instead of investigating the phenomenon and preserving it for the faithful to witness, ordered the Host to be disposed of. Fortunately, you can still see some of the images caught before it was disposed of on this part of Raymond Arroyo's latest World Over report. 

**Simple Obedience Prayer

       Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Gospel reading from Luke 1, the angel Gabriel came to Nazareth to announce the birth of Jesus to Mary, informing her that the child would be conceived by the Holy Spirit and born through her. Mary's final response was: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." That last line shows Mary's perfect obedience to God. In fact, it begs for God's will be done. This is a prayer we can learn quickly to say at any time to get ourselves ready to do God's will. 

*The Remnant Church

        In Matthew 7.21, Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." How can you be sure that your name is written in heaven? If you are not quite sure, then it's probably not written there. If you truly love the Lord and are trying to do God's will in all things and not even concerned about whether your name is written in heaven or not, you certainly will enter the kingdom of heaven. How many of us belong to this group? Perhaps not the majority. The word "remnant church" comes to my mind. It is made up of "leftovers," those who remain within the Body of Christ after all the others have left or are only loosely tied to it now. 

How Jesus Frees Us

        Have you really thought about that Jesus can set us free? Well, he can free us from being self-centered and from our own ego; he can free us from feeling anxious and worrying; he can lighten all our burdens for us to carry easily and turn our sufferings into joy; he can remove all shackles that keep us from approaching him; he can remove all our sins and even our desire to sin; he can fill our heart with peace and joy; he removes our fear of death and makes us look forward to meeting him in heaven; and he can makes us live in bliss for all eternity. That last freedom alone is good enough for me.

**State of Mankind

        "The love of money is the root of all evils" – 1 Timothy 6.10. More fundamentally, it's our rebelliousness against God that has made our world so chaotic and disordered. On this tiny planet in this vast universe, billions of us all try to play God, concerned only about our own happiness on earth and not realizing that we'll soon pass away and face judgment. It's quite a pitiful sight. Perhaps it's not a bad idea to play God here so as to see that we are the only creatures who are capable of sinning and are messing up things in the universe. 

**Receiving Faith From God

        Faith is a gift from God. You can receive this most precious divine gift by opening up your heart to the Lord. How strong a faith you receive depends upon how much you open up your heart. Do you know that as you open wide your heart to God, the narrow entrance gate to heaven also opens wide for you? 

*Becoming Lovely

        God is love, so he loves us. Because of this tremendous love, he is most lovely and we fall in love with him. It is this love that can bring us inner peace and unite us to him as one. Surrender to God to let this love engulf you and you'll be lovely to him.

Mutual Relationship

         If we acknowledge Jesus before others, he will acknowledge us before the heavenly Father. If we deny him before others, he will deny us before the heavenly Father. (Matthew 10.32-33.) If we trust in the Lord, he will trust in us. If we glorify him, he will glorify us.

***How to Experience God

        I watched about 3/4 of Fr. Mark Goring's testimony on how he came to know God on YouTube. Some of his experiences were similar to mine, so I am prompted to reiterate what I have said in the past again, for I think the message is important. Knowing God is simple to understand. God has done all the preparatory work and is waiting for your move. He has even knocked on your door before, but you did not hear him. What is essential is that you must leave your heart open – the wider the better. If you seek God and expect him to hear from him, but if your heart is closed, he's not going to barge in. Of course, there are exceptions. In the case of St. Paul, even when was persecuting Christians, Jesus called him directly to be his Apostle to the Gentiles. Roy Schoeman whose testimony I recently posted is another case. But for most of us, the fast and sure way to know God is to open your heart and invite God to enter. The wider you open yourself, the sooner you'll experience him. This is to show that you are humble and sincere in seeking him. If you keep God out, he's going to keep you out, or said perhaps more accurately, you'll keep yourself out by your own choice.

Are You Limiting God?

        Nothing is impossible with the Lord God, so know that he can transform you into a saint if you so desire.

*Only Sure Way to Salvation

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 7, Jesus tells us how we must build our house on a solid foundation so that it will not collapse when the rain falls, the floods come, and the winds blow and buffet it, by listening to his words and acting on them. Of all the battles, the battle for the soul is the one that matters the most to us. And Christ is the only rock we can set our house on to safeguard our souls – there is no alternative.

Sufficient Reason for Belief

        From the Old Testament, we know that God is eternal. From the New Testament, we know that God is love. These two facts are more than sufficient for us to believe and worship the God of Christ.

**For Rapid Spiritual Progress*

        Do not let tradition, customs, or conventional ways bind your spirit in any way. Be free in the Lord Jesus Christ, letting him show you everything to reach union with him.  

***Make Your Choice

        We cannot always be what we want to be, but we can always be what God wants us to be. Think about it.