**Sweet, Precious Joy

        Communion experience. I feel great joy in my Lord. Even though his joy is available to all (which I don't mind), I consider mine to be mine alone. It is so sweet and precious that you want to possess it all.

***Go Directly to God***

        Let's face it. Deep down we all know that life is empty without God. We do have that spiritual hunger and thirst within us whether you think about it or not. If evildoers seem not to feel it, it's because they choose to ignore it. The fact that we do not have inner peace is clear indication that we do not have enough of God in us. The Lord is always knocking on our doors. Nowadays you hear so many voices out there in the world that are confusing. Even the Church lacks clear-cut leadership, thus hindering the Holy Spirit. Being weak and being meek are not the same thing. Evil is rampant and time is urgent. There never should be time for dillydallying. Do what the Lords wants and never mind what people think. The good news is that we can always go to God directly to get our hunger satiated and thirst quenched. In fact, the direct way is the best way. Of course, at no time you should disobey the teachings of the Holy Church. It's a story too long to tell here: I have learned that trusting in the Lord alone, not even letting any miracle get in the way, is the way he desires. If you read St. John of the Cross, you'll find him making this point. Go straight to God now and you'll go straight to him later too.   

*Quality, Not Quantity

        I took a walk outside my house today. I live in a city, but in the "country" part of the city. I could still hear the street traffic in the distance, but nearby were tall trees and large granite boulders. A stream also flows by my house. Now that rain season has begun, it's doing quite well. Amazingly, there is plenty of wildlife all around. So far, I've seen or heard deer, coyotes, raccoons, skunks, possums, wild turkeys, humming birds, egrets, Canadian geese, woodpeckers, hawks, many squirrels, snakes, lizards, and unfortunately, rats too. There are also goats, sheep, alpacas, horses, cows, to keep the weeds down, chickens, ducks, geese, and, of course, dogs and cats. As I was taking the walk and praying the Rosary, I heard frogs croaking nearby, geese honking overhead, and dogs barking in the distance, creating quite a cacophony. I knew all these sounds would all pass, our own lives on earth too. It's like everything that passes has its own clock. Each of us has one too and only God knows when each clock will stop ticking. I wasn't sad or anything – my thoughts just drifted toward God as usual – how could I possibly not be aware of his presence when he dwells within my heart? He let me see it's not how long I live, but how I live my life that matters. It's quality over quantity! It comes down to whether I live for God or not.

*Again, We Need God

        When one loses inner peace for whatever reason, he becomes occupied with his own state and serving God couldn't be further from his mind. Therefore, maintaining inner peace is of utmost importance, and that peace can only be restored by entering deep into the Lord. There are millions of things around us tending to upset our peace, but one Lord can fundamentally transform us to become unperturbed by any of them. For he is our shield, our refuge, our rock, and our stronghold.

**Planned Parenthood Exposed

        This is the month Walk for Life or March for Life will be held nationwide in the United States. The Lord has placed a heavy burden on the heart of those who love him, realizing what a grave sin we are committing. Plant Parenthood is basically all about abortion. Here is a video you may not want to watch because it'll make you sick. Pray hard that God will crush all evil and save all souls!

The Pain We Cause God

        Be with Jesus to realize and feel the pain we inflict upon him so that we may sin no more.

**Fair and Square

       (1) God will forgive our trespasses if we forgive those who trespass against us. 

        (2) If we acknowledge Jesus before others, Jesus will acknowledge us before the Father. (Matthew 10.32.)

         (3) If we are ashamed of Jesus, he will be ashamed of us.

         (4) If we trust in him, he will trust in us.

         Exception: If we do not love him, he still loves us.

**Pained by Abortion*

        Trying to publicize my video "Magnitude of Abortion" of Nov. 16, 2018, I searched for pro-life sites online and was greatly impacted by the many excellent contents and presentations I came across, exposing the true horror of killing the most innocent and defenseless of us all, our own children! Right now as I am typing this message, their lives are being snuffed out. Abortion has to be the most horrible sin of our times, and there shall be retribution. Each of us should at the least pray daily for this abomination to end. Lord, have mercy on us! Christ, have mercy on us! Lord, have mercy on us!

**Overwhelmed by God*

        Communion experience. Jesus came to take away my sins! Think about it; this is a huge deal! More than meeting each other, the Lord entered me to be one with me when I received the Holy Eucharist – another huge deal! I love the Lord overwhelming me.

Our Roles Before Jesus

        In today's Gospel reading from John 3, John the Baptist said to his disciples, "I am not the Christ; I was sent before him. The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete. He must increase; I must decrease." So John regarded himself as the best man at the wedding. I guess we can take on the roll of flower girl or ring bearer. Rejoice!

**Power of the Holy Spirit*

        The Holy Spirit is gentle, but can be overwhelming too. When he permeates you with his peace, you want to rest in it forever. When he fills your heart, he sets it aflame with his burning love. When his joy moves your spirit, its sweetness is irrepressable and you desire to be totally crushed by it. I love my Lord, the Holy Spirit.

**Responsible for Our Own Journey

        We all have our free will to exercise. If God had forced us to believe in him, faith would have been unnecessary and become meaningless. The bottom line is that God has shown the way, but we ultimately choose our own journey.

*Heaven Is Good Reason

        If you think that the correct reason for believing in Jesus is that he is truly our God and Savior, you are right. I have not heard anyone say directly that he believes in Jesus because he wants to go to heaven. This is also a perfectly good reason. To want to go to heaven is not being self-centered, for heaven is exactly where our heavenly Father wants us to go, exactly why Jesus came to us to tell us in the first place. So, yearn for heaven and believe, and Jesus will take care of you.

**Evolving Lifetime Goal

        In my early days, I lived for this life. My goal, like almost everyone else's, was to do something to make a lot of money to achieve security and have a lot of fun in this world. (Wouldn't it be nice to win the lottery?) As I grew older, I became wiser and less myopic. I now finally see that the only worthwhile goal is to serve God, the God of Christ. It doesn't sound very glamorous, but it will get you to heaven. After all, it's only where you'll end up that counts. 

***God Most Personal

        Back when I first accepted Christ into my life, it was like after hearing a good story, I found it to be exactly what I needed to hear and decided to believe in him, not particularly feeling the presence of God in any way. Fast forward to the present . . . I know Christ as my Lord and God so intimately that he is more real to me than anyone I see or know now in the world – it is most personal knowing. When you and God are in each other, God becomes as real to you as yourself. I enjoy and love it!

*Our Role and God's Role

        Remember that we are not God and are powerless in changing people's hearts. We are to serve the Lord by bringing others to him for him to change their hearts.

**What God Thinks of You!

        One obstacle in our spiritual life is that we cannot totally accept ourselves yet. This shows that you still have that ego in you. But if you have a pure heart that God cares about the most, you should rejoice and not dwell on your imperfections. It is what God thinks of you, not what you think of yourself, that matters!

*True Abandonment to God

        I have heard people say that they don't worry and just leave everything up to God. Is this abandonment to God? True abandonment to God involves total detachment to all things, everyone else, and even yourself, so it goes a lot deeper. Since birth, each of us knows only our own self best. Therefore, transferring trust in yourself to trust in God would understandably be hard, but this is a fundamental, life-changing shift that will set you free to return to God in heaven! It is good to know that once you make that shift, God will make the rest of you way easy and a joy. Let's remember that in both Matthew 10 and 16, Jesus said, "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."