Always Go to the Lord

        Here is Fr. Mark Goring's latest post. I say amen to his message. God and his word are what we should always go to first. Best yet, attain union with the Lord and hear him speak to your heart directly.

God Lives Up to His Standards

        The teachings of Jesus are difficult for us to follow unless you truly know him well, as in union with him. In reading the Gospels, you actually see that the Lord practiced what he preached to the letter. This further convinces me that he is God, even though I already know. 

Following the Lord

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 6, Jesus gave the teaching on love of enemies and judging others to his disciples. It showed me clearly that we should love everyone, enemy or friend, and expect nothing back. It goes beyond mere oneway giving, for we are to accept being hated, mistreated, struck, or robbed. This is extremely difficult us to follow. Then I realize that for the love of God, we must at least have the intent to follow him. Doing all this for the Lord is really not that much relative to how much love we receive from him. 

**Eucharistic Miracle

        On Nov. 20, 2015, I posted about this miracle which took place in Buenos Aires. The video had been deleted, so I am posting a different one with Fr. Mark Goring reporting. The other video showed photos of the bleeding Host, but Fr. Mark tells the story so well that you do not miss the images. 

What Life Is Like (revised repost)

        You hear said "Life is like a dream," but I think it's more like a movie. A dream is rather ethereal, whereas a movie is a succession of scenes which you can direct and edit to achieve the desired ending. Watch this Catholics Come Home "Movie of Your Life" commercial to see what I mean.

To Follow in Faith

        God wants us to follow him in faith. Otherwise, he would show us instantly what he wants us to do each time and reveal the purpose of it all. Trusting in him with a strong faith is what he wishes.

*Missing the Boat (repost)

        I have been going over my old posts, trying to extract the short to the point sayings from them. I came across this one of September 10, 2015. I hope you'll like it as much as I do.

          "Not knowing Jesus is missing the boat that happens to be paradise."

**Fearing Ourselves (repost)

         This post of June 26, 2015 is worth reposting. I have shortened it to make it more succinct.

        "No need to fear God, for he loves us. No need to fear the evil one, for we have God. Fear only ourselves, for our eternal destiny depends upon if we choose God or the evil one."

To Know You've been Chosen

        Today is the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, Apostle. In the Gospel reading from Matthew 16, Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter said in reply, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." If you honestly believe as Peter did, then you have been chosen and called to be the Lord's disciple too. Now, follow him.

Letting God Have His Freedom

        I arrived at Mass this morning as an empty vessel, a blank canvas, ready for God to fill me with and make me look like whatever he wished.

***How to Love God?

        I was on the tread mill when this question came up and the answer came to me instantly: by unloving ourselves. As long as we love ourselves more than we love God, we do not really love him much. If we can love only him, 100%, then we become free. I have just revealed this simple truth to you. To me, compared to Einstein's E = mc² equation, it's simpler, but in a way even more profound and astounding. 

God Ours for the Asking

        There is a spiritual world out there. Before I became a Christian, I'd watched people inviting some spirit to come and it just showed up almost instantly. In this country, people who play the ouija board can tell you about this. Of course, those are all evil spirits you cannot trust. The point I want to make is that the Lord God, our creator, is the greatest and most holy spirit. Naturally, if you invite him to come into your life, your heart, he would do just that. Yes, he who loves you is yours for the asking. And he will protect you from all evil.  

An Unavoidable Question

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 8, Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" We must ask ourselves this same question and know the right answer, and live what we profess to believe in. Again, no escape here. And believing in Jesus must be followed by following him until we know him at least as much as we know ourselves. (Yes, it's possible to know and love Jesus more than you know and love yourself.)

**The Unavoidable!

        The world is burying it head in the sand, trying to avoid something that is absolutely avoidable. And that thing is, every one of us will face our God and be judged one day soon; there will be no escape! So I am very concerned about all the souls. I have already woken up and know where I am headed, a great feeling. If you do not pay attention, you are drifting into oblivion, not good. 

*Living Without Anxiety

        I learned another lesson. God does not want us to be anxious about anything, even if we are doing his work. (Actually, a faithful follower will always be doing his work.) Not to be specific, I've been doing something I sensed to be what he wanted me to proceed, so I started working hard at it, disrupting even my daily routine. Last night I had a bad dream about that which made me lose my peace. I now realize that to do God's work diligently does not mean pushing it as hard as I can. Our Lord waited 30 years before the time was ripe for him to start his ministry. So I must enjoy living, trust in my God, take one step at a time following him, and never set myself any rigid time schedule in advance to follow.

Monkey Our Ancestor? (repost)

         As I was reviewing my old posts, I came across this one of Dec. 8, 2014. I think it's worth reposting it one more time.

        "The other day someone asked if her dog could go to heaven. Now, a dog has neither the concept of God nor any moral understanding of good and evil. Thereby, a dog does not have a soul. Without a soul, there is no heaven to speak of. I believe that theology can back me up on this. If dogs have souls, then what about birds, ants, all insects, and bacteria, or even plants? Where do you draw the line? If I am logical to you, then we can see that human beings, who have souls, could not possibly have been evolved from monkeys, who have no soul. Evolution of the soul? No scientists would know how to do research on that."   

**God vs. Satan

        God and Satan are far apart, for one is all good and the other, all evil. Yet Satan can make himself look like God by producing false miracles, apparitions, visions, prophecies . . . to deceive you. Many today are following certain seers whom the Church has already condemned to be false. We have to be so careful. My advice is to stick to Christ the Lord and the Church. You do not need any miracles to boost your faith. Genuine miracles are there for a particular purpose. False ones are there to distract and confuse you. Satan is cunning, but not smart. If you look closer, there is always something not quite right. I mentioned some years ago that I came across this book written by a woman who claimed to have seen the Blessed Mother and received many messages from her. I flipped through the book, everything seemed to be OK until a chapter close to the end started talking about how the Blessed Mother was reincarnated. At that moment, I dropped the book. So, focus single-mindedly upon Christ. Do you know how thieves and pickpockets steal things from you? They always distract you in some way first.

*God is Fire

        We know that God is love. He is also water, for he quenches our thirst. God is also fire, for the Holy Spirit can set our heart ablaze. Do not disrespect or play with this fire lest you get burned or scorched forever. Let it instead purify you to make you clean and ignite your zeal for God, and you'll be filled with joy and transformed into a delight in the Lord's sight.