**Critical to Know

        The last two verses of today's Gospel reading from Matthew 10 are extremely important for us to know. Jesus said to the twelve apostles, "Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father." This sounds totally fair and it's a huge deal. There are Christians today who are ashamed of admitting that they are Christians – I think they are going to have a big problem later. 

*Praising Our Holy Mother

        I am prompted by the Holy Spirit to praise the Blessed Mother, Jesus' mother and our mother. She has to be the most beautiful human being ever created by God. I love her so much for always praying for our souls, for watching over us as we journey home, for obtaining numerous graces for us, for serving God alongside us, and most of all, for always leading us to Jesus. She is truly our life, our sweetness, and our hope. 

**Soul's Most Beautiful Journey

        In Christianity, the Lord God wins us over by love alone; never by force of any kind . . . no  coercion or suppression. His Spirit enters and penetrates our heart and soul only after we voluntarily open up to him. Faith finally takes root in us, eventually leading us all the way to be one with God, our creator, as we progress. 

**Communion Joy

        Communion experience. I received the Lord and knew that the Lord God had chosen me and called me. So the heavenly Father had willed that I should return to him – there's no doubt about that. How could I possibly suppress the great joy I felt? 

Tombstone Inscriptions

        I mentioned I attended a funeral recently. People plan their funeral in advance, but they often forget to make some final statement to put on their tombstone. This is one's last chance to express himself to let others know more about him and/or for him to glorify God. You can find many funny tombstone sayings on the internet that can really crack you up. I already know what to inscribe on my stone. Like my blogs, it'll be short and to the point, not funny though. I am not going to tell you now, so you'll have to wait until after I die to find out. Anyway, I think reading my present blog now should be more interesting. So never mind the epitaph on my tombstone.

*When Can You Die?

        Today's first reading at Mass was taken from Genesis 46. Joseph hitched the horses to his chariot and rode to meet his father Israel in Goshen. As soon as Joseph saw him, he flung himself on his neck and wept a long time in his arms. And Israel said to Joseph, "At last I can die, now that I have seen for myself that Joseph is still alive." I recall that when Simeon saw the child Jesus brought in to the temple for presentation, he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying: "Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation." So when will you be ready to leave this world? For those who have abandoned themselves to Christ, the Lord already knows that they are ready to go to him anytime.

A Prayer Experience

        Very early this morning when it was still quite dark outside, I was half awake, but felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to pray. So I prayed to Jesus still with eyes closed, pouring out all my wishes and desires from my heart. I knew that he heard me because he was right there. I felt extra good because of this closeness. Then I went to sleep again, but the experience remains vividly with me.

**Fighting for Christ Within the Church

        Here is a more recent video by Doug Barry. I am posting it because it tells what every Catholic needs to understand. We need to remain within the Church to help purify her.

**Lack of Leadership Within the Church

        Here's a vlog by Doug Barry that came out two years ago. You might have seen him on EWTN. He talks about the lack of leadership in the Church, which I concur with. If the Church does not teach her people loud and clear about how to live as faithful Catholics, evil would gradually take over and infiltrate all levels of our society, including the Church, resulting in the loss of many souls. This had actually happened and gotten especially worse in the last few decades.

What Sin Does

        Evert time we sin, we sadden the Father and our soul gets stained. We must repent to get our sins forgiven and our soul wiped clean, and then do extra good to soothe the wounds we inflicted upon the Father.

Letting God Make Us Amazing

        As you know I enjoy listening to piano music. Nowadays you can watch so many superb pianists performing online. Some of the talents are truly amazing. For us who follow the Lord, there is no question that we can let the Lord transform us into amazing holy saints, beautiful for him to behold. Then we shall have fulfilled our potential and duty in serving and glorifying God.

Most Private Moment

        Communion experience. Every time I receive the Lord, it is a most special, private intimate moment of my life.

**Believe in Jesus Now!

        If you think that if you had lived at the time of Jesus, watched him speak with authority and perform all the miracles, and witnessed the resurrected Lord, you would have believed in him, then you should believe in him right now. God is forever! If he was good enough to believe in 2,000 years ago, he's good enough to believe in now and anytime. 

Fundamental Realization

        It is the realization that God exists and so we were created by him. The alternative (not logical to me at all) is that we are simply here, not knowing anything about ourselves and much else.

Only God and Heaven Matter

        Imagine that you are already in heaven. You feel so joyful and content, knowing that this will go on forever. For sure you wouldn't care about all the good and bad times you had during your extremely short stay on earth anymore. It comes down to the fact that when you have God, nothing else matters anymore.  

**Good to Keep in Mind

        You may take a chance on doing something that could affect your health, your wealth, or your reputation; but never, never risk doing anything that can make you lose your soul! With God, you always play it safe.

***Living the Exhilarating Spiritual Life

        Most people believe that following God is hard and trying to be holy is a big struggle. They are only right if they don't let God help them. As a matter of fact, if you submit yourself to God totally to put yourself entirely at his disposal, he shall carry you along, guiding and sanctifying you – eliminating all your struggles. That is, God makes everything easy for you when you let him. This is the fast track, the secret, the brave way, the breakthrough . . . this is going all out for God. God being infinite and all love, the proper and smart approach is to abandon all of yourself to him with all your heart and with all your soul! And you get to live the exciting, exhilarating spiritual life to boot!

To Be Fair to Yourself

        As I prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary today, I saw how Jesus didn't just die easily. Rather, he underwent so much excruciating suffering to save us from perdition. It's only being fair to yourself to look into it to see if he is truly real or trustworthy, for dismissing him outright could result in losing your eternal life altogether!