**Beware of Consequences of Sin

        The consequences of sin can be irreparable. For example, I criticize my friend Tom before other friends and as a result made them think less of Tom. To restore my friendship with Tom, I could always apologize to him and ask for his forgiveness, but it would be difficult for me to restore the trust the other friends originally had in Tom. An obvious extreme example would be to kill someone and the damage caused now is clearly irreparable. So our best policy is to not sin. And here is where we need God's help to make us holy. 

**Dealing with Our Sins*

        When you get to know Jesus well, the Holy Spirit sharpens your conscience to the point that you become acutely aware of every minute sin you commit. This is the Lord's way of keeping you holy. The loss of inner peace can be painful, for you know you have hurt your relationship with the Lord, now causing him pain. If the sin is minor, you can make amends by reciting the Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner or just Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner. This prayer can be said with each breath you take. Fr. Mark Goring recently talked about it on his YouTube video. As soon as we have sinned, we need to restore our relationship with the Lord. Of course, if the sin committed is grave, you need to go to confession to take care of it. The worst thing is to let your sins pile up until they are sky-high. Now, in this weakened condition, it becomes increasingly difficult for you to want to get rid of them.

*God's Power Channels

        Communion thoughts. God is love and love is the source of his power. When we receive the Lord, we receive his love and become channels of his power.

***Go Straight to God Please

        Nowadays, we do not hear many strong, clear, inspiring messages coming from within the Church. Well, there are always big name speakers yon can hear at various conferences and gatherings, but this is more like getting a onetime spiritual booster shot. What we need to receive constantly is spiritual nourishment. Reading about the great saints is a good way to go, but the best way surprisingly overlooked is going straight to the Lord. After all, Christ is whom we need to know the most, the source of inexhaustible enrichment, and the one who can satisfy all our wants. Therefore, read the four Gospels and open yourself up to him as your most intimate confidant, then you will hear his sweet voice in your heart fulfilling all your spiritual hunger and then some. If you want to know someone, it would be a waste of time to ask others who might not know him that well to tell you about him. Instead, you go straight to the one you want to know. In this case, that one is our Lord, who is ever ready to receive you.

*Messiah of All

        In today's Gospel reading from John 1, Andrew was the first one who followed Jesus. He then told his brother Simon Peter that he had found the Messiah, meaning Christ. The Jewish people had been expecting the Messiah to come for a long time. Even if we do not know anything about any Messiah, we all still have that empty feeling in us, yearning to be fulfilled. But Christ has come, and for all of us who recognize him to be our Messiah, he has fulfilled that void in us and delivered us from sin into freedom. He turns out to the Messiah of all.

*Union Provides Safe Refuge

        Today is the Memorial of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. In the first reading from 1 John 3, the Apostle wrote "Whoever sins belongs to the Devil" and talked about the children of God and the children of the Devil. Here is a "new" perspective. I can see that every time we sin, we join the Devil's forces, and every time we do good, we go on God's side. So we belong to the Devil sometimes and to God other times. Again, I advocate seeking union with God, which will provide you with the best chance of belonging to God at all times.

***What God Wishes to Hear from Us Most***

        It was disobedience that got us banished from God. Since he loves us, it is obedience that will get us reconciled to him again. So what God our Father wishes to hear from us the most is "Father, do whatever you wish with me." If you cannot say it, then you are not perfectly obedient to him yet, putting it mildly.

**To Live Is Not to Have Life*

        Communion antiphon, 1 John 4.9: By this the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his Only Begotten Son into the world so that we might have life through him. We can be living, but not really living since we do not really have life. To have life is to have Christ, who is the life (John 14.6), so that we know we are going to live forever with God. It makes all the difference!

***Being Baptized with the Holy Spirit*

        In today's Gospel reading from John 1, John the Baptist continued to testify to Jesus, saying, "I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him [Jesus]. The one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God." I am not a theologian, but I can testify that one way to have your spiritual life vitalized or set afire is to ask the Lord to baptize you with the Holy Spirit. It's simply asking the Lord to help you open up fully to the Holy Spirit so that the Spirit may work freely through you.

**Dealing with Sin*

        From today's first reading from 1 John 2: You know that Jesus Christ was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who remains in him sins; no one who sins has seen him or known him. We have all inherited original sin. And it is sin that robs us of inner peace. We sin when our weak human nature gives in to temptation. If you don't like your sins, then have Christ take them away from you. And he will keep you from sinning again if you remain in him. This problem of sin we must face and resolve before we leave this world.

**Christ Our Only Guide and Hope

        Today's entrance antiphon, Psalms 112.4: A light has risen in the darkness for the upright of heart; the Lord is generous, merciful, and just. Christ is the Light! He shows us how to live so that we might have life forever and all his teachings are based upon love, for he is love. There is no one else like him. Without him, the world will be in complete chaos and disorder. I see him clearly as our only hope. 

**Fusing with the Lord

        Communion experience. When two metals are melted under heat and mixed together, they form one alloy. When the Lord entered me, I let his love melt all of me so that we might become one entity.

**The Real God*

        In today's Gospel reading from John 1, John the Baptist gave his own testimony. Speaking about Jesus, he said, "I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie." Indeed, our Lord is so holy and high above us that we are not worthy to untie his sandal strap, yet he ardently desires to enter us to be one with us. It is mind-blowing, most moving, and exhilarating to know. He is so far, yet so close; he is almighty, yet most humble. He is our loving Lord.

**Government Oppression*

       I lived in Central California, close to the state capitol of Sacramento. The state is under the control of Democrats and lately, Californians have been moving out of the state in droves. Besides high taxes, deteriorating living conditions in larger cities, etc., I could really feel the oppression of religious freedom in particular. Very clearly, evil forces are at work. This story came out a month ago just before Thanksgiving, but I missed it until yesterday, and I was shocked by it. To find out what it's all about, go on https://www.childrenoftheimmaculateheart.org/, then click on CIH in the News at the top and watch one of the two OAN videos and/or read one of the top two articles. The state government actually considers the Catholic faith "offensive." It's a pity that they don't realize that they are offending the Lord God right now!

*Conquering Emotions

         So it is now 2020. Today, January 1, is as usual the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. Of course, we all hope that the new year will be a better one. Again, those who have Christ always see bright hope ahead, as the spiritual battle between good and evil rages on. 

       My first realization of this year is that we are all governed by our emotions. When they are negative, we lose our inner peace. We get angry, worry, sadden...all because we feel that way. So if we can let God take over our emotions, then we should experience peace. To attain union is the way to give all of yourself to God, your emotions included. When you have the Lord totally, you become stabilized. Now you enjoy deep peace and order. 

Happy 2020!

        I am posting Fr. Mark Goring's sensible and encouraging summary of 2019 to conclude my blogging this year.

     
         Have a most blessed New Year!

***God Drawing Us via Holy Eucharist

        Communion thoughts. I have already received the Lord in the Holy Eucharist many thousand times in my life. Looking back, I wish I had been obedient to him sooner in the past. It is unthinkable that we should receive the Most Blessed Sacrament and not let him draw us a little closer to him each time. What we should do is to let the him form us any way he wishes, then we would become holy in no time. Anyhow, I am grateful that as I receive the Lord daily, he is still drawing me closer to him each time (and I am glad that I still have some time left). When your desire to be one with him supersedes all other desires, you are close enough to him.

***God's Greatest Revelation***

      Today's Gospel reading, the first 18 verses of the Gospel of John, is so profoundly beautiful that anyone who knows Christ would totally understand it, while those who do not know him may not at all. It is fitting that at the end of this year, we read this greatest revelation from God to us. Here are the entire 18 verses:

        

        In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

         A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.  

          He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.

          But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor my a man's decision but of God.  

         And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth.

          John testified to him and cried out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.'" From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace, because while the law was given through Moses, grade and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The only-begotten Son, God, who is at the Father's side, has revealed him.

           All I can respond in total submission is "My Lord and my God."