**Comforting to Know Our Mission

        From today's Gospel reading from Matthew 20, Jesus said to his disciples, "The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." The Lord knew his mission and had no fear of death. What then is our mission? Well, clearly we are to serve the Lord God without fear of losing our lives. This is good to know as we are facing the threat of possibly losing our lives to the coronavirus.   

**Fool's Choice

        Whether we face any crisis such as the coronavirus or not, we should always turn to the Lord, repent of our sins, and put ourselves in his hands. Those who choose to live only for themselves are doomed. There will be no reward from God after they die. What fools they must be to choose this life which will be over in the blink of an eye over all eternity.

***Urgent Time to Turn to God

        Yesterday I posted "Reacting to the Coronavirus." Today Fr. Goring's video "New York Needs to Repent" echos my thoughts. It's time to turn to God and repent, more urgent than ever. To ignore God is heading toward eternal death. Only the Lord of Christ can lead us to eternal life.

*Our One Teacher, Father, and Master

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew, Jesus said to the crowds and the disciples, "Do not be called 'Rabbi.' You have but one teacher. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called 'Master'; you have but one master, the Christ." This tells me that God is our most important teacher, father, and master. And we must learn from him first, obey him first, and go to him for help first.

***Reacting to the Coronavirus

        Is the spread of the coronavirus a chastisement from God? Maybe, considering how rebellious our generation has been against him. I do believe that God is always trying to get our attention to turn to him and to follow him. If we continue ignoring him, we give him no choice but to shake us a bit to wake us up. If we would all realize our sins, get on our knees, repent, and beg for his mercy, he will surely wipe out this terrible virus instead of letting it wipe us out. Rebellion against God cuts off his mercy; only repentance can open up the way to receiving it again.  

**Where Is Your Faith?

        A great video from Fr. Goring to watch, as many are worried about the coronavirus. In Matthew 8, Jesus and his disciples were in a boat and Jesus fell asleep. A violent storm came up suddenly so that the boat was being swamped by waves. The disciples got scared. They went and woke him, saying, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!" He said to them, "Why are you terrified, O you of little faith?" Then he got up, rebuke the wind and the sea, and there was great calm. Let's not ever hear the Lord say to us, "O you of little faith." We are to wield our faith always!

**A Secret Revealed

        When we live secretly in the Lord, we get to enjoy our joy in secret.

To Love God Is . . .

to be like him.       

*Doing All Things with God

        Today's Gospel reading came from Luke 6. In the first verse, Jesus said to his disciples, "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." This set the tone for what's to follow. He wanted them to stop judging, stop condemning, forgive, and give. It is a high calling for all of us. Whatever the Lord asks of us is possible if we are with him, for nothing is impossible for him. 

*Be Merciful, as Your Heavenly Father Is

        Today's Response to Psalm 79: Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins. Indeed, if the Lord marks iniquities, who can stand? (Psalm 130.3.) Fortunately, the Lord will deal with us according to his mercy, for he is merciful. Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect, says the Lord. Surely, if we can be as merciful as our heavenly Father is, we are on our way to becoming perfect.

**Instant Relief

        This morning I went to Mass. I had an utmost urgent petition on my heart, so I begged the Lord hard to hear me. Then I heard the Lord's calm voice from within my heart, letting me know that he already knew my burden and I only needed to trust in him and it'd be done. I instantly calmed down. Yes, trust in the the Lord and it's done—what an easy way to get things accomplished! 

***Your Personal God

        God to many can be someone or something quite vague and remote. But I believe that as humans, we won't be satisfied until we have a God we can get to know most personally as our best friend or even soulmate. *And we have the God of Christ who fits the bill perfectly. He is actually the one we all search for secretly, whether you realize it or not. If your god is vague, remote, impersonal, or unsatisfying, simply switch over to Jesus Christ and you'll receive eternal life to boot. I am not kidding!

**To Be Detached to All Burdens*

        We should get to know the Lord well and come to realize that he is all we need to attach ourselves to. Then we'll be able to detached ourselves from everything and everyone else, even from ourselves, and become free. Normally, we think of everything as those things of the world that give us pleasure, then the Lord made me see that it should also include things that give us pain too. We don't like to suffer, but if we can detach ourselves from all pains, then suffering won't upset us anymore. Yes, the Lord can liberate us from all burdens!

***Most Appropriate Soulmate

        How appropriate it is for the Lord God to be your soulmate, for he alone created, understands perfectly, and knows how to heal your soul.

**Meeting God's High Expectations of Us

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 5, Jesus said to his disciples: "You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you." The Lord always raises the bar to want us to be perfect. And we should feel good that he regards us to be good enough to be made holy by him!

**How God Heals My Shoulder

        I posted sometime last year about my injured left shoulder which had been troubling me for almost two years. Whenever I moved my left arm around, especially when I tried to lift it above the shoulder height, I felt a sharp pain. Various exercises, massage, heat treatment, etc., didn't help. If I were to remain like that for the rest of my life, I suppose I could handle it. But if my right shoulder goes bad, it would even make things such as getting up from the bed difficult. I blogged about this, saying that this might be my thorn of the flesh. 

          Encouraged by how Jesus wanted us to persist in our prayer, I started to pray that the Lord would heal me. Of course, my most urgent prayers are to ask the Lord to crush evil and save all souls, stop abortion, restore and purify the Church, protect this nation from all evil, and draw all to him. So I tack on the prayer to heal my shoulder at the very end. Now, the Lord could heal me instantly, help me heal naturally, or surprise me in some unexpected way. And he chose the last.

        Late last year I cam across a YouTube video on the exercises that can help you heal the shoulder. I did not think that I would learn anything new, for I knew and had tried most of these exercises. I watched it anyway, as it's a short video. Then the two presenters in passing mentioned a book they said was very good. It's titled Shoulder Pain? The Solution & Prevention, written by Dr. John M. Kirsch, an orthopedic Surgeon. I got curious and bought a copy on Amazon. What's amazing is that Dr. Kirsch has discovered one simple exercise that pretty much cures all shoulder problems. In fact, many people who had been scheduled for shoulder surgery got well after doing his exercise in a relatively short period of time. 

        The exercise is called dead-hanging—you grab onto an overhead bar, with palms facing away from you, and hang yourself from it. This lets your body weight stretch your shoulder joints. Apparently, this enlarges all the spaces between the various bones of the shoulder, eliminating all causes of pain. I built a structure using the scrap wood I had to support a metal bar I also had. With one good shoulder, it took me several weeks and some help from my son and grandson to get it done. So far I have performed the exercise for five weeks, hanging twice a day. I can tell you that the pain is almost all gone, and I know that if I keep doing it, my shoulder will be totally well. Dead-hanging makes the whole upper body feel free and loose. The lesson, have faith in God and he will answer your prayer. 

**Our Sorry State

        God has always existed and has come with the good news of salvation, yet we don't seem to be aware of it. That's because we've been blindsided by sin.

***The Holy Spirit effect

        When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you can't help thinking about and wanting to talk about the Lord at all times. You long for him and are eager to bare your heart to him and hear his voice within it. He becomes real, more relevant and exciting than anyone or anything in the world. Only he now matter to you. I can go on and on. To sum up in one sentence: God and you now exist in complete harmony as one!