*Becoming Delightful and Joyful!

        The Lord God loves us. He delights in us and wants us to be a joy to him. Can we live up to his expectations? Amazingly, we can, as nothing is impossible for the Lord. We only need to let him make us into what he wishes us to be and he will become our joy and we'll be delighted with ourselves as well. 

***Knowing Is Not Believing

        If you do not know the Liord well and believe that something is true, you are never sure that you are right. But if you know the Lord so well that you become one with him, you'll know what is true without a doubt, for you already know the Lord who is the truth.

**Hypocrites vs. Atheists

        Atheists can be genuine, but hypocrites are always phony. If I must choose one to respect, it will have to be the atheists. But I pity them both.       

**Coronavirus as Our Teacher

        The coronavirus can teach us many things. It tests us to see if we are spiritually fit. It compels us to think about life. It asks us if we are ready to die. It gives us a break time to gain wisdom. As a wake-up call from the Lord, it is a blessing. Unfortunately, there are always those who go on partying as usual. Fortunately for them, it's not the Second Coming of the Lord yet. For at that time, when you hear about it, wake-up time will be no more. So I also see the coronavirus giving us an opportunity to rehearse what we should do in preparation for the Second-Coming.

***No Bad Dreams About Jesus

        My recurring bad dreams are always about losing my way on going somewhere to meet someone, forgetting to have carried something with me that's needed, or missing an appointment or some scheduled event. This morning I dreamed that my car was somewhere and I didn't know how to get it back. I believe that these dreams show that I was affected by losing, forgetting, or missing certain things in the past that were important to me. Then I thought of Jesus who is absolutely the most important person to me. That I never have any bad dreams about him is because I know both consciously and subconsciously that he and I will always be one so that it'd be impossible for me to lose, forget, or miss him! (By the way, all my past dreams about Jesus have been fantastically good.) 

*Christ Our Beginning and End

        This morning I walked outside my house down a road which was on my property and back. It took 20 minutes to do the round trip 3 times, just the amount of time I needed to pray the Rosary. It was a beautiful spring day, hard to believe that the world is in such a sinful state and people are dying all around the globe from this coronavirus. I did see clearly that Jesus is our end. We were all created through him and will end with him. There is nothing beyond him. I rejoiced that I was going to him in whom I should find eternal rest. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. (Today's response from Psalm 23.)

To Have a Clean Heart

        In today's first reading from 1 Samuel 16, the Lord God sent Samuel to Jesse of Bethlehem to choose his king among the sons of Jesse. He told Samuel not to judge from the appearance, for man sees the appearance but God looks into the heart. Let's remember this. Make letting God create a clean heart in us our first order of business. This will not only please God greatly, but also make us feel great.

**Spiritual Communion

        For those who do not get to attend Sunday Mass because of the coronavirus, you can always follow one on YouTube. EWTN televises Mass daily from a chapel. I followed Fr. Mark Goring this morning from my home. He offered Spiritual Communion to all who watched him. Pretty cool. Most likely, he'll be offering Sunday Mass for a while. You can also perform the Act of Spiritual Communion on your own. Here is the prayer from EWTN you can use. 

My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. I love you above all things, and I desire to receive you into my soul. Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace you as if you were already there and unite myself wholly to you. Never permit me to be separated from you. Amen.

**Why the World Is Godless

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 18, Jesus said, "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted." Our world is in trouble because most people exalt and very few humble themselves. The ratio between these two numbers indicates how godless the world is. As we ask the Lord to have mercy on us, let us ask him to help us humble ourselves too. Clearly, the proud need mercy, but the humble receive it.

*God Alone Knows Death

        Many people are dying from the coronavirus and other bad things too. From the human point of point, we feel sorry for them. But God's thoughts are not our thoughts. For example, we are saddened to hear that someone young has died in a car crash and, on the other hand, comforted to hear that one has died peacefully in sleep. And as for someone who has died very quickly, we may not feel too badly because we figure that the person probably did not suffer any pain for long. Well, the young person who died in the tragic car accident could have gone straight to heaven and the one who passed away in his sleep who didn't get a chance to make a last confession could have landed in hell. So, how long we live and how we die are not for us to understand. We need to trust in God who alone knows life as well as death.

**Time to Pray for God's Mercy

        With the whole world facing the pandemic coronavirus threat now, there is no better time for all those who believe in God to get down on their knees and pray for his mercy on all of us. 

*Waking Up to Reality

        The coronavirus has totally interrupted our way of life and perhaps changed our outlook on life too. I believe that many of us now realize how brief and fragile our existence is on earth and that there has to be more to it than just surviving some calamity we face. What if the world is ending now, how would you react? I say let's secure our eternal life in Christ right now and we'll see all things in a new light and feel good about it.

**What Others Think About You

        Yesterday I posted about not to pay attention to what anyone thinks about you. I'd like to elaborate on that a little bit. This advice basically tells you that you should care only about what God thinks about you. For what God thinks is always true, whereas what anyone else thinks about you may be false and you shouldn't let a lie rob you of your inner peace. The only exception is when you are bad and someone points that out. Then you can consider that to be a blessing and go before the Lord to ask him to correct you. We are to respond to God alone always. 

**Be as Clear as Crystal

        I went on the Divine Mercy website (thedivinemercy.org) and came across this post of March 17, just two days ago. It's titled "Make Your Life as Clear as Crystal." These words came from a Sr. Faustina's confessor who spoke to her. I'll just quote directly from Sr. Faustina's Diary to show you what he said.

        

        Sister, God is preparing many special graces for you, but try to make your life as clear as crystal before the Lord, paying no attention to what anyone else thinks about you. Let God suffice you; He alone.

        

        Good for us to meditate upon these words: "Make your life as clear as crystal." "Pay no attention to what anyone else thinks about you." "Let God suffice you; He alone." [I highly recommend that you read St. Faustina's Diary on the Divine Mercy of Christ.]

***What the World Doesn't Get*

        Repentance is the key to salvation. If we do not ever wish to repent, we are on the path to committing suicide, to be blunt but realistic about it. Suicide is a one-way journey, irreversible. I suggest that you latch onto our only Savior and Hope, Christ the Lord, and you'll never have to worry about anything that matters anymore. Honest truth!

***No Repentance, No Redemption

        In both Mark 8 and Matthew 16, Jesus asked, "What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?" At this time, it is appropriate to ask "What profit is there for us to conquer the coronavirus but still not repent of our sins?" 

***Is Your Soul Clean Enough?

        We shall all die and now many of us could catch the coronavirus and die. We are truly in God's hands. The question is if your are ready to die right now. Is your soul clean enough? This is the key question. All the governments are doing all they can to protect their people, but if we remain unrepentant and continue our ways, worse calamities surely will follow! I see countries suppressing Christians and other minorities, our own Church in confusion and division, and abortion legalized in this country since 1972! God has been extremely patient with us. Are we so stupid as to continue pushing our luck? Christ has warned us to remain awake and be alert always, and we've had the chance to learn to do that for 2,000 years. Shame on us! It only takes a change of heart to turn things around. Be cleansed of your sins and ready for dying with joy, for our Lord awaits those who repent and follow him.

**Dependence on God Necessary

        We love to think independently in all areas of our lives. Even now, there are those who ignore the official coronavirus warnings, doing what they want to do and putting others at risk. It's all about "me." But we'll never be free if we do not follow God. The first thing we need to do is to submit ourselves to God totally, then we'll be free to do whatever we want to do and still do the right thing. It's plain common sense that we need God's guidance. You cannot set yourself free, period.