***Tragedy in the Making

        Dying from the coronavirus must be a terrible experience, as the victim cannot breathe normally anymore. But if you have not reconciled yourself to God yet, this experience is nothing compared to what you might experience after you die and face God. The wise always think ahead and plan for their eternity first. Most people think only about this life and consider death only when they are threatened by it. They hardly think about life after death—it's as if they are content to let the unknown be unknown. This unwillingness to face eternity is a tragedy in the making, for they might miss the greatest possible reward God wants to give you.

***Our Last Hope!

        Jesus the Lord God himself has come to us in person to give us the good news of salvation. There is not another savior and there will be no one greater than he to come. He is our last hope!

**A Christian's Sole Mission

        From today's first reading from Isaiah 49, we read The LORD said to me, You are my servant, in you, Israel, I show my glory and I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. Here it's made clear the mission of a Christian. We are to show God's glory by being a light to the world, spreading the good news of his salvation. Nothing less and nothing more. In other words, a Christian must be a soul saver. It's easy to remember and completely doable through the personal power of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, if we simply obey God.

***How to Be Set Afire

        God has to be more important to us than anything else for obvious reasons. So we must take him seriously. I do see Christians who live a rather casual Christian life. To please God, being lukewarm is not good enough. You must set your heart afire, and the only way to achieve that is to let the Holy Spirit fill you to the brim, for you cannot do it on your own. By the way, to be evil, you don't need God's help; but to be holy, you need all of his help. It all comes down to how willing you are to let God rightfully be your God. In this "game," if you want to win, you lose; but you are willing to lose, you win. Let God take charge of you and he'll set your heart on fire with the Holy Spirit.

***Our Amazing God

        Today I realize that our God, the God of Christ, is truly amazing. He is pure, unconditional love. He wants us to live happily with him forever in heaven! He is absolutely someone we can completely trust. Nothing is impossible for him and we can tap this power for our own spiritual gain. Just thinking about it puts a smile on my face, let alone the joy I feel in my heart. This God can be totally ours!

***How to Know God

        If you already know the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, then you already know God the Holy Trinity. Of the three, we can relate to Christ the most because he actually did come down to earth to be among us. Through him, you get to know the Father intimately and receive the Holy Spirit. Since God is the truth, when you know him, you just know that he is the true God. How about if you are still seeking God? Know that you are finite and do not know him yet, while he is infinitely greater than you and knows all about you already. So you cannot expect that he would come to you to beg you to believe in him (it's just not appropriate, right?). The right attitude to assume is to believe that he truly exists and go to him humbly to let him know that you desire to know him. Seeing that you are sincere, he will then joyfully reveal himself to you to fulfill all you desire.

***How to Be like Jesus

        Today is Palm Sunday. What inspires me the most about Jesus was his complete obedience to the Father. These verses before the Gospel from Philippians 2 make that clear: Christ became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name. When Jesus was accused by the chief priests and elders, he remained silent. After he was brought before Pontius Pilate the governor, Pilate asked him if he didn't hear the many things the chief priests and elders were testifying against him, he did not say one word. Obviously, obedience to the Father was his sole concern.

          We are to obey the Father too. If we know we are doing his will, we must carry it through no matter what others think or say. There is no need to explain nor justify what we do to anyone. Obey the Father in secret and we'll be like Jesus.

***My Testimony and Plea***

        We do have our happy moments in life, but they don't last. And we know we can never find true happiness in this world. You can make all the money, get all the material things, and earn all the admiration you want, and life will seem emptier than ever. True happiness is to be found in Christ alone who created us! He is the only one who understands us, who loves us, and who can cleanse my hearts and heal my souls. He is our one and only Savior! That is why in him, we can rest and find peace, freedom, and joy, now and forever! Abandon the sinking world and put yourself completely in his hands. Now, even if you die, you'll live with him in paradise.  

***How to Avoid Chastisement

        To avoid receiving any chastisement from God, we need to have a pure, clean heart. The first thing would be to repent and let God take away your sins. This step may be hard for those who would not ever consider humbling themselves to take, but it's absolutely necessary for their salvation. It is the part that requires you to make the effort. Once your heart is made clean, you must keep it clean by not falling into sin again. The next proper step to take would be to seek union with God.  Again, you need to humble yourself by surrendering yourself completely to him, but the effort is definitely worth it. For once you attain union with God, he even removes your tendency to sin. With struggling with sin gone, you now know that the Lord is carrying you all the way! (By the way, the Holy Eucharist is absolutely the greatest aid in helping you achieve union with God.)

***It's Chastisement Time!***

        Many lay Christians have recognized that the coronavirus is a chastisement from God. Of course, God is always calling us to turn away from sin to turn to him, but we grow increasingly deaf and stray away even further. This leaves the Lord with no choice but to shake us up a bit. Fr. Mark Goring is giving this warning today. He mentions a couple of examples showing how far we have walked away from the Lord. Let me just add several more. (1) We've legalized abortion and allowed the continuous termination of the unborn by the millions worldwide. (See my post "Magnitude of Abortion" giving the numbers in this country alone.) (2) The corruption within the Church, covering up the sex-abuse scandals and much more. (3) Our devious politicians who seek to gain power and control with no regard for the wellbeing of the country in the U.S. (4) The worldwide human-trafficking creating millions and millions of victims. While I don't expect any government officials to proclaim that God is chastising us, it is our duty as Christians to tell others about it for the sake of their souls. If we don't wake up, something worse will surely come. Just know that the days to Christ's Second Coming are numbered!

*Guiding Rule for Getting Things Done

        We all have many things to do in life. Some are necessary and others less so. We should do what's necessary, but not be anxious about it. During this coronavirus shutdown period, we cannot do all the things we normally do, but we can adapt by doing other things that can be equally fruitful. Following God's will without any anxiety should be our guiding rule in any circumstances. It is following his will that counts, not whether we get it done or not. 

*Christ Be Our Eternal Spring

        It is such a beautiful spring day. I took a walk outside the house, following the road down to the front of the property, as my house was set quite a way back from the city street. Spring here has the most delightful temperatures. Birds were singing and flowers blooming. The light green colors all around looked absolutely refreshing. My thoughts turned to the Lord. Why don't we in this spring of 2020 invite the Lord Jesus to enter us to be our eternal spring? Let him rejuvenate us to make us appear absolutely refreshing to him for all eternity!

*Danger of Being Close-Minded

          In today's Gospel reading from John 10, the Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus. Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of these are you trying to stone me?" The Jews answered him, "We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy. You, a man, are making yourself God." Jesus answered them, "Can you say that the one whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world blasphemes because I said, 'I am the Son of God'? If I do not perform my Father's works, do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may realize and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."

         The trouble with the Jews was that they already made up their mind that Jesus could not be God, so they disregard all his amazing works. That was making a close-minded condemnation of him. We should be open-minded always, especially when it comes to dealing with such an important issue as whether Jesus is God or not. I knew someone once who told me that he did not believe in Jesus because he called himself the Son of God and also the Son of Man. I believe that if he had wanted to believe, he could have easily found the explanation. We must be fair-minded always, even in dealing with the worst sinners.

**How to Feel Good About Yourself

        As human beings, we are imperfect and we know it. First of all, when you have bad thoughts, say bad things, and do bad deeds, you lose peace. Then you can get angry, worry, become impatient, feel inadequate, and so on. In sum, you just don't feel good about yourself as a person. Here comes Jesus, and you get to know him and seek and attain union with him. And he completely changes your outlook on life and how you feel about yourself. You are now liberated from sin and feel that the Lord has made you anew. Finally, you are happy in him and about yourself as a person, for you know he loves and treasures you and can make you holy and whole. Alleluia!

*****Jesus Has to Be Our God*****

        Can anything be more important than God? Of course, not! Without him, all of us wouldn't even be here. Today's verse before the Gospel from Psalm 95: If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. In today's Gospel reading from John 8, Jesus said to the Jews, "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever keeps my word will never see death." Again, he said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM." Do you hear his voice? No normal sane human would make such audacious statements; only God can. If you don't hear him, you have hardened your hearts. The only way out is to prove that Jesus was an insane human. If you can't, then you have no choice but to acknowledge that he is your God!

*How God Sets Us Free

        In today's reading from John 8, Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him, "If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the the truth will set you free." I can testify to you that what he said is true. To remain in his word is to be in him. When you follow and surrender to him, you become one with him and is in him. The Lord is the truth. In union with the Lord, you know him most intimately and are with the truth all the way. You are now set free.

Be Ready for the Lord

     The fact that the coronavirus is now worldwide is God's clear call to all to repent and return to him, for we have strayed far away. Confession and the Holy Mass go hand in hand. For we need to confess our sins first to be clean enough to receive the Lord at the altar. Sadly, the virus has now prevented many churches from offering Mass and hearing confession. This is hard for those who are not in a state of grace. Always confess your sins regularly before something unexpected like this happens. What if Christ comes next unexpectedly to judge us? Will you have time to get ready? I don't think so, if you are not ready now. 

The Best or the Worst to Come

        For the faithful followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, the best is yet to come. But for those who reject him and will not repent, the worst is surely to come to them. The Lord always wants the best for us, but sadly, some of us are foolish enough to choose the worst for themselves.