**Union with God Promised

        John 14.23, today's verse before the Gospel: Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord, and my Father will love him and we will come to him. When they come to us, of course they are not just going to say hello and leave; they are going to enter and stay with us! Union with God is promised here. 

*Standing Tall in the World

        In today's reading 2 from 1 Peter 3, Peter advises all to keep the conscience clear and remain righteous. This is truly the right way to live. If you are blameless in the eyes of God, who can really harm you? Whatever others do to you no longer matters.

***God Deserves to Be Praised!

        After watching today's Fr. Goring video, I am prompted to post my own thoughts on praising God. Catholics in general are not used to praying aloud spontaneously. During my involvement in the Catholic Charismatic Movement four decades ago, I learned that openly praising God was the key to receiving the Holy Spirit in full. We thank God a lot, but we don't praise him enough. The Lord loves hearing us praising him. The charismatics say "I praise you, Lord" repeatedly. After all, there really are not many other ways of saying it. In the urge to praise God (in frustration, you could say), strange words start to flow out of the mouth. This is the beginning of singing or praising God in tongues. It is really the natural outcome of wanting to praise God as prompted by the Holy Spirit. Speaking in tongues can also mean speaking a language the speaker personally does not know. I believe that's a more special gift the Lord gives with a different purpose. Anyway, we must not stop praising God, whether we do it in tongues or not. Wonderful things will surely happen to anyone who praises the Lord unceasingly.

**Pushing God to the Limit

         First, God is almighty and nothing is impossible for him. Secondly, he loves us! Yes, he absolutely loves us! So we should feel free to approach him and ask for whatever we want. If what we ask for pleases him, we shall receive it. If not, we shan't and know that we were wrong. At any rate, God would be pleased that we regard him to be our loving Father, as long as we don't intentionally sin against him.

*****Our Greatest Joy!

        I want to talk about Jesus only, all the time. I want to tell the whole world about Jesus! Why? Because he is pure joy, the greatest joy we can possibly experience! This is the joy that comes from heaven and can gladden our souls and uplift our spirits. This is the joy that can purify our hearts, wipe clean our conscience and make us forget all our troubles and sufferings. If everyone is filled with this joy, we'll have peace on earth. It is irrepressible, to be enjoyed to the fullest by the soul. It surely is the greatest gift from God, the Lord himself. How I wish that everyone will given in to him to experience such sweet joy! Then we can all live happy, die happy, and be happy forever.

***Critical Fundamental Choice

        There are many ways of living out there for us to choose from. With the world in such a horrible shape, I see clearly that there are only two basic ways of living: we either live in Christ or outside of him! It is critical that we make a choice at this most fundamental level ASAP while we still have time. 

***The World Our Enemy

        In today's Gospel reading from John 15, Jesus told his disciples that the world did not know the one who sent him and thereby hated him and them for not belonging to it. Dear Christians, be aware that the world is your enemy, so do not fall in love with it. Evil has infiltrated and influenced the world to a large extent, setting it up as a trap to ensnare as many souls as possible between now and final judgment. Don't fall for it. Stop seeking happiness in this world. Instead, detach yourself from the world by seeking refuge in the Lord so that you may survive safely till eternity. Christ is our only hope, the one who can vanquish evil.  

**Better than Miracles

        Miracles are wonderful and shouldn't surprise us. They serve a purpose. But it you already have faith, you don't need to witness them anymore. Remember what Christ has said to Thomas: Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed. Besides, Jesus as the enabler of all miracles has to be greater and more glorious than all of them. He has already come to us himself. So if you already believe in him, you only need to focus upon him and not the miracles. 

***Going All Out for God

        Christians are given the greatest commandment "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all you heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." So if we truly love and follow the Lord, we must go all out, not do it only when we feel like doing it. God has already gone all out for us—see how he showed his greatest love by dying on the cross for us! With God, it has to be an all-or-nothing proposition for us, or we are not taking the greatest commandment very seriously. 

**What Having Faith Is All About!

        In Mark 11, Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours." To believe that you will receive what you ask for is to abandon yourself entirely to the Lord. This is what Jesus wishes from us. This is what having faith is all about!

**Hearing from God

        In today's Gospel reading from John 15, Jesus also said to his disciples, "I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father." Pay attention to everything Jesus has said and we know exactly what God wants us to know.

**Healthy Christian Outlook

        We all have happy memories and bad memories, but it's the happy ones that can keep us attached to the past. Being oversentimental is a form of self-indulgence, which can weaken us spiritually. A Christian should always look forward to meeting the Lord in person, as the past is gone forever and the best is sure to come.

**Love Leads to Freedom

        Today's Gospel comes from John 15. Jesus said to his disciples, "This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." I see that when one regards himself as the most important person, he becomes a self-centered slave to himself. So if one is able to lay down his life for his friends, then he is free, as Jesus has demonstrated that to us himself! Love is truly the key to freedom, and we can be like Jesus when we surrender ourselves to him.

**Jesus Calling for Union

        Today is the feast of St. Matthias, who replaced Judas Iscariot as the new Apostle. In the Gospel reading from John 15, Jesus continued to speak to the disciples. He said to them, "As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love. I have told you this so that my joy might be in you and your joy might be complete." To me, Jesus is calling us to remain in union with him, and it's in union that we will experience him as our sole joy.

***God Completing Our Existence

        For all ages past, people have looked for some god or gods to worship, adore, praise, and glorify. If there is an extraordinary almighty, holy God, then of course we need to look into it. I am not even talking about salvation of our souls. Then we have Jesus with outstanding character and virtue, infinite mercy, and amazing power who fits the bill perfectly and more—how can we not worship, adore, praise, and glorify him? With such a beautiful Lord to worship, our lives are fulfilled and made complete. That those who believe in him receive freedom, peace, and joy only confirms that he is the true God.

***Most Beautiful Assignment*

        In today's Gospel reading from John 15, Jesus said to his disciples: "Remain in me, as I remain in you. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit." Jesus is talking about being in union with him. We must remain in him completely, not just partway in. He also said: "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples." I just asked for something I'd wanted and now wait for it to be done for me. Remain in Jesus and bear fruit to glorify the Father—this surely has to be the most beautiful assignment we can ever have. 💮💮💮

**Afraid for the Right Reasons

        Most people are open to hearing whatever they come across daily, yet when they hear "Christ is Lord" proclaimed, they often don't even want to think about it. How come? Could it be that he challenges us to the core? That he would expose us as we are, thus making us feel uneasy? That he might be the true God who knows everything? I think so. In Philippians 2, Paul wrote: "At the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." I believe that Paul was saying exactly what he knew to be true.

**Know Your Limitations

        There are only so many ways you can help others. You can help them financially or give them materials things to fulfill their needs; you can give them good advice or inspire them by your example as a believer in God; and lastly, you can pray for them. The outcome is still up to the person you try to help. As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. So, beware of your limitations and leave it all to God.