**Simple but Difficult to Accept

        In today's reading 1 from Acts 16, Paul and Silas were put in prison in Philippi. About midnight, while they were praying and singing hymns to God, there was suddenly such a severe earthquake that the foundations of the jail shook; all the doors flew open and the chains of all were pulled loose. When the jailer woke up and saw all this, he trembled with fear. He rushed into Paul and Silas' cell and fell down before the two. Then he brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they answered, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved." So simple, right? But what bothers me is that people are willing to go through hoops to win some trivial prize, yet they don't even want to consider believing in Jesus to be saved forever! Something is very wrong here for sure.

**Best Treasures for Us

        You can accumulate and store up treasures of the world, but they are perishable and can never be truly yours. Besides, when you die, you have to give them up all if they haven't perished yet. Then if you follow Christ and serve him faithfully, you accumulate and store up treasures in heaven that will never perish. When you get to where they are in the end, they are yours forever! The difference between the foolish and the wise is even greater than that between earth and heaven.

**Signs of Abandonment to God

        No matter what you face or go through, you have peace deep down in your heart. Suffering for God's sake is a joy. God is now your greatest joy. You trust in the Lord and are no longer concerned about consequences. Anxieties and worries are gone. All his will is now your will. In your urge to praise the Lord, you receive the gift of praising him in tongues. When a Spirit-filled priest pray over you, you rest in the Spirit and experience profound peace. You feel completely liberated. You know that you are in the Lord.

**What Life Is All About

        Life is all about how much you submit yourself to God. Our time on earth is limited. We can let God be our God or play God ourselves—these are the two extremes. As long as we do our best to let God be our Lord, we are on the right track. Once you attain union with God through the Holy Eucharist, you belong to him totally and are ready to enjoy eternal life. Receiving the flesh and blood of the Lord completes and perfects that union.

***About Truth*

        How do I know that Christ is true God? My answer: the Spirit of truth reveals it to me. It sounds as if I am trying to avoid an argument, but I am telling you as straight as I can. Truth is never complicated nor roundabout. It's always blunt and never slippery. It cannot be scientifically proven. If you have to explain a truth, it cannot be one. Truth always challenges us to accept it or reject it, so faith is required. And you must discover it on your own.

***God Breaks Down All Barriers

        When you are in union with the Lord, no barrier exists between you and him. When you meet another person also in union with him, no barrier exists between you and that person either. The Lord breaks down all barriers among those in union with him. It follows that the best possible friends we can find in this life are to be found through union with the Lord. 

***Why Jesus Causes Division

        In Luke 12.51, Jesus said, "Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division." That Jesus causes division is precisely because he is the one against whom we'll all be measured. We choose either to follow his example or not to follow his example.

**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.