**One Thing We Must Not Put Off*

        I know of one person who rents a house and pays her rent always late with penalty. Why doesn't she make a simple switch to paying on time, since she pays every month anyway? But for some reason, she just keeps putting off doing this. This brings to my mind the people who think that they might accept Christ, but keeps putting it off. You can put off doing many things, but believing in the true God is not something you should casually lay aside, for you do not know how much longer you'll be around. Jesus advised us to remain vigilant and be ready for his Second Coming two thousand years ago. With us getting closer to that day, his advice is becoming more urgent than ever. We need to snap out of our inaction, for we are dealing with eternal life and eternal death!

**Minding Our Own Business

        In today's Gospel reading from John 21, the disciple John asked Jesus, "Master, who is the one who will betray you?" Peter saw John and asked Jesus, "Lord, what about him?" Jesus answered Peter, "What if I want him to remain until I come? What concern is it of yours? You follow me." We know that John lived to a ripe old age and Peter got crucified later upside down. It is clear that the Lord has a plan for each one of us and we are to mind our own plan only by following him. 

**Need to be Grateful to God

        If we do not know the God of Christ, we would sin, struggle, sin, struggle, continuing thus without end. We would be enslaved by sin, remain in darkness, and die in sin. Christ is the only one who can free us from sin, bring us out of darkness into light, make us clean and fit for enjoying eternal life in heaven. For this alone, we need be grateful to God.

**Love God = Fight Evil

        Following the post Evil You Need to Know of May 28, I am airing Candace Owens' interview with Tim Ballard of February this year. Child sex trafficking has to be as abominable as abortion. If we love God with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, then we must fight evil with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind.

***Most Perfect Prayer

        As I was praying the Rosary while walking outside the house this morning, the Holy Spirit made me see that when we pray the Our Father, the prayer Jesus gave us, slowly, word by word, and mean everything we say with all our heart, the Father hears it in his heart and will draw us as close to him as possible as his most beloved children.

***How Are We Going to Die?

        In today's Gospel reading from John 21, Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved him and foretold the kind of death he would glorify God. Does the Lord know the kind of death each of us will have? I believe that if we are like Peter who knew that he had been chosen and remained faithful and that he's going to the Lord in heaven, then yes. For those who still have not chosen Christ yet, then how they're going to die will depend upon what action they take in the remainder of their lives. Choosing Christ settles everything! Not choosing him is to live in great uncertainty always.

***Awesome Reciprocal Relationship

         If you trust God, he will trust you. If you acknowledge him before others, he will acknowledge you. If you are proud of him, he'll be proud of you. If you reject him, he will not know you. If you please him, you become pleasing to him. If you humble yourself before him, he will humble himself to exalt you. If you share everything in your heart with him, he will reveal what's in his heart to you! If you want to be one with him, he is ready for you too! Now you can control how you want God to respond to you.

***Jesus Indispensable*

        We must always stand with Jesus, stay with Jesus, and cling tight to Jesus. Even better, we abide in him. For without him, we are lost and nothing. Abandon ourselves in him and we are made anew, forever liberated and secure!

**Evil You Need to Know

        Evil is real. Some stories can break your heart. Most of us do not hear much about child trafficking, but there are millions of victims out there. This new short video brings some good news. Tim Ballard is inspiring and admirable, and his organization Operation Underground Railroad deserves our support and prayer. The other earlier short video that follows tells you something about Tim and his operation. (You may want to watch more videos about Tim and O.U.R. on YouTube.) 

 

*Instant Obedience Required

        God's commandments are to be obeyed without question. If you believe in Jesus, you must do what he asks you to do without delay. Either he is your Lord or he is not. When Jesus called the Apostles to follow him, they dropped everything and followed him instantly. If you hesitate, you are unfit. Trust in him completely and your reward and satisfaction will be great! 

**To Make Our Existence Extraordinary

        I saw the film Quartet on Roku. It's about retired musicians all living at a quite beautiful home together. Naturally, with many residents who were quite famous before, you see some showing big egos. But there are also others with kind hearts. One male resident particularly enjoys flirting with one female staff member. What you see is how we typically behave everywhere else. The story does end happily. This is a movie fun to watch. My thoughts are that we need to lift our life out of ordinary existence. Embracing Christ puts us on a higher plane. Enjoying fun in the world just keeps us on the lower level, not experiencing any spiritual joy and liberty. This is unsatisfying to me, while we can have the whole of our Lord God to ourselves!

***Perfect Move for Us to Make

        In today's Gospel reading from John 17, Jesus prayed to the Father. I am going to put some of his sayings together to make my point. Jesus said, "Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them. Consecrate them in the truth. And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth." I see that once we've been chosen by God, our relationship to him becomes truly deeper and more intimate than we can possibly realize. So seeking union with God is exactly the right thing for us to do—we simply acknowledge that God so wants us to be his and we want to cooperate. Union can now take place.

**Departure Blues

         In today's reading 1 from Acts 20, Paul continued to speak to the presbyters of the Church of Ephesus, admonishing, encouraging, and edifying them, as he was going to depart from them. When he had finished speaking, he knelt down and prayed with them all. They wept loudly, for they were deeply distressed that he had said that they would never see his face again. Then they escorted him to the ship. 

        Such is life on earth. When we leave this world, we'll be departing from all those whom we've loved or known. Our concern should be if we'll ever see them again in heaven. Once in heaven, we'll have our most beloved Father with us forever, no more departing! This is what we should look forward to always.

***Jesus = Eternal Life***

        In today's Gospel reading from John 17, Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ."

**A Joyful, Exciting Adventure

        Today is the Memorial of St. Philip Neri. In reading1 from Acts 20, Paul addressed the presbyters of the Church at Ephesus, "Now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem. What will happen to me there I do not know, except that in one city after another the Holy Spirit has been warning me that imprisonment and hardships await me." This is how we should live the Christian life, letting the Holy Spirit prompt and compel us, not knowing fully what will happen. Following Christ is an adventure. We don't see the immediate detail, but we know that we are doing the right thing and heading in the right direction. It is downright exciting and comforting. Paul also knew that none of those to whom he was speaking would ever see his face again. Is this something sad? Not if you follow the Lord exclusively. The joy of seeing anyone again in heaven will surely far exceed any sorrow of separation you feel on earth. God alone is more than sufficient for all of us! 

*A Lesson in Prayer

        When we pray for someone to come back to God, it doesn't seem to happen and we get disheartened. It has to be that God wants us to give up worrying and place our whole trust in him. 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." Trust, not worry, is what the Lord wants from us and it is through trust that our prayers are answered!

**Our Likely Response to God*

        God says to us: "My children, I created you out of love. You disobeyed me, but I still love you just the same. Obey me from now on and return to me, for I am ready to have you back to enjoy eternity with me in paradise."

        We respond (not sure about addressing God as Father): "Well, I'll have to think about it." (No thank you or goodbye.)                                  

**The Brown Scapular*

        I wear both the Brown Scapular and the Miraculous Medal because I believe that I would receive the spiritual benefits the Blessed Mother had promised through St. Simon Stock and St. Catherine Labouré, respectively. The biggest promise for wearing the Brown Scapular is this one: "Whosoever dies wearing it shall not suffer eternal fire." This is an unbeatable promise. As for the Miraculous Medal, those who wear it with confidence will receive great graces. I can testify personally that the Lord has been pouring graces on me nonstop since I wore it. Mind you, wearing the Scapular or the Medal is not being superstitious. It is simply an act showing that you do trust in God's promises. I am posting an older Fr. Mark Goring video to let him explain the Brown Scapular to you. Of course, you can find all about the Scapular and the Medal online.