***Perfecting Our Existence

       The God of Christ is precisely whom we need to perfect our existence. He can take away our sins. Then he can fill us with the Holy Spirit. Finally, we and God can become one. I use the auxiliary verb "can" because each stage requires our full cooperation. Of course, we can expedite the whole process by surrendering ourselves completely to God right from the beginning, but this doesn't happen to most of us chronic sinners. Once you attain union with the Lord, you know that your existence is perfected. Physically, you are still here on earth; but spiritually, you are now with God. When you dwell in the truth, all truths become known to you.

***Words of Eternal Life

        Today is the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. In reading 1 from Deuteronomy 8, Moses reminded the people that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. Bread sustains only our physical life. To have life for all eternity, we need to live by every word that comes from the Lord. What Jesus said in today's Gospel reading from John 6 is especially important: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread I will give is my flesh for the life of the world. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me an I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." After hearing these words, if you take eternal life seriously, you'd never take receiving the Holy Eucharist lightly anymore.

***Christ Completely Alters Outlook

        If you do not know Christ or your faith is feeble in Christ, you have nothing much to look forward to. So you naturally try to hold onto yourself and what you can find in the world that gives you some comfort or happiness. Soon, life is almost over and you don't know what awaits you. To me your whole life is rather bleak. By contrast, one who has allowed Christ to make his faith strong knows that the Lord is caring for him, guarding him, and leading him to eternal life. He still enjoys the good things of life, but never become attached to them, knowing that he'll experience far greater joy after he leaves this world. He is free, for he knows where he is now and what his future will be like. This is living the fulfilled, confident life full of bright hope. 

***How to Dispose of the Evil One*

        Know that the Evil One is already doomed. One day he'll be stripped of all power. Meanwhile, the correct and effective way to disable him is to love and obey God. If we had done so all along, the world wouldn't be so godless as it's today. So love and obey Christ in all things and you effectively shut the Evil One out—you put him out of business, you could say. You now fully belong to the loving Father and nothing can possibly take you away from him. What a blessed and glorious state! Rejoicing in the God never stops.

**How to Behave Ourselves

        Today is the memorial of St. Anthony of Padua. In the Gospel reading from Matthew 5, Jesus said to his disciples, "Do not swear at all. Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No. Anything more is from the Evil One." To me, Jesus is telling us to always remain cool and be honest with him and with all others. In short, be genuine always. To be fake is to be evil. Today, to see much of what's coming from the Evil One, you only need to watch or listen to what most news media report daily. 

**Giving Our Heart to God

          I had wanted to blog about giving our heart to God, then I found that Fr. Mark Goring says the same thing in his video this morning. So I'll give my message first and you can hear his afterwards.

        If we can fill our heart with genuine love, we'll have peace in the world. To have such a loving heart, we need to give our heart to the Lord, for only he can fundamentally transform our heart. It is all simple and logical, but how many of us are willing to do it? One out of a million? One out of a thousand? one out of ten? I don't know. Nevertheless, we should start with ourselves and pray that everyone will follow suit.

***Another Eucharistic Miracle

**How Christians Are Measured*

    .    If we Christians do good works, attend Bible studies, read good books, etc., but are not drawn closer to Christ, then we have not accomplished anything. If our church preaches to us, plan activities for us, etc., and we are not drawn any closer to Christ, then our church has failed. As Christians, we are measured primarily by how well we know the Lord. Therefore, make attaining union with him your primary goal. Then all good things will flow from your oneness with God.

***Being Upbeat in God!

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 5, Jesus said to his disciples that "whoever is angry with his brother is liable to judgment" and "whoever says, 'You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna." In other words, every sin of ours is subject to God's judgment. This is in line with his commandment that we be perfect. But let's not get discouraged because for every good deed we do, he's going to reward us too. Furthermore, if we repent of our sins, they are wiped away. Best of all, if we abandon ourselves completely in Christ, becoming perfect is within our reach!

***Eternal Survival at Stake!

        Yesterday I blogged about Our Lady of Kibeho. Not all the visionaries believed in God before they were called by God, yet they believed when they were called. The Lord has the power to convert us if we are open to him. There are many of us who do not quite believe in Christ yet. Perhaps they will wholeheartedly if he shows up to then. Then chances are this is not going to happen, for he usually only speaks to our hearts. Anyway, if you cannot totally disregard him or say that he never existed or resurrected or was God, then you have no choice but to believe in him right this moment. Putting it off is being extremely foolish. Can you delay the sunrise? You are not dealing with some trifle in life; you are dealing with your own eternal survival!        

**Spiritual IQ Test

        The world beckons us with promises of happiness and utopia relentlessly, while we only hear the gentle voice of the Lord in our hearts when we pay attention to him. The spiritual life is all about which voice you follow. I can picture that we all live precariously on the edge of a cliff. The world (Satan) always prompts us to jump off the cliff, promising that we'll fly and glide through the air and have the greatest thrill of our life. The Evil One never tells you where or how you will land. Don't even think about it, just enjoy the experience. The Lord God lets you know clearly that if you follow him, you'll have eternal life in heaven; but in the meantime you might have to suffer and face some hardships. So which voice do you choose to listen to? Either way, the outcome is justified. But remember that you are also being tested for how smart you are spiritually.  

***Messages from Heaven***

      Recently, Fr. Mark Goring recommended the book Our Lady of Kibeho for young people to read. I had previously read something about these apparitions that happened in the Kibeho area of Rwanda, but I never read this particular book. So I got a copy of the book. I just finished reading it and learned quite a bit. The book reinforced my belief that our Holy Mother loves all of us, always intercedes for us, and brings us closer to her Son when we ask for her help. It is interesting that the eight visionaries chosen had been six Catholic girls, one pagan boy, and one girl from a Muslim family. It shows that God cares for and wants to save all people. I am going to relate several key messages given through two visionaries to you. They are for everyone no matter who and where you are.

        

         (1) From Jesus through Segatashya, the pagan boy who became an eloquent preacher and later died from being shot by a death squad. 

       "You must repent and purify your hearts. On Judgment Day God will snow everyone their entire lives and people will know that they are the authors of their own fate. God will show them their lifetime of deeds, and that person will go where they deserve to go. The Lord sees every action and knows every thought. Repent now, for there isn't much time left. God is always waiting for you to say yes to Him and let Him into your hearts. He will never deny you mercy if you have a true conversion in your heart. Life on earth lasts only a moment, but life in heaven is eternal. So you must pray. No one will reach heaven by good deeds alone or by making compromises. The only way into heaven is through prayers from the heart."

        

          (2) From Our Lady through Valentine Nyiramukiza, a Catholic girl. 

        "Begin your prayers by offering all you conceal in your soul. God sees your every action and knows your every thought, but you must tell him yourself, confessing all of your transgressions of body, mind, and spirit to him. Hold back nothing. Then ask for forgiveness from the bottom of your heart. And he will forgive you.

       My children, you must also ask for forgiveness by asking God to forgive all those who have trespassed against you, all who have caused you suffering or given you insult or injury. Forgive them and ask God to bless them.        

         And never forget to pray for the strength to be humble. Your prayers have no meaning if they do not come from the depths of your heart, and you cannot open your heart to the Lord without humility."  

**Something Beautiful*

        There is something truly beautiful about abandoning all of yourself to God. It's one of these things you intuitively feel or sense. That's how God has made us. It's a rebellious creature becoming obedient and reuniting with its creator in perfect harmony. The whole heaven rejoices!       

**The Truly Wise

        The truly wise person is not someone who knows how to advance himself quickly, not someone who plans everything out so that he can live comfortably the rest of his life, not even someone who sets his mind on helping others to live a better life. The truly wise person is one who prepares for his own death so that he'll be ready to meet his creator at anytime. 

Joy in Christ Forever!

        As a Christian, after reading in today's Gospel from Matthew 5 the Beatitudes Jesus gave in his Sermon on the Mount, I am all joy again. Eternal joy is the mark of the Christian. Pity and pray for those who do not know or follow Christ. I shall list these solemn blessings below. Pay attention to what Jesus promised at the end.

          Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

         Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.

         Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.

     Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied,

         Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

         Blesses are the clean of heart, for they will see God.

         Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

         Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven,

         Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.

         Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.

*****Time Is Running Out!

        Evil has infiltrated all levels of our societies, including the Church. Christians cannot just sit still and not take any action. We are where we are precisely because Christians have been weak in faith and timid in spirit, having been deceived by Satan like the rest of the world. The Evil One is fight tooth and claw to ruin as many souls as possible in the limited time he has left. You can count on more persecutions and chastisements coming if we do not turn to the Lord wholeheartedly. Time is running out for all of us. 

***Most Wonderful Soulmate

        There are billions and billions of people in this world, but your chance of running into someone you can regard as your soulmate is very slim. People are just so different from each other. You can have close friends or spouses, but to be soulmates with each other is to be in harmony with each other always, in a sort of union. This makes me realize that only God can be our soulmate since we can attain union with him. What is amazing is that we are all different, yet the Lord can be soulmate to all of us. How come? That's because he is the only one who can fundamentally transform us. No other human being can do that to me or to anyone else, but the Lord can. So let him transform you so that he can become your soulmate. And you'll be truly, truly happy and fulfilled. 

**God's Challenge

        Today is Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. In the Gospel from John 3, we read "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." So when it comes to considering if you should believe in Jesus as the Son of God or not, it is a serious undertaking. You must remain objective and ponder deeply without preconceived notions nor prejudice in order to remain fair to both God and you. If you feel uneasy doing it, all the more you need to do it right.