***Wake-Up Time

        Another message from Fr. Goring for us. All Catholics must wake up now!

*Garabandal, Unstoppable Waterfall

        On June 20, I posted the video Our Lady of Garabandal. Today the brand new film Garabandal, Unstoppable Waterfall premiered. It's 1-hour-24-minute long. If you are interested in the story of Garabandal, you may want to watch this one, for it's more complete.

**Padre Pio, God's Amazing Servant

       Padre Pio, now Saint Pio, was well known for his amazing life as a holy priest. He passed away in 1968, so many of you today probably have not even heard of him. Here is a short documentary on him. If you find it interesting, you can find many more videos and also books out there telling you about him. 

**Living the Christian Life

        How to live the Christian life? There can be many answers. To love God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your soul, of course. To be a little more specific, I would say that we be completely truthful to God and to ourselves. Satan is all lies and deception, so we want to be the very opposite. Only truth will last forever. Therefore, never hide anything from God. Let him see everything in us. Be one with the Lord, the eternal truth, and you will be so strong that you'll never fall again!

***Encounter with God*

        You may have believed in Christ for some time, but not yet encountered him in a personal way. Encountering the Lord can be a breakthrough in your awareness of God, an illumination of the truth, or a sudden realization of God's existence. It is a special grace that draws you closer to him. It could happen when you are praying, reading a book, taking a walk, or experiencing suffering. As Catholics, if you truly believe in the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist, you should know that you encounter God every time you receive this Most Blessed Sacrament. I advocate opening up yourself completely and receiving the Holy Eucharist as often as possible, then you'll become one with the Lord and don't ever need to think about encountering him anymore. 

**Doomed or Saved, Your Choice

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 8, even though Jesus healed the two demoniacs by driving the demons out of them, the townspeople became afraid and wanted Jesus to leave their district. This is happening today too. No matter how much good the Lord does, people just do not wish to see the truth and reject him outright. Of course, if you reject God, you are doomed. But the merciful Lord is waiting for that one nanosecond of awakening from you. If you'd just repent and return to him, you are saved! To be doomed is easy, but to be saved can be super easy.

**Know Our Role

        What are we living for? Are we here just to pass the time of this life? Every Christian serving the Lord needs to know his or her particular role. We are all different and are called to serve him in different ways. The saints were vastly different from each other. So were the Apostles. Jesus wants us to mind our own business and serve him as best as we can with the personality, disposition, ability, and talent he has given us. We aim solely to please the Lord. And this is made super easy when we surrender ourselves completely to him first!

***Amazing Video

        This is a most interesting video. John-Henry Westen of LifeSiteNews has always been trustworthy. One thing I learned from Thomas Raymond Zimmer, the prophet in the video, is that prayer can be powerful. Sometimes we feel that we can do little to help God. Wrong! We can always pray hard and from the heart, and God will accomplish great works for us!

***The Lord IS Our Shepherd

        Let's start off July on a positive note. Hear Fr. Goring's talk and say "amen" to it.

***Time to Walk Away from Satan!

       In Matthew 7, Jesus said, "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few." This tells you that to sin is easy and to be holy is hard. Today, people easily follow any idea or cause that sounds good and do not question if they are doing the right or wrong thing. They don't think for themselves anymore. I used to be like that. Abortion sounded Ok. As for divorce, what's wrong if a couple can't get along and break up their marriage? After I got to know God, I came to see good and evil clearly. It was the love of God that opened my eyes and my heart. Now is the time to walk away from Satan and his lies forever and embrace God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your soul.

***Retiring Our Conscience

        God gave us all a conscience. Even if you do not know God, you do something bad and you know it. So how can knowing God make a difference? Without God, conscience is weak and gets overridden easily. As we sin more and more, our conscience gets smothered more and more. Once you know God and desire not to sin against him anymore, he clears up and sharpens your conscience to help you grow holier. The more you are drawn into God, the less attractive the world becomes. When you attain union with the Lord, you lose all your desire to sin and don't even need your conscience anymore, for the Lord is in and with you at all times. Now you just enjoy his presence.

***Don't Let Heaven Down!

        You may be aware that God will judge you one day, but you don't think much about it. If you are not sure that you'd pass his judgment, shouldn't you do some preparatory work now? None of us are perfect, but we should at the least make sure that we won't look really bad on that day. One thing that helps to know: God is actually on our side, his most ardent desire being that we get to heaven! If you fail to pass on that day, it would grieve him as much as you. And his judgment is fair, so be fair to yourself by preparing for his judgment to make that day of a day of great joy for both you and everyone else in heaven! The whole heaven and many on this earth are praying for you to show up there; don't let them down please!

***Truth Revealed to the Heart

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 16, Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father." When the Lord God reveals something to you in your heart, you just know that it's true.

***Longing for God Invariably Fulfilled

        Two verses from today's reading 2 from 2 Timothy 4 spoke to me. Verse 8: "From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for his appearance." Do you long for the Lord? If you do, know that the Holy Spirit dwells within you. Such longing is a desire and a prayer the Lord will invariably fulfill. Seeing the Lord is the best reward we can possibly receive. If he will bestow other honors upon us, that'll be just the icing on the cake.

        Verse 18: "The Lord will rescue me from every evil threat and will bring me safe to his heavenly Kingdom." Amen. This confirms what I posted in my last blog: Follow Jesus and you'll have eternal life. 

**Jesus Our Savior

        Jesus is our Savior. This means he can save us from eternal damnation. Of course, he can deliver us from any situation if that's necessary for saving our soul, but sometimes we must lose our life on earth in order to preserve our soul. Repeating what Jesus had said, "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." That is, follow Jesus and you will have eternal life. In today's reading 1 from Acts 12, King Herod had Peter arrested and imprisoned. He was going to bring him to trial to please the Jews. But the angel of the Lord came and delivered him from imprisonment and lead him out to the city, for his time had not yet come.

**We Need Good Shepherds!

        Here's some good news to cheer about! Praised be to God!

***Challenged to the Core!***

         In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 10, Jesus said to his Apostles: "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." We might react, "Who does he think he is?" Here, Jesus challenges us to the core! We are cornered! Dismiss him and you fail the test right off the bat. Accept what he says and you are set free because you are now attached to him alone! Wow, this is absolutely awful or awesome, depending upon your disposition. We are compelled to see him as a mad man or true God. Personally, I love a God who challenges me to follow him, not any god who leaves me alone. Jesus, you are truly my Lord and my God. May you be adored and praised forever!

***Formula for Eternal Life***

        Today's reading 2 comes from Romans 6. From Paul's counsel, you can easily form this motto: "Die to sin and live for Christ." It is to the point and easy to remember. In fact, it is the formula for eternal life!