*What Would You Ask of God?

        In today's reading 1 from 1 Kings 3, The Lord said to Solomon, "Ask something of me and I will give it to you." God was pleased that Solomon asked for understanding to know what is right instead of a long life for himself or riches or the life of his enemies. It'll be interesting to see how we would answer such a question. Normally, we pray for others more than for ourselves. Of course, we have to be truthful in what we say. I think each answer would reveal much about the person who was asked the question.  

***Sign You're Not a Serious Catholic

        If you do not look forward to confessing your sins, you are not a serious Catholic. It is a great joy to go to confession before God and be made clean again! Humility is the key to entering the kingdom for heaven.

**A Human Defect

         We humans are imperfect. No matter how good all our intentions are, we still have involuntary, undesirable thoughts going through our minds, not something we can prevent, but something God understands. I see this as a basic defect of being human. I believe that once we are in heaven, we'll be completely made anew so that we can worship, praise, and enjoy the Lord in perfect peace and joy. 

***Key to Entering God***

        Going back many decades, I remember I accepted Christ into my life because I felt the emptiness of life and was pretty much convinced intellectually that he was the Savior. I acted alone and felt relieved afterwards, nothing more. A couple of decades later, I experienced the Holy Spirit strongly after I got involved with the Catholic Charismatic Movement. I did not know much about being baptized in the Spirit, but I was open and desired it. So here's the key. You can know something and believe in it and nothing special happens. But even if you don't know much about something, but trust in God and desire it, he grants your wish. It is in desiring (not knowing) something that the Lord opens the door for you. So, desire to know the Lord to discover and experience his wonders!

***Unique Joy in God

        The joy you experience in God is unique. It is a joy the world does not know and cannot give you. This is the joy you receive from God after you let him satisfy all your spiritual hunger and thirst and know that your eternity is all settled! Only God can deliver all that.

***About the Holy Spirit

        The Holy Spirit is like the wind—you cannot see that he is here or he is there, but you can feel it. If your heart is on fire yearning for God, then he is in you. It is this Spirit that enabled Mary to conceive Jesus and Jesus to rise from the dead. Nothing is impossible for God the Holy Spirit. With him in you, you'll never feel alone again. And the purity of the Spirit will intoxicate you with heavenly joy!

***Only Hope We Need

        I am drawn to focus upon the Lord himself, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. First I see the Resurrection of Christ the Son as a unique event. He is the only one who has demonstrated that death has no power over him, proving that he has to be our creator! The Resurrection alone gives us all the hope we need, that we can also live forever like the Lord himself! I rejoice from the bottom of my heart. Lighten up and shout for joy!

***Our Greatest Challenge Today!

        Today is the Feast of St. James, Apostle. In Reading 1 from 2 Corinthians 4, Paul wrote, "We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed..." This is how we Christians feel today. How can we fight back? In the Gospel reading from Matthew 20, Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave." To fight evil and remain humble—how can this be possible? I see that it is possible only if we love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. Since God is love, we must let love motivate whatever we do.

*Isaiah"s Prophecy Fulfilled Today

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 13, Jesus quoted Isaiah to show how his prophecy was fulfilled in the crowds around him. Sadly, it is fulfilled by the crowds of today also. Here is what Isaiah said: You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see. Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and be converted and I heal them. 

**What Ultimately Matters

        We all believe in different things and live the way we want. As a result, the world, my own country, and even my own family are more polarized than ever. We are all given the free will by God to choose to do his will or not. Coming right to the point, I'd say that division is the work of the devil. Do whatever you want, but what ultimately matters is whether you'll end up in heaven or not. Remember my advice: never do anything that will later make you regret doing? It's still good advice.

***Jesus Always with Us!

          Today is the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene. The Gospel reading from John 20 tells that when Mary saw that the tomb was empty, she thought someone had taken the Lord and started to weep. Yes, Mary loved the Lord. How blessed we are to know that Jesus is always with us and no one can possibly take him away from us! Alleluia!

***Enjoying Loving God

       Our love for Christ is more beautiful than all our other loves. The Lord first loved us with the greatest possible selfless love. When we embrace this love, our hearts are transformed and our souls healed. And we fall in love with him with a love as pure as his. I know that one day I'll be seeing him, but right now I prefer just to believe in him and enjoy being loved by him and loving him back.

**Learning from the Lord

         Fr. Mark Goring again. I post his messages because they are what we need to hear. We need to zero in on the Lord.

**Heaven Assured

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 12, Jesus said, "Whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother." Do every will of the Father and you become a member of God's family. It goes without saying that your future home will be in heaven.

*If I Were a Plant . . .

and follow Christ, he will turn me into a beautiful tree that blooms and yields sweet fruit. If I follow Satan, he would turn me into an ugly, stinky weed. At harvest time, the Lord will have all the angel gather up all the weeds and throw them into the furnace of fire (Matthew 13).

***Jesus Our Last Chance

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 12, some of the scribes and Pharisees wished to see a sign from Jesus. He said to them,  "An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and there is something greater than Jonah here. At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here." If we do not repent at the preaching of the one who will be our finally judge or even wish to listen to him, then we are indeed doomed. 

Another Good Message for the Soul

**A Sin We Don't Realize

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 13, Jesus told the parable of the weeds in the field to the crowds. Later, he explained the parable to his disciples. I'll quote what the Lord said, for I believe that's what's going to happen at his Second Coming. "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father." It is interesting that the Lord did not group those who cause others to sin with the evildoers. It is clear that causing others to sin has to be a grave sin. Most of us do not intend to do any evil, but neither do we pay attention to whether what we do might cause others to sin. If our bad behavior causes others to imitate us, the we have sinned. If our poor example as a Christian turn others away from Christ, we have sinned. So, we must not only reject evil, but also become holy. Aim for holiness and you can forget about evil.