*Become Wiser as You Age

         Christians are in the world, but they must not be of the world. As we age and approach leaving this world for good, it should help us become more and more detached from the world. After all, what's the point of holding onto anything you'll have to leave behind forever? To be in Christ is to be out of this world, for we are now free and belong to him. Let aging help you see this truth.   

***All God Needs for Us to Do

         The illumination of conscience has been prophesied by various, saints, mystics, and seers to happen to us any time now like a mini-judgment to wake us to God's mercy. Once you realize that God knows everything about us and that his judgment is absolutely just, we only need to do his will on our own and not worry about anyone or anything else anymore. Each of us trusting and obeying him is all he asks for!

***God's Intention on Marriage

           In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 19, Jesus said to the Pharisees who came to test him, "Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall became one flesh? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate. I say to you,  whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery." His disciples, said to him, "If this is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry." He answered, "Not all can accept this word, but only those to whom that is granted. Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven." 
         It is absolutely clear that God has intended marriage to be between a man and a woman only, and that marriage is not intended for everyone. To go against God's intention is to create disorder.

*How to Start Living Right

        Today's Gospel acclamation, 1 Thessalonians 2.13: Receive the word of God not as the word of men, but, as it truly is, the word of God. It is only by the word of God that we can know the truth and not be deceived by the word of men. Otherwise, we easily become lost in this world. Start with God to know how to live right and forever.

**Betraying the Lord

        The Church hierarchy no longer hears the voice of the Shepherd.

***Praying the Rosary Explained

 

*****Most Beautiful Union

         We need to become one with Christ as he is one with the Father. Then we can pray to the Father as he prays to the Father. What a beautiful thing to know the Lord and become of one heart and one mind with him! 

***Best Way to Overcome Evil

         This morning the Lord made me see clearly the world we are in and the kingdom of God. The world is an evil place where many sinners have sided with Satan. It's in utter disorder and chaos because they have rebelled against God. Those who seek refuge in the Lord know that he has freed them from evil and that they have entered the kingdom of God. What they should do at this time is to trust in God and seek to become one with him evermore. He is our beginning and our end. It is his wish that we obey him completely and there is never a more challenging and appropriate time than now to surrender ourselves to him! This is in fact the best way to fight evil. Once we are one with the Lord, we'll know what he wants us to do and this is all that matters for mankind.

To Enter the Kingdom of Heaven

         Today is the Memorial of Saint Clare. In the Gospel reading from Matthew 18, the disciples asked Jesus, "Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?" Jesus called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven." What I see is that to become like children, we only need to imitate the Lord in every way. Since he is the most humble of all, we'll become humble too.

*Advice for the College-Bound

       My oldest grandson is getting ready to leave home for college. I have many thoughts to share with him. Actually, whatever advice I have for him is also good for everyone, myself included. Of course, if one knows Christ well, he can learn everything from the Lord directly. Anyway, here I give a short list that pretty much covers the important things. 

1. Honor your father and mother always, even if they and your relationship with them are not perfect. Don't wait until you are a parent yourself and realize that children should honor this one of the Ten Commandments of God.
2. Do not not anything to be popular. Do it only if it is right and pleases and honors God. 
3. Do not do anything no matter how much pleasure it can give you if you know that you will regret doing it afterwards. Know the consequences of your action.
4. Have the courage to say no if others are wrong. (Stand up for God.)
5. Talk to God about everything, attend Mass faithfully, and go to confession as soon as the need arises. Saving your soul comes before grades and everything else.
6. Learn everything not for yourself, but for the purpose of honoring God. 
7. Last, as you'll be reading so many new books, do not neglect reading the Gospels regularly.

        It would be most tragic to gain fours years of worldly knowledge and lose you most precious faith in God. 

**Surrender Your Life to Jesus Prayer

        Here is the text to Fr. Mark Goring's Surrender Your Life to Jesus prayer which he said in his video today. A simple, straight, basic prayer good for all Christians to say often.

       Lord Jesus Christ, today I ask you to be my Savior and my Lord. Lord Jesus, today I surrender my life to you. Lord Jesus, I beg you to please have mercy on me because I am a sinner and I have offended you in so many ways. Lord Jesus, I am sorry for all the ways that I have sinned against you. Lord Jesus, I beg you through the power of your most precious blood to please forgive me all of my sins, all the sins of my whole life. Lord Jesus, through your most precious blood wash me clean and make me new. Lord Jesus, I thank you for your redeeming love on the cross. Lord Jesus, today I give my life to you, I give you my heart, and I ask you Lord to come into my heart to be the center of my life. Lord Jesus, from now on I only want to do your will. Lord Jesus, I beg you to fill me with the Holy Spirit you promised you would clothe your disciples with power from on high. Lord Jesus, please fill me with the power of the Holy Spirit, help me Lord Jesus to love my Father in heaven, to know God the Father and to be a good child of my loving Father. Help me to walk in your ways, help me to be holy, help me to be pure, help me to love others, and help me to do your will. Lord Jesus, I will follow you all the days of my life. Thank you Lord Jesus. Amen.

**In God We Find Full Freedom

        In today's first reading from 2 Corinthians 9, Paul wrote: God loves a cheerful giver. I realize that in God, we become free, and one of the freedoms is giving cheerfully to others in need. Essentially, after attaching ourselves to the Lord, we are able to let all other things go, for they are now nothing compared to him. If you still want more than God, you never really had him. When Jesus gave us the greatest and the first commandment: "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind," he wanted us to experience the full freedom in God. 

***Three Big Evils of Our Time

1. Hypocrisy, the sin that makes Jesus say "Woe to You." Playing phony before God the truth is the dumbest thing you can possibly do. We see hypocrites in politics and within the Church. I pity them for being hypocritical and not even good at it.
2. Abortion, opposite to Jesus' greatest love which is the laying down of your own life for others. Abortion goes directly against the Lord who creates all of us in his own image. Self-proclaimed Catholics who promote abortion are the worst kind of hypocrites. As long as there is no sanctity of the human life, there will be no peace in this world.
3. Child sex trafficking. This is no ordinary sin. It involves exploiting defenseless children for your own profit and causing pedophiles to sin even more. It's sin upon sin. Both abortion and child sex trafficking are grave sins against humanity and God.

     To sin opens the door for Satan to snatch your soul. When you commit any of the above three sins, you practically hand your soul over the devil.

*To Become Spiritual Fools

        Evil spirits are known to shy away from even holy water. So if you are in a pure, blessed state in union with the Lord, they cannot possibly touch you. On the other hand, if you reject the Lord, then you leave your door wide open for evil spirits to enter, leaving your soul defenseless—you are now a big spiritual fool.

**How God Speaks to Us

          In today's first reading from 1 Kings 19, Elijah was taking shelter in a cave on Mount Horeb and the Lord told him to go outside before the Lord, for he would be passing by. A strong and heavy wind came, but the Lord was not in it. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire there was a tiny whispering sound. When Elijah heard this, he hid his face in his cloak and went and stood at the entrance of the cave. I have learned that the Lord does speak to us in a tiny whispering sound. He communicates with us through our heart. If you hear his voice audibly, you cannot be sure that it's his. But if he implants a message in your innermost heart, you know that it has to be from him, for no one else can do that. I personally believe that Satan can put a thought in our mind, but not in our heart. So it is important for us to spend time with ourselves to listen for the Lord's intimate voice.  

*How to Increase Our Faith

         In today's Gospel reading from Matthew, Jesus cured a possessed boy whom his disciples had faile to cure. They approached Jesus in private and asked him why they could not drive the demon out. Jesus said to them, "Because of your little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have the faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." The faith I see here is not the faith believing that we can accomplish what we want to accomplish, but our faith in the Lord. After all, all power comes from him; we are merely channels of his power. So, to have great faith, we need to trust in him. To trust in him, we need to know and become one with him.

*****Knowing Who Christ Is!

         I know Jesus. In fact, I know him more than anyone else on earth. That's because he remains absolutely trustworthy forever! Besides, when he reveals himself to you, you know that he is the Lord. This morning it dawned on me that this Jesus I know is no ordinary person; he is in fact Almighty God, creator of the universe and me! And nothing is impossible for him! Everything that exists depends upon him. Most amazingly, he loves me to death. I can't believed that I am this blessed and privileged! This is the One who is one with me! I am feeling so elated that I forget all my problems, since I am completely in his care now! 

**Simple Formula for Finding Life

         In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 16, Jesus said to his disciples "Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." In one sentence, Jesus tells us how to gain eternal life. Essentially, he wants us not to be concerned about saving our own life, but to follow only him; then we'll live forever. The truth is always simple and logical. We are all concerned about ourselves most. But the Lord is so much greater than us and can take complete care of us. The breakthrough for us is to see this and accept it. Faith is needed here and it is only faith in the true God that can save us. Not trusting in God is equivalent to shutting him out and we'll end up losing our life altogether.