***How Personal Is Your God?

           We need to establish a personal relationship with God, as we are often so advised. How far should we go? Since the Lord loves us with an infinite love, we need to go all out to open up to his love. We need to abandon ourselves to him completely to remain in him. We need to yearn for him and rejoice in him at all times. We must not fall short of attaining full union with him. This would please him the most and give us the greatest joy at the same time. 

Be Prepared to Give Up All Things

         With hundreds of wildfires burning throughout the state, we are now asked to stay indoors as much as possible, as the polluted air out there is very unhealthy to breathe in. The sunlight has turned red because of the heavy smoke. So far many people have lost their homes. My area is not immune from wildfires either. Should a fire happens quickly, I pretty much have to let everything go. I'll probably just grab the laptop I am using right now and flee. So we are all at God's mercy. Learn to be detached from everything except the Lord is the way to prepare ourselves. In the overall scheme of things, only having God matters.

*To Live Without Fear

          Jesus will come again to judge all of us. We may leave this world before his Second Coming, but we can't escaping facing him right after we die. If we are not prepared, we may be in for the shock of our whole existence. Take my advice seriously. Reconcile yourself to the Lord now so that you'll never experience fear anymore.

*JFA & AFJ

           JFA stands for "Jesus For all." He came into the world to die for all of us in order to save us. AFJ stands for "All For Jesus"—that's exactly how we should respond to his love for us.

***God Always Reveals the Truth

          In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 16, Jesus asked his disciple, "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 I first accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior, I for the greater part became intellectually convinced and decided to take a leap of faith. To know without a doubt that Christ is the Lord and God has to be revealed by God himself. I know this because I've learned that when the Lord reveals a truth to me in my heart, I just know that it is true, no explanation needed. Intimate revelations from the Lord to your heart is one great beauty and joy of knowing the Lord.

**Letting God Shape Our Conscience

         I personally know of Catholics who are for abortion and/or gay marriage. Quite a number of prominent public figures also belong in that category. To follow Christ, we need to let him shape our conscience to be like his. Otherwise, you are not really with him. It is worse for a Catholic to go against the teachings of the Church than a nonbeliever who holds the same views. To imitate Christ is to be as conscientious as the Lord.

*Being Chosen by God

            In John 15, Jesus said to his disciples, "It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you." If you are already following the Lord, feel honored and blessed that he has chosen you to serve him. There is no more satisfying and rewarding role you can take on in this world! 

**Loving as the Lord Loves

          The love of Christ is absolutely pure. It is not tinted with sentimentality and is ego-free. We love not in order to please others; we love only because God so wills. Like the Lord, we love others in order to save their souls, regardless of how we are received. It is a clean love not attached to anything in this world.  

**How Evildoers Attack

         When evildoers are exposed and cornered, they panic and become like wild animals trapped. Since they have no truth on their side, all they can do is to lash out at anyone they consider threatening, verbally and physically with no good reason. They become totally hypocritical, irrational, crazy, and destructive. You see plenty of such examples today, for we live in a world full of evildoers.   

**The Lord's Most Inspiring Deed

           It came to me that the most inspiring of all the Lord's deeds on earth has to be his Resurrection! Ir shows that he is the life, that he lives forever, and that if we believe in him, we'll have life and live forever too. The Resurrection gives us the very hope we need, and I thank and praise my God for it.

*Amazing God!

         Here in California, we have some 500 wild fires burning at the same time. The sun through the heavy smoky air appeared like a bright red full moon. The thought came to me that even though the sun by volume is some 64 million times larger the moon, the Lord God had placed the much smaller moon close enough to us so that both appear about the same size in the sky, making a solar eclipse possible. Our God is truly amazing!

**Big Deals

           For some, being admitted into a prestigious university is a big deal. To others, getting a job at a great company is a big deal. When I was a student at UC Berkeley, I knew of one person who tried to get a job in Berkeley, for he loved the all-year-round weather there. After trying for over ten years, he finally succeeded. That must've been a wonderful deal to him. It's also a big deal for our government to be able to make a fair trade deal with some other countries. For us followers of Christ, to succeed in banning abortion nationwide would definitely be a big deal, but fundamentally an even bigger deal for us is to submit ourselves to the Lord so that we might become holy and spotless! For this would be a big deal to the Lord too.

*The wise and the Most Foolish*

         The most foolish live and behave as if God does not exist, whereas the wise live and behave knowing that God knows everything. The division between the two camps couldn't be greater, but Christ can turn the most foolish into wise ones if they will only turn to him. 

**God Knows It All!

        In today's Gospel  reading from Matthew 14, Jesus made the disciples get into a boat and precede him to the other side of the sea, while he dismissed the crowds. After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening, the boat, already a few miles offshore, was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it. During the 4th watch of the night, he came toward them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him they were terrified. "It is a ghost," they cried out. At once Jesus spoke to them, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." Peter said to him in reply, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." He said, "Come." Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" After they got into the boat, the wind died down.
       It is clear to me that the Lord had all this planned out from the beginning and knew exactly what's going to happen and what he's going to do. And that is the way with each of us who follow him. It is so good that we can trust in him fully to have him teach us, take complete care of us, and save us! 

***Go with God

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 22, Jesus told the parable of the wedding feast, explaining again what the Kingdom of heaven was like. His conclusion at the end was that "Many are invited, but few are chosen." We should take this message seriously. If we ever feel that the Lord is inviting us to go to him, we'd better go. In fact, we should leave everything behind and go without hesitation, as the apostles did when they heard his call.

*Knowledge vs. Faith

         Which one would you rather have? To see the correct answer, ask yourself which one will get you to heaven.

**God Is Always Fair

         In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 20, Jesus explained what the Kingdom of heaven was like to his disciples by telling them the parable of the workers in the vineyard. A landowner hired various laborers for his vineyard throughout the day. In the evening, the owner started to pay all the laborers. When they all received the same wage, those who were hired early grumbled against the owner that those who were hired late and worked less hours received the same pay. He said to one of them in reply, "My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous? Thus the last will be first, and the first will be last."
              To see the point more clearly, imagine that you work hard for the the Lord all your life and get to heaven. Then you meet someone there who had been bad all his life, but was saved because he repented just before he died. Would you feel upset? I don't think so, for all is fair and square. In fact, you'll probably feel good that you have served the Lord well. Besides, when you are so happy and content in heaven, you wouldn't know how to grumble against God anymore.

***Letting God Have Your Heart

        Today's Gospel acclamation, Hebrews 4.12: The word of God is living and effective, able to discern the reflection and thoughts of the hearts. All the more we need to give our heart to God. When the Lord has our heart, he will reveal all we need to know to us, setting us free! Yes, offer your heart up to him to become one with him!