**Don't Explain God Away

         People who always try to explain away the wonders, signs, miracles, and even existence of God are close-minded, unknowingly allying themselves with the Devil. The right attitude, if you don't know God yet, is to remain neutral and open, and do your investigation conscientiously.

**Encountering the Lord*

          It is possible for a Christian to believe in Christ, but not experience anything that fires up his faith. An encounter with God is missing. In today's video by Fr. Mark Goring on spiritual preparation for coming tribulations, he talks about our need to meet or encounter God. He cites the man born blind in John 9 who was healed by Jesus. He told everyone that he was blind and now he could see. Looking back, I can say that being baptized by the Holy Spirit in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement was definitely an encounter for me. We need to open up to encounter the Lord. Otherwise, we remain lukewarm at best, not being productive as his servants. Encountering the Lord changes our life for his glory!   

***The Greatest Unifier

         I am so happy that I am not only in love with the Lord, but also with all the holy angels and saints in heaven. There is total communion among all those who love the Lord. God's love is the most beautiful and greatest unifier there is. This union is unbreakable by any external force. What a tremendous blessing!

***God Is Ready and Waiting for You***

         I love the late night or very early morning. When I wake up, it's quite dark or moonlit all around. I don't have neighbors living close to me, so it's generally quiet all around too. No distraction; pure solitude. And I acutely sense the Lord's presence in and around me. It's such a wonderful feeling that makes me wonder how anyone can say that there is no God. He is so close that you don't even need to look for him. You only need to remain still, open your heart wide, desire him, and he will reveal himself to you. Solitude can absolutely help.

**Sign You Don't Know God

          Those who know God see clearly that there is the greatest good, God, and the greatest evil, Satan, while those who do no know God are not even aware of the existence of evil or have already been deceived by Satan to become evil.

**Clear Sign You Need God

        The more you feel uneasy and avoid turning to Christ, the more you need him in your life, because he is your loving creator and God. 

***Evidence of Eucharistic Miracles

         I had posted about Eucharistic miracles before. Here is another video you should watch, also by Ray Grijalba of thejoyofthefaith.com.

**Miracles of Padre Pio

           Today is the Memorial of St. Pius of Pietrelcina (better known as Padre Pio). So I am going to post a short video about the holy priest made by Ray Grijalba of thejoyofthefaith.com.

*****Straight Talk About Heaven and Hell*****

          It's so important for us to realize that heaven and hell are real and that we'll end up in one or the other. I am talking reality, more real than anything else in this world. For us, it'll be a oneway trip, no return and no way out whatsoever for ever. Make your choice and your reservation through Christ the Savior right now while you still have time. If you know your house might burn, would you just do nothing now? Your soul, your most precious possession and gift from God, is infinitely more important that a house! Listen to me and don't forget this warning: it'll be either heaven or hell!

***Priorities of a Christian

        A bona fide Christian lives for Christ and not for himself. He prepares himself not for living this life, but for living the eternal life later. He focuses upon building up treasures in heaven and is not intent on seeking fame and wealth in the world. He is selfless and wants to serve and glorify God only. He wants to be like Christ.

***Secret of Belonging to God's Family

         This is today's entire Gospel reading from Luke 8: The mother of Jesus and his brothers came to him but were unable to join him because of the crowd. He was told, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and they wish to see you. He sad to them in reply, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it." The Lord reveals to us what unites us to him above all other relationships. It is acting on the word we hear from him.

***Our Top Concern***

            We are afraid that we can catch the coronavirus and die. We're afraid that wild fires could spread to our area and burn down our houses. We're afraid that the mob can show up in our neighborhood to attack us. There are so many things we are concerned about, and many of these concerns are legitimate. But how much concern do you have for your own soul? Do you ever seriously wonder where your soul will go after you die? If you don't ever ponder such questions, then you have wasted all your time living. I may sound harsh, but I want you to value your own soul before anything else. This is precisely why Christ the Son of God came to us and died for us! Are you going to trash something for which he died? Not taking care of your own soul amounts to rejecting God's love for you altogether. So please make concern for your own soul your top priority, and you'll be truly happy from that point on.

***How God Sees You

         When the illumination of conscience happens, you'll see the state of your soul as God sees it and you may be shocked. It is easy to think that you are a pretty good person and that you'll most likely be OK with God, as there are so many truly bad people out there. But this is seeing yourself as you see it. The reality is that God knows every little sin of which you may not even be aware! So you should go to him and ask him to reveal the state of your soul to you so that you'll be ready when the illumination of conscience takes place or when you die and go before his judgment. On the other hand, you should realize how much God loves and treasures you and that if you believe and trust in him wholeheartedly, you need not fear anything anymore, for you're going to live forever with him in heaven. This totally takes care the state of your soul, and how God sees you is no longer a concern.  

**Goal of the Christian

         The main goal of all of us who follow Christ should be to attain union with him so that we may get to know him thoroughly so that we may become like him.

*As Long as We Get to Heaven

         Today's Gospel reading is from Matthew 20. It recorded Jesus telling the parable of the workers in the vineyard. A landowner hired laborers to work in his vineyard at various times throughout the day. Some started working about nine in the morning and others started as late as five in the afternoon. In the evening, all laborers received the same daily wage. The ones who had worked longer hours grumbled about this to the owner. The lesson was that God does not cheat anyone. He fulfills his promises, but he can be extra generous when he wants to. And he is free to reward us however he wishes. I'd like to present the Lord's case like this. Let's say that I faithfully serve the Lord my whole life, die, and go to heaven. An evildoer repents just before he dies and is saved. He also shows up in heaven. Should I complain to God that he's not being fair? Of course, not. Whatever makes God happy should make me happy. Besides, once God has rewarded us fully, nothing else matters. Whether you get to heaven first or last, you should be happy. 

***Faith Leads to God

        Today's Psalm 145 response: The Lord is near to all who call upon him. Faith in the Lord is believing in one you have not seen nor heard to be the truth. The amazing part is that once you hold this belief, the Lord reveals to you in your heart that he is indeed the truth. So when you put your faith in the true God, he will reveal himself to you. This is completely logical and has to be true, as it is the contrapositive to the true statement "If he don't hear God saying anything to your heart, you must not believe in him at all." (Logic. It A implies B, then not B implies not A.)

***Our Dream Existence

         The first reading comes from Isaiah 55. In it, the Lord says: My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts. About this, we can be sure. Therefore, we need to know the Lord to know his ways and his thoughts. And there is no better way than surrendering ourselves to him to attain union with him. As one, we and the Lord become soulmates, understanding each other perfectly in all things. This is our dream existence!

**When Does God Calls Us?

          God calls us to turn to him at all times. He is calling us when we feel discouraged, when we feel oppressed, when we feel hopeless, when we are sad, when we are frustrated, when we are persecuted, when we feel misunderstood, when we feel alone, when we feel lost, when we feel the emptiness or life, when we feel burdened, when we long for peace, when we are sick of hearing the bad news around the world, when we see so much evil going on around us, when we feel sorry for all kinds of victims in the world, when we are saddened by the continuous killing of the unborn, when we are shocked by the ongoing sex trafficking, when we realized that evil has infiltrated our Church, when we see so many hypocritical, corrupt, and lying politicians showing only hatred for others with no love for their country, and when we start to hate the godless ourselves. If we don't turn to God now, then we are no better than all the others who have rejected God.