**Praying the Our Prayer

        Before we pray the Our Father, the most perfect prayer the Lord has given us, we need to go before the Father with complete submissiveness, reverence, and openness. Otherwise, it would be a waste of time if you don't mean what you say much. 

**Cause of Suffering

       God suffers when we sin against him. We suffer, also when we sin against God. Sin causes all suffering. When we stop sinning against God, all sufferings cease or become a joy.   

**Risk of Putting off Considering God

           I knew a friend of my son who was related to a local well-known Italian family.  I was quite sure that he came from a Catholic family, so I tried to persuaded him to come back to the Church. I emailed him in 2011, 2012, and 2014, and didn't get any response from him. But through my daughter-in-law, I heard that he wasn't quite ready to consider God yet, as there were still many things to take care of first. I think it is very common that people keep putting off considering God, as they want to take care of their worldly business first. But, of course, there'll always be unfinished business to finish. The last I heart about this particular person was that he already had dementia, not recognizing everyone anymore. Maybe I can go see him and try to pray with him when my son visits him. The lesson: do not put off considering the Lord, unless you have already rejected him completely.

***Beautiful Surrender**

        When we surrender to God to let him do whatever he wishes with us, we lose all fears . . . the fear of death, the fear of possibly going through purgatory, the fear of whatever punishment we might receive for our sins. Complete trust in and total surrender to God expunges all fears. 

**Becoming Beautiful for God

        Get to know Jesus to experience his tremendous love for you. Let this greatest love transform and mold you into a new creature. Then you become beautiful for the Lord to behold.  

***An Intimate Revelation

         Last night around midnight, I was awake because I was concerned about two people I knew, but the Lord Christ was on my mind the whole time—he was really all I could think of. I had never experienced him to be this close. And he let me know most clearly that only he can make me happy, and I was overjoyed! I have always loved the hymn "For You Are My God" by John Foley. The refrain is what I love the most: "For you are my God; you alone are my joy. Defend me, O Lord." (To hear this song, go the the video listed in the right margin. It's near the end, right after all the Ave Maria videos.) So I don't see the Lord visually nor hear him audibly, yet he reveals himself to me totally. My joy Overflows! 

***Our Last Call to Salvation!*

         After the parable of the lost son, I like the parable of the rich man and Lazarus most. When the poor man Lazarus died, he was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and from the netherworld, where he was in torment, he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he cried out, "I beg you, father Abraham, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment." But Abraham replied, "If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead." We have now Jesus, the Son of God, greater than Moses and all the prophets. I just want all to realize that if you do not even listen to him, you will have missed your last call to board the train of salvation.

****God's Wonderful Promises

           From today's Gospel reading from Luke 12, Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God." Jesus said it definitively and now we know exactly how to get ourselves accepted by God.
        Also in today's reading, Jesus said to the disciples, "When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say." This is a huge promise! The bottom line is that we don't need to worry about anything under any circumstances. It's easy not to believe in him, as we still think that we know better! My point is that if you dismiss the Lords promises outright, you'll never find out if his promises are good or not. Again, faith works wonders. If you are not childlike in believing in the Lord, you'll have difficulty entering his kingdom.

*****Reminding the Entire Church!

         Also in today's reading from Ephesians 1, Paul reminds us that the Church is the Body of our Lord. As members of his Church, we are parts of his Body, so we'd better be holy in order not to defile the Church! 

**How God Enlightens Us

        Today's first reading were verses 15-23 from Ephesians 1. I am not going to reproduce them here. After I read it, I just want to say amen. Here is what I learned: (1) When we get to know the Lord well, he reveals himself to us and we become spiritually wise. (2) When our hearts are enlightened by the Lord, we are filled with hope and see the riches of his glory and the greatness of his power. And I can testify to the truth of what I have learned.

***Encountering the Lord Necessary

        Today is the memorial of St. Ignatius of Antioch. The entrance antiphon is based upon Galatians 19-20: I am crucified with Christ, yet I live; no longer I, but Christ lives in me. I live by faith in the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself up for me. For many of us, this sounds OK, but we don't feel compelled to live like that—you may even feel sorry for anyone who'd choose to live like that. What we fail to realize is that both Paul and Ignatius had encountered the Lord and willingly desired to live for him only. They already knew the joy of following the Lord. If someone goes to heaven, comes back and chooses to skip all the fun parties on earth, you probably wouldn't understand that either. Therefore, be open and seek Christ. Once you truly know the Lord, you will understand everything.

*Good Coming Out of Evil

        The rampant evil you see today makes many realize the goodness of God and how much we need him now more than ever. I see this as the process of God restoring us to wholeness. It may take some time, but the end result is assured. Meantime, let's fight the spiritual battle through prayer and sacrifice. When we trust in the Lord all the way, he works wonders.

**What We Most Need to Safeguard

          Also in today's Gospel reading from Luke 12, Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body but after that can do no more. I shall show you whom to fear. Be afraid of the one who after killing has the power to cast into Gehenna; yes, I tell you, be afraid of that one." These sayings may sound familiar and commonsensical, but they are extremely important for us to be aware of. The Lord is telling us that our soul is what we need to be concerned about. Our physical body matters only when we are still on earth. We try to safeguard our body, our properties, our job, our affairs, etc., but they will all pass, while our soul lives on forever. This, the soul, is what we truly need to safeguard!

**We Should Not Judge

         There are some abhorrent and evil people around today and many "good" people wish that they die or go to hell. I can understand that. I placed quotes around the adjective good because those people are basically good but not yet perfect. If you follow Christ, you would pray for all the evildoers and leave the judging to God. I bet that when you get to heaven, you'll find some whom you'd expected to see missing and others whom you'd not expected to see present. God alone determines our eternal destination. We only pray that his will be done.

***No Escape from All-knowing God

          In today's Gospel reading from Luke 12, Jesus said to his disciples, "There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops." Today many are not even aware that our all-knowing Lord is ever present, so they do whatever they feel like doing. I truly pity them for not knowing what they do, for they'll have to answer to the Lord for every single thought they have entertained, every single word they have uttered, and every single act they have committed! Nothing can escape the Lord. Do what you will, but you shall be found to be worthy to enter heaven or not in the end.

***Wake up, Bishops!

        To me, the abortion holocaust is the most horrible crime we are committing against God as a result of not believing in the God of Christ. To get a sense of its magnitude in this country alone, it you haven't seen my post of Nov. 16, 2018 yet, please click on the link to take a look at it—you may be in for a shock. Unborn babies are being killed nonstop while I am typing this post to you now. How can we possibly not do anything and still sleep well? Our Church has been infiltrated by evil and our Pope and most bishops have remained relatively quiet. They are more concerned about global warming and not being nice enough to the enemies of the Church than resolving the crises the Church faces right now. Jesus said, "Whoever is not with me is against me." Listen to the highlights of Archbishop Vigano's warning to the bishops who are silent on abortion during this election year in the video below. (Note. Today is 2/26/2022 and I found the video already removed.)

**How Much Alive Are We Spiritually?

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 11, Jesus said to the Pharisees, "Woe to you! You are like unseen graves over which people unknowingly walk." To be like unseen graves is to be totally dead spiritually! Hearing this makes me question how much alive we are spiritually. For the Lord, half alive, 3/4 alive, or 99% alive is not good enough. We need to be fully alive, filled with zeal and joy, doing everything for the love of the Lord. He has give his all and it's time for us to give our all to him. 

*Obeying the Holy Spirit

         The Holy Spirit should be our sole guide and teacher. We should let the Holy Spirit mold and form our conscience. His commands must override all other commands not from the Lord. In the Spirit, we are no longer bound by the law made by man.