***Our Final Judgment***

        Today is the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 25 on the the judgment of the nations by the Son of Man, Jesus will come to separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on this right and the goats on his left. The king will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Then he will say to those on his left, "Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Interestingly, the Lord gives the good news to the righteous first. The Second Coming is as certain as his first coming into the world 2,000 years ago, and I look forward to the return of our Lord.

**We Are Wonderfully Made

         Psalm 139.14: I praise you, Lord, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your works! This morning I realized this when I realized that I could see, hear, feel, eat and survive, come up with abstract ideas, and on top of it all, know God! Many people believe that humans did evolve from apes. There may be evidence of physical evolution in animal species, but the capability of conceiving the existence of God is not something that can possibly evolve from any animal such as the ape. Anyway, know that you are wonderfully made by God and you'll be happy with both yourself and God.  

***Christ's Wonderful Blessing!

        Each one of us is aware of our own existence. I know I am I, and you know you are you. When we attain union with Christ, his existence becomes even more certain than our own! We come to know him even more than ourselves! This is truly amazing, because we do not physically see or hear him, yet our heart tells us so. It is all the Lord's doing, a most wonderful blessing to us.

***Union with God Depicted***

           When you and God are in each other, you and God are in union. But the Lord is infinite and we are like a little drop in the ocean, so how can he possibly enter and dwell in us? Perhaps we can picture that the Lord fills the entire space and we merely blend in perfectly. To achieve that is quite simple. If you can be completely open to the Lord so that there is absolutely no barrier between you and him so that he may enter you freely as he wills, then you are in union with him! You now experience total freedom in God!   

***Christ Our Only Truth

        I see so clearly that Christ is the truth. I do not consider Christianity to be a religion, for it is the absolute truth. If you want to consider it to be a religion so you can compare it with all other religions in the world, then let me point out what distinguishes Christianity from the rest. (1) The Christian belief is founded upon God's unconditional, pure love for us. (2) The God of Christ is all powerful, but also meek and humble so that we can even attain union with him. (3) The message of salvation is made crystal clear to us. (4) God never lord it over us as we have the free will to accept or reject him, making faith meaningful. These features stand out as no other religion can come close. Without the God of Christ, life becomes pointless.

**Keeping the Faith

        If you believe that the Lord God knows everything about you and you do believe in him, then you should aim to live up to this belief. You would do everything for the sake of glorifying him. When you pray, you would do your utmost to mean what you say from the heart, for he knows how sincere or serious you are. This is having faith. Your eternal life depends upon how you think, speak, and act. Now, this becomes easy once you attain union with God. But our union with the Lord can never be perfect on earth as we remain sinners. Again, our intention becomes our grace.

***Our Only True God

           Without the true God, we would all be doomed. The God of Christ is the only true God. The world is still in chaos because not the people have accepted him yet. But to those who have, you can be sure that all their sorrow will soon turn into joy forever.

*Getting Hell Right

        Some things we must get right in this life, for if we get them wrong, we won't be able to correct ourselves anymore. Hell is one of those things. If for whatever reason you end up in hell after you die, you just can't change that anymore. So don't ever say "The hell with hell!" It matters as much to you as God. Get to know and love the God of Christ and you won't have anything to worry about, for you will be with him forever!

**No Time to Waste

        In Matthew 7:7 (or Luke 11:9), Jesus said to his disciples, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." May I suggest that we speed things up by going straight to the Lord, open ourselves up wide, and let him see everything we desire in our hearts. He is most ready to help, so let's not waste any time. Learn to rely upon him every moment of our brief life on earth.

***God's Pure Love*

         Our love for others is never that pure. We love for selfish reasons. For example, a man loves a girl partially, if not wholly, because she is attractive to him. If she is not, he'll probably not even look at her, let alone love her. Again, if we like someone as a friend, it's because he or she is fun to be with or can benefit us in some way. Otherwise, we most likely would not bother to know that person. I do admit there are times we feel called to help someone we don't even know in need, but to help someone who is our enemy, that is an entirely different matter. Now, God loves all of us, even if we rebel against him. That love is absolutely unconditional and pure. Only by accepting his love for us ourselves can we possibly love others with a pure love also.

***So Close or So Far Apart, a Choice***

         You can have two people who believe in and love the Lord Jesus and become one in him. All it take is for one of the two to turn away from the Lord and now they can't be further apart. We can let God unite us or set us apart. The choice is so hard for some, yet so easy for others. And that's the way it is.

*An Instructive Dream

        I had this dream early in the morning today. I was in an environment filled with all kinds of noises, including humans chatting incessantly. Then all of a sudden, a loud pure tone came through and stopped everything, and there was peace and quiet. To me, the cacophony of noises symbolizes all the outright lies, biased views, and fake news that are being spewed out by so many godless politicians, entertainers, and mainstream news media nonstop. The pure tone symbolizes the voice of the Lord. And if we choose to hear him alone, we can shut out all the other crap.  

**War or Peace

         If we all obey the God of Christ worldwide, we'll have instant peace, for his second commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. If we all rebel against the God of Christ, we'll be embroiled in a fierce spiritual war till the day we die or his Second Coming, whichever comes first. These are statements of truth Christ has already made amply clear.

*Identifying Evildoers

         The Evil One cannot stand the Lord and his people. He attacks them out of sheer hatred. You cannot reason with him, for he does not listen to you. Well, today's many evildoers behave just like that. You can only pity and pray for them.

*****How We Came to Be

         I read today's first reading from Revelation 4 and learned that we came to be and were created because of God's will. This is something we should think about and cherish. We are not some casual, random creatures; we are truly special because God willed us into being! We bear a most special relationship to him. He knows us and we should get to know him intimately too! We already know through Christ that he loves us to death. To reject him is to reject our own existence!

*****Our Tender Lord

          In today's reading from Revelation 3, we also hear our humble Lord speaking most tenderly from his heart: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. It anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me." If you hear him and still don't let him in, you don't have a heart.

**Expecting the Unexpected

        In today's first reading from Revelation 3, the Lord said: "If you are not watchful, I will come like a thief, and you will never know at what hour I will come upon you." If you don't pay any attention to his warning, you are playing a dangerous game with the Lord. He can come when you least expect him and catch you totally unprepared and cast you into darkness. But those whose name is already in the book of life will eagerly await the Lord's coming at any moment, for their joy will be complete.

***What We Want God to Do for Us

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 18, a blind beggar, realizing that Jesus was passing by, kept calling out, "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!" Jesus stopped and ordered that he be brought to him; and when he came  near, Jesus asked him, "what do you want me to do for you?" He replied,"Lord, please let me see." Jesus told him, "Have sight; your faith has saved you." He immediately received his sight. We can also shout to Jesus, "Son of God, have pity on me!" We may not have a physical impairment, but we can certainly tell him what we want him to do for us. Personally, I would replied to the Lord thus, "Lord, please answer all my prayers." I believe that he will do just that.