**God More than Uplifting

          There are many things you see, hear, or read about that uplift the soul. Examples are beautiful landscapes, great music, and inspiring stories of saints or other extraordinary human beings. But only Christ our Savior can save our soul.

**Faith over Understanding

        We never know what can happen tomorrow. Life can be full of unexpected twists and turns. Looking back on what we've gone through, we often see things clearly. What I have learned in following Christ is that I don't need to understand why certain things happen that seem to thwart my progress in certain endeavor. As I plow forward, I learn more and more about everything and finally the greater good emerges at the end as all problems are resolved. This is very satisfying and is often how the Lord puts us through. We only need to keep our faith, knowing that by following him faithfully, we'll ultimately arrive at heaven. 

***What Is Success?

         Do you feel that you are successful in life? What is success to you? Let me share with you what true success is. It has nothing to do with what people think of you or even what you think of yourself. It is not measured by any standard of the world. True success is measured by how you succeed in doing God's will. If you are totally obedient to the Lord and accomplish whatever he wishes you to do, then you are a resounding success in his eyes! So it all has to do with what God thinks of you. When you succeed this way, you are a fulfilled and happy person and are ready for heaven.   

**Glad Earthly Life Is Finite

        Today I feel good that I don't live forever in this world and that I shall die one day and return to God our loving Father. You have to be out of your mind to want to live in this sinful world forever. Happiness is not good enough if it's not forever; that's how the Lord has made us. I rejoice that I've found Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life. He is what I ever wanted and need. He fulfills me for all eternity! 

**To Make God Happy or Not*

        If we reject the God of Christ, he will reject us. If we believe in him with all our heart and with all our soul, we'll receive all the blessings he can give us. So God will take us as seriously as we take him. Rightly, we reap what we sow. It's in making God happy that we become joyful.

***God as Our Friend

        Another new day: another day for us to praise God.  Today the Lord made me see the difference between him a good human friend. If I have the best human friend in the world, he'll probably help me as much as he can. But if I ask for his help time and again, eventually he would want me to stop bothering him. Now, take our God, if we truly need his help, he will never reject us. In fact, it pleases him immensely to know that we trust in him as our Father. So even if we ask for his help unceasingly, he won't mind at all, for his love for us is great.

**To Be Free of Material Possessions

        Most of us in this country accumulate a lot of material things over our lifetime. I remember one family who belonged to my church two years ago. The couple had accumulated 300 boxes, some of which quite sizable, of Christmas decorations. Every year they started decorating their house about a month ahead of Christmas, and of course had to take down and pack away everything later in the new year. Looking at my own possessions, because my hobbies had been music and photography, I still have many CDs, LPs, music scores and books, a piano, photographic prints, matting and framing materials, a mat cutter, etc. I know that when I leave this world, it's be saying goodbye to them forever. This makes me see that we should start detaching ourselves from all our material possessions as we age. The only way to succeed here is to attach ourselves to the Lord God alone. Again, surrendering to him is the key, not trying to fight yourself and struggle on your own. Once more, it comes down to whether we let God truly be our Lord or not—something we must face.

***Call to Be Courageous

         Today's message from Fr. Mark Goring comes at the perfect time. Christians need to hear it and make a choice.          

***Keep Up Your Faith

          The world has got so evil and corrupt that they are crucifying our Lord again. After the first Crucifixion before his Resurrection, the disciples became so demoralized and didn't know what to do. But Resurrection changed all that. Now we should always be full of hope, knowing that the Lord is alive and with us. Therefore, continue praying and never give up. To lose hope is to fall into the Devil's trap. Our final victory is assured. Nothing is impossible for God if we have faith. Rejoice in the Lord always.

**Before We Depart

        As we get older, we start getting ready for meeting God. One of the things we sometimes forget is straightening out our relationships with all others on earth before we depart. If you haven't made peace with your fellow humans yet, how can you possibly expect that you'll get along with God?   

***God Most Beautiful

        It's only 11 days to Christmas and Christians are exchanging glad tidings with each other. I just received an email about a YouTube video on Christmas music. The singing was wonderful, but I couldn't help thinking that no matter how beautiful what we have created to glorify God might be, it still falls far short of the true beauty of the Lord himself, for we are finite and our capabilities are limited. To appreciate and enjoy the full beauty of the Lord, get to know him thoroughly first. Once you attain union with him, all other beauties fade away.

***Daring Prayer***

        Today's Gospel acclamation from Isaiah 61: The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me.... We say a lot of prayers, so why not also ask the Lord specifically to anoint you with the Holy Spirit? Again, I am no theologian, but my actual experience had been that great things happen to you when you desire anointing by the Spirit. This is what the Lord wants you to have, so it's yours for the asking! I can tell you that your spiritual life will then progress by leaps and bounds! It all comes down to when you let God do the work, he just does it for you, making your spiritual life most exciting.

**Our Journey of Faith

            From reading 2 from 1 Thessalonians 5, we have Paul writing "Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thinks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Test everything; retain what is good. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will also accomplish it." We see that our journey must be one of faith. The Lord is not going to tell us specifically what's going to happen and what every little thing we need to do next. We must believe in him always and plunge ahead following his will as best we can, knowing that we will arrive at where he wants us to go. It is by faith that we live, being hopeful always and never becoming disheartened.

***Why We Need Christ!

        Going through hell on earth is infinitely better than experiencing true hell after death. You may live a most miserable life, but if you are with Christ, your suffering will end when you leave this world. On the other hand, if you are not with him and end up in hell, your suffering never ends—this is why hell after death is so horrible. This is why accepting and obeying Christ is so necessary before you die. Romans 6.23: The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Christ is our answer.

***Our Best News

        To be a saint, you need to abandon yourself completely to God. To be saved, you only need to believe in Christ and repent of your sins, something everyone can do. This is the best news of all. But if you go for Christ, why not go all the way and your life will be so much more rewarding now and also later?

Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Unborn

         Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. If you are not familiar with the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe, look it up and you'll find it amazing and beautiful. The miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe was found imprinted on the cloak of Juan Diego of Mexico to whom Mary appeared in 1531. In Revelation 11, the Apostle John saw the following in his vision: "A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth." In the Our Lady of Guadalupe image, we see her clothed with the sun and with the moon under her feet. And the black ribbon around her waist shows that she is expecting a child. 
         In the Gospel reading from Luke 1, Mary visited her relative Elizabeth who's pregnant with John the Baptist. When Elizabeth heard Mary' greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does his happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled." It is important to learn that the unborn infant can also experience joy, and therefore, sorrow and pain too. It is absolutely sacrilegious for pro-abortionists to think that the infant unborn is a merely a blob in the mother's womb with no life at all.

***Our Journey*

        When you are one with the Lord, you experience his agony along with him, and that places a heavy burden on your heart. Yet knowing that he is with you, you never lose hope. Suffering is always a part of following the Lord who also gives you unspeakable joy. As Ascension followed the Lord's Passion, we will also see his glory after our agony expires. Our world has gotten so godless that I believe that the illumination of conscience, our mini-judgment, as prophesied could happen anytime now. Pray for the mercy of God on all unceasingly. Remember that we are only passing through this world and our permanent home is to be with our Father in heaven. 

**The Just and the Wicked

         From today's reading from Psalm 1, we learn that the wicked are chaff which the wind drives away; for the LORD watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes. We know that the wicked won't be able to stand the Lord, while the just are blessed by him always. God is in full control of everything, but we who are finite easily forget this and start to worry when times get tough. Christians who know that they are returning to their Father in heaven live in freedom and with great joy. Similarly, those who know that God is in full charge pray hard, but do not worry, in troubled times. Final victory belongs to the just and faithful, not to the wicked whose way will vanish altogether.