***Most Appropriate Gift for God***

          In today's Gospel acclamation from Ephesians 1, Paul prayed that God might enlighten the eyes of our hearts. Yes, our hearts have both ears and eyes to hear and see. This is how we connect with God. If the heart is not involved, we cannot know God. Give your heart to God, then he will revealed himself and the whole truth to you. Our hearts rightfully belong to our Father, for only he can purify and comfort them.

***Saving the Soul*

        To save your soul, you need Christ, of course. Then you must believe that he is the Savior. Others can pray for you to help you make it happen. Of these three parties, God is already on your side and others can help, but you are the main one responsible for the salvation of your own soul. These thoughts came to me because someone I know is dying right now. He is a good friend of my oldest son; a very nice person. I knew him too. [My phone just rang; it was my son informing me that he just passed away.] 
        Let me tell you a little bit about this friend. He was in the 70s. He came from an old Italian family well-known locally. He left the Church a long time ago. Some years back, I tried to get him back into the Church, but his response was that he wasn't ready yet, as there were still so many things in the world to take care of. That was a typical excuse I'd heard from many others. Then he started losing his memory, no longer recognizing everyone. His health deteriorated and entered a hospital. I hoped to go see him, but with the coronavirus lockdown, it wasn't possible. I texted his daughter a prayer for her to read to her father, basically telling God that he's sorry fo his sins and asking the Lord now to forgive him. Then he came home, for the hospital couldn't do much for him anymore. I went along with my son to see him twice. I prayed aloud, hoping that he would hear me. The second time, his eyes opened slightly and with his mouth open, his chin started to move up and down as if he were praying. That was a good sign to me. I called my parish priest about giving him extreme unction. After obtaining permission from the daughter, Fr. P went to him the day before yesterday and administered the sacrament. Today, he is gone. I pray that he's with the Lord now. Happy and wise is the one who gives his soul to God before he goes to him!

***Our Perfection

        In today's first reading from Hebrews 5, Paul wrote about Christ: Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. Our perfection too can only be made by the Lord, and obedience to him is the key to achieving that perfection.

*Prayers God Will Answer at Once

1. "I am sorry that I have sinned against you. Pleases forgive me and take away my sins."
2. "Please help me become holy to serve you." 

      The Lord will answer these two prayers exactly the way you wanted without delay.

Shaping Our Own Destiny

           In Matthew 24 (and Luke 21), Jesus said, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." You can be sure that what he had said would come to pass. What he had not said could change, depending upon how we behave toward him. We are free to choose to obey or rebel against God. We get to shape our own destiny.

**Reflections at Mass

          Went to the outdoor Sunday morning 10:30 Mass again. Another beautiful day; couldn't believe that the temperature was above 60 F in the middle of the winter. I felt good that we could enjoy such peace in the Lord, then I immediately saw the most horrible evil we were capable of doing to God. All you need to do is look at history and what has happened in this country now. We can be holy as the Lord or evil like the Devil. It all comes down to this. 
           The sky was light blue and cloudless with the low bright winter sun shining right in my eyes. Then I remembered I had seen such a bright sun with absolutely no glare three time before. The sun just looked like a pure white consecrated host, pulsating as if it had a living heart. I saw this miracle in Texas, Medjugorje, and Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, a group of us pilgrims were together, yet some of us saw the miracle and others couldn't because of the intense glare of the sun. This itself was a miracle. Anyway, it became clear to me that God was real! 

*One Who Knows Everything

        Did you ever notice in the Gospels that when Jesus talked to someone or a group of people, he already knew what's on their mind? Sometimes he asked them a pinpoint question, knowing what they were thinking. And he knew of his own coming Crucifixion and Resurrection. He is so far ahead of us that I feel absolutely safe and secure to put my whole future in his hands. The omniscient Lord is the one to keep and treasure for all eternity!

***Know Whom You Belong To

        Today's second reading comes from 1 Corinthians 6. Paul writes, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body." If you already follow Christ, know that you now belong to him. Therefore, treat yourself as God's most precious belonging, and keep yourself clean and blameless!

****Secret to Union with God

           Excerpts from Psalm 40 at Mass today: Sacrifice or offering you wished not, but ears open to obedience you gave me. Holocausts or sin-offering you sought hot; then said I, "Behold I come. In the written scroll it is prescribed for me, to do your will, O my God, is my delight." We see that obeying the Lord, doing his will, is what he desires the most. Let that "dictate" everything else we do, sacrifice, offering, etc., all included. This is the secret to union with God.

**God be with You

        In today's first reading from 1 Samuel 3, the Lord repeated called Samuel. When he finally realized that it's the Lord, he answered, "Speak, for your servant is listening. Samuel grew up, and the Lord was with him, not permitting any word of his to be without effect. It is so good to have the Lord being with you. This way you can't go wrong in what you do and will be his effective servant. He is with you when you belong to him totally. Attain union with God through the Holy Eucharist and you'll know that he is with you and in you.

***Sinners Being Called!

        The Gospel reading at Mass comes from Mark 2. When some scribes saw that Jesus was eating with sinners and tax collectors and said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus heard this and said to them, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners." All you sinners, raise your hand. Jesus is calling you right now.

**God's Living Sword

        Today's first reading comes from Hebrews 4. Here is the first verse: The word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joint and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. If you truly know the Lord and have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, you would feel the word of God cutting you heart and penetrating your soul, illuminating your conscience and guiding your thoughts. Definitely an exhilarating experience! You also know that the Lord dwells within you and whatever you experience can only come from him. You can bear witness to it, but not prove it. It is faith that enables us to know and become one with the Lord.

**Happy Living in This World?

        Whether something is good or bad for us becomes clear when we ask what if everyone does it. For example, casting one false ballot may not look too bad, but if every citizen of the nation does it, we won't have a republic anymore. Again, not believing in God may not seem to be a big deal, but if everyone on earth is an atheist, the whole world would surely go to hell (pun not intended). Similarly, whether you can be truly happy living in this world becomes clear when you ask what if you don't die and get to live in this world forever. As long as the world remains, sinful, godless, and chaotic as it is, I don't believe you'd be happy spending eternity here. I'd much prefer spend my brief time on earth and return to my Father to spend eternity with him in heaven.

**Amazing Power of Faith

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 2, Jesus was preaching in his own town to a packed crowd so that there was no longer room for them, not even around the door. They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him. After they had broken through, they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to him, "Child, you sins are forgiven." (Later, he healed him too.) The lesson here is that if your faith is strong, believe in him firmly, and try your hardest to reach him, he's ready to forgive all you sins! Such is the power of faith! Let's exercise that faith and watch miracles happen.

*Clear Conscience Required to Be Smart

        To be considered smart, one must have a clear conscience. One can be very sharp intellectually or very shrewd in business, but if his conscience remains muddy, he is still a fool (in my book).

**Grave Oversight*

        In Luke 17, Jesus spoke to his disciples about the day of his coming. He said, "As it was in the days of Noah: they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building; on the day when Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all. So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed." This passage came to me as I learned that someone I know was very excited about finding others related to him through DNA testing. We often spend much time engaging in trivial or mundane activities and forget all about preparing ourselves for the Second Coming of Christ or our judgment day. This has been one of mankind's gravest oversights.

****Our Key to Glory

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 1, a leper came to Jesus and begged him to make him clean. Jesus, moved with pity, did just that. Then the Lord told him not to tell anyone about his healing. But the man went away and and began to publicize the whole matter. He spread the report abroad so that it was impossible for Jesus to enter a town openly. We have a case of someone what did not obey the Lord but followed his own inclination. Perfect obedience to God means casting aside our own feelings and emotions and following his command alone. It is the key to becoming holy and one with God and entering heaven afterwards.

**Happiness is Relative

         Everything is relative. I have not been to heaven, but I know that if I spend one minute in heaven, I'll never want to come back to earth anymore. As the Lord is infinitely greater than we, the joy in heave will be infinitely greater than any happiness we experience on earth. Only fools will attach themselves to the world.  Only fools will think that they have only one life to live,