*Learning from Plants

          Plants are like us. Some grow fast, while others always look sick. I planted a lemon tree and it did not produce any fruit for over 10 years. I almost gave up all hope, then a year ago, all of sudden to my surprise, lemons started to appear. This year we have more lemons than we we can possibly consume. From this, a  couple of thoughts came to me. (1) We must not judge others, for those we judge may one day become holy and enter the kingdom of heaven before us. (2) Plants become well established only after their roots have penetrated deep enough into the soil over time. Likewise, we need to ground ourselves deep in the Lord to become strong. 

***Don't Let Your Life Be like a Dream

         Life without Christis is like living in a dream. In a dream, you don't know why things happen nor where you are going; you do not experience reality. And your dream can easily turn into a nightmare. Those who live without Christ are simply lost. They just go thru the motion, not knowing the truth nor which way they should go. They are basically asleep and wake up only when life turns into a real nightmare in the end. Don't ever let this happen to you!

*How We Affect Others

        To be holy, you focus upon yourself. As a result, it's easy to forget considering how your action might affect others. This is what I have come to realize. If you are not living as a recluse, you always interactive with others. So this becomes an important point to be aware of if we want to be more perfect. 

***God's Infinite Love

        God's love is so great that it's beyond our comprehension. This is the love that can transform each one of us and the world. When you get to know him more and more, you begin to understand it more and more. Seek union with him to know and experience it as fully as possible.

***Christ Alone More than Enough

          People are thrilled by many things of the world. Some dream of becoming famous, while others hope to drive super-fast sport cars. Some really enjoy gambling at casinos, while others want to acquire always the latest hot gadgets. I'd prefer to have Christ alone who can give me freedom, peace, and joy the world does not know and cannot supply. 

****Christ fulfilling Us Forever

          Yesterday I watch the video Leon Fleisher: Lessons of a Master. As you may know, he's a world-renowned pianist. I have some of his great recordings and had met him personally. His love for music is obvious if you watch this documentary. There are other artists who live for their art and derive great satisfaction from that. Beautiful art truly has its power. Then Christ came to my mind. He never exhibited anything solely to delight our physical senses; he simply showed his love for us. Yet he is more powerful than all the attractions in the world, able to capture our whole being, heart and soul. Besides, he uplifts and frees us, while other attractions weigh us down. While the latter can satisfy momentarily, Christ alone fulfills us forever.

**All Hinges upon Christ

         It's so easy to ignore Christ, keep on sinning, and end up in hell. But it's just as easy to get to heaven. All you need to do is believe in Christ as your Lord and Savior and follow him. The outcome hinges upon Christ alone, for he is our creator and the truth. You follow yourself or him, the only decision we need to make.

***Happy with My God

           Today I feel extra happy with my God. (1) He has given us a conscience and we can choose to confess our sins to him or not. I am just happy that I can confess my sins to him, my most loving Father, to become whole again and receive complete peace from him. (2) I am happy because God is my refuge. In him, I am shielded from all the evils around me and my soul remains safe forever. I love my Lord and my God.

*****Our Lady of Zeitoun

          I have always thought that the appearance of our Holy Mother in the Zeitoun district of Cairo, Egypt, beginning in 1968 and ending in 1971, seen by a vast number of people, was truly amazing and beautiful. The world press in those days like ours today suppressed reporting anything that appeared to have come genuinely from God—one reason many people don't know about this wonderful event. Today Fr. Goring focuses upon this miracle in his video. You can find online the story and many images of Our Lady of Zeitoun. Here's the video:

****Church Against Evil

          The spiritual battle is real. The Church no longer stands up to Evil! Prepare for Jesus' coming. Watch John-Henry Westen's video. In the future, if you don't find his show on YouTube, you can always go directly to his site lifesitenews.com.

***Letting God Have All or Nothing

         If you love someone, you pray hard for his or her conversion and decide it's best to offer that person to God to be taken care of by him, then you should release and no longer worry about that person anymore, right? Either you mean to hand over your problem to God totally or you don't. Offer anything to God and it becomes his. Offer yourself to him and you shouldn't be attached to yourself anymore. Either you belong to God or you don't. Not letting go is from the evil one.

**Sign You're a True Believer

         Today is the Feast of Saint Thomas, Apostle. In the Gospel reading from John 20, after Thomas saw the nails in Jesus' hands and put his finger into the nail-marks and his hand into Jesus' side, Thomas finally believed that Jesus had risen from the dead and said to him, "My Lord and my God." If you can say this same to the Lord spontaneously from your very heart, you are a true believer and will be greatly blessed by him.

*****Coming of the Illumination of Conscience

        Because even details had been revealed about the Illumination of Conscience, I believe that it's imminent. Here's another video to warn you about it. Of course, you are free to believe or disbelieve it.

***Making Light of Mortal Sins

          I watched a YouTube video titled 15 Mortal Sins Catholics Are Frequently Missing in Their Confessions. I'll just mention a few on the list, such as using contraception, masturbating, wearing immodest clothing, and not keeping Sunday as a day of rest, which most Catholics no longer consider to be serious sins. But a mortal sin once is a mortal sin always! It's us who have fallen further away from God. Even priests today no longer touch on these subjects openly, for it seems that not offending people matters more than not offending God. We are in or near end times.

**Two Big Realizations

        The world has strayed far away from God. First, we need to realize that we are sinners and need salvation from the Lord. Next, we need to realize that Christ is the perfect example for us to emulate. We truly need someone to guide us in all things and there is no one but Christ who knows everything and has the greatest love for us. 

*Being a Bona Fide Christian

          Since God communicates with our heart and touches our soul, the life we live for him is always an interior one. We communicate with him and experience his joy secretly. Whatever we do for him is for him alone, to be known to him alone. So a bona fide Christian is one who lives for Christ only in secret. 

**Tough Conversions, but Not for God

         Smart, educated people are most difficult to convert. They think that they can find all answers themselves. I talked to a prominent doctor who was a Protestant at one time, but he was never able to bring himself to believe in Christ fully. He was always asking me questions and couldn't understand why someone like me would even want to be involved with serving at a local prison. Another person I talked to recently has no qualms about following the way of the world. I just sense that bringing up Christ is not going to make any impact at this point. You need to pray for people like him. This reminds me of in Mark 9 the time the disciples asked the Lord why they couldn't cast a demon out of one boy. Jesus said to them, "This kind can only come out through prayer."
       Fr. Goring's video today more or less ties in with I've just said above. Also, since the Miraculous Medal was mentioned, I can testify that wearing one and believing in its efficacy, you do receive abundant blessings from God as promised by Holy Mother. 

**How to Treat Your Body

        To survive on earth, we need our physical body. Therefore, it is proper to keep it healthy and functioning. But if we are obsessed about making our body attractive to others, then we have become vain. Know that the body is like our material possessions which we'll have to leave behind one day. So we should learn to become detached from it. Take care of your body to serve God well, but never "worship" it for your vainglory.