*Like a Blank Canvas

         As I did my early morning walk today, I saw myself as a blank canvas, clean and spotless, ready for the Lord to paint whatever he wants on it. This is a great way to start each day, letting him do whatever he wishes with you, knowing that you'll always get the most loving care from him.

**We Are the Culprits

         The love of God alone is enough to make us all holy and go to heaven, and turn our world into a peaceful haven for all. That this is not happening is because not all of us are cooperating with God. It's that simple. There is nothing more beautiful than the love of God for us, yet we do not see or accept that because we are in sin. That is clear. We are the ones giving God a hard time. We need to repent and pray hard for ourselves foremost.

***God Ready for You to Experience*

       God is real and you need to experience him. Otherwise, your spiritual journey will be arduous. It is true that faith alone is sufficient for salvation, but why not make your journey easy and a joy when you can? I do not mean that you need to witness miracles or have apparitions, etc., which can actually be distractions; I am talking about experiencing the Lord himself! Our God is not remote nor aloof. In fact, he even became one of us to befriend us on earth 2,000 years ago. All you need to do is be open and desire to experience him and he will respond readily to you, for he loves you and is waiting for this moment to establish a most beautiful intimate relationship with you. Never forget that he died for us so that we may live forever with him in heaven!

***Dream Relationship with God*

        There is no better feeling than pouring your heart out to God, your most loving Father. It's not to let him know what's in your heart, for he already knows; it's to show that you are willing to share everything with him directly from your heart, being totally open so that you become one with him with absolutely no barrier whatsoever between you and him. You now fulfill his will always and experience true freedom, peace, and joy that surpass understanding. You now have a dream relationship with God that's real.

*A Special Grace

         As I get older, I do feel that the Lord God is the only one I can depend upon, even though I still have my wife the dearest person on earth with me. She's good to me, but the Lord alone is the one I can rely on now and forever. This is good to be aware of! Blessed are those who are still young and realize this.

*****Two Revelations*****

        As I prayed and walked this morning, I had two revelations. (1) Luke 23:34—from the cross, Jesus asked the Father to forgive those who crucified him. He prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." We are all sinners, so we all do not know what we do, until we surrender ourselves completely to God. Again, seeking union with God is the way to go. (2) No matter how holy we are, we need to cry out for God's mercy, for we are dependent upon his mercy for everything. We are entirely in his hands. To rebel against God is to jump out of his protective hands into oblivion. "Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner" is our most fundamental prayer. We must acknowledge this foremost to get into heaven.

*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.