If I die right now, how would I feel? This thought came to me this morning. I would feel all right because I see life continuing on. One difference would be the change of environment. When I leave this world, I simply let everything in it go. As for those for whom I am praying, I'll just continue praying for them from heaven if necessary. Of course, the environment up there will now be divine! So dying does affect serving the Lord; only your environment becomes infinitely better. Now you are in union with the Lord God more than ever.
Tuesday, September 7, 2021
Monday, September 6, 2021
**Persevering to the End
Encouraging, consoling words from the Holy Mother. She said, "Those who remain faithful to the end will receive great reward." Let's remember that!
*****Awesome Power of God's Will
In today's Gospel reading from Luke 6, on a certain sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him. But he realized their intentions and said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up and stand before us.” And he rose and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” Looking around at them all, he then said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so and his hand was restored. It's awesome to see that when we let the Lord do what he wills, all that's good for us is done.
***Only Way to Live
Our first duty is to love God. And it's perfectly all right to let your desire to get to heaven motivate you to love him, for it is exactly his desire for you too. He treasures you, so you should treasure yourself. This is how you can live a fruitful, rewarding life. Living without love for God is no living at all.
Sunday, September 5, 2021
*Elementary Formula for Peace
We want to change the world to make it better, right? But when the world is filled with self-centered sinners, there's no chance it can happen. Let's get right down to the fact that only God can make the world better, for he can change us. So the only way improve the world is for each of us to trust in and follow God, the God of Christ, to let him change us first. This is so clear and simple. Obey Good and we'll have peace and salvation. Ignore him and we'll have continuing chaos and damnation of many. We must work everything thru our God for his glory and our good.
*"Fear" of God
When a righteous person "fears" God, he loses all his fears. When an evil person does not "fear" God, he'll end up in fear of God for all eternity.
***Holiness Starts with Us
The supplications to God we make in public always seem to be prayers for the Pope and the bishop, our government officials, and others in needs, rarely for ourselves. Perhaps we pray for ourselves in private only? I hope so. Praying for others is always easier than praying for ourselves, as many of us have not completely discarded our pride yet. The truth is we need prayer as much as others. Indeed we should humbly pray for our perfection first so we can become more effective in praying for others. We say charity begins at home; we could also say holiness starts with oneself. We won't get far if we pray for others to become holy, while we remain poor examples.
***How We Should See Sinners
It's in current news that the defrocked Cardinal McCarrick has finally been brought to court to face sexual assault charges. So far, he has pleaded not guilty. To me, if one is guilty, it would be do much better for him to repent and suffer public humiliation than not to repent and suffer eternal punishment later. Therefore, I urge you all to pray for the salvation of this former cardinal.
How we see other sinners genuinely shows how much we know Jesus. In general, we don't like evildoers and often wish literally that they go to hell. But this is pure human thinking, no at all in line with what the Lord wishes. God loves the evildoers as much as the righteous ones. In fact, it's specifically for their salvation that he came to us from heaven. If any one of them goes to hell, Satan wins. Which side are you really on? Next time you wish someone to go to hell, recall how Jesus rebuked Peter in Matthew 16:23, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”
Saturday, September 4, 2021
***Easiest Person to Get Along With***
On earth we all have family members and/or friends, and not everyone we know we can get along with easily. Even with our most loved ones or best friends, we can misunderstand each other at times. Personally, I've found Jesus to be the easiest person to get along with. How so? First of all, he understands you perfectly, knowing all your weaknesses and imperfections. And he's most forgiving; once you admit you're wrong, he forgives you totally. Of course, he never holds grudges against you. And he's most patient, for he always listens to you. If you fall short of loving him, he helps you there too. You can trust in him completely, as he is completely reliable. He's indeed the easiest person to get along with because he doesn't mind your mistakes, imperfections, failures, as long as you trust in him. Besides, he can make you so perfect as to get along with him swimmingly. Now he and you become soulmates. Once you have the Lord as your most beloved lord and friend, you have all the people you need to know in life.
**Reacting to Any Situation
I have an earwax buildup in my right ear, affecting its hearing. So I started putting a few drops of mineral oil in it a couple of days ago to soften the wax. This had worked in the past for me. But this morning as I tried to dab my ear to get the excess oil out with a paper tissue, I found blood stains on the tissue. Two possible extreme scenarios of how one can react in such a situation. First scenario, you become alarmed, panic, and rush to see your doctor, thinking that you may have a serious infection and lose your hearing in that ear. Second scenario, you remain calm, knowing that panic or worry will not help you a bit. You don't need negative thoughts to cloud your thinking. Mostly likely, there's nothing to be alarmed about. You should wait and not jump into any conclusion.
I am sure that you would agree with me objectively that the second reaction is the right one. But we do know that reacting the first way comes more naturally to us and reacting the second way is difficult or nigh impossible for many of us. This is where God comes in. By trusting in him, we should be able to remain in peace under any circumstances. This is not just a theory, but a fact. Here's the Lord ready to take you to heaven—how can he possibly not take care of you on earth? (As for my ear bleed, I think I've figured out the cause. I just cut my fingernails. Earlier they were a bit long and I did try to get some of the wax out of the right ear with my index finger. Very possibly, the nail had scratched the outer ear and caused some bleeding. In that case, I should be all well in a few days.)
Friday, September 3, 2021
*****Most Serious Reality***
Life is our big test. At some time early in our life, perhaps around the time we started elementary school, we became aware of the existence of good and evil. Since man disobeyed God at the beginning, we all inherited the original sin. God can just pardon us all, but that would be going against his principle. So in this life, we must choose to repent and return to God or not to repent and remain in sin. This is what the test is all about, and it's absolutely critical, for the consequences of our choice will affect our eternity.
**Simple Way to Become a Saint
This is the Little Way of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. We do everything little thing for God with great love, and we become saints. So, just do everything for God to show that we love him and let him take care of the rest.
*Ready to Meet God
When we are ready to go to God at any time, we are ready for him to come at any time.
***How to know God Fast*
Plunge yourself directly into the God of Christ, cry out to him from your heart, and asking anything you want to know from him. This takes courage and may not be easy for you right new, but if you remain timid, you won't get anywhere. If you do that, the Lord would be overjoyed, this I can tell you! What can you possibly lose? Would he strike you dead? Of course not! On the contrary, he most ardently desires that you live happily in heaven with him in the end! Go to him boldly and you'll experience a breakthrough. It is truly exciting to know the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. You want to enjoy peace, freedom, and joy now and forever.
***A Denial We Must Not Deny*
Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." (Matthew 16:24) Today, we not only do not wish to carry our own crosse, we create crosses for others. This goes directly against following the Lord. We are no better than the Pharisees to whom Jesus had said "Woe to you" on many occasions. Despising carrying our own cross is despising the Lord carrying his cross for us now.
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