**A Spiritual Breakthrough

        If you can realize your own ugly sinfulness and then see the truly beautiful holiness of the perfect God, you will want the Lord to bring you into his light to be transformed by him. It's like you were in darkness and discovered daylight, and you just want to enter that light to be able to see all the beautiful things.    

***Our Biggest Concern

        The Devil is already evil; you can't change that. And God will totally take care of him in the end. Besides, if we are with God, he cannot possibly hurt us. Our biggest concern is about ourselves. For we can obey God, even become saints, and be saved forever or, if we do not watch out, stray away from God, and become lost forever. The plan for our salvation has already been worked out by God and offered to us, so we only need to accept that while we are still alive on earth.

***Central Truth Revealed

      Look at Almighty God with his infinite power, he remains meek and humble. He never rushes to judge us. He wants to give us all the possible chances we can have to get ourselves saved. He respects us and pities those who need mercy. Then look at ourselves. What a contrast! We who need to be saved ourselves judge others, condemn others, and look down on many without any pity. Shame on us. The only cure for us is to surrender ourselves to God. I am revealing or reiterating this central truth for all to see and embrace. If you still don't want to hear it, I can only pray for you, but know that your own prayer here will always be most effective. 

***Live for Eternity

        You can watch the volcanic eruption on La Palma, Canary Islands, live now on YouTube. The power and force are spectacular and awesome. The sight made me think of God, evil, heaven, hell, and the fragility of life. Even though Canary Islands are over 5,700 miles away from where I am, disasters of such magnitude can happen here too. It'll be foolish to live as if I am not going to die. So wake up! In a fire like the one on La Palma right now, we'd be totally consumed in a second. Live for eternity and you'll have eternal life. Live for now and that's all the life you are going to get.

*Mastering Our Free Will

        Each of us possesses a free will and we get to exercise it wisely or foolishly. The ultimate choice for us is whether we follow God or not. We must not let our free will get out of control. Perhaps it helps to see that the free will is just a will there free for us to steer in any direction. We are still its master, responsible for all our choices. You just can't say "My free will made me do it."

*The Way to Be Wise and Strong

        1 Corinthians 1: 25, "For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength." Anyone who thinks that he is wiser and stronger than anyone else is basically a fool and a weakling. But if he will humble and submit himself to God, he receives both God's wisdom and strength and is set free. 

***Simple Truth Difficult for Many

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 10, Martha's sister Mary sat beside Jesus at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, was not happy that her sister did not help her, and complained to the Lord about it. He said to her in reply, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her." So we really only need to listen to Jesus speak. But this can be easily misinterpreted. If I speak the truth that I only need to trust in God, people think that I am living in a bubble or dream world and even laugh at me. This is how the world see Christians or even how some Christians see other Christians. It's a sad situation. 

***The Way to Be Free of Sin!

        From today's Psalm 130, we read "If you, O LORD, mark iniquities, LORD, who can stand? But with you is forgiveness, that you may be revered." Because God can forgives our sins and will, if we repent, we no longer need to fear sin anymore! This is such great news and relief that we can surely rejoice about. The only alternative is to carry your iniquities all your life and die.

**Foolish, Dangerous Living

        A lot of people still hear the small voice of their conscience telling them that they should do this or not do that from time to time. But being so much enslaved by the world, they easily turn away from that voice. Unless they already worship Satan, they do not outright reject Jesus. So it's living day to day, avoiding facing the Lord. To me, this is extremely foolish, dangerous living.

**Not Belonging to This World!

         During the trial before Pilate, Pilate asked Jesus, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here." (John 18:35-36) For us who follow Christ, our home is not in this world either. Since we belong to Christ, our permanent home is in heaven, awaiting us now!

**Not Knowing What They Do

         I pity the evildoers, for they know not what they do. But I also feel sorry for another category of people. These may even be nice people, but just totally lack humility. They may claim that they believe in God, but live life the way they want for themselves anyway. They think they know more than God, for when they believe that what they do is the right thing, it must be all right with God. They take full charge of their own life and think that those who trust in God to provide every need is not living in reality. Obviously, they erroneously believe that trust in God means doing nothing on your own and just letting God work all the miracles for you. Anyway, these people are usually judgmental, unforgiving, and look down on other less fortunate people; they do not know what they do either. Prayer seems to be the only resort to make them see, for they wouldn't listen to anyone speaking the truth to them. Pride can be as detrimental to the soul as doing evil.

*Great Error Causing Great Sorrow

        Great error: not taking Christ seriously. Great sorrow: being cut off from God for eternity.

***Most Special Reception***

        Today's Communion experience. I am receiving the Lord I am going to enjoy being with in heaven for all eternity! 

**A Most Special Trip

        Going to Mass is a so very special trip—you go to receive the Lord in person for him to enter you!

*Contrasty Effects

        The love of money causes us to do evil. By contrast, a pure heart enables us to preserve inner peace.

**Letting God Inspire You

        Alfred Cortot, the renowned French pianist of the the 20th century once said, "You should convey the music not just through the notes, but through some kind of inspiration drawn from its immortal spirit." This inspires me not to become a better piano player, but to become a better Christian. Imagine how the Holy Spirit of God can inspire us if we open up to him. The Lord is always yearning to be one with us; we are the ones who are usually reluctant to cooperate. So open wide to let him inspire you with his love, and you'll be filled with hope and zeal, feeling uplifted at all times. 

***Created for God*

        I do feel that there is no one in this world I can fully trust and rely upon. Close family members and friends can make me feel good to a certain degree, but ultimately, I am still alone. No so with the Lord, for I feel that he is always with and for me, warts and all. He never gives up on me as long as I live. This is exactly what we all need. We were truly created for him. 

**Best Thing for Us in This World

        Well-wishers on various occasions commonly wish others good health as if it were the most important thing for them. I suppose if you do not consider God, it is rather important. And they wish others success in whatever they do. Of course, success here usually implies making a lot of money. Then they also wish others happiness, but how do you acquire happiness? Anyway, we all more or less become worldly in this world. If I wish someone go to heaven, I am sure I would most likely offend that person. My point is that good health, becoming rich, and happiness in this world are not really the best things for us. The only thing that's truly good for us is knowing God