**Choosing the Right Extreme

        Here are the two extremes. You can depend upon God totally or just drift around during your whole existence on earth. The God I am talking about is not just an imagined God, but a concrete God you can actually experience. So it comes down to knowing exactly where you are headed or remaining lost. The latter might be exciting when you are playing a game, but it becomes a horrible nightmare if your soul were involved. Of course, you can always take that other extreme with God.

***How the World Splits***

        For me, telling others about Christ is like someone telling me about an enthralling book, a beautiful piece of music, an attractive new friend, an exciting new car, an enjoyable new game, etc. We can talk about all these last things mentioned comfortably without getting upset even if we disagree. Yet, when the subject is Christ, the whole scene can change. People can start feeling uncomfortable. They think I purposely try to make them feel so. They think I am imposing my views or ways on them. They feel that I am lecturing them. Obviously, they don't like what they hear, even though none of what they think of me is true. I simply share the good news with all out of love without judgment whatsoever. The name Jesus must not be an ordinary name. Jesus said he came to cause division, that I can now understand. The whole world splits along that name. You either accept him as God and Savior or you don't. It must be that he truly is God.

**God is Thorough

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 16, Jesus said to his disciples, "The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones." It seems that the Lord prefers that we be thoroughly trustworthy and honest. If you are not trustworthy or honest in all matters, you are not trustworthy or honest. With God you must to be thorough, no compromise, no wishy-washiness, and no duplicity whatsoever. That's why I enjoy the Lord.

*****God Wants the Best for Us!

         Christ is completely selfless. He'll do anything to make sure that we'll have the very best, and what can possibly be better than gaining eternal life in heaven? He even sacrificed himself to be sure that we get the best! You need to realize this unless you are already in heaven!

*Optimistic About Conversion

        When Jesus called St. Paul, Paul changed from being a zealous persecutor of Jesus' followers to become his new Apostle. We are now anticipating the coming of the illumination of conscience. I believe that this warning will succeed in converting many unbelievers. Let's pray that the conversion rate will be 100%, for nothing is impossible for God.

***One Great Feeling

         That is knowing that you are totally in Christ, not halfway or partially, but all the way. Now you are one with your master and will remain safe spiritually forever. This is the very opposite of being cut off from the Lord. The worst possible feeling has to be that of knowing you've been cast out by God forever. 

**Unhappiness Analysis*

         If you are unhappy about anything, I recommend that you find a quiet place alone and look deep inside your heart to see what the cause might be. You must be completely honest to yourself. This kind of search can surprisingly reveal the true cause of your happiness. It's like making a good confession to yourself. Once you see the trues reason, you'll feel relieved and happy, for the truth shall set you free. Understand yourself first and you can solve your own problems. I must confess that I did my analysis before the Lord God and that helped me tremendously. Not only was I able to pinpoint the cause each time, I also asked the Lord to remove the cause and experienced great peace. 

**Light of God Exposes Evil

        Jesus the Son of God came into the world and his Mother couldn't even find a suitable place for his birth, Joseph had to flee with Mary and the infant Jesus to Egypt to avoid the child to be killed by King Herod, and later Jesus himself was mocked, scourged, sentenced to be crucified and even made to carry his own cross. All these events show the kind of world people lived in then, and the world has gotten even worse today. By the light of God, we can see all that's evil in our world.

***Waiting to Become like the Lord

         Tonight as I was praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, I marveled that we sinners can actually attain union with the Holy Lord on earth! For he can take away our sins! But we still remain capable of sinning. I hope and believe that in heaven we'll become like our Lord, knowing only how to love. I so look forward to that day!  

*Lamenting the World

        Once you know Christ, you know you don't belong to the world anymore. You look at the world and see that every day people fight against each other; they just want to lord it over others. They create their own problem, their own miseries. Where are forgiveness, selflessness, humility, and love? When do they pay any attention to our Lord and Savior. I love all people, but not the world they have created. It's downright boring and no good fun any more; there's little to rejoice about. But with hope in our Lord, the true God, nothing can deter us who follow him. We just pray as hard as we can to save as many souls as possible. Hey, nothing is impossible for our God. 

***God's Clear Aim*****

        What does God want from us? Take a good look and see it clearly. Our heavenly Father loves us so much and wishes to save us from sin. If we believe in his Son Jesus, we'll have eternal life. This message should be clear to anyone who hears it. This is God's sole aim. If you reject it, you reject God, for the message can't be simpler and more straight forward.

****All About the Soul****

         Our soul is our most precious possession, and it's absolutely treasured by the Lord our God. Why did he come down to earth to die on the cross, if not to save our soul? Our first priority should be to please the Lord, which means we must take care our own soul foremost above all other things. Therefore, live so that our soul may go to heaven to be secured forever.

*****Letting Go of What We Leave Behind

        When we die, we leave behind all our possessions and all what we've accomplished in our lifetime. Some of the things may even be quite valuable in the eyes of the world or have meant a lot to us personally. Should we just totally let them go? My answer is a resounding yes if you know you are going to the Lord. What we leave behind will eventually be forgotten or gone forever. I thought of the doctoral theses I saw all stored at the library of the university I attended. They were no doubt the results of years of hard thinking and work, and now they are just placed on shelves collecting dust. Realize that once you are gone, whatever you have left behind can no longer affect the state of you soul. But if you have left behind something that can continue drawing others to God, then that should be something you can let go happily. 

**Attitude of Serving God

        In Luke 17, Jesus described the attitude of a servant. He said to his disciples, "Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, 'Come here immediately and take your place at table'? Would he not rather say to him, 'Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished'? Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded? So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.'" When we do all things for our own sake, we are never free. But if we serve the Lord in all things, we are actually rewarded with the greatest satisfaction we feel after having done what we were obliged to do. Humility before God can truly make us feel good.

****Don't Be Spoilsports

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 15, Jesus told the parable of the lost sheep and that of the lost coin. The Lord let it be known that there would be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance. It shows how he truly loves us! If we pray and succeed in converting all sinners, imagine how much joy we can generate in heaven! If we don't try to convert anyone or ourselves, we are spoilsports, party poopers, not deserving heaven anymore. 

***Why Judge Others?

        In today's first reading from Romans 14, Paul makes total sense advising the Christians at Rome not to judge others. No comment needed. 
        "Why then do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you look down on your brother or sister? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written: 'As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bend before me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.' So then each of us shall give an account of himself to God."

***How God Judges Us

         The Lord judges us by different standards. Christians are given more, so more is expected of them. Someone who has never heard about Christ may be saved if he is a good person, but someone who knows Christ will be judged by a higher standard. I believe that the standard applied to a priest can even be higher, for he is in a position that can affect many souls. Anyway, every case is different and the Lord knows them all and is always just. If you've been given much by the Lord, know that you need to give him back more in order to receive still more from him.

***God's Beautiful Act

        As I prayed the Luminous Mysteries today, I saw that Jesus' giving his own body and blood in the Holy Eucharist was a most magnificent, selfless act. What a great gift we received from him!