*****Big No-No for Us!*****

        I have given this warning before. But because it's so important, I'm bringing it up again. All sins we have committed are burdens that weight us down, making it impossible for the soul to soar to God. Therefore, never die in sin. You must get all your sins removed by the Lord before you leave this world. The sacrament of reconciliation was instituted for that purpose. To die in sin is to have your soul commit suicide, so please do not ever let that happen for your own sake and for God's sake. Have mercy on yourself! Repent and let the God of Christ remove all you sins as often as necessary. No one else can make you clean, for everyone must go thru him.

**Liberating Love

        Psalm 136: 1b-10 was today's reading. After reading it, I felt the following. The Lord is all around me. No matter where I go, he is there, and he knows all about me. Yet I experience complete freedom in him. This is amazing! It must be his love that liberates us. In submitting ourselves to him, we become free.

**Mutual Trust Essential

        No matter how you feel about God, he loves you. But if you don't trust in him, how can you expect him to trust in you? So trust in him fully so that he may trust in you fully too. Now you can talk about heaven.

**Heaven-Triggered Sadness

        Yes, I am going to heaven—you have to feel the joy just thinking about it! But you feel the sorrow too, when you realize that many other souls may not ever experience that joy. Sorrow to Christ is sorrow to us.

***First Step to Union

        We all have things about ourselves we do not wish others to know. But these things the Lord God knows thoroughly already. So sharing them with him will be perfectly fine. In fact, you should share all your feelings, thoughts, and inner secrets with him to show that you trust in him. Once he sees that, he knows that he can trust in you too. Now he reveals what you need to know to you from his Most Sacred Heart. The bonding begins. Sharing all that's in your heart freely with the Lord is the first step to attaining union with him. 

***Following Christ Is Exciting . . .

because there is no limit to how much you can love him (and you are on your way to heaven)!        

***Our Fundamental Battle

        It's between God and us. If God wins, we also win. If we win, God loses and we also lose. Simple truth.

**God's Chief Aim

        When you follow the Lord God, he does not aim at making you rich or famous or powerful; he only wants you to receive the greatest possible reward after you leave this world. Is this OK with you?

**Holy Spirit Most Refreshing . . .

        The Holy Spirit is most refreshing because he renews us continuously and inspires us regularly.

***Next Coming for Sure

        In Acts 1, we read that while the apostles of Jesus were looking intently at the sky as the Lord was ascending into heaven, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them. They said, "Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven." As his ascension was witnessed by many, you can be sure that he will return again to clean up sin on earth once and for all.

**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.