*Wise Advice

         Don't waste time trying to leave a mark on this world or hand down some sort of legacy. Spend your time wisely on storing up your treasure in heaven instead.

***Christ Is Joy!

        Once you know Christ most intimately, joy underlies all your experiences, the sorrowful ones included! For the Lord is joy!

***Jesus' Tremendous Agony

        As I was praying the first sorrowful mystery of the Rosary, Agony in the Garden, I could feel Christ undergoing tremendous mental suffering as a human being. All the sins that have been committed by all sinners are now on him, and he is going to have to pay for that with his own life so that we may be freed from sin. How can we not be grateful and love him?

**Blessing Out of Order?

        Whenever I hear people asking God to bless this country, I cringe a little bit, for our Supreme Court has legalized abortion! If I have done evil, I'd be a hypocrite to go before my father to ask him to bless me. Shouldn't I repent and reform first like the prodigal son before returning to his father? It seems that we should repent and ask for God's forgiveness first before asking him to bless us.

***Only You and God

        There are just you and God. You get to know a lot of people in your short time on earth, but you'll have them for just a short time. Besides, none of them can do a thing when you face the Lord at judgment time. It is he alone that matters to you. Either you'll be with or without him forever. So it comes down to just you and God. Live for him alone and you should do fine.

*****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.