**Christ Our Ohly Hope

        Many hope that the coming Christmas and New Year will bring them peace and joy. As a matter of fact, they do this every year. But those who are in union with Christ are already enjoying peace and experiencing great joy in him. Elsewhere you'll find no true peace nor joy, so stop hoping in vain but go directly to Christ to surrender yourself to him to receive what you lack. 

****Extraordinary Living

        Prophets, visionaries, mystics, and many saints experience the Lord supernaturally. It might be hearing the Lord speaking to you, seeing visions, entering ecstasy, receiving the stigmata, or other. Nevertheless, for us who do not normally experience the Lord in any extraordinary way, we can still enter into a most special relationship with him. We receive the Holy Eucharist and attain union with him. Now we enjoy the Lord, living secretly for him in him. We are in the world, but not of the world anymore, feeling completely secure. Dwelling in the Lord is absolutely special, most satisfying and exhilarating. 

***"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day"

        Alma Deutscher was a British music prodigy. At age 16 now, she has already composed a number of orchestral works, an opera, many piano pieces and songs. She plays both the violin and the piano beautifully. Enjoy her latest Christmas song here, sung by her friend Anna Voshege with Alma and her sister Helen providing the chorus.

****Why Imitate Christ

        If you are a parent and your children want to be just like you, you would feel very happy, for they believe in you. Now, our heavenly Father loves us with an infinite love—imagine how much more he would be pleased if we want to be just like him! Start seeking union with Christ so that you may become like him.

**Taking Afterlife Seriously

        I feel sad when I see someone doing something not quite right and hear him say casually that he doesn't mind spending some time in purgatory. How foolish can one be! Assuming such an attitude can only worsen one's suffering in purgatory. We must be absolutely serious about where we go after this life. The suffering one experiences in purgatory can be most painful too. If we truly love Lord, we should aim for going straight to heaven.

*Accidents and Coincidences

         Unbelievers explain away all hard-to-believe events as accidents or coincidences, but believers in the Lord know very well that no event can occur without his permission and he imparts knowledge to them via everything that occurs to them.

***Healing Our Division

        The world, including the Church, is so badly fractured now that in some way we have all become enemies to each other. As long as we do not submit ourselves to Christ completely, we shall remain divided. Unity and harmony can only come through obedience to the Lord. When we all attain union with him, we become truly one.  

**God Is for Us

        Romans 8:31—If God is for us, who can be against us? I can't think of God going against me without a good reason. Truly, he loves me and is always for me. Since I do have a heart, I feel that I must love and listen to him as much as possible.  

***Why We Need to Pray

        When we pray to the God of Christ from our hearts in great faith and with great trust, we move his heart and can change his mind. The salvation of all the souls, the severity of coming chastisements, how much time the Devil still has over us, our own destiny . . . all these things and more are within our power to alter, alleviate, or eradicate. For the Lord listens to those who love and stay with him. Pray for the conversion of the entire world so that he may truly become the Lord in all our hearts.

****To Be a Saint or Not

        If you pray to the Lord to make you a saint, how do you think he will respond? It'd be impossible for him to reject your request, as far as I can see. In fact, this is exactly what he wishes to hear from all of us at any time. You are now making heaven rejoice! Sadly, many Catholics don't ponder over becoming a saint, for they think that's for the big, well-known saints only, not realizing that at the beginning, these saints were sinners just like them or worse. The truth is that nothing is impossible for God. If you truly desire something for his glory, God will surely make it happen. We are never too good for God or not good enough for God—we are always just right for him to turn us into saints! If you'd rather remain with the world in this life, becoming saintly is not for you. But if you'd rather shine extra bright in heaven later for all eternity, then it's perfect for you. (Note. To be a saint does not mean to be a canonized saint later. I believe that all the canonized saints were so humble that they'd rather not be singled out if they had the choice. It simply means to be holy here.) 

***Serving God Only*****

        In Matthew 6:24, Jesus said to his disciples and the crowds, "No one can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and mammon." Of course, God we must serve, so "mammon" may be replaced with someone or something else. What comes to my mind is that "we cannot serve God and ourselves." If we serve ourselves first, we cannot possibly love God. Even if we place ourselves in second place, we won't be able to serve God whole-heartedly. That leaves us the conclusion that "we must forget about ourselves and serve God only." This is the key to freedom and holiness! And our reward will surely be great in heaven!

***God Meeting Our Expectations

         I've wanted to experience God's love, peace, freedom, and joy. I've wanted to know him most intimately. I've wanted to enjoy his presence at all times. I've wanted to be able to overcome all evil through him. And most of all, I now want to go to him as soon as I depart from this world to be with him for all eternity. These are all big demands, and the God of our Lord Jesus Christ has met them all, assuring me that I would be with him forever. This is the God who can meet our highest expectations.

***You Are Ready*

         If you are ready to face Christ, you are ready; you are now ready for anything! Rejoice!

***St. John of the Cross Counsel

        Today is the Memorial of Saint John of the Cross. I had read some of his writings some decades ago and the best thing I learned from him which I'll always remember was this piece of advice. He says that if you wish to attain union with Christ, you must focus upon him alone and let nothing whatsoever distract you, even should the Lord appear before you. He really made the point. It is true that anything that tends to shift our focus away from Christ can be counterproductive. If you want only him, why look elsewhere?

***Time Is Short (a Warning)

         I have already lived quite a bit beyond my life expectancy. One good grace I've received from the Lord is being aware of the little time I have left on earth. Some of you may not even live as long as I, so the time you have left would be even shorter. Anyhow, no matter how old we are, the time we have left is limited. That is, the time we have for seeking Christ the Savior is limited, while the time we'll spend with or without him later is forever! Wake up now while you still can. 

***Everything Through Christ!

        The Lord God knows everything that's going on and nothing can happen without his allowing it. So I see that it would be most wise to do everything through him. That is, we make sure that we always do his will, as it's easy to follow what we think we should do without going through him. In Matthew 7:21, Jesus said to his disciples, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." Make sure that you know this. A perfect God deserves perfect obedience from us.

***Christ Our Liberator

        We human beings tend to hold onto the past. We like to preserve our heritage, our culture, and our traditions. We restore old buildings and protect ancient artifacts. All this is good as long as we are not obsessed with it. Again, I love Christ because he liberates us from all things, good and bad. We become abhorred of the bad and enjoy the good without being attached to them. In other words, we are free. We belong to Christ now, our everlasting future. The world will pass one day and that would be just fine.

**Questioning the Lord Properly

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 21, the chief priests and the elders of the people questioned the authority of Jesus. Since they couldn't answer the counter question Jesus asked them, he did not tell them by what authority he did all his things. Of course, we may ask the Lord questions to learn from him, but we should never ask him without trust nor respect. After all, what we know is nil compared to what he knows.