**Smart Thinking and Move

        God is infinite, while we are finite. God knows everything, while we know practically nothing. It goes without saying that if we go against God, we'll invariably lose in the end. To be smart, always go along with the Lord. I might as well go all out and submit myself completely to him to make things work out as smoothly as possible.

***Receiving Truths from God

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 16, Jesus asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father." When God reveals some knowledge to you, you just know that it's true. To learn all the truths you need to know from the Lord, just reveal all of yourself to him first.

**Peace of Trust in God

        Today is the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles. In the first reading from Acts 12, we hear how Herod imprisoned Peter and intended to bring him to trial before the Jews so as to please them. But the Lord sent an angel to Peter to set him free. In the second reading from 2 Timothy 4, Paul writes, "I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day . . ." Paul shows his complete trust in the Lord. When we abandon ourselves in God, we experience a special peace. You just know that you are totally in God's hands and that everything will end beautifully.

**Sign of Readiness

        If you are truly ready to return to the Lord at any time, you are ready for anything in this life.  

**Finding True Happiness

        We all know that we are going to die, yet so many of us live as if we are not ever going to die? We know that we can never find true happiness on earth, yet so many of us still try so hard to find it? Even if I can live forever in this world, I won't be satisfied. Now that I know I am merely passing through, all the more I want to seek permanent peace and happiness in God, who alone can set us free. St. Augustine is absolutely right, stating in his Confessions "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you." I can personally testify to that.

***Unique Faith Most Precious***

        To have faith in something is to believe in that something, and you can have myriad different faiths. But there is only one faith that stands above all other faiths—that's faith in the Lord and God of Christ. This is the only faith that can set you completely free from sin, our life's greatest burden. When sin can no longer enslave you, you are free indeed!

***Our Whole Life Must Be . . .

to prepare to meet our God.

***What Prayer Is*****

        Just saying or reciting some prayer perfunctorily is not prayer at all. Prayer must originate from the heart; so true prayer is revealing what's in your heart to God.
        Here is the well-known Jesus Prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner." If you feel compelled to pray this, or simply "Christ, have mercy on me" spontaneously, it is proof that the Holy Spirit dwells within you.

****Our Greatest Tragedy

        We are all sinners. Living in this secular world with so many temptations, it is easy to serve mammon and live for ourselves with no awareness of God's love for us and his ongoing war with Satan fighting for our salvation. The dulling of our conscience is our greatest tragedy today. 

****Our Greatest Celebration

        We celebrate many things such as recovery from an illness, success of a business venture, graduation of our children from schools, or any unexpected event that makes us happy. This is all normal and good. But realize that whatever we celebrate in this life is always something that passes. As Christians, we have something we can truly celebrate—it is that God loves us to death and we are destined for eternal life in heaven! This happiness or joy surpasses any other we can possibly experience in this life and is something we can celebrate secretly in our hearts at all times. Besides, this joy of yours is being celebrated in heaven too.

****Clear Vision of Consequences

        This is almost common sense. If I stick with God, follow and obey him, then I, my soul, is completely safeguarded by him. I'll be heading straight for heaven. But if I don't believe in God, I would be on my own and become a prime unprotected target of the Devil. I'll be piling sin upon sin and if I am not careful enough, chances are I would end up in hell. All this is so clear and logical to me and I hope that everyone will see it too.

***Beautiful Christian Journey

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 9, Jesus gave this message to anyone who wishes to follow him: "No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God." What a beautiful inspiring saying! A Christian never looks back. His eyes are always on Christ, the brightest light and hope, as he marches toward the kingdom of God.

*****Bypassing Struggling on Your Own

         I still remember my early days as a Christian, I had doubts about God's existence since I didn't feel it, about whether prayer really works, etc. And there was a considerable amount of struggling on my part to want to bolster my faith. Of course, I now know a lot better since I've learned the best strategy. The secret is to let God do the work for you. On your own and with good intentions, you can struggle all your life and not make much progress. Let God do it—which is exactly what he desires from you—and it's done effortlessly for you. Precisely, I am talking about seeking union with God. You simply surrender yourself entirely to God, and with the aid of the Holy Eucharist, you attain union. Now you know God most intimately. Amazingly, he becomes more real than anything else, yourself included, to you! Your faith is now rock solid, eliminating all doubts. Shall I say that you now soar with the Lord or that he carries you on his wings? When you let God take over, his power takes over. The happiest soul is one who abandons him- or herself totally in the Lord!

***Essential Desire to Change Ourselves

         I realize that I am far from being perfect. There are many (involuntary) things about myself I don't like (this is not saying that I don't like myself whom God loves). So I want to change myself to become more pleasing to both myself and God. This desire to change is essential for spiritual growth. And transform us God certainly can. The fundamental change to become absolutely perfect I believe will happen only after we get to heaven. While on earth, we can let the Lord perfect us as much as possible. All changes begin with a desire!

***Joy of Salvation***

        When we realize that we are sinners and have offended God, we feel sorry and repent our sins to God and ask him to forgive us, and he forgives us and we feel instantly relief and great joy, knowing that we have reconciled ourselves to God and saved from death—this is the joy of salvation! Every bona fide Christian should have experienced that.
         In today's Gospel reading from Luke 25, Jesus addressed this parable to the Pharisees and scribes: "What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, 'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep. I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance." First, we are like that, showing that we were made in the image of God. Secondly, when we realize that we can give God such great joy of our salvation, we should feel that joy too.

****What To Be Aware of Foremost

        Friday today I prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. What Christ had gone thru for us has to be the most horrendous suffering one can ever endure. And we must always remember that. But one thing we must even be more aware of is that the Lord did all that out of love for us! This is the central foremost awareness we must have. Everything he does is for this love! This alone should be able to transform our lives and spirits if we have a heart. Love your Lord and you become free and set for eternity! By loving God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I am made anew and belong to the Lord forever!

*****Monumental Day!!!!!

        Today is the Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is not a coincidence that on this day the U.S.Supreme Court overturns Roe vs. Wade to outlaw abortion. It's been almost 48 years since abortion was legalized and way over 60 million unborn children have been murdered since. The Lord finally answers our prayers at a time that the world is more godless than ever. Hallelujah! But there is still work to be done to convert the pro-abortionists. The spiritual battle continues, but we now know that the Lord can wipe out any evil when the time is right. Here is more about this monumental court decision.

****We Are Wonderfully Made!

        Today is the the Solemnity of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist. Psalm 139 of David is today's responsorial psalm. The response  is "I praise you, for I am wonderfully made." David also wrote: "Truly you have formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother's womb. I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made; wonderful are your works." We should also realize how wonderfully the Lord has made each of us. We must highly appreciate his work and thank him by submitting ourselves to him so that we may enjoy eternal happiness with him, which is his most ardent wish for us.