***Wise Advice***

        If you think that you know better than God, you are not smart at all (putting it mildly). God is infinite and the creator of all things, so no one can possibly outsmart him. The Lord knows all things; he doesn't even have to think! He knew you before you were born and knows what's ahead for you. If you try to outsmart him in any way, you'll end up losing even more. The only way to win all the way is to submit yourself to him and follow him. This is being truly smart and you'll receive the greatest satisfaction to boot!

***To Face Sins or Not*****

        There can only be two reasons for Catholics not going to confession. (1) They have no sins to confess. (2) They are afraid to face their sins. This in itself is a serious sin. Sins are to be dealt with and removed by God. If you cannot face them, how can you face God? This puts one in quite a predicament.

***Another Amazing Eucharistic Miracle

        I have blogged about Eucharistic miracles in the past. Here's a new video that's worth watching.

***Must-Face Reality

        God created all of us, so we really belong to him who knows everything about us. Whatever we do affects him (and ultimately us too). If we obey him, we'll have harmony in the universe. If we rebel, we create disorder. As simple as that. And it's impossible for us not to have anything to do with God. There's absolutely no possible hiding nor escape. For one day we'll have to face him to give an account of ourselves.

**Sorrow Turns into Joy

        Today is the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene. The Gospel reading from John 20 is beautifully moving. After Mary found the tomb empty early Sunday morning, she thought that someone had carried Jesus away and wept. Later Jesus appeared to her and said to her, "Go to my brothers and tell them, 'I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord." Imagine her joy! We can rejoice too when we realize that Jesus' Father is our Father and his God is our God. If you love the Lord, he'll always turn your sorrow into joy.

****Way to Become Perfect*

        To be perfect, we must do everything we should for Christ and mean what we do when we do it. If you realize this, then you are ready and the Lord will make everything effortless for you to succeed. He always does that when you put all your trust in him.

*****How to Know Christ*

      When Jesus was on earth, many people saw him, but they didn't all believe in him. It's knowing him that's more important than seeing him. Today we do not see him, but we can get to know him thoroughly. After all, he is God and nothing is impossible for God. But we'll have to be completely open to him, which is really the only obstacle we face. It comes down to deciding who's most important to you—he or you. In Luke 9:24 Jesus says, Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

****No Praising Ourselves!

        If we shouldn't judge others, we shouldn't praise ourselves either. If we acknowledge God to be our only judge, then only he knows whether we deserve to be praised or not. In any case, only what he thinks of us matters. 

***God Has So Made Us

        I have no doubt that God has so made us that we don't feel 100% fulfilled until we attain full union with him. I think we all intuitively sense this, but we are just too busy to think about it or take it seriously. While the Lord is always calling us, the secular material world has pretty much drowned out his gentle voice. Have pity on us, O Lord.

**A Heavenly Day

        Today's Communion experience. I didn't exactly go to heaven, but the Lord from heaven came down to unite with me. This surely made my day heavenly. 

****One Chance to Make It Good

        Christ came the first time to get us ready for meeting him again. This will take place either at his Second Coming or upon our departure from earth. We only get to go to the Lord once, so we'd better make it really good for both him and ourselves. You goof this one time and you goof up our entire future for good!

**Heart Response Makes Big Difference

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 13, Jesus said to his disciples, "Knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them [the crowd to whom Jesus spoke in parables] it has not been granted. To anyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away." It makes all the difference whether we have an open receptive heart or not. We either hear God calling us to enter his Kingdom or shut ourselves off from him altogether.  

**Prayers Are Never Wasted

         I am continuing reading the book "Get Us Out Of Here!!" Maria Simma not only tells us much about purgatory, she also gives good advice on prayer, fasting, and many other topics. She says on p. 41, "Not the smallest of prayers ever goes to waste." That is, if you pray for someone who no longer needs your prayers, the Blessed Mother would take and apply them elsewhere. All prayers earn merits. So pray as much as possible, as your prayers will always benefit someone somewhere.

**Do-I-Know-God Test*

        Greats saints see themselves as most wretched sinners before God because they are humble enough to realize how awesomely holy God is. So if you think that you are already a pretty "holy" person, you don't really know God yet.         

*Communion Experience

        After receiving the Holy Eucharist this morning, the Lord made me want to remain in him forever. 

**Do Not Limit God

        What God can do is limitless. If our faith is weak, then we are limiting him. Let's believe in him with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength so that we may see fully the wonders he can perform.

**When God Lets You Know

        You are in union with God when you know without a doubt that you are in union with him. What I want to say is that when God lets you know something, you just know that it's true. No self-deception here; it's the Lord accessing our innermost as only he can.

***A Most Serious Flaw

       Today, we don't listen to anyone objectively anymore. We only want others to listen to us. We don't even listen to ourselves! If we don't hear our own inner voice, how can we possibly know God? Now, even after you've found God, you'd still need to listen to him in all things to insure that you'll inherit eternal life. To listen takes humility. The lack of this humility among us in general is a most serious flaw of this generation of ours.