In today's Gospel reading from John 12, Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be." It's so comforting and a joy to know that when you serve the Lord faithfully, you are always with him. What a beautiful relationship!
Wednesday, August 10, 2022
***First Step to Knowing God***
Realizing and acknowledging to God that you are a sinner. With this new humility, your journey to him can now begin. (To speed up things, surrender to God as much as possible.)
*Controlling Our Emotions
Sometimes we get excited about the wrong thing. For example, my wife and I would react differently in a certain situation. We both think that our own reaction is the appropriate one and the argument can get a little heated. Then I realize how silly all this is. First of all, the whole thing is a trivial matter. Then why didn't I keep my calm? Was it my ego surfacing? Anyway, a good Christian should be able to keep his emotions in check by remaining calm always and getting excited only about the Lord.
Tuesday, August 9, 2022
***Quick Way To Know God***
God already knows you. If you want to know him, you need to let him know that, for he won't force his way in if you are closed to him. The quickest and best way to get going is to pour your heart out to him. For if you are free to let him know all about you, he is ready to let you know all about him. If telling him everything about yourself is hard, look at it this way: he already knows everything about you, so what's the point in hiding anything from him? And there is a point in telling him everything, for it shows that you now trust in him.
**Bearing Small Crosses for the Lord
Jesus has suffered so much for our sake. He is suffering still now as so many of us continue offending him. We also face problems and hardships daily, but they are nothing compared what he faces. So consider our small sufferings as many small crosses. Let us bear them patiently for the sake of consoling our Lord. I know he would really appreciate it.
*Short, Endearing Prayer
Praying to God to have mercy on you is acknowledging that he is your Lord. Therefore, pray "Lord, have mercy on me" unceasingly to remain endearing to him.
***Conscience for Living a Holy Life
When you are in union with the Lord, the Holy Spirit sharpens your conscience to the highest level, making it easy for you discern and follow God's will. With a dull conscience, you end up living a sloppy spiritual life.
****Sure Way of Getting into Heaven***
Christ is most exalted precisely because he is most meek and humble. It strikes me that if we are willing to follow Christ, we can't help becoming meek and humble too. Then God is going to exalted us and get us into heaven for sure.
**God Has Made Us So
God has so made us that we feel best after we have reconciled ourselves to him and start obeying and resting in him. It's such a good feeling when we delight the Lord!
**Things We Can Be Sure Of
God loves us. When we pray to him from our hearts, he hears us and will responded to us even if it may not be obvious to us. We have the power to changes God's mind if we trust in him. If you want him to save you from sin and go to heaven, he'll absolutely be delighted to make it happen.
**Perfect Protection Against Evil
I am still reading the book "Get Us Our of Here!!" on Maria Simma. On page 113, she tells us that we don't have to worry about evil if we remain humble, in a state of grace, and in prayer. She says this protection is far stronger than anything the demons can do. I totally agree here. Just remember these three things I underlined above.
Monday, August 8, 2022
***Unifying Power of the Holy Eucharist***
I am amazed and greatly rejoice that I can know my Lord God, the Holy Mother, and all the other great saints so well that I become one with them through partaking of the Holy Eucharist. I am not in a dream, for I am wide awake. It is all God's doing. When you let God do what he wants with you, he sets you free and lifts you up high. And this is just the beginning.
**Jesus, End of Quest*
There is absolutely nothing worth pursuing beyond Christ, once you learn from him all you need to know to have life forever!
*****Uplifting Personal Prayer
"My Lord and my God," uttered by the Apostle Thomas after seeing the resurrected Jesus is my favorite prayer. It's so personal that I can claim that the Lord is mine! I feel good saying it from my heart. When we submit ourselves to the Lord, he greatly uplifts us!
***Amazing Lord***
Today's Gospel reading comes from Matthew 17. Jesus and his disciples were in Capernaum. In order to pay the temple tax, Jesus asked Peter to go to the sea, drop in a hook, take the first fish that comes up, then open its mouth and find a coin worth twice the temple tax. Compared to making the blind see and raising the dead, this miracle may not seem that grand, but it's equally amazing in a different way. The truth is that whatever the Lord does is amazing, and we should not take for granted anything he's done for us.
Sunday, August 7, 2022
*Be Extra Holy
God is extra forgiving, and we should be extra holy. Why? Because we want to show our appreciation. If we just try to be holy enough to squeeze by, then we really take advantage of the Lord and do not appreciate his great mercy.
**Mass to Be Reverenced
We celebrate Mass, but we must do it with utter reverence, focusing our attention on worshipping the Lord alone and not allow anything to distract us. I know that many parishioners will disagree with me, for they don't mind swingy music, entertaining homilies, or other disruptions that are not part of the Mass. Consider me to be out of touch, too traditional, or whatever, I don't mind. It's just my personal belief that we shouldn't do anything at Mass we wouldn't do at the Last Supper. I must be an extremist.
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