***Growing Rich in Heaven

        Today I am most grateful to the Lord for knowing everything about me. This alerts me to watching everything I do—even the motivation, intention, the degree of sincerity ... they all matter. Once you know the Lord, this is not that hard, for you just let your sharpened conscience guide you. Now, everything you do stores up for you more treasure in heaven.

**Woe to the Hypocrites!

        Today is the Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Gospel reading from Matthew 23, Jesus repeatedly said to the crowds and to his disciples, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites." A hypocrite is someone who is full of ego and duplicity; he's basically a phony. And the Lord doesn't like that a bit, for he wants us to be honest and genuine always. Know that when we say we follow Christ but sometimes do not do his will, we are being hypocritical too! To attain union with the Lord, we need to be obedient to him to the letter at all times.

*Joy over Sorrow

        At Communion time, I felt the sorrow of not having loved God enough. Then it was overcome by the joy of receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist.

**Second Coming a Nonissue

        When Christ comes again, he'll straighten everything out in this world. But he had already come to give us the good news and I am already receiving the Holy Eucharist to be in union with him. So for me personally, the Second Coming is no longer an issue.

***Feeling Free Before God?

        We can know God, be humble before him, and worship and adore him—but do we also feel free before him? God is our creator and Father, and he loves us dearly with an infinite love. If we truly love him, then there shouldn't be any barrier between him and us and we would feel completely free before him. If not, then most likely we haven't submitted ourselves completely to God yet. A perfect Father deserves our total submission.

**Sweetest Feeling!

        At Mass this morning, I realized that when you have Christ as your Lord and God and experience the great joy of abandoning yourself in him, it has to be one of the sweetest feelings you can ever have this side of heaven.     

**Two Master Choices

        Life is brief, so our time on earth is extremely limited. We must choose to live for God or not. If we choose God, we must choose if we go all out loving him or not. Make two wise choices and you are assured of eternal life. And these two choices will guide you in making all other choices.

**Taking Care of Our Conscience*

        We all possess a conscience. A sharp conscience deters us from sinning, while a dull one easily permits it. But no matter how muddy the conscience may have become, deep down we would still know if we have sinned, and lose peace. For the conscience is something God has embedded in our souls. It is a most precious gift from him, enabling us to know good and evil and choose salvation. Let the Lord nourish it and keep it crystal clear so that we may be ready for entering heaven.

**Solitude with God Necessary

        I didn't get to blog the last few days because I had to be away from home. At home, I enjoy greatly my solitude with God. I know that many of you who are still working deal with people and various things all day long, making it practically impossible to experience solitude. Those who live with many family members may face the same problem. So it's important that in such cases, you find time to spend with the Lord alone as much as possible daily. If you have already attained union with God, that would help immensely, for you now see that you are serving the Lord in whatever you do.

***Inspiring Quotes from Mother Teresa

        These quotes are simple, profound, and easy to understand. They are beautiful sayings of a beautiful soul! 

**How to Become Humble*

        To succeed in becoming humble, we need Christ to occupy all of us so that we dwell totally in him and not in ourselves anymore.  

*****Rejoicing in Mary Our Mother

        Today is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I feel so blessed that we have her as our model, our ally, and most of all our dearest personal mother. She watches over us and prays for us always. I want to thank Christ my Lord and my God for giving us such a wonderful gift, beautiful beyond words.

**Burden of Riches

        Being rich and wealthy is not a blessing. It can become a curse if you are enslaved to it. Learn to detach yourself from all material things. Surrender yourself to Christ and he will deliver you free. There is not another effective way.

***Me-First Generation

        Many Christians no longer take their faith seriously. They turn to the Lord only when they need help to get them out of some trouble. Otherwise, they live the way they want and God gets to share little of any part of their lives. It's always me first and God only when I need him. This is today's big tragedy.

**Need for Salvation

        Communion experience. Before the Holy Lord, I saw the utter ugliness of sin and felt so sinful that I absolutely need Christ to save me.

***Way to Become Ego-Free

        The ego is so tenacious that to become thoroughly free of it, you need to be humble enough to see that everyone else is better than you in every way.   

**Healing Past Wounds

        God is not limited by time. If we have hurt someone in the past and deeply regret it, we can ask the Lord to go back to that time to heal all the wounds we caused, and it'll be done for us. 

**Accepting Reality

        As I was heading home after Mass this morning, driving on a straight road, it seemed as if the earth was fast slipping rearwards under my car wheels. This reminded me that my life is slipping fast away from me as I head nonstop toward God. There is no sadness here; I simply accept the reality in peace.