"Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)

Wednesday, October 5, 2022

**Serving God Effortlessly

        God does his mighty work effortlessly. We, who do his will, have complete access to his power. Therefore, with faith and trust in him, we should also be able to accomplish his will effortlessly. 

****Most Endearing Relationship

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 11, Jesus taught his disciples the Lord's Prayer. Fr. Stephen in his homily pointed out that Jesus teaches us to call God, his Father, also Father or our Father. Think about this a moment. This is such a special endearing relationship! So let's treat God as our own Father, and see (and treat) ourselves as his most beloved children!

**Banishing the Ego

        This morning someone mentioned a past project. This was a project glorifying the Lord that took place quite some years back. I was involved in it, but wished to remain anonymous. Since the subject came up, I just mentioned that I was in on it. Even though this is factual, the Lord instantly made me feel uncomfortable. If I really want to banish my ego, I should never ever let it surface! Obviously, it's still there, ready to emerge at any opportune moment. I now again ask the Lord to operate on me, removing anything that shouldn't be in my heart, my mind, and my soul, so that I may feel clean, free, and great always.

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

**God Most Considerate

        If you do everything for God's sake, he's going to make everything you do easy and a joy for you. 

**God Our Generous Giver

        God always give us more than we deserve. If we love him and just remain receptive, we'll receive all the blessings we need from him.

****Christ's Beautiful Effect on Us*

        Once you known Christ the Lord well, all your memories turn beautiful. No more bitterness! Now you are free to enjoy him in peace. 

*All for God

        Communion experience. Today is Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi. I desired all of my Lord and wanted him to take all of me. 

**More than Union with God*

        When you attain union with God, you are in the union with God the Father, with God the Son, with God the Holy Spirit, with all the angels and saints in heaven, and with all those in union with God on earth.

**Distinguished Marks of the Spiritual Journey

        In the spiritual life, I see repenting our sins to God and asking for his forgiveness as the initial essential breakthrough, and surrendering completely to God to attain union with him as the ultimate goal. You can still be saved without reaching this goal, but your spiritual life would be so much richer and more rewarding if you can. 

Monday, October 3, 2022

***Inspiring Speech for Our Time

 

**Letting the Lord Teach Me

        Communion experience. I saw Christ as my master teacher. After I received him in the Holy Eucharist, I simply rested in him, ready to assimilate whatever he's willing to reveal to me. To remain thus in peace in him is most satisfying.

**How to Be a Good Samaritan Today

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 10, Jesus told the parable of the good Samaritan, teaching us how we should be compassionate to those who need our help. In today's world, it is not easy to find out who truly needs help. When I looked into large organizations such as American Red Cross and Boy Scouts of America, I found out that the CEO of the former gets paid over $700,000 a year and that of the latter, over $1,500,000 a year! I just didn't feel like giving any money to either of the two. Then you run into those who ask for help on the street. And you discover that they are either fakes or a racket organized by criminals. Others ask for money only to support their drug or drink habits. In such cases, giving them money is not the best help. So I think a good guide is to find individual cases where you see the actual needs and help them if you truly feel compassion for them. Another place, lifefunder.com by LifeSiteNews seems to be a good reliable source online where you can find individual cases to help. 

**Marvelous Mercy

         When you repent of your sins to God and ask for his pardon, he'll always forgive you and take you back totally—it never fails. Think about it! How marvelous his mercy is! How much he love you! It's almost like you can do no wrong unless you reject him for good.

**The Catholic Distinction

        In today's first reading from Galatians 1, Paul writes, "Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the Gospel preached by me is not of human origin. For I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ." This is a point we must see. Unlike other religions to which you can trace back to some human being, Catholicism can be traced all the way to Christ who is divine and the only true God, the God of the Holy Trinity. 

**From God or Satan

        Everything that come to us comes either from God or from Satan (allowed by God). So whatever we do is either for God or for Satan. We must be aware of this if we ever wish to enter heaven. Choose to follow God every time and you can forget about Satan altogether. God's laws and rules are always straight forward and simple. Only a fool would make them complicated for himself?    

****Unbeatable Birthday Gift!

        Yesterday was my big birthday and I did received some very nice gifts. I went to morning Mass and received Christ in the Holy Eucharist and realized that that's the greatest birthday gift I can possibly have—it came from God precisely to make me live everlastingly! By the way, in heaven we no longer age and every moment in God's presence becomes a joyful celebration. 

***Our Greatest Satisfaction***

        God the Father already loves us so much. If we become totally obedient to him, we become most delightful to him and receive the greatest satisfaction ourselves. Guaranteed! 

**How To Show Our Love for Christ

        Christ has already shown his greatest possible love for us by dying on the cross in our place. How can we show our love for him? One sensible way is to do what he commissioned the eleven Apostles to do when he appeared to them after his Resurrection: Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature.