***Sure Way of Salvation

        Early during the liturgy of the Eucharist, the priest says "Lift up your hearts," and we all say "We lift them up to the Lord." The thought came to me that giving our hearts to Lord would be a most beautiful offering, for the heart is most precious to us and we always follow our heart. So if we let the Lord have our hearts, we'll be saved for sure. (This is also loving God with all our heart.)

***Is God Your Lord?

        When you pray "Lord, have mercy on me," do you realize that you must surrender yourself to him first? For you cannot pray that and also tell him that you are not always going to obey him. As a matter of fact, addressing God as Lord alone implies that you are obedient to him. If not, then strictly speaking, you are a hypocrite. Salvation is all about whether you accept God as your Lord or not.

**Sticking with Jesus*

        I am sticking with Christ Jesus not only because he can get me into heaven, but also because he will perfect me one day. To me, the fact that he can transform each of us anew is a huge drawing power.

**God's Joy vs. World's Pleasure

        In the world, we seek pleasure externally thru physical senses. But the happiness we experience never lasts long. By contrast, the joy we receive from God comes from within, for God works thru our hearts. That's why the happiness of the world can never truly satisfy us, while the joy of the Lord refreshes our soul, transforming us fundamentally.

***Letting God Work Wonders

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 13, Jesus tells us what the Kingdom of God is like. He said, "It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches." Again he said, "It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch of dough was leavened." In both instances, the force of nature, which is the power of God, worked wonders. We can absolutely let the Lord work wonders on us too, provided that we rid ourselves of the pride that makes us rebellious first. And this can be accomplished by submitting ourselves to the Lord, discovering how good and beautiful he is, and finally falling in love with him. (When God takes over, we are set free!)

***Appreciating Earth

        Of the eight planets of the solar system we know, Earth is unique. It is the only one fit for us to live on, with its right atmosphere and amount of gravitational pull, the perfect temperature range and soils for growing plants, and all the other things necessary for our sustenance and recreation. I really believe that the Lord God has specially created Earth for our temporary habitation before entering eternity. We should appreciate this fact and spend our time wisely while we are here.

***Managing Your Thoughts

         We are always thinking about something. A lot of thoughts go thru our mind daily. We just think whatever comes to the mind. Such thoughts are not always pure or do us any good. If you pay attention, you'll realize that. You can pretty much tell if a thought is ego-oriented or not, pure or impure, judgmental or kind, being nosy or indifferent, etc. If we can dismiss outright any thought that we discern not to be from God, we'll experience a lot more peace. Start seeking union with the Lord and over time, all your thoughts will be coming from the Lord. 

***How to Humble Ourselves

        After telling the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in today's Gospel reading from Luke 18, Jesus said, "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted." Know that the Lord always wants to exalt us. So if we just cast off ourselves, we become free for him to exalt us. This is how we humble ourselves. 

**One Sure Great Reward*

        What kind of reward in heaven do we seek from God the Father? Actually, everything he has will be ours. But one thing alone is plenty good enough for us, namely, that we'll be in his presence forever.

**Justification for Purgatory

        Being saved and getting into heaven are two separate things. If we are saved, it doesn't mean that we are fit to go straight to heaven, for only the holy ones can enter heaven. Take two people A & B, both saved. Say A is 90% pure and B, only 10%. They both die—do they both go straight to heaven? Even if all their sins have already been forgiven, there is still a price to pay. This is where purgatory comes in. A will go thru some purification there before entering heaven, while B will suffer a lot more there. (As many do not believe in the existence of purgatory, I am just sharing my own belief here. If you have doubts, I recommend reading the book "Get Us Out of Here!!" on Maria Simma by Nicky Eltz.) 

****Good Horrible Dream (A Warning)*

        Early this morning, I had a horrible dream that finally woke me up. I won't go into specific details. Here's what I experienced in the dream. Someone offended me badly and I felt really hurt. Then I realized that I had hurt others in the past too, intentionally or not. The feeling you've been hurt can be horribly painful. This made me see that we are all hurting the Lord so much that we've got to stop. If we don't, we'll end up in hell forever and that would be the most horrible experience of all. I Shudder at the thought of it. So I am going to pray hard that every single one of us will know that God loves us and shall follow him and be saved. God can get us into heaven so easily if we just listen to and obey him. Please treat this matter most seriously! Please...

**First Key to Peace*

        In today's reading from Luke 13, Jesus called some people to repentance. He told them that if they do not repent, they will perish. Repentance is critically important to us sinners, for it refreshes and restores the soul, thereby reconciling us to God. We are so made by the Lord that without repentance, we'll never be able to experience true peace. Once the soul is safe, everything else just doesn't matter that much anymore.

***How to Increase Inner Peace

         Just cut out whatever you see or hear that pulls you away from God. This is a gradual process that takes time to fine-tune, in concert with your spiritual progress. Such screening declutters the mind and leads to great inner peace.

**Earth vs. Heaven

        On earth, on all physical, mental, and spiritual levels, we have negative forces working against us. On the physical level, we expend much energy in overcoming the gravitational pull alone. To make a living and to survive in our societies, we experience mental stress. And in the secular world, we need to constantly battle evil. In heaven, all such negative forces will be no more and we'll simply enjoy fully the love and presence of the heavenly Father.

**Only Way to Be Saved from Sin

        To be in sin is like being stuck in a quicksand. If you try to get out of it, you only sink deeper. When you are stuck in sin, Christ is the only one who can pull you out of it to save you.

***Joy of Learning from God

        You don't need to do any searches nor studying. Just open up your heart and listen like a kindergarten kid.

**Very Sad Sight

         Looking at the world, you see so many people living as if God doesn't exist, hell doesn't exist, they are going to live forever, and there won't be any life after death if they die.

**Perfect Meeting

        Communion experience. It further solidified the union between the Lord and me.