If your heart is unclean, repent and God will totally take away your sins and make you clean. If your heart is heavily weighed down, tell God about it and he'll lighten your burden or lift it completely off you. If your heart is depressed, share you sorrows with him and he'll fill you with hope and joy. If your heart is badly wounded, seek help from him and he'll heal it. If your heart is broken, seek consolation from him and he'll make it whole again. Always share everything with God from your heart and it will become your great private joy.
Saturday, December 17, 2022
**Dependence upon God Is Different
We are always taught to stand on our own feet and not to depend upon anyone else. This shows that you are a real man or woman. But there is an exception. When it comes to dependence upon God, it's not only good, but also most beautiful. We who are created and loved by God are already dependent upon God for all things, whether you realize it or not. But we need to acknowledge that dependence to the Lord from our hearts. This reconciles us with him and can even lead us to full spiritual union with him.
Friday, December 16, 2022
***Again, Be Prepared and Ready
A tragic car accident just took place in my little city, killing all four male occupants. The driver was a friend of a friend of ours. The car hit a tree, bounced off it, hit a second tree, and burst into flames. May they rest in peace. In these uncertain times when we are hearing so many warnings from heaven, we need to be prepared for whatever coming our way. But even in times of peace, we need to be ready, for we may die at any time. So it breaks my heart to see so many Catholics still remaining lukewarm or even straying away from the Church. For them, if any tragedy strikes, it'll come as a shock. How good it is to remain in the Lord and not have to be concerned, whatever happens to us.
***God to Go All Out For***
With such a beautiful and magnificent Lord, not to go all out to possess him is just not good enough. In Matthew 13, Jesus said to his disciples, "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, it's like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it." This is how we should feel about the Lord. Once you find out how great and lovely he is, you will want to give up everything you have and go all out to possess and be possessed by him.
****Rejoicing in the God of Christ*
Today's first thought at morning Mass: We are so fortunate and blessed to have a God who is pure love and loves us with the greatest possible love. This is what we should rejoice about every moment! And our most appropriate response should be to let him make us holy.
Thursday, December 15, 2022
***Most Satisfying Relationship
Communion experience. It is supernatural because I experience the Lord as the most intimate person I can possibly know, an experience you can never have with anyone else in this world. The intimacy is life-changing and beautiful beyond words. He knows all about me and lets me know all about him. Christ is the only one we need to know, as he is our Savior. He truly fulfills all our desires.
***Our Pilgrimage
We all go to God anyway, so it's best to make our journey a pilgrimage to him. Seeking union with God thru the Holy Eucharist is absolutely the best and quickest way us to get there. When you receive the Lord in this holy sacrament, you already accept his invitation to be with him forever. Then when you give yourself completely to him, you attain union with him spiritually as well. You have practically reached the end of your journey.
Wednesday, December 14, 2022
**To Forgive All Others
Here's why we should not judge but forgive all others. We are all sinners, captives of the Devil to various degree. Even all the great evildoers are captives, not the Devil himself. So there is always hope for them to change, to become good, especially if we pray hard for them. Be merciful as our Lord is merciful.
**Spending Time with the Lord
If you are a Catholic and wish to know the Lord better, just pour your heart out to him. The best time to do that is right after Mass after you had received the Holy Eucharist earlier. You need to find a church where you can remain after Mass and that's quiet enough for prayer. Go sit or kneel as close to the tabernacle as possible. The chapel I go to for daily Mass is ideal. A small space that's peaceful and comfortable. Attendance is small, so after a few minutes, most attendees will have left, often leaving me as the only one there. I spend up to around 40 minutes with the Lord. This is how I make my spiritual progress.
***Common Sense Conclusion***
God is omnipotent and we are 100% dependent upon him. Without his sustainment, we won't be able to exist at all. If you have any common sense, you would see this truth. It follows that we should obey God as our Lord and Savior always. That's all.
**A Very Sad Observance
The worst part of hell is not that the punishment is horrible, but that the suffering lasts for all eternity. I do pray that all souls will be saved. The very sad thing is that living people in general don't think much about hell and all that. They take out insurance on their house, their car, their life, etc., leaving their next life completely unprotected. God's mercy is appropriately infinite to cover such cases if need be.
***All God Has Created Are Miracles
When we're to enter this world and when we'll depart from it are not under our control or volition. While here, we get used to seeing and experiencing the things that are already here, but don't you realize that they are all miracles created by God? Yourself with all the wonderful parts is a miracle! When my two sons were born, they were miracles to me. Now we consider things extraordinary or phenomena we can't explain to be miracles. But they are just like all the other things with which we are familiar. God could create a lot more miracles for us to see and get used to, should he so choose. Anyway, the most amazing "miracle" to me is the Lord himself. If you see that, everything else is not that miraculous anymore. Once you know the Lord, you are no longer thrown off by any extraordinary thing that happens. Take the Resurrection of Christ. Since he is the creator of all life, of course, it's no surprise.
**Making God's Blessings Work
Before dismissing us at Mass, the last thing the priest does is asking almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, to bless us. We must not take this blessing lightly. If we believe, we are surely to receive tremendous blessings from God. If we just regard it as a routinely said thing and don't think much of it, then nothing's going to happen to us. So treat all God's blessings as you own prayers—believe in them, and you'll indeed be blessed.
*Conversion Is for the Lord
Try to convert someone on our own and it's not always easy. Well, the Lord is really the only one who can change our hearts. So I'd recommend entering deep into him to implore his help first. This is also a great way for us to show our unyielding trust in the Lord and to unite with him even more intimately.
***Astounding Humility*
The Lord comes to us at Communion time, offering himself to us in the Holy Eucharist. This humility is astounding! Then it dawned on me that he's also ready to offer all of himself to us at any time! You desire him with all you heart and he is yours. He will say no to you only when you want to do something that would harm your soul. Be humble so that you may become like him. Then you'll always listen to him and get his full support.
**God's Plan Revealed
Today is the Memorial of St. John of the Cross. In the first reading from Isaiah 45, in verses 456C-8, 18, and 21C-22, the Lord makes it absolutely clear thru the prophet that he is the LORD, and there is no other. In the reading from Psalm 85, we hear that the Lord will bring forth a Savior and we'll all have truth and justice. Then finally, in the Gospel reading from Luke 7, Jesus makes it clear who he is by declaring that he has made the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers clean, the deaf hear, and the dead rise, and proclaimed the good news to the poor. These three readings sequentially present a quick picture God's plan for us. Since all the events had evolved logically over time, we can confidently believe in their authenticity.
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