**Like Jesus' Heart

        A pure heart alone is not good enough, Like Jesus, we must have a pure and just heart. In fact, it's the just heart that makes it pure.

***Joy of Receiving the Lord

        Communion experience. Mary, pregnant with Jesus, visited and greeted her cousin Elizabeth who was already pregnant with John the Baptist. Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy." (Luke 1:39-45) I was also filled with joy before receiving the Lord in the Eucharist, asking "How does this happen to me, that the Lord himself should come to me?"

**Way to Serve God

        Doing what's good for others first before doing anything that's good for yourself is being Christlike.   

***Christ Gives the Assurance

        We are all sitting or standing on the brink of a precipice. For those who already know Christ and follow him, they do not ever have to worry about falling off that precipice. But for those who don't, there is no such assurance. This is an accurate description.

***Keeping the Conscience Free***

        We must never block our conscience. On the contrary, we should be totally in tune with it so that the instant we sense that a thought or motivation is wrong, we dismiss it outright. This is the way to stop committing any sin. To develop such a sharp, sensitive conscience, all the more you should seek to attain union with God first. 

***Understanding God's Blessings

        There are those who preach or believe that the stronger your faith is in the Lord, the more he'll bless you by making you successful and prosperous in this life. If that doesn't happen, they conclude that their faith must not be strong enough. The gospel never taught such a message. In fact, Christs wants us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow his example. His blessing is not to reduce or take away sufferings from us; he only prayed that his disciples would be strong enough to withstand all imminent tribulations coming their way (Luke 21:36).  

***Year End Thoughts and Wishes

         2022 is drawing to a close. What will come next year? There'll be both good and bad things for sure, and I pray that there'll be a lot more good things happening than bad ones. Good things will happen because the Lord is always with those who love him. He wants to be with everyone, but not everyone is receptive to him yet. Bad things will happen because the evil one is still allowed to wage his war against the Lord. I can only pray that the days of the evil one will be shortened, and this will happen if enough of us pray hard enough for it. For those who are faithful and love the Lord, there is nothing to worry about—it'll just be a matter of waiting a little longer. But for those who have gone astray and are lost, we can only pray for God's mercy on them. They will surely awaken if they see the truth. I don't need to celebrate another new year, for my heart celebrates the love and mercy of Christ every single moment. May the world see that we are nothing but dust without God's love.

***Love Is Tolerant

        You hear people say that they can't stand this person or that person. But if you let God fill your heart with his love, you will want to love everyone and pray for their conversion or salvation (never destruction). In Matthew 5:44, Jesus counsels, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." If you can't stand someone, the truth is that you really can't stand God and shouldn't stand yourself either.

**New Year's Wish for All**

        The Lord God alone teaches the truth. The light of Christ helps us see this truth. May this light shine on and illuminate you so that you may see and embrace the truth. Then evil won't be able to touch you and your soul will be kept safe for all eternity. 

***Sign of Spiritual Progress***

         You may be making spiritual progress nicely. Now, if it turns out that everyone else loves God a thousand times more than you do and is a thousand times holier than you, and you not only do not mind but even rejoice in that, then you have indeed progressed spiritually. 

*****Great Tragedies of Today

        Today is the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The families worldwide are under attack by Satan. So many families in this country have disintegrated, becoming disorderly or dysfunctional. Evil has deeply infiltrated all levels of our society and the Church. The way of today has been accepted as the normal, making an awakening to God's love and mercy ever much more difficult. People see nothing wrong with what they do. When the real warning from heaven comes, it may be too late for many of them. This is the great tragedy I see. 
       In parallel, most of the world's population is unaware that Christ can save us, turn everything around, give us the hope we need, set us free, and fill us with peace and joy. In a way, this is an even greater tragedy than the one I mentioned above. Is the world too far gone? I believe that nothing is impossible with God. As things worsen, acts of great mercy will come from him. But the time to pray and be prepared is definitely now for all who hear his voice.

***Complaining Is Out of Order

        I realize that all things that come to me, burdens included, are for my edification, for God loves me. It's the Evil One who wants you to complain. We should follow the example of the Lord Christ who is alway patient.

**Contentment and Joy

        Communion experience. The contentment I felt was heavenly and my joy was complete. I am sure that both contentment and joy would increase manyfold in heaven. 

**Consider What Comes from the Heart

         We sang some of the prayers and responses at Mass. One attendee sang everything out of tune. You noticed that right away and it sounded almost funny. Then I realized that he's doing his best from his heart, and right away he sounded even more beautiful than all the others to me. I think the Lord looks at us this way too.

***Freedom in Serving and Loving God***

        Be least to give yourself the greatest freedom in serving God. Be most humble to give yourself the greatest freedom in loving God.

**Appreciating Jesus

        Jesus is not only an amazing person, he is also our God. So we have an amazing God. And this is a tremendous blessing to us.

**Be Ready like Simeon

        Today's Gospel reading from Luke 2 is about the Presentation of the child Jesus in the temple. The Lord had revealed to Simeon that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. He came in the Holy Spirit into the temple and saw the child. He took him into his arms and blessed God, saying: "Lord, now let your servant go in peace: your word has been fulfilled: my own eyes have seen the salvation which you prepared...." We who have not seen the Lord, but have believed in him and known him intimately should surely be able to go to him in peace at any time.

***Amazing Lord***

        We do not see the Lord God, yet many of us rejoice and believe in him without the slightest doubt. How is this possible? Answer: It's possible because the Lord who created us knows how to speak to our hearts. The Holy Eucharist can be the big catalyst here. So we need to keep our hearts open to God always.