***Loving the Lord Without Limits*****

        I am continuing reading the book Wife, Mother & Mystic on Blessed Anna-Maria Taigi and am impressed by her holiness. Even though the Lord gave her many ecstasies, she begged their withdrawal and preferred to suffer for the atonement of others' sins. Christ approved of her heroic sacrifice and said to her, "There are few, very few, My daughter, even among the servants of God, who renounce spiritual delights in order to embrace suffering by love." I also recall St. Maximilian Kolbe, the Polish priest who volunteered to die in place of a man in the German death camp at Auschwitz. He once asked the Mother of God what was to become of him. She appeared to him, holding two crowns, one white and the other red. The white one symbolized purity and the red, martyrdom. She asked him if he was willing to choose one of the crowns. Fr. Kolbe chose both. 
          These two examples are just so inspiring. They show that there's no limit to how much one can love God, and this is precisely what makes living the Catholic life exciting. Even though we can remain in Christ and do not sin, we can still do better. As sinners, we always fall short of how much we should love the Lord. We are all different and some are called to be more heroic than others. Nevertheless, each of us should listen to the Lord's voice and do exactly what he tells us. Total obedience is our ideal goal and total submission the way to reach it.   

***The BIG Question***

        If we surrender to the God of Christ, we gain eternal life. So the big question for us is "To surrender to Christ or not?" If you cannot answer yes, that tells me that you need to surrender. Anyway, do not waste your whole lifetime on making up your mind, for that's all the time you have.

***Superior to Making New Year's Resolution*

        To progress spiritually, never struggle hard on your own. The secret of success is to go completely passive to let the Lord do all the work for you. At this time, many people make their New Year's resolution(s). I would forgo that because it never works. What will work is asking the Lord to give you all the blessings you need to make you perfect and beautiful to him. He knows exactly what to give you, and you can ask to your heart's content and he can handle it. This is holy greed the Lord doesn't mind at all. 

**God's Transforming Power*

        Communion experience. I just know that the Lord can transform me or anyone else into a most holy person. His will is accomplished the moment we surrender our will to his.

***Awesome Lord We Need

        In the Gospel reading from John 1, John the Baptist testified that he's not the Christ; and Christ, the one coming, he is not even worthy to untie his sandals. The Lord is so awesome that we must never assume for a second that we are good enough for him. Only he can makes us good enough for him. Hence we need him more that anything else.

**Remaining in the Son and the Father

        In today's first reading from 1 John 2, the Apostle makes it clear that God promised us eternal life if we remain in the Son and in the Father. To me, to remain in the Lord is to be obedient to him in all things. My greatest aid comes from receiving him in the Holy Eucharist daily. The Lord left this greatest gift with us, assuring us that he'd be with us always.

**Difficulty in Facing the Lord

        I believe that many people evade rather than reject Christ because it's the easier thing to do. You see, the Lord makes us see what's in our hearts and that can make us feel uncomfortable. We are challenged to submit ourselves to him totally. Evading him doesn't mean that we are not interested in him; it simply provides us with a temporary escape from facing the truth. We still remain restless in an uncomfortable state.

***Being Holy*

        Being holy is private business. You do it for God alone and not for yourself or anyone else. It is living a secret life in God. That's why it feels so good.

**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.