**Entering into God's Rest

        In today's first reading from Hebrews 4, Paul writes about this. We need to find that rest while we are still in this world. To me, to enter into God's rest is to abandon ourselves completely in the Lord. Then our spirit will be free to soar to him when our time on earth is up. This is the triumphant way to enter heaven, passing all obstacles and returning to the Father without delay—the ultimate Home Sweet Home!          

***Home-Sweet-Home Feeling

        We all know the home-sweet-home feeling. You travel around world to visit all the beautiful places, but after a while (around three weeks for me), going home is still the best feeling even if your home is a very humble abode. I must say knowing Christ the Lord has already given me the home-sweet-home feeling with him no matter where I am.

***Believing in Christ a Must

        There are people who don't know Christ yet. It's understandable that they wouldn't accept him yet. It's like telling someone who has never seen a car that it can zip him around. Naturally, he would hesitate to want to own and learn to drive one right away. In Christ's case, I would have to tell all unbelievers about him first. This is what I would say. Never mind that believing in him will give you freedom, peace, and joy; more importantly, it'll get all you sins forgiven and ready you for entering heaven to spend all eternity with God the Father. So accepting and believing in Christ is a must, a huge deal, most serious business, and absolutely not something to be dismissed. This is the truth; even Christians who already believe need to remember and appreciate it always.

**Be Genuine Best

        In this world, we are used to maintaining a certain facade when we deal with others. We want to project an image of ourselves to our advantage. Rarely, do we act the genuine selves. Sometimes that might be necessary, but it seems to me that if you cannot be genuine, it'd be better that you don't project anything at all. This may be a challenge. Again, know the Lord well so that the Holy Spirit may teach you what to do or say.  

**Way to Be Forgiving*

        Keep praying for God's mercy on yourself and all others, and you'll be able to forgive all others. Always be a channel of God's grace.

*****Reaping Riches from Our Father*****

        Today after morning Mass at the chapel of Mount St. Joseph, I remained in prayer as usual. But this time for the first time I took the time to say each word of each prayer clearly and meant what I said with all my heart. Wow, I felt so connected to the Lord that I was rewarded with unspeakable joy! Realizing that the Lord is our infinite, inexhaustible treasure, we can certainly sow as much in him as we wish to reap from him, and there'll still be a lot lot more left for us!

***Important First Realization***

        Before we can make any great spiritual progress, it is essential to realize how much all of us, the world, need God's mercy. We are at his mercy and our very existence depends totally upon his mercy. 

**Giving Our Hearts to God

        Satan is good at invading our minds, but if we dwell securely in the Lord, it'd be impossible for him to touch our hearts. Give our hearts to God is one of the first things we should do.

**Faith Makes Life Meaningful

        If you have faith in the God of Christ, everything becomes meaningful. If not, you basically live an empty life.

**Only One to Live For

        Communion time thoughts. In receiving the Lord, I realized I was facing him alone. It was beautiful because I was ready to go to him. In the end we'll all face the Lord—it'll be just he and you. This is the way we should live, as if he's the only one with us. For he is our Savior, the one who makes life worth living. As Saint Mother Teresa has said, "You see, in the final analysis, it is all between you and God."

***Eternal Commitment to God

        The Lord God is eternal and wants us to have eternal life. So let's commit ourselves to him first for all eternity. This is entirely proper if you seriously want to spend life eternally in heaven. We reap what we sow.

*Life Cycle of a Monarch Butterfly*

        We see the change from egg to larvae to pupa and to adult. It just confirms for me that God is real and amazing, nothing is impossible for him, and life always starts at the very beginning.

***Loving God Back***

        The love of God for me I feel makes me yearn for him and want to love him even more. And the only way I see to accomplish that is to obey him more. I think it'd be just as accurate to say that the way is to let him love me more, implying that I become more open to him. This is really the key.

***Rejoicing in Salvation

        Salvation is great news; that it's for all eternity makes it extra sweet. Thank you, our Father in heaven!

**Don't Get Left Out

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 1, Jesus delivered a demoniac. The unclean spirit right away knew Jesus as the Holy One of God. Naturally, the angels and saints all know who Jesus is. Even Satan knows. Let's not be the last to know this important truth. 

*Making Private Vows

        When you join a religious order, you usually have to take the vows of that order. For us who belong to the laity, we can make vows on our own too. There is so much to learn in following the Lord, why not make certain vows as the Holy Spirit directs us? This is a great way to grow spiritually for the glory of God.

***Praying to God Is Beautiful

         God wishes that we pray to him unceasingly. He loves to hear from us. Praying to him is directly talking to him, and we should take it seriously. We should take the time to speak to him from the heart and never rush through it. The more sincere and persistent we are, the more we'll hear the Lord speaking to our hearts. This is the most important communication we can make on earth, for our prayers can affect all the souls, living and deceased, and the entire future of all of us on earth. Besides, it's thru intimate prayers that we develop an intimate relationship with the Lord.
            Imagine if all your children love to come to talk to you, show their trust in you by telling you everything about themselves, and ask for your advice and help, how pleased you'd be. Now our heavenly Father loves us so much more than we love our children and is always ready to give us what's best for us, he'd be thrilled that we endear ourselves to him. 

**Get It Right in This Life

        We have only one life to live. Even if we don't think about our next life, we should try to do everything right since we do have a conscience. Then without any guidance and support, this may not be easy. If you know Jesus, everything changes. He can sharpen your conscience, give you all the guidance and support you need, and even get you into heaven. I highly recommend that you get to know him well in this life.