****We Are Precious to God!****

        At Mass during consecration of the bread and wine, Fr. Steve, again, recalling the words of Jesus at the Last Supper, said: "TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND EAT OF IT: FOR THIS IS MY BODY WHICH WILL BE GIVEN UP FOR YOU" and "TAKE THIS, ALL OF YOU, AND DRINK FROM IT: FOR THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY BLOOD, THE BLOOD OF THE NEW AND ETERNAL COVENANT, WHICH WILL BE POURED OUT FOR YOU AND FOR MANY FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS. DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME." The Lord has redeemed us with his Most Precious Blood! We are truly wonderful and most precious to him! Be Thankful and rejoice!

***Mind Your Spiritual Health

         To remain in sin is so much worse that to have the poorest health, for the former affects your soul everlastingly and the latter only your body for the time being. Seize on Christ our Savior so that we'll never die in sin!

**Heaven in Contrast to Hell

        The joy we experience in heaven will be infinitely greater than any happiness we can experience on earth, and the fear we experience in hell will be infinitely worse than any nightmare we can possibly encounter on earth. So heaven will surprise and hell, shock us.

***Compelling Challenge

        The first half of today's first reading from Hebrews 4: The word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account. Christ so challenges us that we are compelled to love him or fear him. If you cannot prove that he is false, then you have no choice but to embrace him totally. Otherwise, you remain in a state of limbo.

***About Truly Loving Others

        God's love is pure, while our own love is not always genuine or selfless. We can go thru the motion and not really care that much in our hearts. To perfect our love, we need to know God and let him love us first. Once we experience his love, we'll know how to love others as he loves us. If you do this, he will surely bless you. Now, God manifests his great love for us in wishing to save our souls from sin. So if we are not concerned about the salvation of someone we claim to love, we fall short of truly loving that person. Anyway, the right start is to know God and get yourself saved first.

***Always Safe in God of Christ!

        The world is in disorder and chaos because people have abandoned God and thus easily captured by Satan. To safeguard yourself, just let the Lord be your refuge. In him, all your fears vanish as no evil can possibly touch you. In God, we are saved and our souls safe. Yes, we can easily reshape the world by choosing God!

**Right Approach to Loving God

        If you are ill and are anxious to get well, you won't get well quicker. To rest in peace and let your body and medication do the work is the way to go. The same with wanting to love God. If you struggle to love him, you become restless. So the right approach is to rest in God and let him do the work. You see, he knows all your good desires and can fulfill them only if you are out of his way.

***The Lord's Passion a Miracle!

        It's Friday and I meditated on the Passion of Christ. It is astounding and incredible that our Lord chose willingly to undergo such horrendous excruciating suffering for our sake. I see it as performing a miracle much greater than healing the sick and casting out evil spirits. I would put it on the same level as his Resurrection and Ascension into heaven. How wonderful our Lord is and how blessed we are!

**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."