**Turning the Tables*

        Today's first reading comes from Isaiah 1. In verses 16-17, the prophet gives the word of the LORD: "Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good." To do evil is easy, while to do good we need to learn. But once we attain union with the LORD, the tables are turned. Now evil becomes extremely repugnant to us, while doing good becomes natural under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

**Most Special Moment

        Communion experience. After I received the Lord, for a moment I became only aware of his existence as if everything else had vanished. 

**Key to Doing God's Will*

        It is important to realize that we are not only sinners, but on our own we are weaklings, not capable of accomplishing anything of true merit. By acknowledging that we can do nothing without Christ (John 15:5), we open the door to receiving power from the Lord. To be weak in God is a must for accomplishing his will. 

**Intimate Communion Experience

        Today's Gospel reading from Matthew 17 was on the glorious Transfiguration of Jesus. After receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist, I felt as if my soul had been transported to heaven. A dry run of what's going to take place later?

***Greatest Division or Union*

         In Luke 12:51, Jesus said, "Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division." What the Lord meant was that over him, we would be divided. To this day, we witness the division between those who accept him and those who reject him. This division is so great that you end up either in heaven or in hell! Yet the Lord can also bring about the greatest possible union among us. We achieve that when we all attain union with him through the Holy Eucharist. I think we've all heard the motto "United we stand, divided we fall." Just know that if we are divided over Jesus, our Lord and Savior, we risk suffering the greatest possible fall. 

**How to Rest Our Mind

        We do physical work and get tired. We rest and we're OK again.  If we use our mind too much, we can get tired mentally too. This is the perfect time to abandon ourselves to the Lord to find rest in him. 

*****Letting God Impress Us*****

        Communion time feeling. I was impressed by the fact I had become inseparable from Christ who is my creator, Savior, constant companion, and a whole lot more. Consider that my good fortune, but it's more than that. It's realizing that God truly loved us and died for us to save us. This is what makes our bonding, union with him, so powerful and strong! The Lord is most impressive—let him impress you for your good and for his glory.

**Erasing Our Bad Name

        Personally, I believe that in our universe, we are the only creatures with souls, rebelling against God. That makes us look pretty bad because we mess up God's order. Satan is one big bad apple, but he'll be locked up at the end forever. Praise God that he has given us the free will so that we can choose to be good too. So leave Satan alone and obey Christ single-mindedly instead to become heaven bound. Then we'll have erased our bad name and be happy forever.

*****Be Hot for God***

        In good or bad times, we Christians cannot remain complacent. Drifting along in life, believing that God will take care of everything, is just not good enough. To follow Christ every step of the way, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to set our hearts on fire so that we may cry out, begging for the Lord's mercy on all the souls in the world. We are warriors fighting a spiritual battle, although our weapons are not conventional ones. We are not just fighting for our own salvation, we are first and foremost fighting for the glory of God! In Revelation 3, the Lord says, "I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth." So, let's be hot for God! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

***We Have Our Hope!***

        Sadly, many people have lost the will to live. Common causes are depression, loneliness, illness, drug addiction, financial struggle, etc. In other words, they have lost hope. How I wish that they'd know Christ, who is our hope, our only real hope in fact, and the hope meant just for us. He is Lord the Savior, our creator, the one who loves us the most and can transform us to make us anew. We do not see nor hear him physically, but faith is all you need to know and commune with him. He is everlasting, more real than anyone you actually see. How do I know? I know because he has revealed himself to me. This is my best and only answer I can give you, for it stems from my own honest personal experience. Without Christ, you are justified to feel hopeless. But since he is alive and never dies, to lose hope has to be the worst mistake of your whole existence! Start talking to the Lord and learn about him in the Gospels is a good start. Then ask him to reveal himself to you so that you may be set free and filled with hope!

**God Is Clear, But . . .

         From today's first reading from Ezekiel 18, we learn that if the wicked man turns away from all his sins and become virtuous, the Lord GOD shall not remember his crimes and he shall live. And if a virtuous man turns away from virtue to do evil, the LORD shall not remember all his virtuous deeds and he shall die. So we get to choose becoming either virtuous or evil. God always makes things clear to us, but more often than not, we just our drag our feet. 

**Inching Closer to God

        Communion time thoughts. Being human, we may be willing to yield to God, but we always fall short. All the more we need to strengthen our spirit by yielding ourselves more to the Lord. A lifetime joyful process.

***Making Heaven Rejoice

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 7, Jesus said to his disciples: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." God is completely open to us. If we can be completely open to him also, there'll be great rejoicing in heaven.

***Critically Important Realization

        Today's first reading comes from Esther C:12. It contains the verse "I have no protector other than you, Lord." Do we feel this way? Do we realize that our God, the one we now know to be the God of Christ, is the only one who can protect our soul from being lost forever? A most critically important realization indeed!

***Call to Holiness

        Bad news always seems to grab headlines and get better coverage than good news. Bad happenings shock people, while good ones just make you say okay. Evil attracts people easily, while holiness doesn't. My point is "Don't sin," for sin can affect a lot more people than you know. All the more we need to be holy and perfect, which is the Lord's calling.

***Be a "Good" Talker*

        Today we hear so many people talking all around and over us nonstop. Most of them, even if they are genuine, waste too many words on whatever they wish to convey. If the speaker are fake, then they definitely commit the sin of polluting the minds of others. Now, look at Christ our Lord. He is alway direct to the point. He never wastes words, He never talks around something just to sound good. He means what he says, always aiming at our hearts. Above all, love motivates all what his says. Be like him. 

***Do It When It's Possible!***

        Communion experience. I was speechless for the Lord's generous reception of me. I voluntarily submitted myself to him. The time to do this is now.  For if you wait until you see him, it'll be too late! There are things we must not postpone and here's one among others that are first on the list.

***Thinking Your Prayers

        When I think my thoughts, the Lord already knows what they are before I say anything to him. Very early this morning, while still half asleep, I hummed a tune with mouth closed, prompted by the Holy Spirit to seek relief from a burden I was carrying on my heart. No words were spoken, yet I knew that the Lord heard and understood me perfectly. Praying to such a Lord is a delight. You can think a prayer and it works just as well.