**Reasons I Pray

         The reasons are many, the least of which is to pray for my own well-being. The main reasons are to be obedient to the LORD, to let his will be done on earth, to honor him, to glorify him, to please him, to show my love for him, to seek union with him, and to be holy so that I may become a most effective intercessor before him. 

****A Small Prayer Answered*

         I use drip lines to irrigate my plants. I had noticed that the lines that irrigated the trees had been dripping water continuously even when that zone wasn't turned on. The valve that controlled that zone must have been clogged or its diaphragm seal had worn out. To solve the problem meant digging underground to locate that valve, checking it out, and most likely ordering a replacement. All this would take much work and time, and in the mean time I wouldn't be able to water the trees in this hot 90+ deg F weather. So after praying for the world, the Church, my own country, the souls in purgatory, my family and friends, and myself at the end of each morning Mass, I tacked on this little prayer asking the Lord to help me solve this water problem. Today my son's regular gardener showed up to whack and pull some weeds for me and I asked him to take a look at the valves. He dug up all the dirt around them and started to hear a faint hiss, indicating that water was indeed seeping through the valve. He dug some more until we could see all the valves and the pipe connections below. All of a sudden the hissing sound stopped. We checked the drip lines and sure enough, water had stopped dripping from the holes along the lines! We had no idea how it had happened. There might be a logical explanation to it, but I didn't care. All I knew was that God definitely had something to do with it. That my prayer was answered was all that mattered. Once again, I thank the Lord from the bottom of my heart.

**Amazing Discovery*

 

        You may wish to visit the website of the host of this video to see more such videos.

**Praying for Evildoers

        We'd like God to crush all evil for us, but we should always pray for the conversion of the evildoers, not their condemnation, for the Lord loves all of us. 

**Going to God

        Communion time thoughts. I wish to go straight to the Lord after I die, not because I am concerned about going thru purgatory, but only because I look forward to going to him so much. Nevertheless, his will be done.

**One Business to Be Finished First

        As long as we live on this earth, there will always be unfinished businesses to deal with.  But with the Lord God, once you believe in and follow him, your business with him is essentially finished—remain faithful and you are assured of going to heaven. Now you just take care your other unfinished businesses if need be without any anxiety.

***Our Greatest Unifier***

        Jesus came and caused division, for not all of us believed in him. Then I also see the Lord as our greatest unifier, for it we believe in him, he breaks down all barriers between him and us to become one with all of us, forming the strongest possible bond forever!   

**Sign the Holy Spirit Dwells in You

        In today's Gospel reading from John 15, Jesus said to his disciples: "When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning." If you do have the compelling urge to testify to the Lord and spread the gospel, the Holy Spirit dwells within you! 

***Letting the Lord Raise Us

        Communion experience. Christ came to me to enter me. I must rise above myself, letting him uplift me to his level!

***Jesus' Beautiful Response***

        I feel sorry for anyone who loves to point out the faults of others, but never see their own. I'll always remember in John 8 what Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees when they brought the woman caught in adultery to him to test him by asking if they should stone her according to the law of Moses. The Lord simply answered "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." What a wise beautiful response, one we need to remember and apply to ourselves!  

***God's Infinity*****

        Our Lord God is infinite in every way. His love, mercy, and patience are all infinite. To get yourself condemned, you have to be foolish to the extreme. God's wisdom and spiritual riches are also infinite, and they are freely granted to those who love him. Today I am thinking about the consolation the LORD can give us when we are troubled—that can be infinite too. When the Lord consoles me, my soul is healed!

**Spending Our Time on Earth

        Life is short. Only time spent in doing God's will is time well spent. All time spent for our own sake is wasted, for it does not help us get to heaven. Of course, God's mercy is infinite that you can still make heaven if you repent of your sins before you die, but that's not the best way to go. Follow the Lord every moment of your life and you'll have freedom, peace, and joy on earth, and receive greater honor in heaven.

***Encountering God's Love

        Communion experience. I experience the most powerful force in the whole universe, God's LOVE for us. Receiving him is receiving his all-transforming love.

**Telling God Everything*

        In today's Gospel reading from John 15, Jesus said to his disciples, "I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father." The Lords never holds back any truth from us. Do we tell him everything about ourselves? Of course, hiding anything from him is futile, for he knows everything already. To create the best relationship of trust with the Lord, we need to tell him everything about us. This is to show that we are l00% open to him and don't mind him knowing everything about us.

*****Most Merciful and Faithful

        From today's reading from Psalm 57, we heard read "I will give thanks to you among the peoples, O LORD, I will chant your praise among the nations. For your mercy towers to the heavens, and your faithfulness to the skies." Indeed, the Lord is the most merciful and faithful of all the beings. How can we not trust in him with all our soul and with all our heart? And it is so good that we have him to trust in!

**Communion experience

        I feet that receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist is my greatest blessing!

**Heaven's Got My Back*

        That God alone backs me is good enough. Then I realize that all the angels and saints in heaven are for me too, and I become extra strong. Romans 8:31, "If God is for us, who can be against us?"

***True Ignorance*

        The world has become so godless and tumultuous that we need to return to God, repent, and become obedient most urgently. Despite that, life is so short that we can die and face God at any moment. So now is the time to jump-start your spiritual life. God awaits us, but time doesn't. Delaying facing the Lord is truly not knowing what you do.