***My Kingdom of Heaven

        Jesus has explained the kingdom of heaven in his various parables. Today I personally feel that the kingdom of heaven is letting the LORD God produce whatever amount of fruit he wishes thru me. 

**Losing Jesus Is Different

        I dreamed this morning that I lost all my cameras with all the pictures shot while traveling somewhere. I was devastated and woke up. I realized that had I lost Jesus, I'd certainly rather die. Then I also realized that no one except myself could possibly take the Lord from me, and I was instantly relieved.

**Message from Parables

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 13, Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables. He likened the kingdom of heaven to a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and our of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Agains, he likened it to a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it. What these parable speak to me is that since I already know what the kingdom of heaven is like, I should be willing to part with all else I have, for not doing so amounts to dragging my feet on entering the kingdom of heaven.

****Letting God's Mercy Perfect Us

        We need God's mercy for sinning against him. It is our lack of humility that causes us to dismiss or disobey him. Begging the Lord for his mercy unceasingly so that our ego may diminish accordingly. This is the way of becoming perfect until we are no longer burdened by imperfections. 

*****Top Necessity of Life*****

         It is knowing and believing in Christ. Once you have him, you'll know how to live right and have eternal life. Without Christ, you can be easily ensnared by the Devil and lose your soul altogether. For us, there is nothing more important than accepting and following the Lord Jesus.

***Secret to Living Forever

        Today is the Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. In the Gospel reading from John 11, Jesus said to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die." It just can't be any clearer. You want to live forever? There's your answer!

*****Mark of True God*****

         Christ is the only leader whom, if you cannot prove that he is false, you must accept totally.

*****How to Love God*****

        God has everything except our obedience. So if you love God, just obey him. This is the best we can do and all he expects of us. It would complete his joy and make the whole heaven rejoice! So don't be a spoilsport and do it now!

**Sign We Need Salvation**

        If I were perfect, sinless, and knew that I was heaven bound, telling me that Jesus can save me from sin just wouldn't interest me. The fact that we can be deeply moved, even to tears, upon learning that Jesus as God the Son actually died for us so that we might have eternal life clearly shows that we are aware that we are sinners and need salvation.

**Jealous God

        In today's reading from Exodus 20, the LORD God gave the ten commandments to his people. He also made it clear to them that he, the LORD, was their God and they should not have other gods besides him. Thus we are not to idolize any other god or anything else, material or nonmaterial. This means that we must detach ourselves from the world and worship the LORD alone. It is only right, as the LORD is both our creator and our heavenly Father.

***Which Way to Go After Death***

        We are on this earth now. After we die, we end up either going to God or falling into hell. Choosing which way to go should be a no-brainer. But we may not quite realize that it's how we live our life on this earth that determines where we'll end up in our next life for ever.

***Jesus' Calling for Us*

        Jesus called his Apostles to give up everything to follow him. Why should his calling for us be different? The only way to follow the Lord is to follow only him.         

**Knowing God Cherished

        For all of us who already know the Lord, we need to cherish this privilege. For he has chosen us and we are now directly linked to him. He now guides and shields us from all evil, and we are on the way to heaven. There's much more, but that's a lot already!

**God Can Transform Us*

        When you belong to Christ, you are set free from the world. We all pursue pleasures in the world, but after knowing the Lord, you realize that such pleasures provide only short-lived enjoyment, while the Lord truly satisfies your deep inner longings. Now you let the world go and devote all your time honoring the Lord. Yes, God can truly change us to make us feel good.

***Great Homily to Hear***

        How I wish that all Catholics would have the courage of this priest in times as ours. 

**Which Comes First??

        To convert the world or to obey and love the Lord? The desire to convert the world is strong and urgent, yet obeying and loving God must precede that. For it's from the Lord that we receive guidance and power—we are only his instruments.

**Communion Desire

        I ask the Holy Spirit to take full charge of me so that I may be purged of all tendencies to sin. 

**Lamenting Lost Souls

        Jesus had come to us two thousand years ago, proclaiming the good news that we might have eternal life if we believed in him, and he backed up his claim by performing numerous miracles, including his own Resurrection from the dead. Shouldn't we at least pay attention and look into it, realizing that we are sinners and don't know what will happen after we die? Yet most people don't seem to care! It seems that they have lost their minds. If one doesn't even care about his afterlife, he is lost indeed.