**Complete Blindness Is . . .

not seeing the dazzling light of Christ the Lord.

**Sensible Way to Live

        Life on earth is brief. Compared to eternity, its duration is virtually zero. And there are billions of us living on earth right now. So the smart and sensible way for me to live is clearly to trust fully in my God and follow him faithfully so that I may soon enjoy eternity with him forever!

***God Our Power Source

        John 15.5: I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Jesus is right. All power comes from the Lord. To receive that power, we must acknowledge our total helplessness without him and our total dependence upon him. It'll be total submission and total abandonment to him. This is how we become saints.

***God Is Joy!***

        Communion time thoughts. Returning to God is such a joyous event. Remaining in union with him assures that this joy will last forever and only increase!

***Compelling Love***

        If you truly realize that God is pure love, you would fall head over heels in love with him. And anyone in love with such a beautiful loving Lord will reach the zenith of happiness in both this life and the next!  

**Obedience a Choice for Us

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 4, Jesus ordered the spirit of an unclean demon to come out of a possessed man. The demon recognized Jesus as the Holy One of God and came out of him without doing him any harm. The spirits and demons have no choice but to obey the Lord. If we likewise recognize Christ as the Holy One of God, we should obey him instantly too. But in our case, God does not force us to obey him in any way because he loves us and wants us to show our love for him by choosing to obey him, for faith is necessary for salvation.

***Living Together with Jesus

         From today's reading from 1 Thessalonians 5: Jesus Christ died for us so that we may live together with him. Since Christ has already come to us, we can confidently attain union with him through receiving the Holy Eucharist. Living together with him is absolutely no problem now. Alleluia!  

***A Great Feeling

        Communion experience. Christ is both our light and conditioner. He enters me and lights up my entire soul and puts it in a fit state. Having a healed and clean soul is one of the best feelings you can experience on earth, letting you know that heaven is now awaiting you.

**Dangerous Sleep

         Sleep normally refers the state of rest our body needs to recover from physical or mental fatigue. When a person dies, we sometimes say he or she has gone to sleep. But the most dangerous kind of sleep is being spiritually dead. This is someone who is wide awake and active in the world, but has no awareness of God's existence or relevance. He or she is to be pitied for risking being lost forever.  

**Perfect Obedience Due

        Perfect LORD deserves our perfect obedience. When that happens, there will be perfect harmony and peace in his kingdom. This should be obvious to anyone who is open to God.

***God's Perfect Way***

        Communion experience. The Lord has come up with the perfect way for us to attain union with him. It is ingenious! Praise him!

**Our Ultimate Goal

        We pray for many things to the Lord; but ultimately, we want to become totally obedient to him. In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 16, Jesus gave us the right counsel: "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."

*****The LORD Is Real!

        From today's reading 1 from Jeremiah 20, we heard read "I say to myself, I will not mention him [the LORD], I will speak in his name no more. But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it." Let me tell you that the LORD is real and you can develop a most intimate relationship with him until he becomes your conscience. Now you lead an absolutely exhilarating, rewarding existence!

***Blunt Reality***

        Sept. 2. We are all being processed on earth to enter heaven, purgatory, or hell right now. And we have total control over this process when we have Christ with us! 

****Every Thought Counts

        Sept. 2. Not just our words and deeds, every single thought we have matters—now we are provided with myriad opportunities for storing up treasures in heaven!

***Experiencing God's Wonders

      Sept. 2. The more you praise Jesus, the more he exalts you. A wonderful way to feel wonderful!

**Beware of Dementia

        Recently, quite a number of old folks I know have developed dementia. This should be a warning to all older persons who have not considered accepting Christ yet. My advice is to look into Christ when your mind is still clear, no matter what age you're at, as he is our only Savior and the one who can give you eternal life. Accepting him has absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain.

***Most Appropriate Prayer

        Sept. 2. Asking for God's mercy greatly pleases the Lord and benefits ourselves.