**It's All Relative

        The more you are awake to God, the deeper the world seems to be asleep. 

***Faith Being Tested***

       On Oct. 13, 1973, the Blessed Virgin Mary gave Sr. Agnes Sasagawa of Akita, Japan, a message in which she said "The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres . . . churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord." It was also reported that on June 18, 1965, Our Lady told Conchita Gonzalez of Garabandal, Spain, that many cardinals, bishops, and priests were following the road to perdition, and with them, they were taking many more souls. At the time, many people rejected this message as being implausible. Of course, now we see that both the Akita and Garabandal messages contain a prophetic truth. We are now living in a time of great confusion. That the good Bishop Strickland of Texas just got removed from ministry by Pope Francis was truly shocking. We should believe in the Lord more than ever and follow the good bishops and cardinals only. The purification and restoration of the Church will surely come. Meanwhile, our faith faces its greatest challenge.

***EXCITING FAITH***

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 17, the Apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith." The Lord replied, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you." What's so exciting is that there is no limit to how great our faith can be! 🔔🔔🔔 When all doubts vanish, faith becomes infinite.

***An Awareness to Be Aware Of*

          Let me just quote half of today's reading from Psalm 139. 

        O LORD, you have probed me and you know me; you know when I sit and when I stand; you understand my thoughts from afar. My journeys and my rest you scrutinize, with all my ways you are familiar. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know the whole of it. Behind me and before, you hem me in and rest your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; too lofty for me to attain. 

          The LORD is fully aware of us. Let us live in full awareness of this awareness of his and rejoice that he watches over us to keep us on the path to eternal freedom and joy! 

**Getting the Most Out of Prayer

        When you pray, if you just say the words and hope that the Lord will hear you, your prayer might not even reach him. On the other hand, it you pray from your heart, meaning every word you say and believing without a doubt that you will received what you ask for, you can be sure that the Lord will respond most favorably. (In Mark 11:24, Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours." God will take you seriously only if you take him seriously.

***Sweetened by God

        Communion experience. A sweetness permeates my entire heart and soul.

***Most Berautiful Name

        During the breaking of the bread at Mass, we address the Lord as Lamb of God and ask him to grant us mercy and peace. "Lamb of God" strikes me as the most beautiful name I've ever heard. Then everything about the Lord is beautiful! 

****Fantastic Result****

        The Lord God loves us so much that he wants us to know him. So go before him and say, "LORD, here I am, all yours to know." And voilà, you now know him!

**Only One Relationship Needed

        All relationships we established with others on earth will end one day. So start establishing your most beautiful relationship with the Lord God that will last forever. 

*****Why We Are Unhappy

        We are unhappy because we sin against God! The Lord has made us this way so that we may seek to return to him. If we were holy and blameless, we would feel so grateful to God and be filled with joy! As long as we go against our conscience and continue sinning, we lose our peace and remain unhappy.

*Dying Advice*

        Do not delay doing God's will, and alway do it wholeheartedly, so that you may die in peace. 

**Extolling Holiness

        Holiness is a beautiful thing. Since God is most holy, he is most beautiful. I sense the beauty of all the saints and all my brothers and sisters who love the Lord. Other beauties we sense are just not in the same class.

*****Secret of Living an Easy Life*****

        Before I was fully awake this morning, the Lord impressed this thought on me. It wasn't new, but permit me to elaborate on it once more. The thought was "if we obey the Lord, everything becomes easy." How so? Well, if we obey him, we do his will always, and with us out of his way, of course everything will be accomplished for us. If we want to know the Lord well, this is also the right approach. He loves us and wants us to know him. We desire that and he reveals himself to us. This is also accomplished effortlessly by him with no struggle on our part. So be obedient and living your life become a breeze. 

*****Christ Is the ONE

       More thoughts on Christ the Lord. He is the only one who has revealed to us that he can save us from sin and lead us to eternal life. This is news one can hardly believe or wants to believe with all his heart!  Once you fall in love and attain union with him, all you desire is to remain in him forever! He is most special because he makes us special. 

***Existence Fulfilled***

        Today at morning Mass it came to me that God the Son loved me so much that he even died for me on a cross! This realization completely fulfilled my existence, making my life meaningful and rich; it's pretty incredible. Christ is truly our perfect solution to the riddle of life. 

***God Eager to Forgive*

        We can never be 100% pure in this life on earth. As long as our sins are venial and we are in a state of grace, the Lord still invites us Catholics to receive him in the Holy Eucharist. I believe that he removes all these sins as well before or as he enters us. From the Gospels, we learn that he readily forgave the sins of those who showed great faith in him. It's love for and trust in the Lord that count. Repent of our sins and ask him to forgive us and all our sins are gone! So there's no good reason whatsoever for us to remain in sin which causes only misery for all!

*****Readying Ourselves for Judgment*****

        We'll be judged by Christ either right after our death or at his second coming. Since we do not know which will happen first, it makes perfect sense that we live in order to be ready for our judgment. If this sounds somewhat morbid to you, then you are not yet ready. If you feel great joy, you are definitely ready!

*****Most Loved One

        Why do many of us love Christ more than anyone else? ANS: Because he is LOVE and love is the most powerful force there is. When we love him, we are set free and no evil can ever touch us anymore!