**Deciding Factor for Our Eternity

        In the final analysis, it comes down to whether we have Christ or not. 

**Sinners Made Clean**

        Communion experience. The Lord heals and purifies my soul. Feeling clean is a priceless feeling that can only be given by the Lord. This proves to me that we are indeed sinners!

**God's Peace

         The peace of God dwells deep in those who know him, serving as a ballast or anchor. Whereas their hearts can still get ruffled on the surface, that peace deep down keeps them unshaken. 

***Perfect Matching Up

        Communion experience. Here's Almighty God coming to unite with me, a lowly, poor sinner. Such is his great love and mercy.

***Excellent Way of Praying*****

        Certainly we need to pray hard. How do we go about doing it? For the Catholic, the basic prayers are Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be, Apostles' Creed, Holy Rosary, Chaplet of Divine of Mercy, etc., of which many were given directly to us by the Lord. And there are other beautiful prayers written by various saints and pious souls available for our use. What I really want to say is that we must not neglect making up our own prayers. These will come straight from your heart, aiming for the Lord to hear. I dare say that such prayers will please the Lord as much as the best written ones prayed earnestly, if not more. When you pray thus, you don't even need to be concerned about how accurately or well you express yourself. Sometimes, words or complete sentences are not even necessary. They are beautiful to the Lord because they originate spontaneously from your heart. Furthermore, this should greatly enhance your intimacy with him. 

***"Watch" Is the Word

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 13, Jesus said to his disciples: "Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come." The Lord had repeatedly warned them of his coming this way. Should he come suddenly and find us asleep, we're no better off than those who rejected him. 

***What We Truly Need to Know***

        Today's response to Psalm 80: Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved. With God, it's all about our salvation. We need the Lord, for without him we'd be lost forever in sin. This is basic knowledge, critically important for us to have! Heaven awaits and we choose not to show up? 

***Maximum Trust*

        Today's entrance antiphon contains the following words from Psalm 25: To you, I lift up my soul, O my God. In you I have trusted; let me not be put to shame. If you can entrust your soul to God, you can entrust everything else to him. 

**Union on a Grand Scale

        When we are in union with God, we are in union with all those who are in union with him. Thus we are also in union with all the saints and angels in heaven and all those who are holy in the Lord on earth. This is more grand, powerful, and glorious than we normally realize. We are definitely not alone! Take full advantage of that.       

***God's Calming Effect

         Once you know Jesus well, especially when you've attained union with him, nothing basically alarms you anymore, for you now belong to the Lord alone. This can give people the false impression that you're a cold person. Then pleasing God is not to please the world.

**How to Become Vigilant

        In today's Gospel from Luke 21, Jesus said to his disciples: "Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day will catch you by surprise like a trap. For that day will assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth. Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man." To be vigilant at all times is to be aware of God's presence at all time. We forget about God most of the time and that is not right. Again, I advocate that you seek to attain union with the Lord through the Holy Eucharist so that you may already be with him at all times by then. (By the way, could that day be the day of Illumination of Conscience that has been prophesied since the 16th century and again in the last century?)

***God on My Side

        Communion experience. Christ is all for me! Psalm 27:1 echoes my feeling: The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The LORD is my life’s refuge; of whom should I be afraid?

***Know What's Coming Always*

        Be alert, vigilant, and prepared for your coming meeting with the Lord. If you do, your judgment will bring you good news. If not, it'll shock you to the core. 

**Understanding God's Ways*

        The LORD is super powerful, but he only uses his power to teach us, guide me, and draw us to him, all out of love. He never flaunts his power to berate or subdue us, for he totally respects our free will and wishes only to inspire us to have faith in him. Once faith is born, he is able save us.

**Just Passing Thru*

        Today's realization. I am just passing thru, stopping over on this planet for a short while. Nothing I have now belongs to me. When I depart, it'll be just myself, the way I came. Then I'll be appearing before the LORD, all naked, as it were. Hopefully, I'll be welcomed to stay with him forever, for anywhere else would be unbearable.

***God Is Free!***

          I thought it would be appropriate to end November with this reminder. It is absolutely free for us to turn to God to get the best out of our existence. We only need to open our hearts to him and all he has will be ours one day soon. It sounds fantastic because it is fantastic! Know that with God, too good to be true is never true. He has no garbage to give out, only priceless treasures that are infinitely superior than anything you can find on this earth. Are you wise or foolish? Smart or dumb?

***Selfless Praying*

        We pray for others and ourselves. But we should always pray for God's sake and pray selflessly. All prayers are to glorify God. When we pray for others, it's for their good, but still firstly for the glory of God. Even when we pray for ourselves, we should forget about ourselves and focus upon glorifying God alone.     

****Our #1 Priority*

        It is to perfect ourselves. This is our best way to glorify God. If we were imperfect, we wouldn't be able to draw others to the Lord effectively. Besides, each one of us is ultimately responsible for ourselves. This makes our perfection our #1 goal.