***Exchange of Love

        Communion experience. All I could do was to love the Lord by letting him love me even more.

**Suffering for the Sake of Christ*

        Today is the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. In the Gospel reading from Luke 2, Simeon, at the presentation of the child Jesus, prophesied that a sword would pierce Mary's heart. Indeed, Mary suffered so much on behalf of his divine son. And, of course, Christ himself suffered more than anyone else for our sake. So we must not complain but fully accept whatever suffering he sends our way, for suffering for his sakr purifies us, readying us for entering heaven.

***A Fundamental Calling

         We are all called to serve God in different ways, as we were created by him differently. It's perfectly fine if you are called to pray only, not always seeing the fruit of your labor. A true prayer warrior can help the Lord accomplish many mighty deeds, affecting all of us. Really, anyone serving the Lord should be a prayer warrior also.

*****Secret to Peace

        The peace of Christ descends upon you when you no longer care about yourself and start living for him alone. When you let him set you free, peace is born.  

*****Power of the Eucharist*****

        Communion experience. Receiving the Lord in the Eucharist is the highlight of each day for me. It affects everything I do the rest of my day and, of course, totally settles my eternity. This most precious gift from the Lord has the power to transforms my whole being!

**God Values Our Trust*

        This morning the Lord let me know that even if I were the only person in the whole world praying to him, he would listen to me and take me seriously. If our prayers are proper and said from the heart, they are powerful and most pleasing to him.

***Marching for Jesus in Iraq***

        Ending this month's blogging on a happy note: 
https://youtube.com/shorts/UT1ZaNE8Tfs?si=OS9FYeAhhHabxOsl

***Again, Your Choice

        God loves us so much that if you seek his protection, he will shield you from all evil. Of course, if you don't want to have anything to do with him, then you are on your own and instantly become an easy target of Satan.  

***God's Closeness

        Communion experience. The Lord is the Lord, yet he is as close to me as myself. 

***Fair or Unfair?***

        Christ shed his own blood for us and we only need to accept him to reap eternal life! Think about it.  

***Purifying Our Lives*

         This means doing only things that will help us get into heaven. Each of us does all kinds of things in life. Many of them are OK, but neither are they spiritually beneficial. So we need to thin out such activities. This may not be easy, for it could mean changing our way of life significantly. But change we must if heaven (loving God) means anything to us.

***Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus***

        As you know, numerous prophecies you'll find throughout the Old Testament, from Genesis to Zechariah, predicting Jesus' coming, his passion, death, resurrection, and ascension. Even details such as being born from a virgin, being offered gifts at his birth, his coming proclaimed by a voice in the wilderness, coming riding on a donkey, being spurned and disrespected, being betrayed for thirty pieced of silver, his garments divided for which they cast lots, his ascension into heaven, etc., were all given. And Jesus fulfilled them all! This is pretty amazing and should no doubt bolster our faith in him. 

**A Question

        The great saints see themselves as worst sinners before God. But many of us Christians today see themselves as pretty good people deserving of heaven. Is there something not quite right here?

***An Insight***

        The Lord has made me see that thinking lowly of someone is as bad as thinking highly of myself. For both stem from the lack of humility.  We all fall short of loving God who alone is our judge.

**Great Satisfying Experience

        Communion experience. The LORD is all mine! What an immensely satisfying feeling!  

**Getting the Lord's Attention

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 5, a woman afflicted with a hemorrhage came up behind Jesus in the crowd and touched his cloak, believing that if she touched his clothes, she would be healed. Immediately her flow of blood dried up and she felt in her body that she was healed. Since Jesus is not here for me to touch in any way and he did let the woman know that her faith had saved her, I can just pray for what I desire from him and believe that he will answer me.  

***Great Way to begin a Day*

         I love waking up very early in the morning when darkness and silence still prevail. In these moments of solitude, I sense acutely the Lord's presence both within and without me. It's the perfect time for me to commune with my most beloved to my heart's content. What an awesome way to begin a new day!

***False Front**

         You see so much false joy exhibited on many commercials and various TV shows. In general, people put on a false facade to hide any emptiness or loneliness they feel. Today I was shocked and saddened to learn that the parishioner who owned a very expansive car (I think it was a Ferrari) had committed suicide. I didn't know him personally, but everybody noticed his flashy red car with gold wheels. How I wish that I had the chance to tell him about Christ who can fill us full with hope and joy. This had happen to me twice before. In the first case, I witnessed to a friend about Christ and he was ready to consider entering the Church. He called a local priest for an appointment to see him, but it so happened that he was tied up and couldn't see him right away. The next thing I knew, my friend had committed suicide. Obviously, there was a deeper issue here I wasn't aware of. The second friend was at the peak of his career. He earned two PhD degrees, owned a lot of properties, traveled all around the world, and had a lot of friends too. His job was with a famous think tank. One day I called him and learned that he had committee suicide. How I wished I had shared the gospel with him earlier! So we must share the good new of Christ every chance we get. What we see is often the false front. There are lots of people who are lonely and/or feel hopeless out there. We must do our best to reach out to as many of them as possible.