Both joy and sorrow can be genuine or false. While joy in the Lord is genuine, the "joy" you receive from impure worldly pleasures is not truly a joy ay all. As for sorrow, again sorrow in the Lord is genuine, while that caused by the world may be genuine or false depending upon whether the ego is involved or not. Be in the Lord always to experience pure joy and sorrow.
Sunday, February 18, 2024
***Fighting for the Lord God***
At the 9:45 morning Mass at my church, there is always a large number of families with small children attending. I noticed some little ones being held lovingly by their parents the whole time. Of course, they were now totally dependent upon their parents. I couldn't help thinking that some of them will one day grow up and leave their parents and most likely the Church too, as the secular world has caused so many of young people to go astray. I felt a great sadness. We know that the spiritual warfare between good and evil in ongoing. We who stand with the Lord must not relent an iota. It's time to fight harder than ever! Let the words of Paul in Ephesians 6:13-16 inspire and embolden us: Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Amen.
***Reason to Remain Humble***
We need to be humble because we'll die one day, leave everything behind, and hear the Lord God pronounce his final judgment on us. Not a thing we can do about it!
***Simple Reality We Face
Here we have the everlasting Lord God to confront, so how should we react to him? There are only two sensible choices possible. We either surrender to or reject him, totally. (To not react is essentially rejecting him.) The wise pick should be obvious unless you are a truly mindless person.
Saturday, February 17, 2024
**Asking for Conversion (?)
While receiving Communion, I asked the Lord to convert every single small part of me, whatever that means. (Words are not always adequate to express one's deep feelings.)
***Good Prayer*
Pray that not only everything you do, but also everything that happens to you, will help you bear fruit for the Lord.
***Pray Right to Be Blessed*****
When you pray the Lord's Prayer, if you mean what you say, you are surrendering yourself to him completely. Otherwise, you shouldn't pray and say "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Right? So surrendering to the Lord is our first order of business. If you haven't done so yet, then at lease say the prayer to help you achieve that goal. Once you mean everything you say in all your prayers, you'll surely receive abundant blessings from God!
*****How to Be Truly Carefree*****
Every thought, every word, and every deed of each one of us is recorded in his or her book in heaven. So we'd better watch whatever we do. Again, I advocate that you seek to attain union with God through the Holy Eucharist. Once you reach that union, you'll be completely absorbed in the Lord and know that you are with him every step of the way. Now, you are not concerned about that book anymore.
*Interesting Conjectures
Since those who had near-death experiences had reported that they saw beautiful trees, flowers, meadows, and the like in heaven, is it possible that the earth was modeled after heaven, considering the facf that we were made in the image of God?
Among those who enter hell, I am sure some are truly evil and others much less so. This makes me think that possibly there are various levels of punishment in hell. (Actually, I remember reading about the different levels in a well-known book I can't recall now.) Being burned in fire might be the highest level and being left alone in darkness, possibly the lowest. Not being able to go to God ever is punishment enough. The dead souls the spiritualists can easily contact might be those souls suffering at the lowest level.
Both conjectures are just conjectures, so don't believe in them.
**Beautiful Example for Us
In today's Gospel reading from Luke 5, Jesus called Levi the tax collector sitting at the customs post to follow him. Levi, leaving everything behind, got up and followed him. I thought this immediate obedience to the Lord was just beautiful! We who are Christians should follow Levi's example in following Christ.
***We Are in God's Way (The Real Situation)***
God can do whatever he wants with Satan, but for the time being we are preventing him from doing so, as many of us are being disobedient to him. You see, if he destroys Satan, they'd be destroyed too. If we all abandon Satan and follow Christ, we'll have instant peace and Satan will be totally crushed. Understand this situation and do what's right and wise so that we may have peace ASAP.
**Jesus Power*
We are all shackled by the secular world we live in. Do you know that submitting to Jesus can sever all those shackles one by one until your spirit is set totally free?
Friday, February 16, 2024
***Nowhere to Go***
Communion experience. In union with God, you have nowhere to go anymore because you have reached the end of your quest. Besides, you don't want to go anywhere anymore as God has completely fulfilled you. Now you simply enjoy the Lord every moment! 😄
****First Things First*
Be pure first before doing good deeds. An unclean person doing good deeds is, strictly speaking, a hypocrite. It's also a waste of time, for doing good won't remove your sins. Be holy first and you'll automatically do good deeds.
****What's Most Precious to Us****
Apart from God, our soul is our most important possession. Without the soul, we wouldn't be worth much. God created us with a living soul, not a bunch of puppets. Our soul is way more important than our physical body and everything else you can think of. The Lord God sacrificed his only Son so that our soul might go to in heaven—that's how important the soul is to him. So safeguard your soul more than your body and all other possessions. Lose your soul and you lose everything!
***Joy Surpassing All Understanding****
In Philippians 4, Paul writes about the peace that surpasses all understanding. I can vouch for the fact that the joy you receive in union with Christ is a joy that surpasses all understanding too. This is a joy you experience whenever the Holy Spirit touches your soul. It bursts forth powerfully from within your heart, completely taking over your spirit—you just know that it came from the Lord!
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