*****Awesome LORD and GOD*****

        Communion experience. The LORD is so holy and awesome, making you want to die in him! Then you are reborn and have eternal life—it becomes even more awesome! 

**Christian Hypocrites?*

        If one claims to be a Christian, but sets the standard lower than what Christ demands, would you consider him a hypocrite? I am afraid that the answer is yes. Then I have been a hypocrite myself at times. Fortunately, the Lord is understanding and merciful.

*****Glorious Feeling**

        It's entirely proper and even glorious for us to feel sorry for our sins and cry to the Lord God in deep repentance. There is no better feeling than having the Lord wash you totally clean and restore your wholesome relationship with him—it's the feeling we are called to experience!

**Happy for a Reason

        I rejoice in the Lord and am most grateful to him, for he is able to show me all my sins, shortcomings, and imperfections so that I may improve and please him more!

***How We Get Condemned***

         No one in the world has the power to condemn us. God wants to save us, not condemn us. Surely we don't want to get condemned either. Then we stupidly choose to disobey God and get ourselves condemned. Honest truth.

**Seeking To Understand, a Humility*

        From the Prayer of St. Francis, I'd like to quote the following: "Lord, grant that I may seek rather . . . to understand than to be understood." We often forget this. In seeking to be understood, we end up causing disaccord. In most cases, it doesn't matter much whether we are understood or not, except to our ego. If we had tried to understand first, it might not have become an issue at all. Retire your ego and remain humble.

**Separating Sin from Sinner

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 5, Jesus asks his disciples to be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect. It got me thinking. I know we are supposed to hate the sin and not the sinner, but often we don't see that clearly. When someone sins against us, we just see that person's sinning. Now, we all sin and hurt the Lord, so how does he feel? I am pretty sure that he would pity us, always wanting to give us another chance and not cutting us off outright. So let's be more perfect by pitying and not hating the sinner. 

**Secret to True Success*

        Obey the Lord God always, and everything becomes possible and will go your way.  

***Our False Pride*

        Scientists and engineers spend so much time, effort, and money to come up with some discovery or invention and falsely believe that they are so smart that they can solve any problem. Yet the Lord God only needed to will and the whole universe was created. So we fail to realize how infinitely greater God is than us. Know that we ourselves were created by him and we can never get to heaven without his love and mercy. To be truly smart, cast aside all your pride and ego and remain humble, then the Lord God will make you great!

**Sign You Belong to God

        If you long for the Lord's coming, you are ready to meet him. You are now his!

***Eliminating the Gap

        God is almighty and holy, while I am finite and sinful. Yet when I surrender myself to him through receiving the Holy Eucharist, that seemingly unbridgeable gap is no more. We now dwell in each other in union. This is how loving and helpful the Lord is.

**Amazing Thorough Teaching**

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 5, Jesus said to his disciples, "You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment . . . and whoever says, 'You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother nd then come and offer your gift." What strikes me is that the Lord wants us to be perfect in every small way beyond just obeying the Ten Commandments and to get along with our brothers and sisters before we attempt to please him. Wow, the Lord's teaching is amazingly thorough! All the more we need to follow him more diligently! 

**Sad Unawareness*

        Today's Psalm 130 response: If you, O LORD, mark iniquities, LORD, who can stand? How true, we are completely at God's mercy. What is sad is that those who do evil do not believe in God and are not even aware of this. It's a case of "To everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich; but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away." (Matthew 25:29) Lord, have mercy on us!

**Turning the Other Cheek

        This also applies when the attack you receive is not a physical one. In most cases, when someone verbally hurts you, the best way to respond is to remain calm and let the person say all he has to say. If you remain cool and don't retaliate, that should end the matter in most cases. Really, how important is it for you to be understood by others? If God understands you perfectly, shouldn't that be good enough? If you do respond, then do it calmly with no intention to get even. I know it's easy for me to dole out advices. Then if you remember to always do whatever for the Lord's sake, all should be possible. 

***Growing Conscience

        The Lord has given each of us a conscience, but all our consciences are not the same, as some are sharper and others less clear. The more we get to know the Lord, the sharper the conscience becomes. We also suffer more as we become more in tune with the Lord. Then our joy increases too. In union with God, you experience both great joy and great sorrow. with joy always coming out on top. Being a Catholic is never boring!

**What Governs What We Do*

        We can do whatever we want—the only thing that matters is if what we do conforms to God's will or not. 

***Wasting Your Life

       I often hear old folks suffering from poor health say that they wish they were dead, and I really feel sorry for them. How I wish that they would open their hearts to Christ for him to fill them with hope and joy! How tragic it is to not want to know that God loves them to death! This is truly wasting your time on earth. The Lord who can get you into heaven surely can you make you happy on earth too!

**Repentance to Be Embraced

        Back to the basics again: Repentance of our sins is absolutely necessary for our salvation. No repentance and we remain lost. Repentance is that first step we need to take to begin our journey to heaven. You probably know this already, but do you take it seriously?