*****Christ Indispensible to Us*****

        Today I particularly feel good because in communion with the Lord, he actually made me see all my faults. To see what he sees is really cool! I am truly happy about this because he's going to guide me in all I do. He is absolutely indispensable for me to remain alive and grow holy now and to live happily in heaven forever later! With Christ, we have everything; without Christ, we have nothing. Amen.

*****Heaven Not to Be Missed!

        On earth, we have to learn to survive, deal with bad people and things, worry about our health, etc. Well, in heaven we won't have any such problems. For God will take care of everything so that we may simply enjoy him forever! I can still remember the joy I felt when school was over and vacation started or when someone paid off some debt for me or when I won some sort of first prize, but all these are not even peanuts compared to the joys we'll have in heaven! And as far as I know, the God of Christ is the only one who can get you into heaven for sure. This is absolutely the best possible news I can give you!

***Real Suffering

        If you don't know Christ yet, any suffering can be hard to bear. You start feeling sorry for yourself or even cursing God. But Christians in union with the Lord feel differently. They see all sufferings as being sent by him and that they are his sufferings too. So they joyfully accept them with patience and gratitude. Now, this is real suffering.

*****God's Selfless Love*****

         Today's Gospel reading from Luke 15 gives us the parable of the lost son, to many the most beautiful and moving of all Jesus' parables. When the older son found out that the father was celebrating the return of his lost brother with a feast, he got jealous and angry. He said to his father, "Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf." He said to him, "My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found."
        You can learn so much about God's love for us from this parable, but let me jusy share this thought. If we know that the Father loves us, we have already received the maximum reward and should be so happy that he should love all others. To know God's love is to become completely selfless!

***Good to Know Now***

        We human beings occupy ourselves doing all kinds of things. This reminds me of walking into a large thrift store, seeing a myriad of things you can buy, and realizing that every item was made by someone at some place in the past. Of course, we also built buildings, pursue hobbies, take vacations, watch ballgames on TV, attend live shows, etc. But if we only do such transient things and not store up treasures in heaven, it'll be a total waste of time. Those in heaven know it and you should know it now too for your good.

**Taking Advantage of Sin

        Every time you sin, see it as an opportunity for you to turn to God, repent to him (or go to confession) and be made clean again! Hate the sin, but keep yourself pristine.

*****No Goodbye to Jesus*****

        My wife was going on a trip and left the house around 3:30 a.m. this morning. She didn't want to wake me up early and left me asleep. Then I heard a "goodbye" and the closing of the front door. I got up, looked out of the window quickly, and saw the car her friend was picking her up with speeding away down the road next to the house. Someone I have loved for being with me for over six decades was gone! I knew she'd be back after two weeks; nevertheless, I felt a sudden loss. And it got me thinking.
         We'll all be gone one day to say goodbye to this world forever, so how will you handle that? Will you look forward to it with great anticipation or fear entering the unknown or are sorry that you have to say goodbye to everyone and all your possessions? This is something we need to think about before we die if we are to be realistic about it. By the way, Jesus demands that to be his disciple, one must be willing to give up everything, follow him, and never look back. Now I see clearly that this is the way to true freedom.
        As for myself, knowing that I already belong to Christ, going to him will be my greatest joy and consolation. I have no problem leaving all my things behind, including those I have really enjoyed, for I'll gain in heaven infinitely better and everlasting treasures! The only sorrow I'll be feeling is leaving those souls who haven't loved Christ yet and mighty not reach heaven, for any separation will be eternal. (It so happened that the Gospel reading at Mass this morning was on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. As you know, Lazarus died and was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham, while the rich man also died and went to the netherworld where he suffered torment. When he asked for help from Abraham, he was told that there was a great chasm established between his side and Lazarus' to prevent anyone from crossing.)
       Everything on earth passes away. But if you have Christ the Lord, he'll be with you forever and you'll never need to say goodbye to him ever!

**Most Pressing Supplication

         Since God's greatest desire is to save all of us from sin, our most urgent supplication should be asking the Lord to convert the entire world.

*****Fallkng in Love with God (to Become a Loving Person)*****

        If you'd ever fallen in love with someone, you would want to do whatever to please your loved one and you became a new loving person. Now, if you fall in love with the Lord God, you'd want to do whatever to pease him and in the process, he transforms you into a loving person. The question is how to fall in love with the Lord God. The answer: Let him know you, then he'll in turn let you know him thoroughly. When that happens, you won't be able to help falling in love with the most beautiful, loving holy Lord. 

*****Unbounded LORD

        The Lord God is omnipotent, so never think that you can limit him. He is also infinite, that's why in him you experience unlimited freedom.

****Our No.1 Concern

        It should be our eternal happiness. (Whether you believe hell exists or not, you don't want to end up there!)

***Urgent Awakening Needed***

        It's so easy for us, especially the younger generation, to pick up what's popular in our society. For example, a certain way of dressing yourself is indecent, but since it looks cool and seems that everybody likes it, you just join in—the concept of purity could't be further from your mind. But know that everything you do has its consequences. Every wrong you don't correct will be corrected by the Lord. And whatever you owe him will have be paid off in full by you. The smart way is to always follow his ways and repent our sins as soon as they occur. The God of Christ is always our answer, but it won't do us any good if we don't even realize it.

***MOST GLORIOUS NAME***

        "Lamb of God" to me is the most beautiful, glorious name of all names. Whoever glorifies him will be rewarded with eternal life! Absolutely no one else can be this good to us.  He alone deserves all our adoration, praise, and love. 

*****God's Awesome Holiness*****

        God's holiness or sanctity is so beautiful and powerful that it alone can transform us into spotless, blameless souls. Let us bask in it so that we may enjoy his love for all eternity! 😇😇😇

***Secret to Effortless Living***

         Since we have all inherited the Original Sin, our whole existence has come down to choosing God or ourselves to follow. Basically, we have an internal struggle going on within us. Here's how to resolve this: To stop this struggle, you simply give in to God. Here's a picturesque description of the thing. See your struggle as traveling along a road. Your first part of the road is rough, bumpy, dusty, winding, and often steep uphill. Then you reach a point at which you must give up all you have, even yourself, in order to continue on. A lot of people decide to stop right there. But those few who choose to venture ahead find that the road is now all straight, smooth, clean, and effortless to travel on. Besides, the sceneries are beautiful. They simply enjoy their newfound freedom and peace. By the way, that point is called Total Abandonment to God.

***Dying-in-Sleep Warning***

        Today's entrance antiphon contains the verse Psalms 13:4b. It reads "Give light to my eyes lest I fall asleep in death." Here I don't think "fall asleep in death" means "die in sleep"—nevertheless, I can't help thinking that dying in sleep could happen to anyone and it's something we need to be ready for. It is OK so long as it's not dying in sin. To prevent that, we need to be a state of grace always. If there is one mortal sin you haven't confessed yet, that'll prevent you from entering heaven forever. To take God seriously is to take all your sins seriously too.  

***The Lord Is Always Right***

        Jesus has taught us to not judge, to always forgive, and even to love our enemies. It's hard for us to follow these commands because most of our godless world is doing just the opposite. But if we all comply, we'll instantly have peace on earth. This shows that the Lord is absolutely right. If it's hard for us to carry it out, we should still try our best to follow him. To refuse doing so is downright being disobedient.

***Lamenting Blind Fools***

          Jesus is our Lord and God, and he is to be worshipped, adored, praised, and loved by us forever. But the world has fallen so far away from him that not only many have stopped believing in him, but also many of those unbelievers have turned to Satan and started mocking Christ openly, notably among some of the most popular entertainers. They truly don't know what they do and I can say that they are playing with hell fire! It's clear that condemnation is basically self-induced due to uttermost foolishness, for the Lord has already paved the way for us to get into heaven. If you don't see that God even sacrificed his own Son in order to save you, you are a big blind fool indeed!