***Longing for Christ***

        Today's entrance antiphon from Psalm 84: My soul is longing and yearning for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out to the living God. The response from Psalm 42: Athirst is my soul for the living God. When shall I go and behold the face of God? In John 6:35, Jesus said to the crowd, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst." For us Christians, it's precisely because Jesus has satisfied our hunger and thirst that we now long and yearn for him.

*****Awesome LORD*****

        At Mass this morning, the LORD God of Christ made me see that He is the perfect, holiest, almighty, most trustworthy and most loving being of the entire cosmos. Therefore, it behooves us to worship, adore, praise, obey, and love Him for all eternity! Amen. 

*****From the Heart Always***

        One person praying to God from his heart is better and more effective than a thousand others praying by going thru the motion of reciting the words of a prayer without much feeling. God looks at, listens to, and speaks to our hearts! Praying with great sincerity, meaning every single word we utter, is what makes praying endearing to God and exciting to us! So always pray and do everything else from your heart, and the Lord will trust you!

**Garabandal Prophecies*

         Today there are so many prophecies coming to us online daily. Some of them don't say much new, while others are obviously dishonest, so you need to be discerning. The Garabandal prophecies are not new but very specific. I believed in them after learning the whole story. The beautifully-done documentary Garabandal, Unstoppable Waterfall you'll find listed under Good Websites, Blogs, Videos . . . in the right sidebar.

***For God's Glory or Not

        I am learning from the Lord as a kindergarten kid, so what I am going to say could very well fit into a kindergarten text: "Whatever we do would either please or displease God. If we please God, we can get into heaven. If nor, we can end up in hell." (I posted the above after remembering seeing the works of a number of well-known artists. Some of works did glorify God or at least were neutral, while others definitely offend God.)

***Easiest Thing to Accomplish*****

        Once I dealt with a legal case and had to make numerous trips and spend time over several years to get it resolved. Often it takes a lot work to get something done in this life. Then I see that by contrast we can get to know God a lot quicker. Theoretically, you can accomplish this instantly by surrendering yourself completely to him! Once you know him, you'll be able to accomplish everything else with ease, for he now does all the hard work for you. When God wins, we win.

*Belief vs. Faith

        They are not the same thing. You can believe that God exists but have no faith in him. This is not much different from being atheistic. So belief is something you think you know, while faith is something you actually believe in and feel or experience too. One is cold and the other warm.

***The Living Faith***

        Faith in Christ must be a living faith, for if it remains static, it's essentially dead. The greater it grows, the more peace and wonders we experience. This is precisely what makes living in Christ exciting! To let your faith grow, you simply submit yourself to the Lord more. You become more like him as your union with him deepens. When you limit God, you limit yourself!

****God Is for Us!

      God is so good to us: He loves us with the greatest possible love (he died himself so that we might live!) . . . he always wants the best for us . . . he's always on our side. Yes, he's always for us! 

***Prayers Requested***

        Please pray extra hard, for the Holy Church is being attacked and Catholics in particular persecuted worldwide.

*****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.