If you go on YouTube nowadays, you find so many videos warning us about all kinds of imminent disasters and how we can prepare ourselves for them. Many of these presenters use clickbait headlines or titles. You watch the video and what you expect to hear is not even mentioned. Sometimes you see the image of a well-known religious figure posted, but how the message is related to that figure is not made clear. Truth should always be presented clearly in every respect, but that's not the case at all. Also, these videos use pretty much the same AI voices and stock images and follow the same pattern of starting out a prayer before getting to the main message. By the way, some of the messages are from those whose past prophecies didn't come true. So should I deal with them? I feel that the Lord just wants me to hold onto the big church-approved prophecies such as the Fatima and Akita ones, be as holy as possible, and not be concerned about anything else.
Monday, April 8, 2024
Sunday, April 7, 2024
***Most Rewarding Belief***
The Gospel came from John 20. Here are the concluding statements of this chapter: "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name." Yes, believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and you'll have life eternal—it is the belief that brings you the greatest possible reward.
***Faith's Greatest Victory
In today's second reading from 1 John 5, we heard read "The victory that conquers the world is our faith. Who indeed is the victor over the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" I totally agree with the Apostle John here. My faith in Christ has already conquered the world, for the world no longer attracts me. I have even been freed from death as I shall be living forever with Jesus. This has to be the greatest possible victory of my faith!
**Evidence of God's Love**
I know that the Lord God of Christ loves me. I only need to realize that he's the one who keeps me alive in this life and will keep me living forever in the next.
**Thought of Great Comfort
I thought of the many things in my past, they came and went away. It hit me that once I have the Lord God, he's with me forever! This greatly comforts me.
Saturday, April 6, 2024
***Sure Way to Holiness***
I greatly admire the Little Way of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. It's about being both small and doing the smallest things with great love. This is how we can become saints. I bring this up because the Lord made me see at Mass today that if we let everything that happens to us in life draw us to the Lord and make us appreciate and love him more, our spiritual progress will be phenomenal!
***Lord Dearest
Communion experience. The Lord is not only my soulmate, he is as dear to me as my own soul.
****Christian Cowardice
When it comes to controversial topics such as abortion and LGBTQ, many Church leaders and Protestant church pastors just don't want to talk about them. Recently, a number of megachurch pastors in this country were asked about this. Their responses were pretty much the same: They want to focus upon telling people to follow Christ and not on advising them on specific issues. This is sheer cowardice, being afraid of following Christ all the way. You'll have to "give credit to" those Catholic bishops and priests who openly support LGBTQ, those Protestant churches that help pregnant mothers to get abortions, and the openly Satanic worshippers. If true Christians don't speak out more and don't pray and fight harder, whatever chastisement coming from the Lord will only worsen.
**Unsuppressible Joy**
In today's first reading from Acts 4, the leaders, elders, and scribes ordered Peter and John not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. The two disciples said to them in reply, "Whether it is right in the sight of God for us to obey you rather than God, you be the judges. It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard." It is true that it is impossible for anyone who has encountered and known the Risen Lord not to tell others about him, whose last instruction to the eleven before his Ascension was "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature." The joy of the Holy Spirit is unsuppressible!
**Christian Joy and Sorrow**
Joy, we feel in Christ as he blesses us; sorrow, we feel for the world as it offends him. The joy will last forever, while the sorrow will be short-lived.
**Christ on Our Mind?*
We say we are Christians, but we think about everything else first except Christ—whereas we should be aware of his holy presence always whenever we think about or do something. Attain union with God through the Holy Eucharist and you'll become aware of his presence at all times.
Friday, April 5, 2024
***Strong Basic Messages*
I am posting more videos by Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel because he doesn't hesitate to speak the blunt truth. His love for Christ is obvious. Strong spiritual messages feed the soul and are exactly what people need to hear today. So Bishop Emmanuel is like a breath of fresh air when you don't hear too many other clergymen speak with such faith and passion. The two videos here are related in a way.
***Why People Reject God
At Mass the Lord made me see we do not accept God because we "love" ourselves too much, and that's the truth. And it's also true that as long as we love ourselves more than we love God, we'll never be free from sin. Here's Bishop Emmanuel's two-minute talk of why people reject God.
**Bye-Bye to the World*
Communion experience. With the Lord dwelling in you, it's time to trust in him, put yourself totally in his hands and say bye-bye to the world. As Peter advised his community in 1 Peter 5, cast all your worries upon God because he cares for you.
****It Is the Lord!****
In today's Gospel reading from John 21, Jesus after his Resurrection revealed himself again, to seven of his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. The seven had been fishing all night, but they caught nothing. At dawn they saw Jesus standing about a hundred yards away on the shore, but they did not realize that it was he yet. Then he asked them to cast the net over the right side of the boat, and they caught a full net of large fish. At this point the disciple John said to Simon Peter, "It is the Lord." Peter heard it and got so excited that he jumped from his boat into the sea and went straight for Jesus. Now, for us who follow the Lord and have attained union with God, we know that he is with us at all times. So every moment now is an exhilarating it-is-the-Lord moment! To have him with you constantly in this life is such a wonderful blessing!
Thursday, April 4, 2024
***Truth to Hear***
Another clear message from Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel. Since he is an Orthodox bishop, he is free to speak out this way. The unorthodox teachings of Pope Francis have already alienated the Orthodox Church and so many in his own Church. Lord, have mercy on us.
***God Is Real!
For non-believers, here are some proofs that God Exists. I'd like to add one of my thoughts. It seems that our earth had been perfectly created for us. We have the perfect atmosphere for survival; various kinds of plants and animals for us to live on; and the right climate, water, and other natural resources to sustain us. As far as we know, there is not another planet in the whole universe like ours; our earth seems to be a unique "anomaly." That God is our creator has to be beyond doubt!