***Reconciliation with God, a Must***

          God has already paved the way for us to go to heaven. All we need to do is to reconcile with him. It's that plain and simple! So what's your problem?

***God's Beautiful Love*

         It' the most beautiful thing in the whole universe. It is pure, meek, humble, most forgiving, but also most powerful, transforming, and capable of solving all our problems—it's the Lord God himself.  

**God's Permanent Joy

         I use eyedrops to keep the my eye pressures down. As I lay down in bed this morning to do the drops, I first turned on the clock radio by the bedside to see what's playing on the classical music station. It was a guitar concerto that sounded quite beautiful. Then I realized that this listening pleasure was only a passing one, while the joy of Christ I experience is already mine, dwelling in me forever! This realization is in itself a joy!

**Letting Go in the Lord

         Communion experience. Receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist strengthens our union with him, readying us for living and dying for him. 

**Triumphant Proclamation**

         Today's psalm response from Isaiah 38.17: You saved my life, O Lord; I shall not die. All faithful Christians already know this, but it sure was good to hear it proclaimed aloud five times at the reading of the psalm.

***Bravery or Cowardice

         If you don't believe in Christ, that doesn't mean that he is not our Savior, for you may be dead wrong. As a believer, I know that no one will ever be able to prove that Christ is not our Savior! So all unbelievers are simply avoiding facing reality. Risking losing your soul for all eternity is not an act of bravery, but one of sheer cowardice and stupidity.

*** Only One Final Judgment!***

         We do not know how and when we'll die. Will there be time for making a final confession of sins? What if we die unexpectedly all of a sudden? Know that after we die, there'll be just one judgment, with no higher court to which we can appeal our cases, for the Lord God is our final and only judge. If you don't have your eternal life secured by Jesus Christ yet, you absolutely need to think about it right now!

***Praying with Faith

         Pray earnestly with persistence, but always believe that the Lord will answer you, and remain in peace.  It's earnest sans anxiety. Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you, all that you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it shall be yours." (Mark 11:24) 

**Living for Eternity*

         If you love the Lord, you'll always receive what's best for you. So be happy with what you have and the state you are in, and do not complain under any circumstances, for there's so much for us to be thankful for. This may be difficult to achieve, but as disciples of Christ, we live for him and what's to come. All hardships now are nothing compared to what we'll be receiving later. Live joyfully now and your joy will continue forever!

***All Are Relative*

         Relative to God, we are truly despicable sinners. The more you know the Lord, the more awesome he is to you. Once you know Christ well, all worldly pleasures become tiresome and I can even go so far as to say that everything we do for ourselves without involving the Lord in any way is basically frivolous.

*****True Flesh and Blood of Christ*****

         I'd like to quote all these verses from John 6. Except verse 52, they are all Jesus' sayings. 
        
        51: I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.

         52: The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" (Obviously, the Jews understood that the Lord meant it literally.)

          53: Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.

         54: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.

           55: For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.

           56: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.

           57: Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.

          58: This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.

          Clearly, when we receive the Holy Eucharist at Mass, we receive the true flesh and blood of the Lord, not just bread and wine. If not, all Catholics have surely committed the sin of idolatry! 

***Being Wise at the Highest Level***

         The Lord God is our creator and heavenly Father who loves us to death. He wants to save us from sin so that we may be with him in paradise forever. He is almighty, for nothing is impossible with him. Love and obey him, and our eternal happiness is guaranteed. He is truly our refuge and greatest resource for all that's best for us. Recognize this and take full advantage of it and he'll be most pleased. 

**Remember This!

         God's infinite mercy is to our great advantage. Anytime we repent our sins to him and ask for his forgiveness, he saves our soul for heaven.

*****Momentous Occasion**

        Communion experience. I see receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist as momentous as the creation of man as depicted in Michelangelo's painting. For this is the moment God creates a new you in Christ if you were open to him. In both instances, it's done out of love.

***Important Rule***

         Never follow your heart before giving it to Christ Jesus first.

*Sinner Has No Right to Judge

         In John 8, when the scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery to Jesus. They said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus said to them, "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." Today so many people slander, and lie and say vicious things about others—they will have to answer to the Lord one day. May he have mercy on their souls.

**Be CHILDLIKE**

         In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 11,  Jesus exclaimed: "I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will." Be childlike and God the Father will reveal all his "secrets" to you! I still remember the time when I was 7 or 8, I felt so carefree, realizing that I just played most of the time while my parents and grandparents took care of everything else for me. This is how we should feel about our heavenly Father who can take better care of us than anyone else.

**God Is with You

         You know it in these two instances. (1) You are tempted to commit a sin and know that you shouldn't and you don't. (2) You commit a sin, lose all your peace, and feel really sorry about that.