"Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)

Saturday, July 27, 2024

**Questions

        If we don't stop sinning, then we are doomed. This totally makes sense and I believe that most people would agree to that. Yet not many of them take it seriously—what gives? Are they simply asleep?

**Natural Consequences**

        If we love God, we become like him and beautiful. And if we hate God, we become like the Devil and ugly. Every cause has its effect. 

***A Reminder

        To not do anything bad is not good enough, for we must do as much good as possible. How else are we going to love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind?

***Good-Eniugh Warning for Us***

        Our final judgment by the Lord is imminent. It'll happen either after we die or at the Second Coming. This alone should make us want to live a holy life as best we can.

Friday, July 26, 2024

***How to Follow Christ (and Enjoy Peace)***

         To follow the Lord mean we always follow his will and never rush ahead of him. All glory and honor should go only to him. If the world ever notices us, it should see him and not us. With us out of the limelight, we simply enjoy his peace.

*****Incredible Love and Power of Christ*****

        Communion experience. It's like attending a banquet in heaven and was served the Lord himself—an unbelievable experience! You cannot remain the same old sinner anymore; in fact, you can now become a brand new saint! Praised be Jesus Christ, our most beloved Lord and God.

**How Do We Receive God's Word?*

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 13, Jesus told the parable of the sower to his disciples. He likened us hearing the word of the kingdom to the ground receiving the sower'e seed. The seed could be sown on the path, on rocky ground, among thorns, or on rich soil. I think the case of the seed sown among thorns best describes most of us today. This is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. Pray that we are like the seed sown on rich soil, the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.

Thursday, July 25, 2024

***Inspiring Wake-Up Speech***

        Here's a clip of Bishop Barron's talk at this year's 10th National Eucharistic Congress which just concluded four days ago in Indianapolis, Indiana.

***Jesus Is LORD Because . . .

he can take away our sins.

***Baseless Fear***

        It is common that we follow Christ, but do not abandon ourselves completely to him for fear that he may make us do things against our will. Let me first say that this fear is totally baseless. You see, the Lord understands us thoroughly and knows how we can best serve him, so he would never make us do anything that is beyond our readiness or capability. He prefers that we offer to serve him first. Now, when we don't abandon ourselves all the way, it's because we still don't want him to be our Lord fully yet. This is due to our lack of humility. Let's recall what Jesus said in Luke 9:62: No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God. To follow Christ is to follow him only and not yourself!

***Heaven More Real than Earth

         We live in a real world, but I now see that heaven is even more real because up there with the Lord God, you'll see the whole truth clearly with your life on earth looking more like an old bad dream. To return to the loving Father in heaven is to wake up and leave all your nightmares behind forever!

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

***The Lord Knew Us All Along!***

        In today's reading 1 from Jeremiah 1, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you." We are the same to the Lord: He knew us before we were born and had a plan for each of us to follow. Our role may not be as distinct as Jeremiah's, but nevertheless, it should become as meaningful to him if we followed his plan. Realizing this alone should make us feel blessed and want to rejoice in the Lord.

***Limitless with God***

        With the Lord God, we are dealing with infinity, for nothing is impossible for him. And we can go infinity too! There is no limit to how much we can love him, abandon ourselves to him, ask for favors from him, obey him, and pray to him with great fervency. This is precisely what makes following the Lord God so exciting and such a joy!

**God to Be En...

        The Lord God is to be worshipped, adored, and praised, for we trust in and love him. But don't forget that he is to be enjoyed by us too! He is most enjoyable because if you love him with all your heart, he will fill it with unspeakable joy unexpectedly from time to time, totally delighting the soul.

**Only What Belongs to God Remains

        Tow days ago, I wasn't able to turn on the house alarm. Couldn't figure out what's wrong, as all window and door contacts looked fine. Arming and disarming it repeatedly didn't seem to reset anything. Then all of a sudden this morning before I left for Mass, the green light on the panel was on, showing that the house was ready to be armed. I realized that in this world, problems come and go, so don't let any of them make you lose your peace. They pass and only what belongs to God remains forever. Remain in the Lord and let everything else go by. 

Tuesday, July 23, 2024

**A Christian's Calling

        Taking care of just myself is easy since I already belong to Christ. It's taking care of all others in the world that takes much work and prayer. A Christian is called to help the Lord save as many souls as possible, as his last instruction to the Eleven before his ascension was "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15)

*****Secret to Enteriing Heaven*****

         In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 12, while Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him about this. But he said in reply to the one who told him, Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother. Now we know how to belong to God the Father's family in heaven! Joy should now fill us throughout our whole life!

***A Special Revelation*

        As sinners, we'll be held responsible for the sins we have committed in the end—no escape here! Once we realize this, we'll want to stop sinning and become perfect. And we realize that we are being called to become like Jesus Christ.