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

Monday, August 19, 2024

***A Beautiful Prayer***

        Communion time thoughts. When you are ready to receive Christ in the Eucharist, it is the perfect time to surrender yourself to him completely. This results in a permanent union with God forever. This act of giving oneself to God is in itself a beautiful prayer, for it embodies perfect obedience to the Lord.  

***The Next Level

        The Gospel reading came from Matthew 19. A young man approached Jesus and said, "Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?" He answered him, "If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments." The young man said to him, "All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." We see that keeping the commandments is just getting started. To proceed beyond that toward perfection, We must actively do more. Again, seeking to attain union with God thru the Holy Eucharist is the direct way aimed at attaining perfection. 

**God Makes All Things Simple for Us

        Today's response from Deuteronomy 32:You have forgotten God who gave you birth. We didn't just happen to appear on earth; we were created by God! This knowledge or awareness can make a huge difference in our outlook. It relates us instantly to the Lord; all that's left for us to do is to believe in him. 

***Our (the World's) Pitiful State***

         We cannot love both God and evil. The more we know God, the more evil repels us. So if you think the world is a pretty nice place, you must not know God yet. The world is full of self-promotion, while mocking God. Even with Christians, it's self first and Christ second or even last. A chastisement from God is due. but are we ready for it? Living as if there's no tomorrow is bad; living as if God does not exist has to be the worst! If we don't wake up soon, it'll be too late—you don't have to be a prophet to know this.

***Growing-Old Grace***

        As we age, we can become more self-centered or more God-dependent. The self-centered would focus upon enjoying the world as much as possible in the time they still have left—this is being foolish! On the other hand, the wise, realizing that they are becoming increasingly helpless on their own, choose to abandon themselves totally to the Lord—finally they trust in him with all their heart. This is a beautiful grace getting them ready for gong home to the heavenly Father.

Sunday, August 18, 2024

***Holding onto Christ*

        Communion experience. That Christ can get me into heaven is good enough reason for me to hold onto him. You hold onto the Lord for dear soul!

*****One We Must Never Ignore or Lose*

        Some have not heard about Jesus. If you have, you should absolutely look into him. If you already know him, then please never, never let him go. We can afford to ignore or lose anything but Jesus the Christ, for he is the truth, the way, the light, and our only Savior! To ignore or lose him is to ignore or lose your own soul altogether.  

Saturday, August 17, 2024

***Best Way to Stop Sinning***

        As you surrender to God and sense his awesome holiness, sin becomes increasingly repugnant to you. This is why attaining union with the Lord through the Holy Eucharist is the perfect way to banish all your tendency to sin.

***Communion Joy***

         I am united with the one who loves me the most and whom I love the most!

***Essential Sorrow and Joy***

        To be saved, we must experience one sorrow—the sorrow for our sins (contrition). To be saved, we also need to experience one joy—the joy of surrendering ourselves to God (to become obedient to him).

***Missing the Greatest Joy*

        From today's reading 1 from Ezekiel 18, we heard "The one who sins shall die." You sin and you die—this is so common sense and clear, yet many do not take it seriously. Pity them for not knowing the great joy of salvation, the joy of knowing that God loves us all so much.

***Intenifying Our Relationship with God***

        This is something all Christians should do as often as possible That is, we cry out aloud to the Lord, calling upon his holy name from our very soul to voice all our needs, desires, as well as our love for him. If you are not that type to express yourself like that, you can always do it quietly or in silence—it's the intensity you feel that matters. When we take the Lord seriously, he takes us seriously.

Friday, August 16, 2024

*****Akita Messages (Serious Warning)*****

         The messages from ur Lady of Akita to Sr. Agnes Sasagawa of Japan were officially approved by the Church in 1984. Sr, Agnes just passed away yesterday on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It's good to hear these messages again as the prophecies are being fulfilled now. 

*****Obedience Comes First*****

        We should not do only things we enjoy doing; we should instead do only what the Lord wants us to do. If we're not pleased with or don't understand it, we should still do it out of obedience alone. Then everything we do becomes a joy!

***Most Satisfying Food***

        Communion experience. I received the food that would make me live forever! If that doesn't satisfy you, you are eiher totally ignorant or out of your mind.

**God Is Almighty!

        The Lord knows all about us and deals with each one of us, and there are now not just Adam and Eve, but over 8 billions of us. Obviously, he handles all of us simultaneously. It just shows that our God is omnipotent. We can certainly rejoice in that!

***Inspired by the Lord***

        I arrived at Mount St. Joseph Seminary for morning Mass early, so I waited in the car prayerfully. It was a beautiful day and the view from the the top of the mount was impressively panoramic. The Lord placed these two thoughts into my mind. (1) If I stop managing my own life and let him take over, I would be set free completely. (2) Suffering in this life is OK as long as I remain with him and emerge victorious in the end. That these two thoughts revealed the truth to me was crystal clear.

Thursday, August 15, 2024

***Limitless Ways of Loving God***

        The theme of this blog is essentially "to love God." Each message posted is a variation on this theme. So far I have posted more than 15,600 times. It just shows that the number of ways to say "I love you" to the Lord is limitless. This is precisely what makes following Christ exciting and exhilarating!