***To Attain Union with God Is . . .

to reach the highest level of spiritual freedom on earth.

**More than My Lord and My God**

        Jesus is my Lord and my God.  But he is so close to me that I feel that he is also my life and my soul!

*Sense of Humor Changed

        Recently, I heard some jokes that really made people laugh. Since they made fun of others, I didn't feel that they were funny at all. I then realized that the Lord had changed my sense of humor.

**Sad Reality

        Recently, I heard about some oldsters in pretty bad physical shape still talking about buying a new house or getting one more dog. When we are young, we focus upon acquiring many things. As we age, we either begin to wake up to our need for God or remain as oblivious as ever.

***Being Heartless*

        Jesus died for us purely out of love. If we don't even care, then we are heartless indeed. 

**When We Become Free

        We are not free as long as we still live in our physical body. We become free only after we leave our body and return to the Father in heaven. 

***Living Without Christ***

         In John 15:5, Jesus said to his disciples, "I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing." We do all kinds of things for our own sake, divorced from Christ. To come right to the point, that's all for nothing.

**Salvation Is Up to Us.

         Surely God can save us, but we must allow him to do so. Otherwise, nothing will happen.

***How to Know God

        To know God, we must loosen up first. That is, we remain open, should he choose to communicate with us. The big mistake is to expect God to come to us when we don't even try to meet him halfway. The worst position is to play God, then you won't ever know him. Humility is what he loves. (Note: For the next three weeks or so, I won't be able to blog daily. I do expect to catch up before this month ends. May God bless all of you who read herein. Ask for his blessings yourselves too. If you sincerely believe that he is blessing you, you'll know or feel it.)

***Prayer Joy*

        The Lord's Prayer (Our Father) Christ has given us is the perfect prayer for us as God's sinful children. If we mean and follow everything in that prayer from the heart, we can become holy! Today when I prayed it before Mass began, I was filed with great joy. 

***Be like Christ***

         God wants us to become like him so that we may return to him in heaven. We are called to be holy, period. So make that your top goal. (If you haven't read Thomas Kempis' The Imitation of Christ yet, read it to help you reach that goal.)

***Believe First Always***

        Today's Communion antiphon, Jesus' saying in Matthew 18:3—"Unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven." Again, this is a very clear statement. We are far from entering the Kingdom of Heaven because we are far from being childlike when it comes to believing in God. The wise would start out believing. Should you find that he is false or doesn't exist, you can always disbelieve then. If you start out not believing, surely you'll never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Know that the Lord has a soft spot for the humble: If you are humble enough to believe in him, he'll humble himself to welcome you with open arms.

***Our Glory

        The cross was the glory of Christ, and Christ is our glory. That makes the cross our glory too.

***Lord Our Only Guide***

        Today is the Memorial of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, the first person who made me realize the beauty of loving God. I am most grateful to her. The entrance antiphon reads "The Lord alone was her guide." Indeed, we need the Lord to guide us in everything. Should we are to follow someone else, that has to come the Lord first. Following ourselves is the worst way of living, inevitably leading to the loss of inner peace in this life and even beyond.

*****All God's Doing*****

        Even though I do not see Christ, he is more real to me than anyone else I see. This has made it possible for me to feel his holy presence at all times. It has to be his doing and I rejoice in that.

*****Fast Track to Knowing God*****

        To know and learn from God, we commonly seek help from someone else. It might be reading a book that person has written or listening to a talk of his. If you attend a big conference, you still learn from a lot of other people. Chances are all of them are seeking to know the Lord themselves. Of course, if you learn from a saint, you can benefit a lot, for he or she is most likely a lot more advanced spiritually. Then since saints learn most from the Lord directly, and the Lord is instantly accessible to all of us at all times, it makes sense that we go directly to the Lord too? In fact, this is the best, most efficient and quickest way to achieve your goal! Should you wish to attain union with God, this is the only way!. It's not incorrect to say that by comparison, all other indirect approaches more or less amount to beating around the bush.

***Tragic Ignorance***

        Most of us hope to do something big to make ourselves rich, famous, and influential to satisfy our ego, not realizing that doing a tiny small thing to please our heavenly Father is infinitely more satisfying both now and later after we leave this world! 

**All Our Sins Are Known to God**

        I'd like to post what Jesus said to his disciples from today's Gospel reading from Mark 9: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna, where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'" No sin can be hidden from God. Should there be a book for each of us kept in heaven, every sin of ours would be recorded in it. If you are smart, you would have Christ take away all your sins now to get them all check off in that book.