***When Being Childlike Is Appropriate***

        Believing like a child works only when you believe in the true God of Christ!

***Appreciating Our Creation

        We are absolutely God's unique creation. He created inanimate objects such as rocks . . . then living things like trees. At the next level, we have insects, birds, and nonhuman animals. Finally, he created us in his image with souls. Unlike other animals, we look all different from each other. And we can become his sons and daughters to inherit his kingdom. Be aware of this fact and be thankful and rejoice in it. 

***Smart Move*

         Tell the Lord that you wish to receive all your reward from him in heaven. This makes him grant you eternal life.

***Absolute Truth***

        Christ remains the truth irrespective of whether you believe in him of not. 

***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.