*****Urgent Advice to All*****

        Lately, I have blogged that God is always calling us. Anytime you do something and lose peace, it's the Lord trying to get your attention. He wants you to turn to him to seek help and guidance from him. What I want to add here is that if you persist in remaining hard-hearted, the Lord would have no choice but to get your attention by doing something like hitting you on the head, so to speak. When that happens, it won't be pleasant and may even shock you! So be smart and turn to him list it happens to you. Although God is even capable of giving you a last chance to choose him when you're on death bed, I wouldn't take that chance. It's total foolery to push the Lord to the point of losing your eternal life altogether! Amen.

**Abandonment to God*

        Communion experience. You just let the Lord draw you to him as close as possible, letting him do whatever he wishes with you, knowing that you'll always receive the very best from him. Trust in God is the fountainhead of our peace.

***Ready to Go to God***

        Once you attain union with God through the Holy Eucharist, you know you are ready to go to him. Then your time may not be up yet; nevertheless, you feel good about it!

***Proper Way to See Christ***

         He is our God, creator, and Savior, who wishes to transform us into a new creature fit to enter heaven. As the eternal truth that has always existed, he is to be discovered, believed in, loved and worshipped with all our heart. So we must never ignore him, doubt him, or offend him in any way.

***Amazing, Unique Power***

        Today's psalm response from Psalm 98: All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of God. Any power we have is incompetence compared to God's. Of all his powers, his saving power is unique, for only he can save us from sin, and extraordinary, for it's purely motivated by love. How good it is to have a living God and Father who loves us so!

***Secret to Inner Peace*

         Give Christ your heart and mind and ask him to root out all your impure desires and plant pure ones in you, and he'll easily accomplish that for you.

***Three Inherent Needs**

        Today's is the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. We all need a perfect father, and the Lord God, our creator, is that Father. We all need a perfect mother, and Holy Mary, the Blessed Virgin, is that Mother. Then we need a perfect friend and soulmate, and Jesus, our Savior, is that friend and soulmate. There you have all these inherent needs met.

**Salvation 101*

         God always loves us; we sinners are free to love or reject him. If we love him, we'll be welcomed to return to him. If not, we'll get ourselves cast out by him forever.

**First Supplication of the Year**

        In our secular society, the family is no longer a strong unit. Late last night just before New Year began, I learned of the sad breakup in a family I know. Essentially, you have the grandparents wrangling with the son's family. Normally, in such a situation, caring relatives and friends would offer a lot of secular advice. Unfortunately, without including God, this kind of conflict just cannot be resolved fully without a change of heart on all those involved. And God is the only one who can fundamentally change our hearts! I'd like to start the New Year off by praying that he will shield all families in the world from attacks by the Evil One. 

***Last Message of 2024***

        I am posting Christine Niles's latest beautiful message to conclude my 2024 blogging. 

***Most Satisfying Fulfillment*

        Communion experience. It is the most satisfying fulfillment to end the year when you know that you have the Lord. 

***My Statement of the Year***

         There will be no peace until we acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and that he is our Lord, our God, and our Savior.

***Year End Thoughts***

        Today is the last day of 2024. It is fitting that my church has planned a Eucharistic procession for this afternoon so that we'll have a chance to walk, pray, and witness together through the neighborhood. Our year end joy should be that we are getting closer to meeting the Lord in person. And the most appropriate New Year's resolution for us should be to be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew 5:48).

*****One More Reason We Need God

        Everyone had close calls in life. We do our very best to remain alert, watchful, and prepared, and bad things still happen. Clearly, we need God's help by trusting in him to the fullest. Now, even should the worst of the worst happen to us, we still end up safe, sound, and forever happy in heaven! How cool can that be!

**Good Test Question*

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 2, we heard read the encounter of the Holy Family with the prophetess Anna at the temple where the presentation of the child Jesus took place. Now, there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon who was righteous and devout, and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Messiah. Earlier, he came in the Spirit into the temple; when he saw the Holy Family, he took the child into his arms and blessed God, saying: "Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation ...." Now, many of us have already known the Savior, even attained union with him thru the Holy Eucharist—are we ready to go in peace yet?

**Can't Love God and the World*

        In today's first reading from 1 John 2, we heard read "Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life, is not from the Father but is from the world." We should know that whatever makes us forget about the Father is from the world and is not to be indulged in or embraced. Accept only what comes from the Father to remain in his love.

***Trust in God Alone*

         Love and trust fully in God; love but do not trust fully in any fellow human.

***Be Holy First***

        In John 8, the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery to Jesus. To test him, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” He said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Of course, if you were without sin, you wouldn't throw a stone at anyone. Anyway, to me the Lord here makes it clear that we need to be holy ourselves first.