In today's 1st reading from Genesis 1, God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." Jesus came to us and he appeared as one of us. In John 14:9, he said to Philip, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." We haven't seen the Father, but we'll instantly recognize him when we see him. This is a huge realization for us. We are special, unique creatures made by God: He has made us in his image after his likeness so that we can become like him! His genuine love for us coming thru his Son Jesus is obvious and we are meant to return to him to live happily with him forever. So start embracing and rejoicing in his love for us right this moment!
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Monday, February 10, 2025
*****Ultimate Fulfillment (Power of Love)*****
When we fall in love with God, everything starts happening! We become all fired up, willing to serve and please him with all our hearts. We yearn for him so much that we want to be totally united with him, body and soul. We now enjoy him day and night. Our most holy Lord is now our dearest soulmate. Living and dying for him is no problem and a joy. It's truly incredible that God's love has such power to transform us in the best possible way. And the best is yet to come! Praise be to him forever.
Sunday, February 9, 2025
**A Tug-of-War Depiction**
Here's a picture depicting the spiritual battle in which both God and Satan are fighting for our souls. Let's start with a picture of you holding the end of a rope in each hand. Say God to your right holds the other end of the rope in your right hand and Satan to your left, that in your left hand. The battle begins when both God and Satan pull on you and you experience the pain of being pulled apart, This depicts your struggle in deciding which way to go. Now, if you let the left hand go, you are drawn all the way to God and saved for all eternity—both God and you win. Then if you let the right hand go, you are drawn all the way to Satan and are doomed forever—both God and you lose. So it's win-win or lose-lose for God and you. I hope this elementary presentation shows clearly what's going on with us.
*****Heavenly Private Joy***
Communion joy. Receiving Christ in the Holy Eucharist completes and perfects my joy. This is a joy like his peace that surpasses all understanding. I can bring various kinds of joys to others, but this joy is totally private that only the Lord can impart. It is impossible to share or explain; you just have to experience it yourself. A profound peace comes right with it, and I greatly treasure that. Furthermore, no one can possibly remove the source of this joy from me ever!
****Perfect Way of Perfecting Ourselves
God is perfect and omnipotent, so we can seek perfection from him and have him make us perfect.
*****Awesome Incredible Love*
We are most precious to God because he has taken all our sins upon himself and redeemed us from the consequences of sin and death by dying in our place on the cross!
***Poor Excuse**
People who do not wish to change often defend themselves by saying "God has made me this way." Know that we are all born sinners and far from being perfect, and the Lord definitely wants to change us for the better. We must absolutely be willing to change as he wishes. This is total abandonment, which is perfect obedience. So do not ever use "the Lord has made me this way" as an excuse.
***Beautiful Living***
Let all you think and all you say and all you do be an act of saying "I love you" to Christ the Lord.
**Another Wake-Up Call**
Do you know that our Savior Jesus Christ is ready to take your sins away to make you spotless and clean any time you repent to him? How can you still say that becoming holy and going to heaven is hard? He has completely cleared the way for us, but we stupidly hold back! If you are in that category, try to understand what your reason is. Honest self-understanding takes effort and courage, but it often clears the way for moving forward or a breakthrough. Wake up and open your heart and mind to the Lord to let him help you see the light and truth clearly.
***Letting the Lord Have His Way***
In today's Gospel reading from Luke 5, Jesus got into Simon's boat and asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. He then said to Simon, "Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch." Simon said in reply, "Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets." When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. I just want to focus upon part of Simon's reply "but at your command I will . . ." Here is a big beautiful "but"! It's letting the Lord know that even if I don't think it's a good idea, I'll still do what you want me to do. This is being absolutely cool!
***Irrefutable Evidence
In today's second reading from 1 Corinthians 2, Paul testified that Christ died, was buried, and rose on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He further said that the Lord appeared to Peter, then to the Twelve. After that he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom still living. After that, he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, to him. Many of us do believe that Christ indeed rose from the dead and is our Savior. If you are not such a believer, I believe that it's not because you believe he never existed or rose, but because you just choose not to believe in him, and that's a big bad reason.
**Prayer Request*
This morning at Mass, I thought that if all of us in the world would pray for the wellbeing and salvation of all others, friends and enemies, we'll surely have a world in peace. Prayer is power, and God's power knows no limits. So I urge all to join me in praying for God's mercy on all souls sincerely from your very heart. We are to please God alone and leave the judgement to him.
****Two Aspects of Life***
We have two aspects of life. The obvious one is the way we live outwardly. We do all the things to survive in this world. This is our exterior life. Then there's the interior life which we normally don't pay too much attention to, but is the first thing the Lord God looks at. It has to do with our motives and intentions behind what we do, how genuine or phony we are, how humble or prideful we are, and most of all, how much we love others. Live outwardly to survive this life, but live your best interior life now so that you may shine brightly in your next life for all eternity!
Saturday, February 8, 2025
*****Most Horrible Existence!*****
Give your soul to Christ and he'll purify and heal it. Give it to the Devil and you lose it altogether! There is no more horrible existence than living without your own soul. I can say that this is the most compelling reason for us to embrace Christ our Lord and Savior!
**Our Need for Christ*
In today's Gospel reading from Mark 6, people from all the towns hastened to where they knew Jesus was going to show up. When Jesus arrived and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things. If you know you are lost and seek after the Lord, you'll be saved for sure. But if you are not even aware that you are lost and and do not seek him, you'll remain lost forever.
****Love Incredible***
At Mass this morning, I looked up and saw the Lord way up there as high as the heaven, and I looked around and saw hin filling the entire universe about me. This is the Lord who enters me every time I receive the Holy Eucharist—how great his love is!
Friday, February 7, 2025
*****Tragic Loss of Foresight*****
This is like a pandemic that spreads around the world. Whether you are old or young, rich or poor, you want to make as much money as possible. If they are ways to get money free, you go for it. Whether it's ethical or not, you don't think about it. Anytime free money is available, it's likely that there's a catch or corruption. If getting rich in this life is all you care about, chances are you'll be too busy to think about your next life, which is the permanent one. This is the big tragic situation most of the world is in. When you don't have Christ to follow, you easily end up lost in darkness, or worse.
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