***Knowing Christ vs. Not Knowning Him***

        I have not seen Christ the Lord, yet he came to me and made me know him as if I had seen him. For this I am overjoyed and most grateful. I truly pity those who do not believe in him and are unaware of what they are missing and will happen to them in the end should they not wake up.

***Greatest Joy and Greatest Sorrow***

        Our greatest joy is knowing that God loves us, and our greatest sorrow is knowing that many do not love him to their own detriment.

***There's Only One God***

        If all those who believe in Christ gain eternal life, then certainly all those who reject him won't receive that—he's the dividing factor here. On judgment day, we'll be either taken or left behind. Many believe that there is a God and Christ is it!  

***Easter Message to All***

         The Lord God bas already extended his mercy to us to the max—he has given his own Son so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. So cast your pride aside, soften you heart, and welcome this terrific news. God is all for us; let him win and we win big!

***Trimphant Entry and Scourging***

*****Jesus Is Pivotal*

        Today's second reading came from Hebrews 4 & 5. From 5:9, we read that Jesus became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. This sums up beautifully about Jesus. Obey him and you are saved, all we need to know. It's so simple, yet absolutely pivotal!

***Jesus Our Genuine Savior***

        Today is Good Friday of the Lord's Passion. Jesus is believed to have fulfilled over 300 Old Testament prophecies. I do now know them all. But after just reading Isaiah 52:13-53:12, today's first reading, there was no doubt that Jesus had to be the coming Messiah Isaiah prophesied 700 years before his birth. This is absolutely amazing!

****Sad Reality**

         In John 3:16, Jesus said, "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life." And in Matthew 5:48, he said, "Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." Once we believe in Jesus, we don't become perfect right away. So to make heaven, believing in him is required and becoming perfect should be our goal. The Christian life now looks like this: We continue to sin and then repent and ask for God's forgiveness each time, in hope that we'll sin less and less. Sadly, many seeming good people are not even interested in taking that first step of believing in Christ.

*****Jesus the One to Imitate*****

        The Gospel reading on this Holy Thursday came from John 13. Before the feast of Passover, Jesus rose from supper and began to wash the disciples' feet. After he had washed them, he said to them, "Do you realize what I have done for you? You call me 'teacher' and 'master,'  and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do." That last statement is what we need to remember, meaning "We should do as he has done for us." And he has died to save us!

***God Forever Exciting***

        Normally, we find new things a lot more exciting than old things. For example, it's always exciting to visit places we've never been to before. I often like jumping to learn a new piece of music on the piano, even though I may not enjoy playing it as much as the one I am still working on. And almost everyone looks forward to the beginning of a New Year. On the contrary, the more we know Christ, the more we find him to be exciting. I believe these are the reasons. (1) Christ being infinite, there are always new things we can learn from him. So he remains forever new, you could say. (2) Things of the world get tiresome because they provide only momentary pleasures, while God refreshes and uplifts us at the soul level. (3) God continually renews those who follow him, making them feel new.

***A Puzzle?***

        If I enter a race I really want to win and someone else wins, I'd be disappointed. Now I'd really like to love Christ more than anyone else. If it turns out that everyone else in the whole world actually loves him a lot more than I do, instead of feeling disappointed, I'd be overjoyed to the hilt! You figure that out.

**Helpful Realization*

        To be saved, we first need to realize that we are sinners. It also helps to realize that the Lord God is most holy and try to perceive that! Let him set you free from sin and inspire you to become holy so that you may experience freedom, peace, and joy all at once. Or you'd rather remain a miserable sinner for all eternity?

*****To Be Taken Seriously (Important Message)*****

        This is going to be a long "special" message which I feel compelled to post. I may not make everyone feel comfortable, but I cannot keep it unsaid, for truth must be faced squared when it affects our eternal life! First, let me post from Mathew 25 what Jesus has said about the judgment of the nations.

        “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

        The message is crystal clear: To inherit the kingdom of God, we must love all, especially the least ones. I look at the world, at least America here, and see that most people live a self-centered life: They want make the most money, buy the best things, eat the best foods, live in the best possible house, etc. They do help others in need at times, but it's not top priority. Sadly, many of them do not end up with much savings in their old age. My thoughts are that I can be a nice person, well liked by everyone, never trying to be mean to anyone, believing that I am OK with God, and still get shut out of heaven for having essentially lived a self-centered life and not loved others enough. So we need to take Christ most seriously and believe in and follow him to avoid encountering any future shocks. After all, he is the Judge of all judges through whom we'll all have to go.

***Transformational Joy of Christ

        Communion experience. The joy of Christ penetrates my heart and liberates my soul—how I love my Lord and my God! 

***Mutual Glorification*

        In today's Gospel reading from John 13, after Judas had left the Last Supper to begin getting Jesus arrested, the Lord said to the rest of the Apostles, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him." So anytime we do God's will, we glorify God and he in turn glorifies us. 

***Living for Victory*

        Psalm 27:12, today's entrance antiphon: Do not leave me to the will of my foes, O Lord, for false witnesses rise up against me and they breathe out violence. So evil has ben around ever since our creation. Even Jesus was betrayed by one of his Apostles. Accept this fact and and join our Lord in his battle against evil and we'll surely come out victorious!

***The Split We Create Among Us*

        This is an afterthought after the last posting. If we remain closed to God, we'll never learn anything from him. The evil influences around us are so great that we really need to open up quite a bit to the Lord to become strong enough to grow holier. Then once we get going, the sky is the limit. This bring to my mind what Jesus said in both Matthew and Mark: To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

****Effortless Way to Progress Spiritually****

         How can we get to know the Lord well? It's simple: You just remain completely open to let him reveal himself to you. This is the effortless way and the result can be astounding! The common mistake is to try so hard on your own as if God doesn't even want to know you. The truth is that he longs to know all of us most intimately, but we more or less do not open up completely to him. If you want to give all of yourself to him, again, be open to let him take possession of you.