**Pity the Evildoers*

         When you do evil, not only you don't experience a single moment of peace in this life, but you also suffer eternal punishment in the next. Evildoers are the dumbest of all fools!

***Letting Joy Spearhead Our Way*

        Joy in the cure for all our past pains and sufferings. In today's Gospel reading from John 16, Jesus uses the example of a woman in labor to inform his disciples that they would grieve, but their grief would become joy. He said to them, "When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived; but when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy that a child has been born into the world." Now we all know once we have entered heaven, all past painful memories will be forgotten, for nothing can possibly diminish the joy of eternal life! So let us start rejoicing in the Lord always to become invulnerable to whatever pains and hardships we experience, allowing the joy of the Lord to spearhead the rest of our way to heaven.

***Goal of All Christians*

        Only the God of Christ can make us holy and perfect and see things as he sees them. As long as we all have not yet yielded ourselves totally to the Lord, we still see things our way. The result is that we still hold onto our own pride to various degrees. One time I counseled someone, citing a saying by Jesus, and was accused of judging by that person. The goal for all Christians remains letting the Lord perfect us.

**Common Sense Talk

         Follow Christ and you'll have eternal life. Reject him and you'll be lost forever. If you don't believe that God exists, then you just don't know the truth, remaining ignorant. There are people who believe that there is a God, but have no idea what that God is like, they are being ignorant as well. How's your common sense? Are you wise or foolish?  

***Reminding All Christians***

         We have a Lord who loves us to death and with whom nothing is impossible! So live to show that you believe in this truth!

**God's Assurances**

        In today's Gospel reading from John 16, Jesus said to his disciples, "You will grieve, but your grief will become joy." We know that eternal joy awaits all of us who follow Jesus faithfully. Today's Communion antiphon, Matthew 28:20—Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age, alleluia. So Jesus is always with us! Knowing these two truths is enough to make us feel carefree our whole life!

**Unending Joy**

        The Lord God being infinite, the beauty of Christ knows no bounds. Thus we get to enjoy the Lord increasingly—this in itself is a great joy!

***Beautiful True Paradoxes*

        (1) The more we surrender ourselves to God, the more freedom we experience. (2) When we humble ourselves, we get exalted by God. (3) When we admit that we are weak before God, we become strong in him. (4) The richer we become with material things now, the poorer we'll be later on. (5) When we suffer for the Lord willingly, we are consoled by him.  

**Clear Sign the Holy Spirit Dwells in You**

        Your love for Christ fills your heart with insuppressible joy.  

**What Do You Look Forward To?*

         This coming Saturday I've been invited to an evening of music at a friend's home. It'll be a chance to hear some beautiful music played by two talented musicians, one a violinist and the other, pianist. You might say that it's something to look forward to. We all look forward to the next vacation or something fun. Then that thing comes and passes and we wait for the next one. Eventually, we ourselves pass. In our next life, we don't look forward to anything anymore, for we'll remain either happy or sad forever. It becomes clear to me that in this life, the only thing worth looking forward to is eternal life with Christ in heaven.

**Our Ultimate Prayer Goal

         It is to glorify Lord by becoming fully obedient to him. 

***Only God Knows Our Innermost***

        I believe that the God of Christ, being our creator, is the only one who can see what's hidden in our hearts and minds. When we pray to him, he just knows that we are seeking him and not any other being. Consider the Devil or any other spirit, they may be aware of what we do, but they are incapable of deciphering our true thoughts or intentions. So we may disregard them outright. Remain in Christ and we are safe forever.

***Only One True God**

        Many people believe vaguely that God exists. By definition, God is unique, so there can be only one true God, whom we Christians know to be the God of Christ. So all who believe in someone (or something) other than Christ believes in a false god and that's idolatry.

**Good Having Christ to Go To*

        It's so good that I can turn and talk to Christ whenever my peace is disturbed, for he totally understands any situation and can correct me if I were wrong. He's also the one I shall return to forever after I leave this life. 

***Instantly Accessible Savior

        There are those who travel all around the world or read all the books they can get their hands on in hope of finding a savior. But you can call upon Jesus, the only true Savior, from your heart at any time and he instantly hears you and will respond to you. This can save you a lot of time and money and deliver results besides. 

***Becoming Sin-Free (and Falling in Love)*

        It is impossible for us to stop sinning to save ourselves on our own. Only the love of God can transform and save us. Since the Lord already loved us, we only need to be open to him to experience the power of his love to become sin-free. The best thing is once you realize that his love can truly free you from sin, you can't help but fall deeply in love with him.  

**God or the World**

        We cannot love God and the world at the same time. It's either one or the other. It should be God 100 and the world 0. Even 51-49 is not good enough. If you consider yourself to be a Christian, where do you stand? The basic questions: Are you going all out for God? How much are you attached to the world?

**Natural Consequences

        The more you are in union with God, the sharper your conscience becomes and as a result the more you see clearly what the Lord's will for you is.