**God Love Us . . .

so anything that's not intended for drawing you to him is most likely not from him.

**Beyond Belief**

        Communion experience. Christ is my Lord and my God—I am rich beyond belief!

***Going All the Way with God***

        If we truly love God, we'd loathe all worldly things. If we truly believe in God, we'd rely on him fully alone. If we are truly in union with the Lord, we'd think as he thinks always.

***Invincible Combination for Us***

        In today's first reading from Deuteronomy 6, Moses said to the people: "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength." This sounds proper and perfectly logical. If we keep this commandment faithfully, God will surely bless us to the full. Today's Gospel acclamation came from what Jesus said to his disciples in Matthew 17: If you have faith, nothing will be impossible for you. This sounds right and is totally logical. If we really believe in it, it should absolutely work out that way. With this powerful combination of great love for God and great faith in God, we shall surely be invincible!

**Another Joy**

         When we follow the Lord to the letter, we experience a special joy. Again, this is how he has made us!

***Our Only Choice***

        Today is the Memorial of St. Dominic. In the Gospel reading from Matthew, Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." So it comes down to choosing Christ or ourselves. This simplifies things, but it doesn't get us off the hook, for the choice remains. 

***When You Know You Know Jesus*

        In John 6, when some disciples of Jesus had decided to leave him, he asked the Twelve, "Do you also want to leave?" Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God." When you don't ever want to leave Jesus, you know that you really know him.

***Praying Experience***

        Yesterday I got home after morning Mass and found that my wife had already been taken to emergency. I found out it's because her blood pressure shot way up for unknown reasons. Of course, I prayed hard for her. Now praying hard doesn't mean you panic and trying hard to pray. On the contrary, you simply open up completely to tell the Lord what you supplicate from him. Afterwards, you confidently trust that he's going to take care of things for you. Today my wife is still waiting to go through some tests, but so far it seems that she is returning to normal. I praise the Lord for that and look forward to her coming home later today. (It's almost 4 hours ago that I posted the above. I just learned that the doctors couldn't find anything wrong and she's on hr way home now,).

***True Savior***

        Communion experience. I realize that the Lord I consume is the only one who can heal and perfect my soul! He is my true Savior. 

*****Way to Become Perfect*****

         For us to be perfect is to be sinless, and that rules out all of us on earth. But there was one among us once and is still with us today who is forever perfect, and that's Christ the Lord. We absolutely need him because he's the only one who can also make us perfect.

**"Smart" advice**

        God's mercy is infinite, but his judgment is just and precise. We get either saved or damned in the end! So play smart and do your best to be on the right side of the Lord always. 

***Becoming Perfect***

        In Matthew 5:48, Jesus said to his disciples, "Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." So Jesus wants us to be perfect, to be like the heavenly Father. And we know that when we see God in heaven, we'll be made perfect. Meanwhile, let's believe and be blessed. Seeking to attain union with God thru the Holy Eucharist will absolutely give you the best jump-start on becoming perfect. Yes, The Lord can make all of us perfect!

**What Are We Busy for?**

         I worked out at the gym a little bit this morning. It's a noisy place. You hear all the machines running, and weights banging and dropping all around plus loud music accompanying an ongoing exercise class. To counteract all that, seriously it's an appropriate time to say some prayers. Anyway, when I saw that everyone was busily doing their thing, I realized that this was also what's going on around the whole world. So what are we all busy for? Well, if we do not store up any treasure in heaven meanwhile, then we are squandering away all our valuable time on earth.

***Living for Best Possible Returns*

         Forget all about yourself and live only for Christ, then you'll receive all he's got for you, returns beyond all expectations!

***Nothing to Say to the Lord***

         Communion experience. I am speechless! Here's the Lord, the I AM, the alpha and omega, the infinite God who knows all about me and loves me to death. He has already saved and completely fulfilled me. What more is there to say? I'm just going to trust and follow him in silence.

*****Again, We Have a Choice****

        Today's Communion antiphon based on 1 John 3:2—When Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. It is absolutely awesome that we can be like Christ. We can get a head start by seeking to attain union with him through the Holy Eucharist now and become perfect when we see him. This sure beats not doing anything and ending up not knowing how we're going to get judged when we see him!

***Nothing Can Stop . . .***

us from growing old and dying. Then nothing can stop God from loving us and wanting to save us from sin so that we may have life in heaven forever! This is all we need to know. Have Christ and we can cast aside all worries and be set for eternity!

***God's Delights and Sweetness***

        Today's Communion antiphon, Wisdom 16:20: You have given us, O Lord, bread from heaven, endowed with all delights and sweetness in every taste. To me, Christ is that bread, for he is most delightful and sweet. How so, as in the world we find only those people who amuse us, please us, flatter us ,,, in general, inflate our egos delightful and sweet, and Christ does none of that? Well, that's because the Lord knows how to reach our hearts, bypassing all our senses ... and the delights and sweetness we experience all come from him directly, humbling us in the process.