***Abortion Worse than Suicide

        Both are grave sins, but abortion is much worse. People commit suicide when they have no more hope, not necessarily because they have committed any serious sin. In any case, they are to be pitied. As for abortion, you have a case of intentionally destroying an innocent, defenseless human life for your own sake. This makes it the antithesis of loving your neighbor as the Lord has taught us.

***Our Worst Sickness**

         Hearing about the messed-up lives of some people I more or less know is prompting me to share the following thoughts. When we catch COVID-19 or have cancer or hit by some other disease, we can become very sick. But this kind of sickness is nothing, for it only impairs your physical health temporarily. You are really sick when you sin against God and your soul is all soiled. We can't see that, but God can, cause and all. I am sure we'd be really shocked to see what he sees. The day will come when he reveals to us how our soul appears to him. The time to prepare for that day so as not to get shocked is right now!

*****What We Must Do Before Death***

         In today's first reading from Sirach 17, verse 28 struck me: No more can the dead give praise than those who have never lived; you who are alive and well shall glorify God in his mercies. This makes me think of the things we must do while we're still alive in this world. After we die, we can't do them anymore! Clearly, the most important thing to do on my list is to reconcile with God the Father thru believing in his Son, Christ the Savior, so that we may return to him in heaven after we die.

***Our Only Savior***

          Jesus Christ is it. He is our creator and the only one who truly loves us and can and wishes to save us from sin so that we may have eternal life in heaven. You probably have heard of this many times, but it's the truth! It'd be most wise for you to grab onto him and never let him go while you still can than to feel sorry forever later.

***Power of Prayer

         We feel the urgency to pray for world peace, conversion of all sinners, purification and restoration of the Holy Church, etc., and can be overwhelmed and wonder what we can do. The fact is that even if we remain unknown, little, humble and meek, as long as we trust in and pray hard to the God of Christ, we can make a lot of good things happen to change the world. For the Lord truly listens to his children who love him and pray to him from their very hearts. Yes, to God we can be powerful influencers.  

***The Only Trustworthy One

         In today's Gospel reading from Mark 10, people were bringing children to Jesus that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. Then Jesus said to them, "Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." You see, the world is pretty much godless, so we cannot trust in it al all. On the contrary, God is the absolute truth, so we can and should trust in him like a child. It's so good that we have such a God!

**Fear of God*

         In today's first reading from Sirach 17, we heard that God created man in his own image and put the fear of him in him. This is a healthy fear, for the LORD wants us to remain blameless so that we may return to him in heaven. The evildoers get it all wrong; they, remaining in darkness, fear that the LORD would expose them, not realizing that LORD specializes in seeing everything in the dark.

***Call to Believe in Christ Our Savior

         Believe in Jesus and you'll be saved from sin and have eternal life—I am sure that many (if not most) of us have heard this. It is truly a unique message that we mustn't dismiss quickly, for there are no similar messages so specifically spelled out like that. We all know that we are sinners. And Christ undeniably existed, rose from the dead, and is the holy God. To me, either he is our Savior or we don't have one. In our evil world, the fact that many do not believe in him only shows that he is the truth. Believe, so you don't deceive yourself.

*****To Be Ready for That Most Important Day***

        People, Christians included, who do not have Christ at the very center of their lives do not seek guidance from him. As a result, they react and act like any non-believer and end up not being able to resolve their problems properly or in a righteous way. This is very sad, for how will they handle themselves when they face the Lord on the day of judgment, the most important day of their existence? Will they know exactly how they should act and what they should say to pass the test? Not being used to listening to the Lord and following his will can now be absolutely disastrous to their eternal future.

***Sinning on the Next Level*

         In today's Gospel reading from Mark 9, Jesus said to his disciples, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea." Essentially, I see that sining by yourself is one thing, but if your sin causes others to sin also, your sin is now a lot more serious! In this case, you actually take others with you on the road to perdition. So think twice before you sin. Better yet, don't ever consider sinning.

**What We Must Not Delay*

         Sirach 5:7a from today's first reading: Delay not your conversion to the LORD, put it not off from day to day. Now that Christ has already come to us, all the more we should not delay believing in the LORD. The longer you put it off, the more you put your salvation at risk.

***How Real is Jesus to You? (Becoming the Happiest Person)***

         Going way back, I did feel that the Holy Spirit first prompted me to accept Christ as my Savior. But my faith pretty much emanated from my intellectual conviction absent any deep personal relationship with the Lord. When I first heard about Mother Teresa volunteering to go to India to serve the poor and the dying, I couldn't believe that anyone would want to do something like that, missing all the fun in life! In fact, I personally dreaded that God might call me to be a missionary in Africa! Later I came across Thomas à Kempis' spiritual classic The Imitation of Christ and found his devotion to Christ stunning—I was unable to read on, for I realized I fell way short of loving the Lord. I was also impressed by the strong faith of a couple I knew well. At the funeral of their son who died tragically, both parents showed more joy than sorrow, for they believed that he was with Christ now. Anyway, today I am a different person altogether. Through receiving the Holy Eucharist, Christ is more real to me than anyone or anything else. It's easier to believe that the sun may not rise tomorrow morning than believing that the Lord is not real. Jesus is now my best friend and soulmate whose holy presence I feel at all times. When Christ becomes really real to you, you are the happiest person in the whole world!

***In Solidarity with God***

        I like to pray the Divine Mercy early in the morning before I get out of bed. This is when I can concentrate on praying without falling asleep again and everything is still quiet all around. Since the Lord's greatest desire is to save us, when I pray for his mercy on us from my very heart, I am in total solidarity with him, and this is such a great feeling! 

***Most Destructive Enemy***

        Sin against God and you start messing up your present life and ruining your eternal one. Sin is our worst enemy. Always know what you should do and what you shouldn't do to remain wise!

***God's Right Choices*

        God chooses us to serve him, not because we are perfect, but because we are the right ones. Rejoice if he has already called you! 

***Secret to Happiness*

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 9, Jesus said to the Twelve, "If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all." If you always want to be first in serving yourself, you keep feeding your ego and one day it'll get so puffed-up and take complete control of you, possibly ruining your soul forever. On the other hand, if you only want to serve all others for God's sake, you'll enjoy freedom and peace and become first in his eyes. It's choosing to feel good for a little while or be truly happy for all eternity.

**A Wonderful State**

         You feel wonderful when you are in union with the Lord, seeing all things eye to eye and completely in tune with him, and you sense all his thoughts in peace. 

**For the Good of All

        Always pray for someone's good and good things will come to you.