**Avoid Being a Fool**

        We all have a bucket list of things we want to do or accomplish in our lifetime. When I was in my teens, I already made up a list of all the things I wanted to learn and try, such as playing the piano, swimming, horse riding, mountain climbing, etc. Of course, I never reached my goal. Being more mature now, I realize that if loving and following Christ is not first on my list, I essentially remain a fool, a big one at that. So make sure you don't end up on the Lord's list of fools!

***Trump in Prophesy***

         This is a video I saw five years ago on the John-Henry Westen Channel. Later I couldn't find it anymore. Now it just resurfaced and I think you'll find it interesting. God has a way of doing things we can never expect.  

**Testing Your Readiness for Heaven**

         Which would you choose between wining a $100,000,000 lottery or having Jesus make you holy? Picking the better answer should be a no-brainer. Did you hesitate in answering the question? Were the consequences in each case instantly clear to you?

***Seeking Union with God Not Advocated?***

         People don't talk about seeking to attain union with God—I think it's because it requires you to surrender yourself to God and most people are not there yet. This is a big mistake. We can talk about learning how to swim even if we don't know how to swim yet. We can surely talk about becoming holy even if we are not perfectly holy yet. Perhaps people wrongly assume that union with God is for the saints only. If that's the case, it's due to muddy thinking and the lack of faith. The Lord wants us to be at our very best and we should let him make us so!

*****Monumental Great News*****

         We have first today's Entrance Antiphon, John 1:1—In the beginning and before all ages, the Word was God and he humbled himself to be born the Savior of the world. The Lord had revealed that to John—what a magnificent and monumental statement! Then we have today's Communion Antiphon, John 3:16—God so loved the world that he gave his Only Begotten Son, so that all who believe in him may not perish, but may have eternal life. This has to be our most beloved verse. If we must memorize one verse, this one should be it. God is giving us the "secret" to Eternal Happiness here! If you are not elated on hearing this, you need to be hit with a baseball bat on the head!

**Wise Living**

         If you only do your own thing aiming at pleasing yourself, then you are simply drifting along horizontally, living a mundane life. What will happen to you after this life is over? This is the BIG question! To be wise, do everything for the glory of God. Now you soar vertically, keeping your link to heaven firmly in place. What's going to come is no longer of any concern.

**Pleasure vs. Joy**

         Whatever you enjoy in the world is a pleasure and whatever you enjoy in God is a joy. The former is short-lived and can get tiresome quickly. It does not make you any holier and life remains empty. On the other hand, the latter is permanent and forever refreshing. It uplifts you spiritually and fills the void of your life.

***Secret to Loving God***

         To succeed in loving God, you must be wide open to letting him love you. Any resistance you put up will simply impede your  progress.

***PERFECT ONE for Us***

         When I hear the name of Jesus mentioned, these three words instantly come to my mind: Lord, Love, and Light—he's all three, the exactly one we need for salvation and life.

***Most Powerful Catholic Prayer***

        Watch this video and be awed by God's mercy and power.

**To Delight in the Lord**

         Please the Lord and you'll be pleased with yourself. Embrace his love fully to let it transform you into a new creature and he'd be delighted. And you in turn will experience his joy.

**No Unhappy Christians**

         We easily get unhappy about many things that happen to us, deeming ourselves to be less fortunate than some others. We forget that if we look at the entire population of the world, we are likely more fortunate than many other people. Think of the millions of unborn babies that are aborted every year. How about the thousands of young soldiers who now lose their lives daily in Ukraine and Russian? Then we have sex trafficking victims, civilians unjustly imprisoned by corrupt governments, terminal cancer patients . . . the list goes on and on. So think how fortunate you already are. As for those who proclaim to be Christians, they should realize that having Christ is more than sufficient for them. An unhappy Christian is an oxymoron.

***Our Foremost Christian Duty***

        It is to love the Lord by being holy ourselves and spreading the gospel with the goal of saving as many souls as possible.

***How Our Joy Progresses***

        First, we experience the joy having our soul purified and healed by the Lord. Then we progress to the joy of being in union with him spiritually. Finally, we arrive at the joy of being with the Lord in person for all eternity. 

***RICH BEYOND MEASURE***

        Today's Entrance Antiphon, Ps 16:5-6, Reads: O Lord, my allotted portion and my cup, you it is who hold fast my lot. For me the measuring lines have fallen on pleasant sites; fair to me indeed is my inheritance. The Responsorial Psalm Response from Ps 2: I will give you all the nations for an inheritance. Last, the Communion Antiphon, Mt 19:29, reads: Everyone who has given up home, brothers, or sisters, father or mother, wife or children or property for my sake will receive many times as much and inherit everlasting life. All three quotes talk about inheritance. If we let the Lord of Christ be our Lord, we will inherit all that he has for us and everlasting life! Do you hear me?

***Denying Ourselves Our First Step***

        Today the Church celebrates The Epiphany of the Lord. I have just one message to share. This saying of Jesus to his disciples appears in all three Synoptic Gospels: "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." We see that the first order of business is to deny ourselves, which clearly goes against our grain. Then I realized that the Lord is right; obviously, we can't follow him and ourselves at the same time. So denying ourselves is the beginning of setting ourselves free, and the motivation to follow Christ is the driving force that can help us succeed. It's basically letting the Lord rightly be our Lord. This morning after I got up from bed, I found that my Brown Scapular and Miraculous Medal were all tangled up. I had to take both off my neck to untangle them and it took me almost a full five minutes! Every unusual happening is a message from God. I believe that his message for me was that if I do not deny myself, life will always end up a tangled mess.

**Great Feeling**

         Communion experience. Seeing that the Lord has offered all of himself for me, I was greatly moved by his humility, making me want to be humble like him. That was a great feeling!

**One Great Sorrow**

         It's seeing so many of us not seeing Christ as our Savior, a true case of "They know not what they do."  How they need God's mercy!