**What Life Is All About*

        It is all about how much you let God be God. Vast many never give God a chance and a few like the greats saints open themselves up completely to God. Between these two extremes, the rest just remain stagnant or vacillate back and forth. Overall, not an exciting or pretty picture.       

**Secret to Becoming Free*

        By nature, we treasure ourselves more than all else. In this way, we become our own slaves. Therefore, if we can give ourselves totally to God, we become free! Then we become detached to everything else too. (Again, this is how God has made us.)         

**Man and God Connect

        Communion experience. It's the moment man and God connect. More than that, it's man and God become one. This verifies what Jesus said to his disciples before his Ascension: "Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." 

**What We Most Need*

        What we most need is God's love! Since he is ready to give us that love, what we most need to do is to accept this love.

***Our Foremost Duty

        Today is the Feast of St. Mark, evangelist. Here are the first two verses, 15 and 16, of the Gospel reading from Mark 16: Jesus appeared to the Eleven and said to them: "Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned." Proclaiming the Gospel to the whole world really should be one of our foremost obligations or missions if we consider ourselves to be disciples of Christ. The Gospel remains fresh and the world needs to hear it as longer as we are still sinners. We don't have to proclaim Christ like those street corner preachers, but we certainly can share about Christ with anyone when we get a chance. Then how many of us even mention his name as if he is real outside of church? This is the one who created us, loves us, and died for us! We cannot exist or survive without him! This is the one we should love with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength! In general, Catholics are too timid and not used to testifying for Christ. All the more we need to seek union with the Lord to let the Holy Spirit set our heart on fire, so that we may be emboldened to proclaim the Gospel as the Apostles did.

***Fears and Perfect Obedience

       Fear of God can be healthy or unhealthy. The healthy fear makes you afraid of being lost if you do not believe in God, while the unhealthy fear makes you afraid that God is going to take over if you surrender yourself to him. The healthy fear normally leads one to reconciliation with God, so it's the one to keep. And the unhealthy fear keeps you from growing closer to God, the fear you should not have. How intimate you are with the Lord is gauged by how comfortable you feel about him. Ideally, we should feel completely comfortable about our Lord, thus ready for whatever he wishes to do with us. This is perfect obedience. 

*Belonging to the Very Best

        We feel good if a university accepts us as a student, a company decides to hire us for a position, some well-known club invites us to be a member, etc. In other words, we feel good that we can belong to an organization or group. Of course, our application can get rejected too. Now, there is the very best we can belong to and will always accept us if we apply properly, and that is God's Family! It's the very best because in this family, you'll be loved, blessed, and protected forever!

Evangelization Effort

        I think we've all heard the saying "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." The horse has his own will too. This also holds true is evangelization. You can lead a person to Christ, but accepting the Lord now depends upon that person. Since nothing is impossible with God, we must always persevere in believing that the Lord will bring about the conversion.

*Joining Jesus and the Father

       Communion experience. Jesus and the Father are one. Receiving the Holy Eucharist unites me to Jesus and the Father. Now, there are three! The Lord desires to invite all of us to be one with him. (To find out about how God longs to be one with us, I again recommend reading the amazing book "He and I" by Gabrielle Bossis.) Rejecting any of God's invitations is a big deal (read the parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 22)! If you do feel invited to do whatever for the Lord, you may ask why, but "no" can never be the right answer. 

Positive Message From the Lord

       In today's Gospel reading from John 10, Jesus said to the Jews, "My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one can take them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can take them out of the Father's hand. The Father and I are one." This message comes to us positively without ambiguity. It needs no clarification, amplification, or interpretation. If you do not accept it, you must declare that it's all rubbish first.  

How Not to Judge

        Pray for the salvation of all souls, including those of our enemies and all evildoers. This should help us follow Jesus' command "Do not judge."

Proof We Are Sinners

        If we are spiritually perfect and do not sin, there would be no need for God to come to save us. The fact that many of us have found out that we need Christ and are even willing to die for him proves that we know we are sinners who need salvation. Of course, there are others who have not woken to this reality yet.         

**Made for God!*

       Communion experience. I love the Lord because his love for me has made it possible. The Lord has made me for him! 

*God Most Personal*

        In John 10, Jesus declared to all, "A good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep and they know me." It strikes me that our God, the God of Christ, is most personal. You won't find another god like that anywhere else. Since there is only one true God, perhaps I should have stated that our God is more personal and caring than any other being. This is logical and as it should be, and I rejoice in it. 

**Athirst for God

        Today's Psalm 42 response: Athirst is my soul for the living God. Looking back, I see that I first thirsted for God because I felt the emptiness of life. Now that I have found him, I thirst for him still as he draws me. So it is that you would want even more of the one who can completely satisfy you. Such is the unique power or charm, if I may use the word, of God.

**Our Life-and-Death Choice*

        Today's entrance antiphon, Romans 6.9: Christ, having risen from the dead, dies now no more; death will no longer have dominion over him. Of course, being God and the creator of all life, Christ cannot possibly die. His let himself be killed on earth only because he was carrying out the Father's plan of salvation for us. As for us, we'll all die. After death, we'll either remain dead forever or be raised by Christ – the choice is ours to make here and now!

**Time to Become Like Him!

       Communion experience. It is incredible that the Lord should feed me with his own Flesh and Blood – absolutely overwhelming! Time to become like him.

*God Rewards in Secret

        The Lord God deserves all the attention, credit, and glory, so let's never take the limelight away from him. Then guess what? He rewards us by bringing us into his private limelight.

Let Sin Lead You to Holiness

        Every sin we commit provides the opportunity for us to grow holier. Loss of inner peace is our first reminder. The worst thing you can possibly do is to ignore your past sins and continue on sinning. Thus your soul gets defiled more and more. This is evading God, a game in which you'll lose for sure. This is also playing Russian roulette with your own soul – what if you die expectedly? Of course, the right thing to do is to repent as soon as possible your sin and have the Lord make you clean again. Don't stop, for it is also the time to surrender to God more to reduce your chance of sinning again. With practice, each sin you commit will lead you to greater holiness. By the way, with more inner peace, your physical health will benefit too.

Inspired by Peter and John

        In today's first reading from Acts 4, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to leaders of the people and elders, "There is no salvation through anyone other than Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified and God raised from the dead." In the Gospel reading from John 10, Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd and I will lay down my life for my sheep." If Jesus was good enough for Peter and John, he is certainly good enough for me. 

**Best Possible News*

        Who wouldn't want to be set for life? Perhaps you think that the billionaires are set for life. If so, then you are being quite short-sighted. What is infinitely superior is to be set for life for all eternity, and you can be in that position by simply following Christ! Now, this has to be the best possible news of your life on earth.  

*To Those Who Judge Catholics

        Jesus prayed to the Father that those who follow him may always be one in him and the Father. In Matthew 16, Jesus said to Peter, "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Sadly, the Reformation headed by Martin Luther in the 16th century led to the establishment of many Protestant churches, breaking up the Church Christ had established. Since Jesus said that the gates of the netherworld should not prevail against his church, the Catholic Church still standing today has to be that church. Unfortunately, there is still a sizable number of Protestants continually attacking the Catholic Church, believing that the Pope is the Antichrist. My question is, if that's true, when did it happen? Did it start with the Apostle Peter, the first Pope, or later? They also claim that the Catholic Church has gone stray, yet no one can tell me when and how that happened. Study the early fathers of the Church and you'll see that they believed in what Catholics believe in today. One foremost example is the belief that the Holy Eucharist is truly the Flesh and Blood of Christ. So, please find out what we truly believe in before drawing any conclusion. By the way, we do not worship Mary. Do not judge us, for we were Christians first before you split off 1,500 years later. If you believe that we are lost, then lovingly pray for us. If you judge us, then pray for yourself too. I pray that we'll always follow the Holy Spirit who wishes all Christians to be one. Last, to set your mind at ease, we Catholics are not going to hell, so don't worry about us.

*The World Out of Touch

        What does the world teach us? The world is good at teaching us how to succeed by making more money to get rich so that we may achieve financial security, and that we can realize such dreams on our own if we try hard enough. The focus is entirely on ourselves. In other words, the world is out of touch with God. To be blunt, we live in godless societies. Where God counts, he is more or less worshipped in private and in churches only. The separation of church and state in this country succeeded in keeping God where he belongs, so to speak. This is the sad reality today.

**Cool Benefit of Union With God

        You get spiritually fed by the Lord directly.

**Feeling of Freedom

        Communion experience. I got the best possible feeling – letting the Lord take charge and I becoming free! Best preparation en route to heaven!  

**True Flesh and Blood*

        Excerpts from today's Gospel reading from 6: Jesus said to the Jews while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my Flesh is true food, and my Blood is true drink. Whoever eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood remains in me and I in him. The one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever." After hearing all these sayings, can you still presume that the consecrated bread and wine Jesus gave to his disciples at the Last Supper and we receive at Mass are just ordinary bread and wine the whole time, symbolizing the Flesh and Blood of the Lord? Not a chance! (John 6 is the chapter many Protestants avoid scrutinizing.) 

**Wakeup Call!

        The more you do not wish to hear about Christ, the more it shows that he matters to you. 

**Being Good Not Good Enough

        To get your sins forgiven, you need to accept and believe in Christ as your Savior. You might think that you are a pretty good person, and maybe you are, but that is no guarantee that you'll make heaven. Matthew 10.33: Whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father – says the Lord to the Twelve. Yes, accepting Christ does take precedence over getting your sins forgiven. 

***Through Jesus Only!

        John 14.6: Jesus said to Thomas, "I am the way and the the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me." This makes perfect sense, for he is to be our sole judge and the only one who can take away our sins! It follows that there is no way we can bypass him, right?

**Peace in Christ Only

        Peace on earth begins when you realize that in the God of Christ you can have your future secured for all eternity! No one else in history can promise you that as Christ has with such authority, backed up at the same time by mighty deeds, culminating in his own death and Resurrection. Only in him, the Prince of Peace, will one find ultimate peace.  

**Happy Ending!

        Communion experience. Christ is indeed our end. Once you've let him capture you, your life is full and complete, and you simply rest in him until he takes you to where he is. If you ever prayed for a happy ending to your life, this is it!

*Crux of Making Spiritual Progress

        We know we should love God more, but we cannot accomplish this on our own, for we are finite beings. To go beyond what we can achieve, we must open ourselves to God more to let him power us. Know that the Lord wants to enter totally into our heart to help and we are at the helm of how wide to open the gate of our heart.  

***Getting to the Crux of Our Problems***

        We do not let the God of Christ be our God. If we stop playing God and start obeying him, we'll instantly have heaven on earth!

*Christ Has all We Need to Know

        Anyone who focuses their attention on things of this world only is myopic. Then there are those who search for spiritual truths in the wrong places and end up with nebulous beliefs. Ram Dass is a case in point. You can find out more about him on Wikipedia. I watched the short Netflix documentary "Ram Dass, Going Home" – what he says about life, death, soul, reincarnation, etc., might be attractive to many spiritual seekers, but obviously he doesn't know what he's talking about. Only Christ has provided clear and positive answers to living our spiritual life now and forever. Start or end your search with him.

*Taking Mass Seriously

          At the Last Supper, the Lord Jesus held the First Mass and instituted the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Therefore, we should take Mass most seriously. The focus of Mass should be on adoring and glorifying the Lord alone; distraction in any form, no matter how good its intention, should be considered out of place. And worshippers must realize that they are in the house of the Lord and observe silence. Can all this happen in an ordinary parish? I believe that if you do take things seriously, people will come to respect that. It's precisely because you are casual about it that people lose their seriousness too.

**Preparing for Union With God

        In Psalm 31, David writes "Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit." Jesus on the cross cried out "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit" before breathing his last. To me, the spirit is more encompassing than either the heart or the soul. When we commend our spirit into God's hands, we entrust our totality to him. Therefore, making this commitment often should condition us for union with God.  

***Doing Everything With God

        Normally, we don't try to "bother" God with little things we can easily do on our own and only ask for his help when we feel that we need it. Today I ask myself why not ask the Lord to get involved with everything I do, big or little. It would be an excellent way of acknowledging his constant presence and showing my utter need for his companionship. It should strengthen our union of dwelling in each other. So it's doing everything for him and with him. You can never do enough for him who has given all of himself to us.

*Happy, Blessed, and Free Living

        People remain in darkness because it is easier for them to keep their sins hidden than to face light and have them all exposed. They forget that God sees everything in their hearts. Sometimes avoiding facing God can be a sin too, depending upon the circumstances. Again, only God can judge that. Living in darkness is not living at all. Happy, blessed, and free is the one lives completely in the light of Christ, with nothing to hide from the Lord!    

Peace From God Alone

        Today's  Communion antiphon, John 14.27: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you, says the Lord. The peace God gives us is indeed different because it affects the very soul. Since the world has no power to touch the soul, whatever it gives cannot truly be peace.        

Making Doing Good Meaningful

        Doing good per se is good, but to make it meaningful, you must have a higher purpose. When we treat our own family members kindly, it's only natural. When we do good to strangers, it only makes us feel good. The higher purpose I am talking about is to do good for the sole purpose of pleasing God, not ourselves. This is the way to be set free and to build up lasting treasures in heaven. What Jesus has done to us is most meaningful because he died for us willingly in complete obedience to the Father. No act can be meaningful should God be kept out of the picture.

**Sad Division

        At the end of Mass this morning, Fr. P held up a baby high to show us the one he just baptized yesterday, and the little one grinned. The whole congregation rejoiced and applauded. At that moment, I thought of those babies who did not get baptized because the parents either did not know Christ or had fallen away from their faith before their child was born. It saddened me to see this division among the children through no fault of theirs. 

**Most Tragic and Foolish Act

        Disregard of Your Own Soul.        

***Beautiful Union

        Communion experience. God is completely open and ready. We match him and voilà, the most beautiful encounter happens!

**Letting God Unfold His Plan

        Again, in the Gospel reading from Luke, Jesus says to his disciples, "Everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled. Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem." Somehow, at that point, the Lord made me see that there was no reason for us to be terrified of anything anymore, as everything would unfold according to his plan.

*Complete Self-Giving

       In today's Gospel reading from Luke 24, the disciples recognized the Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread. Each time at Mass, when I see the priest breaking the host, I know the Lord is letting himself be broken and distributed to each one of us, inviting us to join him in union with him.   

*God Is Eternal!

        In today's 1st reading from Acts 3, we heard Peter say to the people, "The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses." It dawned on me that since Christ was our creator, the author of life, then, of course, he cannot possibly ever remain dead! The Resurrection was unavoidable!  

*Church Before Bible

        The Church has always held fast to and taught the Sacred Traditions rooted in Scripture, handed down by the Apostles from the very beginning. The New Testament was not comprised by the Church until almost 400 years later. Therefore, it is false to believe that the Bible is the only teaching authority you need. Just witness the the disunity and disorder among the countless Protestant denominations without the teaching magisterium of the Church. In Thessalonians 2.15, Paul writes "Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by letter of ours." The Bible came out of the Church, not the other way around.

*Challenging Questions

        If you don't believe in Jesus, then are you prepared to say that the fact that he performed many miracles, died on the cross and rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and the Apostles and many early disciples willingly followed him only to meet death is all a big hoax? Are you also prepared to say that the over two billion Christians in the world and the great saints throughout history have all been deceived into believing in a falsehood that has been perpetuated for two millenniums?

**Delightful Holy Spirit

        When the Holy Spirit fills your heart with joy to overflowing, it becomes impossible to keep it to yourself. I love the Holy Spirit, sweet and gentle, yet powerful and insuppressible. The experience of being slain in the Holy Spirit is most peaceful, yet intoxicating. The Holy Spirit is a delight! 

**Back to the Basics

        The Son of God had come to us, revealing God's love for us to the point of dying himself on the cross for our sins so that we might be saved. And he made it clear that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. Yet so many of the world ignore him – how foolish can you be? They do not come forward to say that the good news is untrue either – how cowardly can you be? If I sounded harsh, that's because I am concerned about their souls. Jesus prayed even for those who crucified him from the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." I pray that every single one of us on earth will enjoy heaven after death. What is so great about our God is that no matter how sinful you are, if you repent and ask for his forgiveness, you are right back in his bosom. Now, you are no longer a foolish coward or cowardly fool.