*Constraints and Weaknesses*

        Today's first reading came from 2 Corinthians 12. Three times Paul begged the Lord to remove a thorn in the flesh that had been given to him, but the Lord said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." This is a powerful, profound statement. It's when we acknowledge our weaknesses that God enters to make us strong. The Lord surely will not help those who think they are strong and do not need his help. And if God's grace is sufficient for us, then we truly have nothing to complain about. Anyone who is not satisfied with God will surely not be satisfied with anything else and remain unhappy.

***All Depends on Our Choice!

        When you obey God, you do it out of your own volition and the Lord never tries to take control of you. Again, if you have submitted yourself to him, you are free to leave him at any time. In other words, the Lord God absolutely respects your free will. So it's all up to us to choose to go to heaven or be be separated from God our Father forever.     

**Holy or Phony

        If you are not holy yet, then you are still phony.

*Better than Positive Thinking

         Norman Vincent Peale is best known for his book The Power of Positive Thinking. It first came out in 1952, became an international best seller and is still popular today. I did read the book and agree that positive thinking can help you succeed in carrying out your ambitions and hopes, but the author focuses a lot upon one's self. I believe that the superior approach is to put your trust entirely in God and you don't even need to be concerned about yourself. I am speaking of total abandonment in God.    

**Big Realizations

        (1) Jesus is the one before whom every knee shall bend and beg for mercy!

        (2) Jesus is the only one who can free us from our self-imprisonment! 

Holy Spirit Our Prompter

        Whenever your ego motivates you to do something, you may feel good momentarily, but you will not experience true peace in your heart. Let the Holy Spirit prompt you to do everything, and you'll feel good and also experience peace. So get to know the Holy Spirit well first.

*State of the Soul

        Have you ever opened yourself up to let God reveal the state of your soul to you yet? When you submit yourself to him, you are letting him in to reveal himself to you and to help you understand yourself. This is something everyone of us should do before we die. When you see your own soul in God's light, it's time to ask for its healing. Once the soul is made whole, you are ready to live your Christian life to the fullest.

*Wise Declarations to Follow

        In today's Gospel's reading from Matthew 19, Jesus said to his disciples: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be." This is what we need to hear and heed, for we are completely immersed in living on earth and hardly ponder heaven. How about starting out by giving your heart to the Lord? Then he will surely make you understand all his wise counsels.

***Featuring the One and Only God

        Communion time realization. Christianity is unique in this way. God came to us in person to demonstrate his love for us and to show us how we can be saved forever. Then we can attain union with him, with him residing within us and with us knowing him most intimately. He is for all, yet he also becomes our most personal God. 

**Living Secretly in God

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 6, Jesus taught the people about almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. Essentially, we are to give alms, pray, and fast in secret, without any intention to make others notice you. It comes down to that we should do everything for God and not for our own ego. Recognize also the reality that each of us is on his or her own in this universe. When we face the Lord at judgment time, we shall be there alone and all issues will be resolved between us and God. It should be clear that only what we do for God will matter. Therefore, start living for God in secret. By the way, such selfless living will definitely bring you joy and peace.

**How Good Is Your Life?

        There are people who lament that they do not have a good life. They feel sorry for themselves or complain that life is not fair. Here are my thoughts. If you know that you are returning to God, then you should feel good about your life, for it is your very path to heaven. If you are heading towards hell, then no matter how good you think you life is, it has to be horrible living.  

*Most Personal Bonding

        Communion experience. I actually received the body of my God. Talk about bonding!

***To Have Life Forever!

        To be alive for a limited time definitely cannot be considered as having life. To me, to have truly life is to exist in happiness and contentment forever. Is this even possible? I can answer yes with great joy, for Christ has come to us two thousand years ago to tell us that he is the life and whoever believes in him shall have eternal life! The best part of this is that we'll be happy not just for a century or even a million years, but forever without end, as the God of Christ lives forever without end. Obviously, becoming one with him will without doubt make you live forever.

Joy of Hearing from God

        When God speaks to your heart, it is such a heavenly joy, for you are assured that he is with you, you are with him, he cares for you, and you belong to him. 

*God Most Wonderful!

        Communion experience. This is the Lord who saves and perfects me!

To Live Without Anxiety

        Jesus spoke to his disciples and crowds, taught them many things, performed great miracles before them, etc., and he never ever showed anxiety. He suffered greatly, but always remained in peace. He advised all not to be anxious about anything. By trusting in him and becoming one with him, we can also live without anxiety.

God's Peace and Joy

        The peace and joy we receive from God are beyond human understanding, for they are deposited in our hearts directly by the Lord.

***Secret of Spiritual Attainment

        When we abandon ourselves totally in God, God totally accomplishes all things through us. Again, it comes down to us letting God be our God, with us staying completely out of his way. This is the secret of attaining rapid spiritual growth. 

**Desiring What God Desires

        John 17.20-21: I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us. Here, Jesus prays that we may be one with him and the Father. So if we desire union with God, coinciding with his desire, you can bet that wonderful things shall happen to us within our hearts.

**Key to Preserving Inner Peace

        Anytime we play God, it is certain that we will lose our inner peace. For example, we judge someone and we get upset, forgetting that God is the only one who is qualified to judge us. If we truly love God, we will surrender ourselves to him to let him truly be our Lord. Then nothing will be able to rob us of our inner peace anymore. 

***How God Makes Us Anew

        Today's first thoughts before Mass began. We should think right, speak right, and do our deeds right, then we shall have inner peace. But how do we get there? The Lord showed me that the heart, the brain, and the mouth, apart from the soul, are the operating parts. To start, we must let our soul be healed and made whole – precisely what we ask for before receiving the Lord in the Holy Eucharist and what he grants when we receive this Most Blessed Sacrament. Once the soul is made whole, God can start purifying the heart to take care of our thoughts, words, and deeds. Very cool to see this. You are now made anew from the inside out. During the process, you get to know the Lord most intimately. Such a great joy to let him transform us!

**Glory to Our God!

            Today is the Solemnity 0f the Most Holy Trinity. We have God the Father who created us and loves us to death. We have God the Son who is our brother, our friend, and our Savior. And we have God the Holy Spirit who teaches us, guides us, and shields us from all evil. We have the perfect Triune God. Hallelujah!  

**Recognizing Our Predicament

        While I was exercising on a tread mill at local gym early this morning, around a dozen or so TV sets were turned on throughout the extensive space. Today being Sunday, there was a preacher preaching to a group of people on one screen, but you must be careful nowadays, for many preachers present their own views, often in disagreement with other preachers. Anyway, all the other secular shows, including commercials on screen, served to draw our attention away from God. Today the academia are mostly secular too. Then Hollywood and the entertainment industries couldn't be further away from God. As for the many politicians today, they are plain anti-God. This world is filled with those in cahoots with Satan, placing all souls, their own included, in great jeopardy. Of course, there is always hope – all it takes is to believe in and follow Jesus, our Savior. But with us full of pride, we become our own stumbling block. I hope that recognizing our predicament can help us overcome ourselves to get on the path of salvation. 

***Is Everything God Has Ours?

        In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the father consoles the unhappy older son, saying to him, "Everything I have is yours." Is everything our heavenly Father has ours too? Well, we and Jesus share the same Father and the same mother. Then we seek and attain union with God and become one with him. If we possess him, then, of course, we also possess everything he has. Can you imagine that the Lord God who died for us will not let us enjoy freely everything he has after we get to heaven? I can't.

Be Genuine Before God

        In today's Gospel reading from Matthews 5, Jesus said to his disciples, "Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes," and your 'No" mean 'No.' Anything more is from the Evil One." It is clear that we must always mean what we say. God does not like hypocrites and phonies. And you'll sleep better too being genuine. 

State of Mankind

        Here's a mental image that came to me during Mass this morning. I see billions of people in God's presence. A relatively small number of people choose to remain with the Lord, not going anywhere. Another larger group are sticking around, but they stay some distance away. A much larger group sit on the borderline, for they still do not know which way to go yet, while idling away their time. Perhaps forming the largest group are those who are walking away from God, not aware that they are heading toward a precipice. Pray hard so that all will turn back to God.  

**Caution, if Your Talk Too Much

        When I talk to others freely, I'd like to share what's edifying, good, and interesting. Nevertheless, there were times I sensed ever so slightly that what came out of my mouth was prompted by the ego. This happened when I tried to talk too much. The lesson learned: Do not talk too much. Always listen to the Holy Spirit. When you try to talk too much, it's usually your ego prompting you to draw more attention to yourself.

***Meeting God's High Standards

        Attended Mass this morning and the entrance antiphon from Psalm 27 reads: The Lord is my light and . . . – echoing what I posted earlier this morning. In today's Gospel reading from Matthew 5, Jesus laid down some high (strict) standards. I am going to quote partially what he said to his disciples, "Everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. Whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery." "Wow" might be our reaction, so how can we meet the Lord's expectations? Simple! On our own, we can't, but with his help it'll be no sweat, as nothing is impossible for him. The only "catch" is that we must let him take full control of us to bring about our full transformation. As I see it, this is not a price to pay but a privilege to gain, for our reward will be great in both this life and the life to come!

**Our Transforming Light

        Summer is almost here and the days are getting longer. Before 6 AM this morning, sunlight already shone through my bedroom window (I have no drapes or blinds on all my windows), casting various shadows on the white walls – the room just became cheerful and spirited! And I thought of the light of Christ. When we bask in it, we can become cheerful and spirited too, for the Lord is the only one who can fundamentally transform us.

Good Sign of Humility

        We offer to pray for others, but less often ask others to pray for us. Asking for others to pray for us shows that we are humble enough to let them know that we need God's help, a good sign. Anyone who does not believe that he needs God's help is barring himself from entering the kingdom of heaven.

**Dark Days for the Church*

        Yesterday I posted the blog "Dark Days for Christians" because Christians are being persecuted worldwide. Today I see a second reason or cause – evil has infiltrated the Church, weakening her to the point that we no longer hear clear, bold messages coming from her when we need to hear them the most. She is so busy covering up the many dark deeds when she should go all out to battle evil. The days of purification will come and the time to follow the Lord closely is now, more urgent than ever. God is calling us to abandon ourselves to him and to make reparation for the world. Wake up and fight for the Lord, while we go through the dark night.

***Most Urgent Messages

        Ralph Martin of Renewal Ministries has been an inspired speaker to me since the time I was actively involved in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement in the 1970s. He is also the author of the book on union with God entitled The Fulfillment of All Desire. I came across these two recently posted talks of his on Fatima. We need to hear these urgent messages at this time. Both talks last a little over 22 minutes and Ralph starts each talk at 1:57. If you only have time to watch one, I would recommend watching the second one "An Urgent Warning." 

***The Great Liberation

        Open yourself up to God completely and ask him to overwhelm you with his sweet and selfless love and you will experience the greatest liberation and consolation. Abandon yourself to God and he cannot refuse to take you in.

***The Great Obedience

        We have the Great Depression, the Great Famine, the Great Wall, the Great Migration, and even the Great Houdini. I'd like to nominate obedience to God as the Great Obedience, as it is our ultimate challenge that can set our soul and spirit free forever!

*Receiving the Best from God

        God always wants the best for us, but what we experience may make us think that we deserve something better. We must realize the following: What God wants for us is what's best for us overall spiritually, for his intention is to lead us to heaven. In our imperfect sinful world, we cannot always experience what we hope for – not until we have entered heaven. Be patient and faithful for a short time now to reap great joy later forever!

*Having Only Yourself to Blame

        John 3.17: God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. So if we reject God's good offer, we end up getting ourselves condemned. Be blameless or you'll have only yourself to blame.

More of Our Shortcomings

        We don't hear God speaking to us because we don't wish to hear from him or to seek his advice. We don't understand God because we are closed to letting him enlighten us.

*Our Shortcoming

        From today's entrance antiphon taken from Psalm 27: The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; whom should I dread? It is true in theory that if we have the Lord, we shall fear nothing. But in practice, we are still afraid of many things because we fall short of abandoning ourselves entirely to God.

**Dark Days for Christians

        Christians are experiencing worldwide persecution, even in basically Christian countries. Here is a recent example that came out of Canada. The liberal news media do not report such stories. We are in our last days!

Flesh vs. Spirit

        How much are you living in the flesh and how much in the spirit? 50-50, 49-51 or even 1-99 is not good enough. We need to live 100% in the spirit! Hence, seek union with God to live in the Holy Spirit.

*You Matter to God

        You matter a lot to God.  Everything you do matters to him, because it affects you whom he loves.

**We Have Heard from God!

        From John 15.15, today's Communion antiphon: I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father, says the Lord to his disciples. Since we have heard from Jesus, we have heard from the Father. In short, we have heard from God, everything we need to know. Time to rejoice and celebrate!

Brief Guide to Living the Christian Life

        Today we celebrated the Memorial of St. Barnabas, Apostle. The Gospel reading was Matthew 10.7-13 on Jesus' commissioning of the Twelve. Rather than quoting the verses, I'll just summarize by saying that Jesus instructed the Apostles to (1) proclaim the Kingdom of heaven at hand, (2) do the works of mercy, (3) travel light, not taking any money nor supplies, and (4) look for a worthy person and stay there, letting their peace come upon the house. Verse 14 was not in the reading, and it reads: "Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words – go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet."

         These instructions also make a good guide for us. That is, we should (1) spread the good news of salvation every chance we have, (2) love all our neighbors, (3) be detached from material things, and (4) based upon verse 14, let God, not us, take care of those who would not follow him – this may seem heartless on our part, but we must place our trust in God the most.

**On Accepting Oneself

       It is important to know and accept who you are and what you are. Never compare yourself with anyone else and imitate the Lord Jesus only. To ensure your own happiness, reconcile yourself to yourself and to God first. Whether you are strong or weak, it is not relevant, for God often choose the weak to make strong. He can use you as you are and mold you into the right one to serve him according to his will.

**Our Most Satisfying Bond

        Shuan Hern Lee of Australia, age 16, just won the First Prize at the Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition in Dallas, Texas. Both his parents are pianists. Their dedicated support of their talented son over the years has contributed to his success. You can see the close, loving relationship between the young pianist and his father in this old video made when he was 8. I post this video to show how common interest in something like music can strengthen the bond between a parent and his child. Of course, the greatest bond between two people is formed when both love God equally and share this love with each other. This goes beyond family relationship and any affinity at the physical, emotional, or intellectual level. Short of finding such an ideal person to bond with, we really only need to seek union with God to enjoy the most satisfying bond we can ever have!

**God Our Only Candidate . . .*

        Communion time thoughts. To become one with someone, that person has to be God. For it is impossible to attain union with anyone else, as no two persons can be completely compatible. I suppose if both of them are in union with God, then it follows that they are in union with each other too. But still your firsthand union with God would be more perfect. Union with God is possible because God is able to transform you to make you compatible with him. By the same token, I can say that God is the only one who can truly be our soulmate.

**Praying for Ourselves First

        We pray to God constantly for our government leaders, the Holy Father and our bishops, our own communities, world peace, those who are sick or need help, etc. Yet what is lacking and needed is asking God to draw us close to him to make us holy. Perhaps it's because looking at problems around us is so much easier than looking at ourselves. Yet peace in the world must start with each one of us, for if we all become holy, there will be peace within and also without us. So let us pray for ourselves first before praying for others. Otherwise, we may appear to be somewhat hypocritical.

***Most Loving Spirit

        Communion experience. Evil spirits take full possession of one's faculties and will, but the Holy Spirit simply unites with us in God's love. This is the Spirit in whom I can live and die at the same time, for he forever renews me.

***Glory Be to the Holy Spirit!

        On this Pentecost Sunday, we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit to us who follow the Lord. The Spirit is gentle and meek, yet most powerful, for he can do anything without us, and make us anew if we open up to him. He is our greatest teacher, revealing God's ways and thoughts to us. Being receptive is the key to experiencing him. Then you will know that he truly dwells within you, guiding you every single moment. It's in submitting to the Spirit that you get to taste the sweet peace of the Lord and the joy of heaven. By the way, he is instrumental in bringing about our union with God. Glory be to the Holy Spirit, our constant companion!

**Two Big Words

        The Gospels show that Jesus said to all his disciples: "Follow me." "Three Little Words" was a very popular song that came out in 1930 and those words are "I love you." Here Jesus' two words can absolutely change our lives! It'll be too long to list all the benefits you get, but I'll just say that following Jesus will, in the abstract, set you free, and in the concrete, lead you straight to heaven.