**To Be Freed from Sin and More

        I see that we sinners (7.7 billion as of this year) continue to sin in thoughts, words, and deeds. On the surface, we can't always tell until our own or others' sins hit us in some way. In other words, we are living in a pretty filthy world full of unclean hearts. This can't be our permanent home and the good thing is that all of us will be leaving this world. I see clearly that the way out of this predicament is to follow Christ. He is the only one who can remove our sins, even our tendency to sin, and heal all the wounds inflicted upon us by sin. Not only we are set free from sin now, we also get to enjoy paradise forever later!

***Mission of the Church

**Ultimate Food

        Communion experience. Here I was receiving the food that would fill my hunger and quench my thirst not just for a day, but for all eternity!

*Easy Path to Heaven

        Matthew 10.32, today's Communion antiphon: Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father, says the Lord. Be proud of Christ and he'll be proud of you. What an easy way for us to get to heaven!

God Our Ultimate Goal

        You can never _______ God enough. Can you fill in the blank? Here are just some correct answers: love, praise, adore, trust, obey, surrender to, be holy for.

More Dark News

**Dark Days of the Church*

        Worldwide abortion of the unborn continues on, less and less Catholics believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament, the Church membership dwindles, and Catholic universities are become increasingly secular—just to name four alarming facts. I don't see the Church doing much to turn the tide. Instead I see the Church continuing to cover up the various scandals, not providing complete transparency. Millions and millions of dollars were paid out, resulting in the closure of many parishes and schools. The Holy Father seems to be more concerned about "global warming" and conciliating the various other religions and the secular world than saving his own flock. We with the Church are going through some very dark days. 

***Get Personal with God***

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 7, a sinful woman showed great love for Jesus—she brought an alabaster flask of ointment with her, stood behind him at his feet, weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears; then wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment. And Jesus forgave all her sins. 

         Lessons. For those who show great love for God, much will be forgiven; but to those who love little, little is forgiven. The Lord is not someone remote or from whom you need to keep a distance. In fact, he loves you to get personal with him. Therefore, tell him everything and show your affection—there should no barrier between you and such a loving God. He wants all sinners to go to him so that he may free them from their sins! There is no other Savior than the God of Christ. Yes, seek union with him and he even becomes your soulmate!

What We Forget to Do to God

        We pray to God, praise him, thank him, and serve him diligently, but we often forget to rest ourselves in him, which is equally important.

Most-Pleasing-to-God Prayer

        May your will be accomplished in us and through us.        

**Our Only Resort

        At troubled times like these today, the only resort for us is to enter even deeper into our Lord. In fact, this is what we should always do. The only way to achieve that is to surrender or abandon ourselves to him even more.

***No Prejudging Others

        Because the window installer came, I had to skip morning Mass. Nevertheless, I looked up the Gospel reading for today from Luke 7. Jesus said to the crowds, "For John the Baptist came neither eating food or drinking wine, and you said, 'He is possessed by a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said, 'Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'" This is prejudging others, worse than judging! We are the same today. We rarely remain open-minded, making up our mind about whom we like and whom we hate before knowing all the facts. This is not the way the Lord sees us. In Matthew 5.37, Jesus taught, "Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes" and your 'No" mean 'No.' Anything more is from the evil one." Let's be genuine and honest to ourselves; let's be like Jesus.

*Surprise in Seeking Union with God

        I mentioned that a pair of metal French doors that open up to the outside deck area from the family room at my home just would not close. It must have been the hot weather that caused the door bottoms to scape the threshold. An installer I contacted weeks ago finally showed up this morning. I thought he would surely lower the threshold somehow or grind the door bottoms. To my amazement, he sized up the situation and decided to shim up the door frames at the top, forcing the rectangular frame to be out of square, just enough to clear the door of the threshold at the bottom. It was a surprising solution that worked perfectly. Again, my thought turned to seeking union with God. There is no surprising approach here. Submitting yourself directly to God is the only way. The surprise comes from how God can truly fulfill your desire and make your life exciting.

***Shocking New Teaching!***

        When I first heard that Pope Francis asked us all to obey the United Nations, I couldn't believe it! I really would have liked to hear him say that we should obey Christ our Lord. Now I came across this new video by Mother Miriam who has always inspired me ever since I heard her telling her conversion story many years ago. At the time, she was Rosalind Moss before becoming a nun. The headline of this video is "Pope's proposal for 'new humanism' would 'wipe out Christianity.'" I watched the video and was appalled. This is the message all faithful Catholics should hear. Yes, it's time to prepare ourselves for persecution or even martyrdom! Here is the video. (Since Mother Miriam answers email questions in the second part of this presentation, you only need to watch the first 26 minutes of it.)

**Time to Be Somber

        Reading my church bulletin, I saw one neighboring church announcing its coming Annual Multi-Vendor Sale of crafts, food, and gently used items, and another local retreat center publicizing its Annual Autumn Splendor Gala on the theme "A Night in Venice." All these fundraising events are fine, except I can't help thinking about all the somber, tragic events happenings around the world such as the continuing murdering of the unborn, the infiltration of Satan into all levels of our societies and governments, the failure of the Church to lead and teach the faithful causing vast numbers of Catholics to leave the Church and division within . . . and more. It is the time to pray together, repent, fast, make amends. It is already late! Always remember that Jesus will come at an our we do not expect. 

Fulfilled and Completed

        Communion experience. More than joy, I felt fulfillment in the Lord and being completed by him.

*To Know Yourself

        To know your ego is to know yourself.

*In God's Hands

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 7, As Jesus drew near to the city Nain, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her and said to her, "Do not weep." He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearer halted, and he said, "Young man, I tell you, arise!" The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. I know that my own life is completely in the Lord's good hands too.

**Most Important Call

        Normally, we don't see any rain until November here, so it was a big surprise when I came out of my church this morning after Mass that the skies had turned grey and a relatively heavy rain was pouring down from above. The earlier sunny vision had turned gloomy, and I thought of the the metal door that lead to the outside deck area at home which I couldn't close, due to expansion caused by the heat. Then I thought if Jesus were to ask me to go to him right then, I would let the gloomy weather and the door that wouldn't close go and happily comply with the Lord without hesitation.

**Receiving the Greatest Gift

        Communion experience. I was still on earth, yet I was receiving the bread of heaven that came down from heaven!

A Simple Question

        You know you are a sinner and God died for you to save your soul—how can you not trust in him?

*With Mathematical Certainty

        For anything we do for the love of God, we will be rewarded by him. If we stand by the Lord through thick and thin, we will eat and drink at his table in the end. These are as certain as 2 + 2 = 4.

Is God in charge?

        If you believe that God is not in complete charge of all things, then there's no point in believing in him at all! If you believe that God is in complete charge of all things, then you have no choice but to trust and obey him in all things.

**Keep Heaven Rejoicing

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 15, Jesus said to the Pharisees and scribes, "There will be great rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents." When you repent, you soul is saved. Heaven rejoices because the love of God has triumphed. So you must first repent to be saved. After that, you can make heaven rejoice once more. This time you surrender to God to be one with him. Heaven rejoices again, for you have fulfilled the Lord's most ardent desire.

**There'll Always Be Unresolved Problems

        I used to bring the Blessed Sacrament to the homebound in my parish who could not attend church for Mass. I got to talk to them about their faith, family, etc., and found out that they all had problems within their family. My own family is the same. I realize now that life is facing all kinds of problems and we'll certainly be leaving this world with many of them still unresolved. Therefore, concentrate on surrendering yourself to God to become holy—this you can actually achieve in your lifetime! Do this and let the unresolved problems go. For we are meant to live for God alone.

**Best Use of Life*

        See life as a learning process, during which we let the Lord God teach us to be perfect.

*No Unknowns with God

        Without the Lord, heading into the future is heading into the unknown. Not what I would want to do. Call me chicken if you like, but I'll be a smart one. With Christ, even though I do not know all the details, I know that heading into the future will be a most delightful adventure leading to my eternal home with God.                   

**Letting No One Bother You

        If you are bothered when people do not understand you, you still have too much pride. When they are the ones who are closest to you, it becomes even more difficult to remain calm. Know that what others think about you doesn't matter. They don't understand you because they are not all-knowing like God. Only what God thinks about you matters. Since God always understands us, we only need to be concerned about not sinning. Therefore, never mind the others and focus upon being holy yourself. Then no one, not even God, can bother you anymore.

Conscience as Spiritual Indicator

       When you totally let God be your God, you'll develop a super sharp conscience. On the other hand, if you play God yourself, you'll end up with a dull, muddy conscience. Therefore, your conscience is a good indicator of your spiritual condition.

***Our Greatest Blessing

        Knowing that we are sinners and finding Christ to be our Savior.        

Heaven and Earth Bridged

        Communion experience. The Most Holy unites with a most wretched sinner, and heaven and earth are now bridged.

***Our Greatest Loss:

not possessing Christ. Life is precious precisely because it provides a window for us to possess him.

*Proven Sinners

        When we experience great joy after we repent of our sins and know that we are forgiven by God, it is ample evidence that we are sinners and sin enslaves us and God can liberate us from sin.

*Feeling Extra Sorry for Ourselves

        Following my last post "Brood of Vipers Within the Church," I started to think that all sins offend the Lord, but if his own people, believers, sin against him, how much more they must hurt him! We are all more affected by those close to us than by strangers. Therefore, as Christians, while we feel sorry for others who offend the Lord, we should feel extra sorry for our own transgressions.

**No More Unfinished Business*

        In life, there are always things for us to do. When we die, we'll just have to let the many unfinished things go. But it would be nice to know that we have done all we need to have done when we depart from this world, so that we can leave in peace. This is possible if we always do what God wants us to do, not what we want to do. When the Lord calls, we know that we've accomplished everything we need to have done for him.

*Compelling Mercy

        Communion experience. Before we received the Lord, we all recited "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under our roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed." I didn't feel I was worthy, but the Lord entered anyway and healed my soul. 

***Looking at Yourself First!

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 6, Jesus asked his disciples, "Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?" We all have this blind spot—we just don't see our own faults first. Just wonder how many of us still examine our own conscience daily. Holiness must start with each one of us. Seeking union with God is precisely trying to perfect ourselves first.

***Taking Care of Your Eternity

        We can only do so much to keep our body healthy, as it unavoidably ages and deteriorates toward death. As far as our mental health is concerned, it is affected by both our spiritual outlook and our physical health. When we develop some form of dementia, we become quite helpless. But the great news is that we can attain maximum spiritual health by becoming holy and one with God. I'd say, let the body and mind go and take care of you spirit foremost and you won't have anything to worry about for all eternity!

**Sin Stinks*

        We sin because we want to feel good selfishly. It is absolutely foolish to feel good temporarily and lose your inner peace for having offended God. Know that when you lose that peace, you lose God. So think twice before you sin. Better yet, don't even give sin a chance. Again, be one with the Lord to remain holy.

*Focus of Mass

        Jesus must be #1 in our life, so we must seek him with all our heart. The focus must be 100% upon the Lord when we worship him at Mass. Anything we see, hear, or do that directs our attention away from him is out of place. We are not at Mass to be entertained, amused, or informed about extraneous things. We must let God draw us closer to him, especially after receiving him in the Holy Eucharist. 

**How God Deals with Us

        In the last two verses of today's reading from Luke 6, Jesus gives us the rule of life. He said, "Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you." In other words, God will deal with us the way we deal with others. If we become like God, then we won't have any problem. Therefore, seek union with him.

**Doing the Impossible with God*

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 6, Jesus said to his disciples: "To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you pray for those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back." I'll stop quoting right here. Do we have to be "insane" to follow the Lord? We know that he must be right. How can we go against the grain like that? Answer: seek union with him to become like him. And he is merciful enough not to test us to the point that we would fail if we truly want to follow him.

Aligned with God

        The Lord God is (1) in front of me, leading and guiding me, (2) right with me, defending and shielding me from any attacks that can harm my soul, and (3) behind me to back me up whenever I need his help.

The Heart and the Will

        To love involves both the heart and the will. The heart wills us to do God's will, but often this can go against our grain. Jesus sacrificing himself for our salvation is our supreme example. Again, nothing is impossible with God. In union with him, you can get all the help you need.

***Our Reason for Living

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 6, Jesus gave the Sermon on the Plain, in which he said, "Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man." This tells me that if we suffer or are being persecuted on account of our Lord, he will bless us! This tells me that we must live, do or go through everything for his sake. Yes, he must be our very reason for living! Seek to attain union with him so that he becomes inseparable from us.

*Christ Our Power Source

        To love God, to kill our ego, to fight temptations . . . to do all these things successfully, the power must come from the heart. And, of course, only God can gain access to our heart to give us that power. Therefore, open up your heart to the Lord.

*God's Justice Will Prevail

        The elite evildoers and hypocrites seem to be able to evade justice in this world. Then since we do not judge as God judges, our justice is never truly just. The good thing is that none of us can ever escape the justice of God in the end. 

**Man Versus God

        This is precisely the cause of mankind's unrest and loss of peace. 

**Cure for Worries and Concerns

        Jesus warned us that when he comes next, "two men will be out in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left" and "two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left." We almost all have loved ones who choose not to follow Christ. Of course, we continue to pray for them, believing that they will turn to the Lord one day. Nevertheless, they place heavy burdens on our hearts in the meantime. This morning I heard Fr. Albert at the Fatima Center ask the question "Happiness of Heaven Lessened by Lost Loved Ones?" on a short two-minute video on YouTube. He concluded that we must know that God's will is our peace. I felt peace after hearing this. Knowing and believing in this can certainly rid us of all our worries and concerns.

*Completing Our Union with God

        Jesus loves us, comes to us, and enters us through the Holy Eucharist. If we love him back, go to him, and enter him through surrendering ourselves to him, then our union with him is complete.