**Power of God's Holiness

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 1, when a man with an unclean spirit saw Jesus, he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!" Jesus rebuked him and said, "Quiet! Come out of him!" The unclean spirit convulsed him and with a loud cry came out. I see the power of God's holiness at work here. When we become one with the Lord, this power makes us holy, and fearless, shielding us from all evil. Let's use this power in loving and evangelizing others too.

*Obeying the Lord in All Things*

        It is super easy to follow the flesh and not God. For example, I came across an interesting TV show with many episodes. After I watched the first episode, my flesh urged me to go on and watch the next one, while the Lord let me know that it's time for blogging. The voice of the Spirit is always gentle, so we must learn to discern and listen carefully. Our goal should be to obey the Lord in all things at all times; as John the Baptist, pointing to Jesus, said, "He must increase; I must decrease."

Making It the Right Way

        People look at someone who has become rich and famous and say that he has made it, but I don't necessarily agree. What if he won't make it to heaven? Besides, if the person others admire is not even holy, what does that say about them? Jesus came to give us life—not to make us rich and famous. Obviously, to have life is to have life for all eternity. Let's make it the right way, not according to the ways of the world.

**Advice on Sinning

        Sometimes we sin and hurt ourselves only; at other times we sin and hurt others too. Then our sin can cause others to sin also or hurt them to the extent you can't possibly make amends, making you feel bad. Now, let's think fundamentally. Every time we sin, no matter what sin it is, what the cause was, and what its consequences are or will be, we hurt our Lord badly. Therefore, do not ever sin and you do not have to be concerned about all the implications of your sin.

**Fair Exchange

        Communion experience. The Lord even let me consume him, how could I not let him have all of me?

**Great to Be in God

        When we are in God or God is in us, we become pure in every way: pure in thoughts, words, deeds, our motivation, our love, etc. This is why being in God makes us feel so good. (He has made us this way.)

***Be Filled with God

        The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Joy! Anyone filled with the Holy Spirit can't help being on fire with great zeal for the Lord God. Without the Holy Spirit, we would appear to be rather depressing or pitiable. To be filled with the Holy Spirit is to submit yourself fully to the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity. Anyway, whether it be the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit, it is total submission to God that sets you free. Anyone or anything other than God can only enslave us. This is the spiritual warfare we're involved in. Be filled with God and you are saved and safe. Otherwise, you are lost and lose.

*Keeping Our Conscience Clean

        We are given a conscience by God, but that conscience gets muddy as we continue sinning, "trapped" in this secular world in which evil is real! To get our conscience cleansed and restored so that we can see clearly what's good and what's evil, we need to go to God from whom we received our conscience. A super sharp, clean conscience protects us from sinning, thus preserving our inner peace. The worst feeling is knowing that we have offended the One who loves us the most. Remain in union with the Lord is the best way to keep our conscience pristine. 

*What True Love Demands

        Do you really love someone (yourself)? If you think only about getting a good education, finding a good job, having good health, making money, seeking material comfort . . . do you think you can make your loved one truly happy? I think you know the answer, but you still hope that you can, as you do not know anything better. This is the common situation I see. If you truly love someone, whether it be your father or mother, your brother or sister, your own son or daughter, your good friend or yourself, you would want that person to be truly happy forever! Eternity is real and earthly existence only transitory. To truly love someone is to make sure that the person (yourself) will be happy forever, not just to seek only pseudo happiness on this earth. 

***God Calling and Waiting

        If Jesus bugs you in any way, it only shows that you are running away from him, that you need him, and that he is calling you. Solid proof: If you turn to him, go to him, become totally reconciled with him, you experience freedom, peace, and joy you never had before.

God Fills My Cup

        Communion experience. My cup overflows (Psalms 23.5). I love the Lord overwhelming me with his love!

**"Take Our Hearts, O Lord"

        At Mass, after the Eucharist Prayer is said, the priest asks us to lift up our hearts, and we respond by saying "We lift them up to the Lord." It's easy to picture that I take my heart, place it in my hand, and offer it to God. Then I thought it'd be more "appropriate" to just let the Lord take my heart and do whatever he wishes with it. That is, our hearts belong to him now.

**Godly Humility

        Today is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Jesus asked John the Baptist to baptize him. Of course, he is all holy and didn't need to be baptized at all, so it impresses me greatly that he should want to be treated as one of us all sinners. (Later, he also washed the feet of his disciples.) He humbles me, making me love him even more.

**Quest for God

        Let's all remember that our goal is know God, to "capture" him, you might say. That is why we study Scriptures, listen to inspiring talks, read about the saints, meditate upon spiritual things, make our churches beautiful, etc. The risk is that we can become habitual in doing all these things and forget that we can go to the Lord directly for best results. Seriously, you can achieve union with God by opening up yourself entirely to him and through receiving the Holy Eucharist. Once you possess him (or is possessed by him), all other things become secondary. Always know that the means are not your end.

**God Bless All Peoples

        I came across this YouTube video on Afghanistan. The country has been at war for many decades, causing so much suffering to its people. Those who have survived are still doing their best to eke out a living. I saw that the people did not even recognize the American flag, which lead me to believe that they did not really understand what's going on in the outside world. Anyhow, I see the Afghans as a beautiful people and am moved with compassion for them. Surely the Lord God loves them even more. They might not know Christ, but he will surely judge them fairly. If you have some 20 minutes, the video is worth watching.

y

**Communicating with God in Private*

        I am aware of God's presence at all times, for he dwells within me.  Then I am aware of it most acutely when I am half awake and half asleep in the very early morning hours when it's still all dark outside. I am fortunate to live in an area that's very quiet at night. The half asleep state allows me to tune out any disturbance that can possibly come up and the half awake state still allows me to be aware of God's inner presence in me. In those moments, I could sense the Lord hearing every word I utter from the innermost of my heart—it's so satisfying! It is important that we always find time and place to communicate with our Lord and God in private undisturbed.  

**Ultimate Bonding with God*

        Communion experience. Receiving the Lord: what an opportunity to go deep into the Lord! The deeper you enter, the stronger the bond you form with him. When you become one with him, that bond becomes unbreakable! 

***The Way to Freedom

        Abandonment yourself to God is not easy because you know and trust yourself the best and do not know God well or at all. But once you realize that God is your loving Father who loves you with the greatest possible love, you begin to trust in him more and more. Eventually, you come to know that he understands you more than you understand yourself and that he is totally trustworthy. Finally, you fall deeply in love with him and are able to open yourself up completely to him. Now you are spiritually free, experiencing peace and joy. It proves what Jesus said in John 8.32: "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." To summarize, when you abandon yourself to God, you step aside to let God be your God. Now you understand both him and yourself perfectly, and you are free.

*In a Sinking State

        If you are drowning, you would want to grab onto something that does not sink. Yet, as sinners sinking toward hell, we do not readily grab onto Christ, the only one who can save us from sins. It would be tragic not to realize that our sins cause us to sink. 

***Playing Games with God

        Can you imagine that you can play any game with God and win? No way—you'd be so foolish if you even think of trying. Yet this is exactly what many people are doing to God whether they realize it or not. They do not bother to believe in him, and at the same time they do not tell him why they do not believe in him either—they just ignore him as if he does not exist, adding insult to injury.

*Only Fear We Need to Have

        The Gospel reading came from Mark 6. About the fourth watch of the night, the disciples of Jesus far out on the sea saw the Lord walking on the water toward them in the boat. They first thought it was a ghost and were terrified. But Jesus said to them, "Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid!" These consoling, encouraging words we must always remember. If we believe that he is always with us, then we should never have to afraid of anything. If we are still afraid, then we are not perfect in love yet, as John the Apostle wrote in his 1st epistle (see my last post). The only fear we need to have is that we are not in the Lord.

***No Fear in God***

        I was struck most by the last verse of today's first reading from 1 John 4. That's verse 18: There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment, and so one who fears is not yet perfect in love. It's so common sense. To be in love is to be in God, and of course you don't fear anything anymore when you are in God. Now, to be in God perfectly makes him to be one with you, so it is unthinkable that he would want to punish anyone in union with him. Anyway, you can be sure that in God you can achieve anything you want when your aim is to be perfect.

***The Light of Christ

        I see Jesus as our light. This light exposes us as we are. More importantly, it makes us see what is right and what is wrong, what is holy and what is evil, that God is love and that we need salvation and he is our savior. This is the light that illuminates the whole truth to our heart, mind, and soul. We now see the path clearly and are no longer lost.  

**Understanding Mary*

        This beautiful timely message from John-Henry Weston is intended for non-Catholic Christians, but it should benefit many Catholics to hear as well.

**True Wisdom

        Communion experience. The Lord made me see that true wisdom is not knowing how to make a lot of money or figure out some amazing, ingenious design. True wisdom is simply knowing that God has already done the work of saving us from death and we only need to believe and follow Christ to have life eternal.

**God at Work*

        Today's Gospel reading from Mark 6 tells the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus multiplied five loaves of bread and two fish to feed five thousand hungry people. After they ate and were satisfied, they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments and what was left of the fish. Here I see a clear case of God creating something out of thin air, truly awesome!

**To Love As God Loves

        In today's first reading from 1 John 4, the Apostle talks about God's love. We Christians already know that God is love. As for us, we are capable of loving others, but our love is more limited compared to the Lord's unconditional love. If loving others is going to cost us in some way, we become hesitant. To truly love others, we'll need to exercise our free will to accomplish it. Again, I am not a theologian, but I believe it's because we were born with original sin. If we were sinless, we should be able to love as God loves. So what we should do is to offer our free will to the Lord, letting his will replace ours. Then we'll be able to love more perfectly.

**What We Are Meant to Do*

        Today my second son just had his second child, a boy. These thoughts came to me. We were all created by God the Father, so we truly are his children and belong to him. It's clear that we are meant to remain with him. To stray away from him is to be lost, for we live in a dangerous world. Every child born should be offered to the Father for his protection and blessing. Each new life is most precious and important to him. Read what Jesus said in Luke 17.2: "It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin." Therefore, no one should sin and no one should be lost to the Father!

***How to Face Sin

        Let's face it, sin is the biggest problem of our life, for it affects our eternal existence. We should take it most seriously, but at the same time not let it bother us the slightest. How so? The Devil is real and wants you to sin as much as possible, while the Lord God wishes to save us from sin. So, if you go with the Lord, there won't a thing to worry about—he can remove all your sins and even keep you from sinning again. Be one with God and the Devil won't be able to touch you with a mile-long pole. 

**The Sick and the Sane (Our World Today)**

        First, the Sick:

     
        Now the Sane:

**Beware of Consequences of Sin

        The consequences of sin can be irreparable. For example, I criticize my friend Tom before other friends and as a result made them think less of Tom. To restore my friendship with Tom, I could always apologize to him and ask for his forgiveness, but it would be difficult for me to restore the trust the other friends originally had in Tom. An obvious extreme example would be to kill someone and the damage caused now is clearly irreparable. So our best policy is to not sin. And here is where we need God's help to make us holy. 

**Dealing with Our Sins*

        When you get to know Jesus well, the Holy Spirit sharpens your conscience to the point that you become acutely aware of every minute sin you commit. This is the Lord's way of keeping you holy. The loss of inner peace can be painful, for you know you have hurt your relationship with the Lord, now causing him pain. If the sin is minor, you can make amends by reciting the Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner or just Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner. This prayer can be said with each breath you take. Fr. Mark Goring recently talked about it on his YouTube video. As soon as we have sinned, we need to restore our relationship with the Lord. Of course, if the sin committed is grave, you need to go to confession to take care of it. The worst thing is to let your sins pile up until they are sky-high. Now, in this weakened condition, it becomes increasingly difficult for you to want to get rid of them.

*God's Power Channels

        Communion thoughts. God is love and love is the source of his power. When we receive the Lord, we receive his love and become channels of his power.

***Go Straight to God Please

        Nowadays, we do not hear many strong, clear, inspiring messages coming from within the Church. Well, there are always big name speakers yon can hear at various conferences and gatherings, but this is more like getting a onetime spiritual booster shot. What we need to receive constantly is spiritual nourishment. Reading about the great saints is a good way to go, but the best way surprisingly overlooked is going straight to the Lord. After all, Christ is whom we need to know the most, the source of inexhaustible enrichment, and the one who can satisfy all our wants. Therefore, read the four Gospels and open yourself up to him as your most intimate confidant, then you will hear his sweet voice in your heart fulfilling all your spiritual hunger and then some. If you want to know someone, it would be a waste of time to ask others who might not know him that well to tell you about him. Instead, you go straight to the one you want to know. In this case, that one is our Lord, who is ever ready to receive you.

*Messiah of All

        In today's Gospel reading from John 1, Andrew was the first one who followed Jesus. He then told his brother Simon Peter that he had found the Messiah, meaning Christ. The Jewish people had been expecting the Messiah to come for a long time. Even if we do not know anything about any Messiah, we all still have that empty feeling in us, yearning to be fulfilled. But Christ has come, and for all of us who recognize him to be our Messiah, he has fulfilled that void in us and delivered us from sin into freedom. He turns out to the Messiah of all.

*Union Provides Safe Refuge

        Today is the Memorial of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. In the first reading from 1 John 3, the Apostle wrote "Whoever sins belongs to the Devil" and talked about the children of God and the children of the Devil. Here is a "new" perspective. I can see that every time we sin, we join the Devil's forces, and every time we do good, we go on God's side. So we belong to the Devil sometimes and to God other times. Again, I advocate seeking union with God, which will provide you with the best chance of belonging to God at all times.

***What God Wishes to Hear from Us Most***

        It was disobedience that got us banished from God. Since he loves us, it is obedience that will get us reconciled to him again. So what God our Father wishes to hear from us the most is "Father, do whatever you wish with me." If you cannot say it, then you are not perfectly obedient to him yet, putting it mildly.

**To Live Is Not to Have Life*

        Communion antiphon, 1 John 4.9: By this the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his Only Begotten Son into the world so that we might have life through him. We can be living, but not really living since we do not really have life. To have life is to have Christ, who is the life (John 14.6), so that we know we are going to live forever with God. It makes all the difference!

***Being Baptized with the Holy Spirit*

        In today's Gospel reading from John 1, John the Baptist continued to testify to Jesus, saying, "I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from the sky and remain upon him [Jesus]. The one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' Now I have seen and testified that he is the Son of God." I am not a theologian, but I can testify that one way to have your spiritual life vitalized or set afire is to ask the Lord to baptize you with the Holy Spirit. It's simply asking the Lord to help you open up fully to the Holy Spirit so that the Spirit may work freely through you.

**Dealing with Sin*

        From today's first reading from 1 John 2: You know that Jesus Christ was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who remains in him sins; no one who sins has seen him or known him. We have all inherited original sin. And it is sin that robs us of inner peace. We sin when our weak human nature gives in to temptation. If you don't like your sins, then have Christ take them away from you. And he will keep you from sinning again if you remain in him. This problem of sin we must face and resolve before we leave this world.

**Christ Our Only Guide and Hope

        Today's entrance antiphon, Psalms 112.4: A light has risen in the darkness for the upright of heart; the Lord is generous, merciful, and just. Christ is the Light! He shows us how to live so that we might have life forever and all his teachings are based upon love, for he is love. There is no one else like him. Without him, the world will be in complete chaos and disorder. I see him clearly as our only hope. 

**Fusing with the Lord

        Communion experience. When two metals are melted under heat and mixed together, they form one alloy. When the Lord entered me, I let his love melt all of me so that we might become one entity.

**The Real God*

        In today's Gospel reading from John 1, John the Baptist gave his own testimony. Speaking about Jesus, he said, "I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize, the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie." Indeed, our Lord is so holy and high above us that we are not worthy to untie his sandal strap, yet he ardently desires to enter us to be one with us. It is mind-blowing, most moving, and exhilarating to know. He is so far, yet so close; he is almighty, yet most humble. He is our loving Lord.

**Government Oppression*

       I lived in Central California, close to the state capitol of Sacramento. The state is under the control of Democrats and lately, Californians have been moving out of the state in droves. Besides high taxes, deteriorating living conditions in larger cities, etc., I could really feel the oppression of religious freedom in particular. Very clearly, evil forces are at work. This story came out a month ago just before Thanksgiving, but I missed it until yesterday, and I was shocked by it. To find out what it's all about, go on https://www.childrenoftheimmaculateheart.org/, then click on CIH in the News at the top and watch one of the two OAN videos and/or read one of the top two articles. The state government actually considers the Catholic faith "offensive." It's a pity that they don't realize that they are offending the Lord God right now!

*Conquering Emotions

         So it is now 2020. Today, January 1, is as usual the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. Of course, we all hope that the new year will be a better one. Again, those who have Christ always see bright hope ahead, as the spiritual battle between good and evil rages on. 

       My first realization of this year is that we are all governed by our emotions. When they are negative, we lose our inner peace. We get angry, worry, sadden...all because we feel that way. So if we can let God take over our emotions, then we should experience peace. To attain union is the way to give all of yourself to God, your emotions included. When you have the Lord totally, you become stabilized. Now you enjoy deep peace and order. 

Happy 2020!

        I am posting Fr. Mark Goring's sensible and encouraging summary of 2019 to conclude my blogging this year.

     
         Have a most blessed New Year!

***God Drawing Us via Holy Eucharist

        Communion thoughts. I have already received the Lord in the Holy Eucharist many thousand times in my life. Looking back, I wish I had been obedient to him sooner in the past. It is unthinkable that we should receive the Most Blessed Sacrament and not let him draw us a little closer to him each time. What we should do is to let the him form us any way he wishes, then we would become holy in no time. Anyhow, I am grateful that as I receive the Lord daily, he is still drawing me closer to him each time (and I am glad that I still have some time left). When your desire to be one with him supersedes all other desires, you are close enough to him.

***God's Greatest Revelation***

      Today's Gospel reading, the first 18 verses of the Gospel of John, is so profoundly beautiful that anyone who knows Christ would totally understand it, while those who do not know him may not at all. It is fitting that at the end of this year, we read this greatest revelation from God to us. Here are the entire 18 verses:

        

        In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

         A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.  

          He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.

          But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor my a man's decision but of God.  

         And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth.

          John testified to him and cried out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'The one who is coming after me ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.'" From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace, because while the law was given through Moses, grade and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The only-begotten Son, God, who is at the Father's side, has revealed him.

           All I can respond in total submission is "My Lord and my God."

**How To Become Holy*

        If you are determined to find a lost treasure, you must be willing to take the risk that comes with going about finding it. After you find the treasure, you'll be very happy that you took the initiative. Similarly, if you are determined to become holy, you must be willing to abandon yourself completely to God to make it happen. Once you've made the leap of faith, you'll know that you did exactly the right thing. No pain, no gain. No faith, no growth. 

**Another Big Deal*

        Today I prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. That Jesus came to us and underwent agony, physical beating, ridicule, and finally death on a cross is a huge deal! Think about it. He willingly suffered to the extreme, submitted to his sentencing without protest and even asked the Father to forgive those who put him to death. That was not normal from our point of view. But now we know that he did it to save us for all eternity, so it is a big, big deal and we must be grateful and never forget it!