***Church Going Astray

        More shocking news. When the Church is breaking up, something big is going to happen. Let's be extra vigilant, pray, and brace ourselves for possible chastisement from God.

**Greatest Possible Experience

        Communion experience. It is to enjoy the greatest possible friendship and intimacy we can have on earth. 

***To Attain Union with God...

you simply put down all your resistance to him. You go limp, that's it!

Journey to Salvation Summed Up

        Key realizations: (1) We are sinners. (2) We need to get our sins removed. (3) Christ is the Savior. Then we accept Christ as our Lord and follow him. 

*Our Best to Come

        The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all in each other, for they are one as God. This perfect oneness or union has existed from the very beginning (if there ever was one). We become one with God, as we submit ourselves to the Lord completely—it is the union between the creator and his creatures. Due to our sinful nature, it is not perfect, but it's the best we can attain on earth. This union creates an intense longing for God in us, as we yearn to perfect our union with him in heaven. For all faithful Christians, the best is yet to come.

**God Fulfills Our Needs!

       We have all kinds of needs. If they are spiritual, the Lord would most readily fulfill them without fail. After all, our soul has to be his most urgent concern. If you truly wish to be saved from sin, he shall save you. If you truly desire to be holy, he shall turn you into a saint. Have no doubt!

**Warning on Losing Souls!

        Another timely short video from Fr. Goring. I am starting the video at 2:21 for the gist of the message.

***Prerequisite for Loving God

        We are constantly advised or encouraged by others to love God, to trust in him, etc. But if we do not open up to him, there can be no progress. Letting ourselves go in God is the prerequisite here! If I sound like a broken record, please forgive me, for it is the truth. We cannot make ourselves holy, period. If God can make us holy, then let him do it. Depend upon the Lord in all things, always!

**Going Beyond Confession

        It's not good enough to go to confession after you sin, again and again. It just gets tedious and discouraging. You want the Lord to take away your tendency to sin as well! And you can make this happen by letting him take over. You simply surrender yourself to him and he'll make you holy.

***Our Most Precious Soul

        The soul is our most essential, fundamental entity. It was realized by God, given to us, and became everlasting. Remain with God and we'll be everlastingly happy. Stray away from him and we'll be everlastingly miserable. Our mind and heart are here to help us discern and make that choice. We should treasure and safeguard our soul, as it is so loved by and so precious to God our Father and creator.

**About Being Perfect

        There are people who want everything to be done perfectly. Naturally, they are critical of others who are not so perfect by their standards. Of course, it would be nice that everyone or everything is perfect, but that's forgetting that only God is perfect. Such critical people can greatly benefit from realizing that they themselves are imperfect and should strive to perfect themselves first. It's most satisfying and exciting to discover that God can actually make you holier and more perfect. Besides, when you become more perfect, you become more tolerant of others who are not so perfect, and you enjoy more peace. So, perfect yourself first to be perfect. 

***Filled with the Holy Spirit?

        I am showing a Fr. Mark Goring video again. This one was uploaded to YouTube today. I like his messages because he is Spirit-filled and speaks to the point from his heart. Today he hit the nail on the head again. The tragedy is that we know or were at least told that the Holy Spirit dwells in us, but we do not feel his presence and power because we have not surrendered ourselves totally to him yet. So the Holy Spirit is in us, but not yet completely of us, as we still belong at the least partially to the world.

**Free and Secure in the Lord!

        Communion experience. There is absolute security in the Lord. When your soul is secured by him, you are indeed secure. Now you live a God-centered life. You desire to please and glorify him alone, and you are indeed free. There is no better position to be in.

**What Truly Counts

        You can do all the right things, but if your motivation is not pure, you accomplish nothing. So it all comes down to how holy you are, not how you follow all the rules or look right before others. Remember that God only needs to look into your heart and at your soul.

*Better or Worse than We Can Imagine

        In Luke 22.28-30, today's Communion antiphon, Jesus said to his disciples at the Last Supper, "It is you who have stood by me in my trials and I confer a kingdom on you that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom." Stand by the Lord and our reward will be greater than we can possibly imagine. I also know that God is more beautiful and heaven more glorious than we can possibly imagine. Interestingly, accounts by those who died and came back to life reveal that on the other side without the physical body, their senses and awareness became even sharper than ever. Reading the accounts of those who had been given the privilege of seeing hell by God, we can be sure that suffering in hell is also more horrible than we can possibly imagine. Be good and God will surprise you. Be evil and he'll shock you.

*The Ball in Our Court

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 6, Jesus sent the Twelve out to preach repentance. He prepared and instructed them. This he said to them: "Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them." I was struck by it. I see that when Jesus preached to others, he never force it onto them; he simply proclaim the truths and let you make up your mind so that if you believe, you'll have faith. One big mistake unbelievers make is thinking that God should come to them to reveal himself to them or even beg them to believe in him, while their hearts remain closed. They do not realize that you'll find God only if you are humble enough to be willing to go to him first. Christ is ready for us; you either take it or leave it. 

**"Unbelievable" Church Leader

        Pretty shocking story to me. At a time like this, all the more we need to go directly to Jesus and put our trust in him. *To be holy, follow our Lord only. 

**Becoming Heavenly Rich

        Today's Communion experience. I felt what Jesus said in Matthew 13.12: To those who have, more will be given and he will grow rich. The Lord has been blessing me spiritually nonstop, drawing me deeper and deeper into him every time I receive him in the Holy Eucharist. I feel that I am now richer than all the world's richest put together!

***Urgent Need to Be One with God!

        Following posting the video "End Times" yesterday, this new one by Fr. Mark Goring needs to be watched by every Catholic too. It is more urgent than ever that we stand firm to remain as one with the Lord. 

***END TIMES?!***

        If you just attend your parish church, and hear the routine prayers said for the Pope, the bishops, and our Church at Mass, everything appears to be normal. But the truth may be far different from what you think. Here is a video all Catholics must watch, for we may very well be in end times. [You might have heard about the prophesies Saint Malachy (1094-1148) made about the Popes. He started with Pope Celestine II of his time and prophesied about 111 future Popes in succession, covering a total of 112 Popes. Interestingly, Pope Benedict was #111, so could Francis be our last Pope?]  

**The Veil Removed*

        Came across this short video. The comments are also worth reading. They show that the film has made many of them appreciate the Mass and the Holy Eucharist more. May you benefit from watching it too.

***March for Life Around the World

        Encouraging good news!

Trusting in God's Judgment

        Today the Lord made me see that he is the perfect judge, for he has made all of us, knows us through and through, and understands our hearts perfectly. We simply do not meet any of these qualifications and should not judge anyone. Our role is to do our best to pray for others, testify to them what God has done for us, and leave the rest to him who loves us all. To trust in God is to trust in his mercy and judgment.

**To Have Perfect Faith

       Today's Gospel reading from Mark 5 tells about Jairus' daughter and the woman with a hemorrhage. The woman afflicted with hemorrhages had heard about Jesus. She went up behind him in the crowd and touch his cloak, saying to herself, "If I but touch his clothes, I shall be healed." She was immediately healed. Jesus, aware that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who has touched my clothes?" The woman, realizing what had happened, came forward, fell down before Jesus, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction." Let me repeat this part of what Jesus had said: your faith has saved you.

           Jairus was a synagogue official. He came to Jesus to plead with him to save his daughter who was at the point of death. Jesus went off with him. Then the woman with the hemorrhage appeared and interrupted his journey. After curing her, while he was still speaking, people from the house of Jairus arrived and said, "Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?" Disregarding the message, Jesus said to Jairus, "Do not be afraid; just have faith." He did continue on to Jairus' house and raised the girl back to life. The central message of Jesus' saying here is again about faith: Do not be afraid; just have faith. You can say that this is easily said than done, but it is the key to living in God. If your faith is perfect, you would believe in God totally and have no room for fear, anxiety, or worry anymore. The only way to perfect our faith is to let God do it for you, and the only way to let him take over is to surrender yourself completely to him. We just have to go through the Lord!

*Awful Losing-the-Lord Feeling

        I am used to hearing Jesus speaking to me in my heart ever since I started blogging. Last night after I got in bed, he gave me a thought to post. Normally, I would jot down the idea so I won't forget; but this time I was too sleepy and made it a point to post it first thing this morning. Unfortunately, today I can't recall it. This had happened to me once before, and I felt bad about it. Now I again feel I have lost something most personal. From now on, I want to make sure that I do not forget whatever the Lord wishes me to do. Lagging behind in following him can make one feel awful—you almost feel as if you have lost the Lord.

***Choose to Receive Your Reward

        Back in the old days, I could easily count all the models of cars made by GM, Ford, and Chrysler. Today you have countless models made by a great number of companies worldwide, including super expensive and fast cars of which many hope to own one. The thing is driving any of these super cars won't get you a centimeter closer to heaven. (I am not trying to be funny.) Of course, there are many other things in the world that can give us pleasure as well. What I hope is we would not ever hear the Lord say to us "You have already received your reward"! Personally, I'd rather receive any reward coming to me later in heaven. Then heaven itself is already our best possible reward. In any case, reject any reward that does not get you any closer to heaven. If you don't, you may end up receiving all you reward on earth.

***Exciting to Have Found God

        Yesterday I blogged that there is no limit to how holy we can be. The is the same as saying that there is no limit to how close we can get to knowing God, as he is infinite in every way. We can surrender to him as best as we can, but only he can perfect that union. Finding God is exciting enough. Discovering that we can get to know him more and more without end makes it even more exciting!

*Facing Tough Times

        Today's Gospel reading from Mark 4 tells how Jesus calmed a storm at sea. I came home after Mass and saw Fr. Mark Goring's new video "Tough Times Ahead." He applies the lesson he learned from this reading to handling the tough situation the Church has put us in today. 
                                                                                            

**God Making Us Holy

        Communion experience. The soul is even more fundamental than the heart. That the Lord would enter me and heal my soul, making it whole and perfect, was both overwhelming and rewarding. He may not always heal us physically, but he'll always help us spiritually as much as we want him to. Living the spiritual life is exciting precisely because there is no limit to how holy you can be.

**Life Is Worth Living!

        Attended morning Mass today. Another day to live. As always there are various mundane affairs to take care of, but it's another day to live for Christ to store up even more treasures in heaven! And it's also a day closer to seeing my most beloved in heaven face to face. 

**Momentous Moment

        Communion experience. Here I am, a finite creature who is powerless to save himself, placing himself entirely in the hands of the infinite God, his creator and Savior. It is truly a momentous moment when the two become one or solidify their union. 😇😇😇

**Tragic Nonrealizations

1. Most of the world does not realize that we are so loved by God that he sent his only Son to die for us in order to save us from sin. If we are aware that we all are this precious to God, we would want to be less self-centered and treat everyone else with a lot more respect and love.  
2. We do not realize that God desires that we all become saints and that he can make this easily happen if we cooperate.         

         Because of these two nonrealizations, we have turned our world into a mess. 

**The Moment of Knowing God*

        If you open yourself up to the Lord, he shall let you know that he is the one you need, the one in whom to rest forever. Now you truly know him!

**The Union Difference*

        If you and the Lord are not in each other yet and you wish to call on or pray to him, you just go or travel to him somewhere outside of you. And when you expect to hear from him, you expect to hear his voice coming to you externally in some way to reach your heart. But if you are in union with the Lord, you only need to turn to your own heart where he is dwelling to talk to him and hear him speak to you from your heart too. No traveling necessary, great intimacy and honor, and so very cool!     

*Formula for Spiritual Success

        Today's Gospel reading came from Mark 4. I was impressed by verse 25 in which Jesus said to his disciples, "To the one who has, more will be given; from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away." This is a beautiful, simple but profound statement, and it is so true and very cool. The Lord has given the formula for success to us here. It's saying that the spiritually rich will eventually inherit everything, while the spiritually poor will eventually lose everything. It comes down to that if you have God, you have everything, and if you don't, you have nothing. 

*Joy Absent Ego

        Communion experience. The secret interior joy I felt in the Lord was so pure and satisfying, as ego was completely uninvolved. 

***To Be Rich Soil for God's Word

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 4, we heard the parable of the sower. A large crowd gathered around Jesus and he taught them in parables. He said to them that a sower went out to sow, and only the seed that fell on rich soil produced fruit, yielding thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. Later he explained that the sower sows the word and those sown on rich soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit thirty and sixty and a hundredfold. The Lord made me see that the best way to become rich soil to bear fruit for him is to let him enter deep into us, allowing him to plant the seed right within our heart. 

*Serving the Right Master

        When you hear the word "servant," you conjure up someone lowly and without glamour. But it all depends upon the master you serve. If you serve the Devil, I suppose you might gain fame and become glamorous, but in the end you lose even your soul. Then you can serve science and technology, art or music, or money. Certainly we all more or less serve ourselves, as it's so easily done. But all these masters "aim" to enslave us. At the other extreme, you can serve the Lord God. If you remain faithful, he will treat you as a friend or his child, loving and taking care of you forever. So to be a servant is fine, as long as you choose the right master. And there is no better master to serve than your God, the God of Christ.

**No Judging

        We may not like someone, even holding strong opinions about the person. As long as we do not wish ill on that person, there is no judging. 

**Ramifications of Your Sin

      Suppose you drive and hit someone. The worst that could happen would be that the victim is maimed for life. Now suppose that you commit a sin which in turn causes others to fall away from God. This is a lot more serious, as other souls are affected. My point is that think twice before you sin, for you could cause others to fall away from the Lord, making your sin a lot graver than you might think. 

***Another Wakeup Call to Battle

        There are more things that distract us from God than ever. Traveling in some countries abroad, whether you are riding in a subway car or on a street bus, you see most passengers playing a game, watching a show, or communicating with someone on their mobile phone. Back home, people eagerly check out new car models packed with tech features and speculate what the next generation of iPhones will be like. Who would have thought not too long ago that today you can order just about anything (even coffins) from Amazon online and get it delivered to your front door in one or two days? Science and technology have made this world more exciting, but all these material accomplishments have taken our attention away from God, turning God almost into an afterthought. The spiritual warfare continues on and the casualties will be high. To turn the tide, we need to wake up, join the Lord, and fight hard for him. For Christians, it's do-or-die time.

*Belonging to God's Family

        Today is the Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas. In the Gospel reading from Mark 3, Jesus said to the people, "Whoever does the will of my God is my brother and sister and mother." It tells me that doing the will of God supersedes all earthly family relationships and makes us members of his heavenly family. I also see that in God's family, we all become equally God's children. 

**To Receive All God's Gifts for Us

        Before Mass began this morning, I felt great peace in the Lord—such a wonderful way to start the day. Peace is God's precious gift to us. Two others came to my mind—they are wisdom and understanding. Wisdom is knowing what is true and what is false, and understanding is knowing the Lord's will. Of course, there are many other beautiful gifts to us. Naturally, the greatest of all of them is the Lord himself. If we possess him, we possess all his gifts for us as well. All the more we need to seek to attain union with him!

**Most Patient Lord

        Yesterday I blogged about the unforgivable sin. Jesus said all sins and all blasphemies that people utter would be forgiven them—this is pretty amazing that these sins will be forgiven if you repent of them. I see the Lord being forever patient: he is always there, waiting for us to turn to him to say "I am sorry for having offended you" and ready to forgive us and take us back. It's us paying the Lord hardly any attention most of the time vs. him waiting for us to acknowledge his existence all of the time.

***How To Stand Forever

        In today's reading from Mark 3, Jesus also said to the scribes, "How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And it a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand; that is the end of him." Today we have the motto: "United we stand, divided we fall." My thoughts are if we unite ourselves with God by attaining union with him, then we'll gain maximum strength and be able to stand with the Lord forever!

**The Unforgivable Sin*

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 3, the scribes spoke of Jesus as being possessed by Beelzebul and believed that it's by the prince of demons that he drove out demons. Jesus said to them, "Amen, I say to you, all sins and all blasphemies that people utter will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin." Jesus said this, for the scribes had said that he had an unclean spirit. Not to believe in the Lord is one thing; but apparently, to accuse the Holy Lord of being in cahoots with the Evil One is going too far. This is something we should never ever allow to cross our mind. 

*Another Reason to Go to God

        From today's entrance antiphon taken from Psalm 96: In the presence of the LORD are majesty and splendor, strength and honor in his holy place. God's majesty, splendor, power, and grandeur absolutely surpass what we can possibly imagine. We'll have to wait until we see him face to face to get the full impact. Here is one more exciting reason for us to go to him: to see how he truly exceeds all our expectations.

*Beyond Knowing Jesus

        Communion experience. I know that Jesus is exactly the one I need to complete my existence.

One Thing I Am Sure Of

        I am not sure about an infinite number of things, but I am absolutely sure that Christ can save me and take me to heaven. And this is plenty good enough for me.

*Following Your Heart

        We can participate in all kinds of activities to get to know God, but if our heart is not in them, we simply go through the motion and fail to get any closer to God. Again, the fast track to go to the Lord directly to give him your heart. From then on, you'll be with God and only need to follow your heart that belongs to him.