**To Console God

        We worship God, adore God, praise God, and ask for his mercy, but we forget to console him, as the world continues to offend him! Let us amend this by being extra good, obedient, and holy to the Lord. 

*Why Attend Mass?

        Why do I attend Mass daily? To hear a good homily? To hear some good music or singing? To be amidst my brothers and sisters in Christ? The answer to all three questions is no. My only reason for attending Mass is to receive the Lord in the Holy Eucharist so that I may remain as one with him. 

**God Most Wonderful

        In Nazareth, Jesus' native place, he did not perform many mighty deeds because the local people lacked faith in him. Similarly, we do not experience God's wonders if we do not expect much from him. I can tell you that if we put all our faith in the Lord, that is, he becomes totally real to us, we shall never cease to experience his wonders! 

***Responding to God Alone

        In Matthew 7.21, Jesus said to his disciples that only those who do the will of his Father in heaven would enter the kingdom of heaven. To do the will of the Father always is to respond to him alone, making his voice the foremost one in our life. We neither look up to nor down on whatever good counsel we hear from others; we only want to be sure that we do the will of the Lord. This is a fundamental rule to which we must adhere. Last, I must mention that the way to knowing the will of the Father is to know Jesus well, for they are one. 

*Knowing How to Get to Heaven

         Here's an insight I received after taking Holy Communion. It's something pretty obvious. I call it an insight only because it came to me clearly and rather acutely this time. 

           The Lord God knows everything about me, everything. So if I live the best possible life, remaining pure, obeying him always, and doing everything for his glory, I shall surely be rewarded with seeing him in heaven and more. It is all logical, and true. (To be lost is easy; to be saved is not hard if you know God.)

**More Precious than My Soul

        Communion experience. I receive the Holy Eucharist. I realize that it is more precious than anything else, for it's the Lord. In fact, it is even more precious than my own soul, for without the Lord, I would not be able to save my soul.

Our freedom, Peace, and Joy

        We follow Christ and experience freedom, peace, and great joy. These are the gifts which can only come from him. So not only he is the way and the truth and the light (John 14.6), it is equally valid to say that he is our freedom and our peace and our joy.

*Made Ready for Heaven

        Communion experience. Ah, the joy of having your soul healed by the Lord! Now you are made ready for heaven.

**For Fast Spiritual Advancement

        I still remember the time I first came across Thomas à Kempis' spiritual classic The Imitation of Christ. I felt uncomfortable reading it, for spiritually I wasn't there yet! But it's all different now. After knowing Christ the Lord in person so well, who turned out to be the most awe-inspiring being there ever could or would be, nothing "intimidates" me anymore. For to know God is to know all you need to know, and to possess God is to possess everything. 

***God in Action

        The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity, is the God in action. He draws you to him, makes you fall in love and want to be one with God. He speaks to and creates joy in your heart. And, of course, the Holy Spirit sanctifies you and keeps you holy. Yes, he warms your soul and sets your heart afire for God with love. With him dwelling in you, your life becomes most rewarding and exciting. 

**Know God to Know Truth

        "God loves you"—I am sure you have heard this said many times already. But how do you know that it's true, for you do not really feel it? You can rationalize, pointing out the many good things that have happened to you, but you still would like to see some kind of proof. Well, do you ever think that the reason might be that you are not open to God? If the sun is shining brightly outside and you keep your eyes closed inside the house, of course you wouldn't see that it exists. With God, if your heart is wide open and receptive to him, you shall know that he loves you as sure as the sun exists. When God reveals something to you, you'll know that it's true, for God is the truth.

Perfect Match-Up

        Communion experience. I am imperfect. The Lord is exactly whom I need to make me perfect. 

**Prayer Simplified and Refined

        At Mass this morning, I heard "May God give us guidance" said in the Prayer of the Faithful. I thought that if we were not open to God, this would be a wasted prayer. It would be better to pray "May we be open to God's guidance." Best yet, since God always knows what we need, we only need to pray "May we always be open to God." If we are wide open to God, offering no resistance whatsoever to whatever he wants to give us, surely he'll give us exactly what we need. 

**Following the Coolest Person*

        Anyone with a big ego is like a hot air balloon. He is all puffed up looking big, but is only a bag of hot air. The cool person to me is the one who is humble without any ego. Looking at all the humble persons, I must say that Jesus has to be the coolest one. He is God, yet he became a slave to us. Philippians 2.6-8: Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Even though he has all the power, he never ever uses it to showed off. He is the Lord, yet he never forces us to follow him. He simply reveals the truth to us, allowing us to make the decision. How cool that is! This is one big reason I follow and adore him.

**Help Yourself First!

        It's easy to pray for others. In public or at Mass, we pray for the world, our government, our church, our friends, etc. O yes, we also pray for God's blessings on us, but never that we open ourselves up to him or yield to him. Even in private, we rarely do that. Here, ignoring yourself is really being self-centered. In Matthew 7.3, Jesus taught his disciples not to judge others and asked, "Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?" Before praying for others, we should also notice our own shortcomings and imperfections. Since we are most important to God, we should be most important to ourselves too. To change the world, we need to change ourselves first, for the imperfect cannot help the imperfect. Therefore, pray for yourself first for the sake of God and others! When we become perfect, the world becomes perfect. 

*Battle with Ego*

        The ego is our worst enemy. If you do not conquer it, it can even make you lose your soul. (As a note, I'll just mention again that the way to kill the ego effectively is to starve it, with God's help.)

*My Only Lord!

        Communion experience. My soul feels triumphant, victorious, for by the power of Christ, I have conquered my sins and conquered myself. Only the Lord is my lord now. 

**Union with God a Must

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 7, Jesus said to his disciples that what comes out from within a man, from his heart, is what defiles him. As examples, he mentioned evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, Blasphemy, arrogance, and folly. The fact is that God can thoroughly cleanse our heart and keep us holy. That's why seeking union with God is not just a choice, but a must for us. It's getting defiled without God or staying clean with God.

Choice We Make on Earth

        We have many successful business entrepreneurs who have become billionaires today. They are ambitious and they work hard. By their own choice, they have succeeded in their own way in this world. We can also make a choice. Since we are all going to God after our limited time on earth, the wisest choice for me is clearly to follow Christ to store up riches in heaven while on earth. Then our eternity will be secured. This is being foresightful and smart, not to mention the peace and freedom that will accompany you on your way. 

**A Test on Forgiving Others*

        Forgiving others is difficult for most of us, especially if the person who has hurt us is also evil. Nevertheless, God understands that as finite beings, our mercy is also finite. We may wish to forgive an "enemy," yet our feelings may still remain negative. Here is a test for you. If God comes to you to ask for your permission to forgive that enemy of yours, would you say yes or no to the Lord? If you can say and answer yes, you pass the test. (BTW, had you said no, you would have been condemned by God for judging others.) 

**Going Directly for God

        This posting segues from the previous one. We get so many little pieces of advice from so many sources on how to get close to God. If you put all of them down on paper, you'd have a long, long list of do's and don't's. Besides, many of such messages are hardly memorable. So what's the productive way to reach God? Once again, the answer is to surrender yourself to achieve union with God. Then you'll automatically know what you should do and what you should not do, with no need of memorizing anything. So, to reach God, go directly for him.

**Desire Nothing Short of God

        Today's response from Psalm 84: How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord, mighty God. Our dwelling place is really the Lord himself. We want to dwell in him! The second half of today's Communion antiphon from Psalm 107: The Lord satisfies the thirsty soul, and the hungry he fills with good things. Again, it's the Lord himself who satisfies our thirst and hunger. The Holy Eucharist does the job. When we seek union with God, it is to be one with God himself, not the gifts we receive from him. Don't "shortchange" yourself. Go for the Lord God, all of him. Once you have him, you receive all the gifts he has for you as well.   

**Neglect of Our Highest Calling

        We've ignored Christ and are no longer aware of his teaching that to be great, we must serve others (Matthew 20.26). It turns out that to be a lowly servant to others is in fact our highest calling, for he promised that he would exalt all those who humble themselves.

**Secret of Spiritual Growth

        To follow the Lord spiritually, you must get to know him, for it's impossible to grow spiritually if you do not know him. And it is impossible to know him if you do not get close to him. So the way to follow God best is to surrender ourselves to him to become one with him, then we'll know him inside out most intimately.  

*Lost Priorities

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 6, Jesus came to Gennesaret and people immediately recognized him. They scurried about the surrounding country and began to bring in the sick to wherever they heard he was. Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak and be healed. Being human, we all want to be healed physically, but not so much spiritually. When you look at the world today, everyone wants to push their own agenda; they couldn't care less about the will of God. We always get the priorities wrong! No wonder the world is always in a mess.

***Simple and Direct way of Knowing God***

        I just saw a video telling you how to focus on Jesus by reading certain prayers. There are many suggested ways or methods out there. But you cannot beat going straight to the Lord; it's simple and direct. Your goal should be to attain union with God, beyond merely focusing on him. In union, you get all the support you need from the Lord himself, so much superior than reading books, attending conferences . . . in general, learning from someone else. So go heart to heart with God and not let anything stand between you and God, and he will reveal all his thoughts and ways to you. This is the endearing and most efficient way of knowing God. In a way, you don't have to do anything to know him. Like Mary the sister of Martha in Luke 10, just sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to him speak.

***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!