***Time to Wake Up to Hell!

        Another Fr. Mark Goring video. I am not specifically promoting him; I am promoting the messages he gives us because they are timely and true. Both heaven and hell are real; Jesus spoke about them. We'll either end up in heaven or in hell after this life is over, yet I cannot recall hearing them being preached much about from the pulpit of our churches. The word "heaven" might have been mentioned in passing, but hell is treated as if it doesn't even exist. Being politically correctly is absolutely incorrect for Christians, who are supposed to follow and speak for Christ only. Avoiding talking about heaven and hell is being timid, weak, negligent, and foolish; it's trying to avoid the unavoidable. Time to wake up to truth and reality, for souls are at stake!

How's Your Conscience?

        Our built-in conscience acts like a guide. Whenever we do something that's not good, we feel it. In worst cases, we can lose our sleep. In mild cases, we try to ignore it. But God still knows. If the conscience is not maintained well, it gets dull and becomes finally muddy. Now you can be in danger of losing your soul. Always take care of your conscience by keeping it clean and sharp so that you may be blameless before God, and you'll have peace.

*How Not to Judge

        When the Lord tells us not to judge, we are not to judge ourselves either. We are not even to think about how good or bad we are—we just do our best to obey the Lord in all things and leave all outcome to him. 

***The Illumination of Conscience Warning***

        I've read about the Illumination of Conscience that has been prophesied by many to happen to us. It will be an act of God's great mercy to make us see our spiritual state as he sees it. I knew that as long as I were prepared, I would be fine. Then after reading about and watching this video by Christine Watkins on this Warning in the newsletter from Daughters of Mary, Mother of Israel's Hope, I realized that I must spread this message to help others prepare themselves too.  Please watch the entire video, as it could make all the difference to your soul!

***Testimony You Must Hear***

        I must have posted Fr. Mark Goring's videos close to twenty times because he is filled with the Holy Spirit and I understand exactly how he feels about Christ. I have heard many testimonies, but his I've just listened to has to be one of the best. Put whatever you're doing aside and listen to his story, for it can make your life new too. Jesus is to be experienced and enjoyed!

***Church's Great Negligence

        These are sad days for the Church as many Catholics no longer believe that the Holy Eucharist is truly the body and blood of Jesus. It is most urgent that the Church authorities should do their utmost to inform and reeducate their flocks of the truth. Sadly, I see only complacency. If this problem is not corrected, the Church will surely decline further and we'll all have to answer to the Lord. It's so sad to see Catholics leaving the Church, not aware that they are going to miss receiving the most precious heavenly gift from God! I am glad that Fr. Mark Goring just put out this video to tell us how important it is to believe in and receive the Holy Eucharist.

***Union with God Achieved!

        In today's Gospel reading from John 6, Jesus says (verse 56): "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My Blood, remans in me and I in him." To remain in each other is to be one. (If A < B and B < A, then A = B. A mathematical certainty.) It is clear to me that if you truly believe that the Holy Eucharist is the true body and blood of Christ and partake of it, then you and he become one. Union with God is achieved!

**Our Omniscient Lord

        In today's first reading from Acts 9, we hear the conversion of Saul. Saul was persecuting the disciples of Christ horribly and Jesus stopped him in the track and asked him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Read the first 20 verses to to get the whole beautiful story. When you persecute the Lord, he knows. So if you are good to him but do not hear him speak to you audibly, you can be sure that he knows too. The Lord knows every thought we think, ever word we utter, every deed we perform, and more. Do you feel good about this? If you don't, then you definitely have things to hide, not good. If you are glad that the Lords knows all about you, it shows that you trust in him totally, a great sign.

**We Need a Mother

        Traditionally, the Church has set aside the month of May to honor our Blessed Mother, Mary, the mother of the Son of God, who is God. Each one of us needs a good mother; this is how God has made us, and Jesus has given us her own mother from the cross. I am going to let Fr. Mark Goring tell you how we all need to invite Mary into our home in the video he posted today.

***Solution to All Problems

        Evil has infiltrated the world. It has specifically infiltrated the Church, sowing confusion and discord. But we know that the Church of our Lord will prevail in the end, so she is being chastised and pruned now. Also, it could be that end times are near. No matter what, each of us who follow Christ is being tested. We must never abandon the Church and must seek refuge in the Lord more than ever. This is the best time to go deep into our God. All the more we need to seek union with him. It is the solution to all our problems: to become holy ourselves. 

**Last Thought of This Month**

        Before this month of April ends in about 30 minutes, I want to end on a high note. There is not a thing in this world we can hold onto, ourselves included, but there is the God of Christ we can hold onto forever. This alone is enough to make life worth living and us rejoice!

***Going to Heaven Made Easy

        If you follow God's will, it will be done. To wish to go to heaven is precisely what God wills for you, so keeping his word and you'll be there for sure. The gate that leads to life may be narrow, but the more you yield to God, the wider it opens up for you. And when you submit yourself to him completely, it vanishes altogether. In sum, how easy your journey to God is depends entirely upon how willing you are to let him carry you.

**Simple and Beautiful Truths

        In today's Gospel reading from John 6, Jesus said, "Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the the one who sent me. And this is the will of he one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day." 

      These sayings reveal some important truths. (1) Jesus did come down from heaven and is the Son of God. (2) When God calls us, we cannot possibly be rejected by him. God calls you only because he wants to save you! If you hear his call and go to him, you are "in." (3) "Everyone who believes in the Son has eternal life"—these nine words are all one needs to know to live on forever in paradise!

**World in Chaos

        Today is the memorial of St. Catherine of Sienna. Reading 1 from Acts 8 tells about the persecution of the Church, scattering all followers except the Apostles throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria. Our world is in chaos today too. In this country alone, so many voices are out there attacking others nonstop. You can't even get everyone together to agree on loving our own country, let alone believing in one God. Without faith in the one God of Christ, the world will sadly remain in chaos until the Second Coming of the Lord. 

**Jesus Our Life

        In today's Gospel reading from John 6, Jesus said to the crowd, "The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." Again, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst." I see that that Jesus had prefigured the Holy Eucharist here. As our Lord and our God, he is truly the only one who can satisfy our spiritual hunger and quench our spiritual thirst. Go to him and believe in him, and your are set for eternity. 

***Follow God, Not Your Own Grain

        In today's reading 1 from Acts 7, as Stephen was stoned to death at the feet of Saul (Paul), he called out, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he fell to his knees and cried in a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them"; and when he said this, he fell asleep. Now Saul was consenting to his execution. We sometimes don't mind openly or secretly that the people we consider bad or just plain don't like would meet some tragic end. But wishing ill of anyone is a sin, for God loves us all! Also, in so wishing, you have judged them. Instead, we should pray for our "enemies" as St. Stephen did. Ask the Lord to crush all evil but save all souls.

**Our Biggest Oversight

        We take good care of our own home, our properties, possessions, family, health, the business we own or the job we hold, our retirement, even our own funeral. How ironic that we hardly think about taking care of our soul!

**When Losing Peace Is Justifiable

        People get upset or lose peace over so many things. Know that we ourselves are not perfect, cannot be in control of all things, and are living in an imperfect sinful world. Besides, who are we to think that we should always be in control and have our ways? As Christians, God should be our only Lord. In any case, getting upset or losing peace is justifiable only if you know you might not make heaven.

*God Makes It Simple for Us

        In today's Gospel reading from John 6, people asked Jesus, "What can we do to accomplish the works of God?" He answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in the one he sent." God has made it simple and straight for us—we only need to believe in Jesus. It's the very opposite of taking an obstacle course. With faith, we can simply accomplish anything in his name.

*Progression of the Spiritual Life

        All journeys start out with the love of God. It is through this love that faith is born. As our faith deepens, we receive greater power and fire, and increasingly experience freedom, peace, and joy.

*One Reason We Need God

        Without God, we behave like little kids with no good sense, messing up things. With God, we acquire good sense, cleaning up the mess and putting our life in order.. 

***Criterion for Salvation

        We are not saved by how good we feel about ourselves. Instead, we are saved by how we good we feel about Jesus.

**Getting Around Surrendering to God

        If you don't surrender yourself to God just because you don't like to hear the word "surrender," there are other ways. Beg God to have mercy on you, meaning it from your very heart, or open yourself up completely to him, and you shall accomplish the same thing.

**To Be Freed from the World

        The Smithsonian Channel has produced the TV series Aerial America showing how each state looks from the air. As you watch the episodes, you also learn about the various historical landmarks and well-known buildings and homes. I came away with a picture that people in the past fought wars, built forts, started businesses, became big and constructed huge homes . . . in general, laboring away the whole time on earth. This is like living on a plane and never getting up into space. If we can connect with God, then we are lifted out of the two-dimensional space into the third dimension. This is the move the wise make to be freed from this mundane world for ever.

***Anatomy of the Spiritual Journey

        Our ultimate goal is to become one with God. The greatest obstacle in my spiritual journey turns out to be ourselves. For we wish to be our own god and not want anyone else to restrict or control us, not realizing that God knows us thoroughly and is the only one who can free me from the enslavement we have imposed upon ourselves. Eventually, we know that we need God, but yielding ourselves to him is no easy task. The truth is that more you get out of God's way, the closer you become to him! I can also say that the more you let go in him, the more he is going to carry you to make your journey easy. When you surrender yourself completely to God, you become one with him and you are finally free! Following him is now effortless and a joy. The world no longer has any power over you, for you belong to him and are heaven bound. To all of you who are journeying toward the Lord, do not ever get discouraged. Know that every time you give up some of your control to him, your journey becomes easier. 

***Clearing Everything with God

        You want to be receptive to God so that you may see clearly what he wishes you to do for his glory. If there are other things you want to do on your own, you should also clear them with him to see that doing them is also for his glory. This is the harder part. It means you must abandon yourself totally to the Lord. But if you can do that, you'll experience immense freedom and peace and know that you've done the right thing. Again, this is how God has made us. 

**Our Smart Role

        I am thinking about how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. After he received word saying that Lazarus was ill, he did not rush to him, knowing that the illness was not to end in death, but was for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified through it. He remained for two days where he was. Knowing that Lazarus had now died, he and his disciples left for Bethany, the village Lazarus was from. By then, Lazarus had been dead for four days. The two sisters of Lazarus, Martha and Mary, both said to Jesus, "If you had been here, my brother would not have died." Jesus ordered to have the stone that lay across the opening of the tomb removed and cried out in a loud vice, "Lazarus, come out!" The man came out. 

      The lesson I learned is that God knows what he is doing and is always a step ahead of us. So we can confidently follow him in contentment, watching his glory unfold.

***God Our Brilliant Judge*

        Ir occurs to me that how God will judge us is absolutely brilliant. You see, we are all given our free will so that how we deal with others determines how God will deal with us. You might say that he lets us set our own standards. He will forgive us the way we forgive others. How we judge others will determine how he is going to judge us. If we do not acknowledge him, he will not acknowledge us later either. If we reject him, we'll only get ourselves rejected by him. The is a totally fair system that makes us responsible for our choices. We can't complain about it. But there is one provision there that favors us: we can repent and reset our standards anytime to make sure we'll be well treated by the Lord. 

***The Holy Eucharist Is Holy!***

        Anyone who allows the Holy Eucharist, the Most Blessed Sacrament, to be profaned, will have to answer to the Lord one day. Fr. Mark Goring's video today makes the point.

God Our Only Judge

        Evildoers would think that good is bad and evil is good. But even if we follow the Lord faithfully, we can be wrong too, as human judgment is not always reliable. In recent news, some people think one public official is a good person, while others believe that he cannot be trusted. Who's right? We are not sure, since we don't see what's truly in his heart. Only the Lord God who knows all truths is qualified to judge both the good and the bad.

**To Make the World Beautiful to God

        We know that God's thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are our ways his ways. (Isaiah 55.8.) We also know that God sees what's in our heart and we don't. I had traveled and seen many buildings that were beautiful and magnificent, and some cities were full of them. They could be cathedrals, palaces, museums, hotels, business centers, shopping malls, etc. Since I couldn't look inside people's hearts, everything looked good. If I could have seen as God sees, I would have been most likely shocked and never want to look at people (and myself) again. But we do know what's in our own heart. So if we can all make our own heart clean and pure, we'll have a truly beautiful world in God's eyes.

**Living-the-Truth Test

        In today's Gospel reading from John 3, the Apostle wrote: "This is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God." So I can say that if you have no hesitation in sharing all that's in your heart with God, then you have been living the truth.  

***Some Union Benefits

        Union with God liberates you. You know it when your tendency to sin is gone. While evildoers always scheme and plot to sin, you simply try to do good every present moment. You also experience peace because your thoughts are clean and you no longer think about anything that pulls you away from God. You find all trivial, mundane, phony, impure, worldly thoughts boring or even sickening, for you have seen or experienced the beauty, purity, and holiness of God. 

***The End of Journey***

        Last night I watched the documentary Footprints: The Path of Your Life on Netflix. It's about ten young men from Arizona following their parish priest, Fr. Sergio of Spain, to walk the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain. It's a grueling 500-mile journey that took 40 days to complete. This ancient path has been traveled by pilgrims for centuries. The destination is the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral where the remains of the Apostle St. James is believed to have been buried. Anyway, the hikers went through pouring rain, suffered physical pain, lost their way, but also witnessed beautiful inspiring landscapes. More importantly, they all came to learn more about themselves and what they should focus upon, became motivated, and were drawn closer to God. Such an experience can definitely benefit most city dwellers who are so tied up with and weighed down by the affairs of the world. Again, I'd like to add that once you have attained union with God, he shall be dwelling within you, keeping you refreshed and inspired. You have now reached the end of your spiritual journey, for you have captured the Lord! Whatever that's beautiful or inspiring you wish to experience, you now find it right there in your God.

***Dream Union Awaiting*

       Our Lord is a personal God, but it takes two to tango. We must at least be open to him to keep a relationship. When we open up completely to him in humble submission, God and us become united as one and we experience liberation, peace, and joy! The Holy Eucharist serves as the catalyst and the seal. This is the dream union every human being should be in, the thrust of this blog. And God's invitation is always there while you are in exile on earth.

*Discovering the Messiah

        Here is another good story from ONE FOR ISRAEL Ministry. It's typical of someone who never understood Jesus and woke up one day. God is always calling us and we need to leave ourselves open a crack to let the Lord in to lead us to him. 

**Don't Commit Suicide

        If you reject Christ as your Savior, it's no different from committing suicide. In either case, you end up condemning yourself. Accept Christ the author of life to have life and have it abundantly. He will fill you with more life and hope than ever, leading you to eternal salvation! That's why we call it the gospel, the good news. It's in reality the most fantastic, incredible news!

**To Be Born from Above

        In today's Gospel reading from John 3, Jesus explained to Nicodemus how one must be born from above: "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born of water and spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." I now fully understand why the Lord is more real than anyone I see on earth, and I feel his presence and know that he dwells in me. If you ask me how I know all this, all I can say is that if you'd been born from above, you'd know it too. Know God first and you'll have no more questions.

***Averting Tragic Ending of Life

        If you feel depressed, down-hearted, discouraged, that your heart is heavy, that life is empty . . . it's God letting you know that you need him. This is how he has made us! Only he can truly satisfy us and make us happy. Life is temporal and we need to secure our eternal existence to be happy forever. You need to wake up and get in touch with the Lord of Christ, your Savior, who is readily accessible. Cry out to him from your heart and he hears you instantly. By the way, two of my friends who were outwardly very successful had committed suicide; the news shocked me. How I wish that they had known Christ and realized that life in him could be such a joy! It's like you are drowning and not aware that the life boat is right there in front of you. So, to avert any tragic ending of your life, get in touch with Christ the Lord of love and mercy and submit yourself to him if you haven't yet. It would be not only tragic, but also extremely foolish, to let your own pride kill you.

***Shroud of Turin

        God is brilliant!

***Post #10,000 Advice

        On this Divine Mercy Sunday, I hit post #10,000. I started blogging in September 2009, just wanting to get my conversion story out. That didn't take long. After I finished telling it, there were a few more spiritual thoughts and I posted them as well. So from September to December that first year I posted just 24 times. And nothing came to my mind until June of next year, 2010. Thoughts started to pop up in my mind and I duly posted them, never believing that this would continue on too long. But it did continue on and I got the feeling that the Lord was up to something. So I asked him about it, and it became clear the following year in 2011 that I was to spread the message that he desires to draw all to union with him through the Holy Eucharist. As I continued posting, I also realized that he was shaping and molding me too through the teachings I received. It never would have been possible for me to say much about loving God and becoming holy on my own in the days preceding the blog. And the fact that for the last 10 years or so I've never had to think about what to blog next only shows that it's all God's doing. So how much longer I shall go on blogging, I don't know and am not concerned about it. I only wish more and more people will realize that to become one with the Lord is his highest calling for all of us and we can all become saints, for everything is possible with him. The Lord is ready to give you more and more, for he loves to bless you. Say yes to him and your journey will become a great joy. Say no and you'll find it laborious. Wise up to let him carry you all the way to heaven!  

To Trust in God's Mercy Is . . .

to abandon yourself in him.

***One Thing We Must Do!

        It's Divine Mercy Sunday. I rejoice that the Lords's mercy is so great that a sinner like me can get to go to heaven to be with him forever! To trust in the Lord is to trust in his mercy. So the foremost important thing for us to do in this life is to get all our sins forgiven by God. If this is not done, don't waste time thinking about heaven.

***Divine Mercy Sunday Graces***

        Tomorrow April 19 is Divine Mercy Sunday. Jesus has made this fantastic promise to us through St. Faustina. So take advantage of it! Don't forget to pray for graces for all those you love also. 

***Most Joyful Moment!

       In today's Gospel reading from John 21, Jesus appeared to seven of his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. Peter, John, and the other disciples went fishing. All night they caught nothing. When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, "Children, have you caught anything to eat?" They answered him, "No." So he said to them, "Cast the net over the right side of he boat and you will find something." So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish. So John recognized that it was Jesus and said to Peter,"It is the Lord." When Peter heard it, he jumped into the sea and swan toward Jesus.

         It is a most joyful moment to recognize that it is the Lord. You don't need to see him; you can just hear him speaking to you and know that it's his voice or see something happening and know that it's his doing. In fact, everything has to do with him and should be a joy to us! It is absolutely fine for us to love him for giving us so much joy.

**Our Only Savior

        In today's first reading from Acts 4, Peter and John were speaking to the people in Jerusalem, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. The priests, the temple guard, and the Sadducees confronted them and put them in custody. The next day they brought them before the leaders, elders, and scribes, with all the high priests present. Peter, filled with Holy Spirit, answered their questions first and then boldly proclaimed about Jesus, "There is no salvation through anyone else nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved." I totally agree with Peter. If you do not agree and definitely know of someone who can do a better job of saving us than Jesus, feel free to let me know.

*A Spiritual Illumination

      Here is a beautiful 10-minute testimony you may enjoy watching.

**Illumination of Conscience

        I watched Fr. Goring's new video on YouTube today. I also feel that we need a spiritual illumination to secure our salvation. It is possible that we hear the gospel preached so many times or have had a Christian upbringing all along, but are never acutely aware that Christ is our one and only Savior, that we need to love and serve him alone, and that we would be absolutely lost without him! You probably agree with me here, but it really should hit you like a private revelation!
         Here's the video:

**To Be Somebody Holy*

        An Italian was asked about the difference between those who buy Ferraris and those who buy Lamborghinis. He said that those who choose the Ferrari all want to become somebody, while those who favor the Lambo know that if they own one, they are somebody. Now I can tell you that if you want to become somebody holy, there are plenty of things you can find to aid you. But if want to be somebody holy, you only need to "own" Jesus, for he can make you to be just like him.

**The Living Bread

        In the Gospel reading from Luke 24, Jesus appeared to two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus after his Resurrection. They did not recognize him until he broke the bread at the table later in the evening. When the priest breaks the bread during the liturgy of the Eucharist at Mass, we must also recognize that it is the Lord breaking himself to feed us. This is the living bread from heaven that gives us eternal life and we must be grateful for and treasure this most precious gift.