*Our Role in Serving God

        The first Joyful Mystery of today's Rosary, The Annunciation. God sent the angel Gabriel to Mary to tell her that he had chosen her to bear his only Son on earth. We must realize that as God's children, we each are given a role to play too, albeit how we are called may not be so dramatic and what we are asked to do is more ordinary. It's serving God humbly in our assigned role well that makes life meaning and helps him accomplish his plan for our good.

**Ego and Inner Peace

        As long as your ego remains active, you won't have inner peace. If you let God's will override yours, you begin to starve your ego. Once his will and your will become one, you are free and will enjoy inner peace. 

*****Transfiguration Joy

        As I was praying the 4th Luminous Mystery of the Holy Rosary, The Transfiguration of the Lord, this morning, a great joy burst forth from my interior and took complete possession of me. I felt that the Lord totally enveloped me. I didn't know whether I was crying or laughing or both, as I was overwhelmed by it. I recovered only after I finished praying the whole decade. This is so different from experiencing some joy in the world. You feel good for a while and it's forgotten. The joy from heaven comes from the Holy Spirit and makes a permanent impression on your soul. It's not something you can expect or suppress. It overcomes and frees you at the same time. You don't need to see the Lord to know that he is indeed real and personal.

**Jesus the Compelling One

        Go thru the four Gospels to see if you can find a single thing you think Jesus did wrong. You'll find none. On the other hand, if you are open-minded, you'll find so many impressive, amazing things he did showing that he is God and absolutely trustworthy. You must accept or reject him as long as you are still alive on earth. There's no one else as compelling as he, for no one else is God. Reject him and you risk losing your soul. 

**Sign God Dwells in You*

        Follow Jesus faithfully and one day you find yourself no longer worry or complain about anything. Now you know that the Lord dwells comfortably within you.  

***Everything Is Accelerating

         For millennia, the world had remained pretty much the same. Then Industrial Revolution started in the 18th century. Within the last century, the advance in science and technology has truly accelerated. As a result, materialism has pretty much displaced God, accelerating immorality and godlessness. You can be sure that the Second Coming of Christ is also fast approaching. Everything is fast coming to an end. I may not see it in my lifetime, but this is what I feel now.

***Being Nice ≠ Being Saved

        Being a nice person and being one obedient to God are two different things. You can be a very nice guy, even believe in God, but not follow him in every way, and your salvation remains uncertain. On the other hand, you may even be a bad sinner, but despite your failings, you do your best to obey God to become holier, you can be sure that you will receive salvation. In today's world, it's sad to see that there are many who claim that they believe in Christ, but since they think they have figured out how they should live their life, they follow their own ways and go against some of the Lord's teachings. This is a case of overruling God and the consequences can be most severe! Don't forget, with God it must be all or nothing. 

***Finding Peace in Christ

        True permanent inner peace can only come from the God of Christ when you have reconciled yourself completely to him.  There is not another way.  You can consider this to be a natural law, for that's how God has made us.

**We Are Not Unnoticed

         Do we just somehow happen to be born into this world, grow old and die, not knowing what life is all about? The fact is that there is plenty of evidence showing that God exists and that there is a spiritual world which we enter after death. Evidence further shows that those in that world actually see and know what we do on earth. Of course, logically, God should know everything about us. So the spiritual world exists right next to us, you could say, even though we don't see it. And we slip right into it after shedding our body. This awareness that our life is completely exposed should help us live a better life.

****Going to Christ Directly****

         In my lifetime, I have attended numerous spiritual conferences and heard many inspiring speakers. Some of them uplifted me for a few days, a week, maybe longer, but the effect is never long lasting. Reading about the saints helped me more. Now that I've always gone to Jesus directly, I wonder why people don't do that when they want to know him. I just received the announcement about a Saint Joseph Summit. It's an online conference you can register and attend. The list of over 50 illustrious presenters is impressive. I am sure they will inspire a lot of people. But I can't help wondering that if our ultimate goal is to know Jesus, why don't we go directly to him? Why do we need to go through many other fellow brothers and sisters to go through another saint to help us reach Jesus? Jesus helped all the saints directly, surely he will do the same to us. If you don't get all the help you need from Christ, could it be that you didn't go directly to him? Or perhaps you seek the Lord, but your heart is are not completely open to him yet? For if your heart is, you would want go to him directly. If not, you can go thru a thousand speakers and won't know him much better. 

***Evil of Human Trafficking

        I've posted about human trafficking before. To me, this is an evil that's as bad as abortion. Thank God that we have Tim Ballard and his organization Operation Underground Railroad devoted to fighting this horrible crime. When you pray to end abortion, please pray for ending human trafficking too.

*Nipping Sin in the Bud

        If you still have some conscience left, you would know it when you are about to sin. No matter how feeble that red light you "see" might be, obey it and you'll be happy that you did later on. Think of sinning as diving into an abyss with no safety net down there to catch you.

****True Sweetness!

        Worldly things that taste sweet merely satisfy our appetite, and we become enslaved. But the sweetness of God makes us want to satisfy him, to abandon ourselves totally to him, and thereby we are set free! 

***Endearing Ourselves to God

        We adore God, praise God, and thank God. What don't we tell him that we love him often too? I know that saying this from your heart will definitely please him and endear yourself to him as well. After all, God is our heavenly Father.

**How We Feel About the Cross

        For the Christian, the Cross is a glorious symbol. When I see it, I recall why Jesus came to us, how the Father loved us, how my life was completely transformed, and that I'll be going to my beloved Lord soon. It brings me gratitude and joy! I remember reading the story written by a Jewish convert. He said that the first time he entered a Catholic Church and saw the large crucifix showing the dead Jesus hang on the cross, he was absolute shocked. So the Cross can not only make you feel sad or happy, but also baffle or daze you. And that's how people feel about Jesus the Lord too.

**Living for One Who Knows Everything

        God must know everything that's going on. You can't run the universe if there's one thing you don't know. So I know that he knows everything about me, such as the number of hairs on my head, all my past and presents thoughts, and even what will happen to me in the future. Because of his omniscience, I know that whatever I do will affects him and ultimately myself. It's his awareness that makes me want to live for him alone.

**Aiming High for Heaven

        If you truly want to go to heaven, why not aim for getting straight there without going thru purgatory? Look at the criminal crucified next to Jesus. The Lord told him that he would be in paradise with him that same day. I believe that's because he had completely accepted his own suffering as his punishment and reconciled himself to the Lord. In general, I believe how much you long to see the Lord is also a factor. If you don't even wish to leave this world, don't expect that you'll enter heaven without any delay.

**Sinner's Precarious Position

        Jesus has already died for us to save us from sin, yet evildoers continue to "crucify" him again and again nonstop. Even committing a venial sin hurts him. Only a God with infinitive mercy can handle this. So if you reject him now, you'll get rejected by him in the end for sure. Know that unremoved sins will always come back like a boomerang to hurt you.

***Measuring Ourselves by the Lord's Prayer

        I see the Lord's Prayer as the prayer by which we can measure ourselves. "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name...": Do we treat God as our Father? Do we honor and revere his name? "...Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.": Do we long for his kingdom to come? Do we really do his will? "Give us this day our daily bread...": Do we acknowledge our daily dependence upon the Father? "...and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us...": Do we truly forgive everyone? "...and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." Do we truly run from temptation and abhor evil? If your answer to all the questions above is yes, you should be A-OK with the Lord.

**Growing Old Wisely

         As we age, first we retire from work, then gradually our physical condition weakens, and eventually we are no longer able to do most of things we used to do. Now would be an excellent time for us to focus upon the Lord, for we can contemplate and pray, exercising our hearts. This is the perfect time to reconcile ourselves fully to God or attain union with him, for abandoning ourselves to him should be a lot easier, unless you are a very stubborn person. Our whole life gives us the opportunity to reach this point. Old age is our chance and we'd better not let it pass.

***Are You Moronic or Wise?

        To go to hell, just follow your own will. To go to heaven, just follow God's will. A simple change make a huge difference! To be moronic or wise, it's our choice.

**Power of Prayer

        Prayer is powerful because it can move God to do things for us with his unlimited power. The Lord actually listens to us when we trust in him and ask for favors sincerely from our hearts.

***Operating on the Heart Level

        To live for God, we need to lift up or give our hearts to him to be filled with his love. And it's proper to consecrate our hearts to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Then we let this heart of love motivate all our prayers and what else we do. You are on your way to sainthood.

*Special Reminder

        I prayed the 5th Joyful Mystery of the Rosary, The Finding of Jesus in the Temple. Jesus was twelve when his parents found him in the temple in Jerusalem, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. When his parents saw him, his mother said to him, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety." And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?" Since God is also our Father, we need to be in his house too. So we'd better behave always.

*****Our Most Beautiful Relationship*****

        The more you trust in God, the more God is free to reveal himself to you and the more you know that he is real. God is absolutely real all right, but you must be open to him first. Open up all the way and he and you ultimately become soulmates with your soul completely secure in his hands. This is the most beautiful relationship you can have in heaven or on earth!

**Don't Forget the Evildoers*

        It is easy for us to pray for those whom we love and not to pray for our enemies or the evildoers. Yet Jesus wants us to love our enemies and do good to them. In Luke 6:32, the Lord said, "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them." Then in Mark 2:17, Jesus said to the Pharisees, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners." So the evildoers are the the Lord's great concern. At Fatima, the Holy Mother asked us to add this prayer after reciting each decade of the Holy Rosary: O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell and lead all souls to heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy. Shall we then always pray for those who have the greatest need for conversion? 

***Incredible Humility and Love***

        Today's Communion experience. It was incredible and overwhelming that the creator of heaven and earth and the king and lord of the whole universe would stoop so low as to let me receive and consume his Body and Blood to become one with him! My only proper and logical response had to be total submission to him. And I knew I wouldn't be the same person again, for he makes all of us delightful and pleasing to him when we let him.

****Choosing Our Eternal Destination

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 9, Jesus said, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off. It is better for you to enter into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna, where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'" We see how imperative it is that we do not sin or cause others to sin. Choose sin and you end up in Gehenna or choose God and you will enter heaven—all so clearly laid out before us. The Lord is definitive and we must pay attention to all that he has said. 

***Tribute to the Most Holy Spirit

        I did at one time ask the Lord how I would know that the Holy Spirit dwelled in me. And he did answer me clearly by letting me experience his presence in many ways. This story was told earlier on this blog. Now I can say that the Holy Spirit is the most gentle Lord who guides me in all things, teaches me his ways, and illuminates my mind. He molds and shapes my spirituality, sharpens my conscience, and heals and purifies my soul. It is he who keeps me spiritually vibrant and makes me long for the Holy Trinity. He is my God.

***We Are Most Fortunate

         In today's Gospel reading from Luke 9, Jesus said to his disciples, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.” They did not understand this saying, but they were afraid to ask him about it. It is understandable that after witnessing his awesome power at work in so many instances, they were hesitant about asking him questions. We are in a most fortunate situation, for we already know that Jesus is God the Son, that he was handed over to men, got crucified, and rose from the dead, and that he became our Savior. So we are free to ask him any questions and even receive his body and blood in the Eucharist to become one with him! This is something we can greatly rejoice about.

***Awaken, World!

        The world is in a sad state. It does not see the love of God nor the existence of evil. Not realizing that we are sinners and need salvation is to remain lost. To follow ourselves is to follow the Devil, I want to be blunt and truthful about it. There are signs and messages all around urging us to convert now, it's sad that many Catholics don't even pay them any attention. To feel the urgency doesn't mean that you do not trust in God anymore. On the contrary, you now put yourself completely at the Lord's disposal to do all you can to assist him. If we all be attentive and obey God, God wins the spiritual war, period. God now needs us more than ever, or, rather, we now need him more than ever!
        Listen to the Holy Mother's counsel in the following video.

***Be Ready for the Unavoidable

        We'll face Christ when he comes next or after we die, whichever comes first. So facing him is unavoidable. Since we also do not know when either of these two events will happen, the time to be ready and prepared for facing the Lord is right now. (And I know I am correct in saying this.)

**Examination of Conscience*

        When I first became a Catholic many decades ago, I learned about the practice of examining your conscience at the end of each day to see what sins you have committed and how you can avoid committing them again. This practice seems to have been forgotten altogether. Examining our conscience on our own is necessary for making spiritual progress. One great advantage for one who has attained union with God is that his conscience remains so sharp at all times that he senses any tendency to sin, and every sin now repels him. This eliminates the need to examine the conscience regularly. The video I am posting below again talks about the coming illumination of conscience, but it also talks about the need to examine our conscience to prepare ourselves for the event.

***Christ, Unique and Compelling***

        This is to go over again what I think is important to know. Christ is the only one in whom we must believe totally or not at all, for we must accept him either as God or not God at all. No one else can challenge us like that, for no one else is God. 

***Greatest Joy in Heaven

        Although heaven is the most beautiful and happiest place in existence, I feel that in heaven I would derive my greatest joy from being with God, as he is love and the source of all beauty and our happiness. Of course, I would enjoy the company of all the saints and angels too, especially the Holy Mother whom I love. 

***Formula for Happiness

           Unhappiness is caused by the ego when our desires are not fulfilled. Since it's impossible to not have any desires, why don't we can make God's desires ours to make both God and us happy? This is the wise, proper solution.

***Satan's Big Trick

        Satan is good at tempting you with something to make you believe that it came from God. You give in and you lose all your peace, but the temptation can be so enticing that you hope that it indeed did come from God. You are now totally confused. This struggle can be so painful that you feel like you are going through hell. Of course, God does allow such a thing to happen to you to test you. If you fall for it, he wants you to taste the pain of going against him. If you win the battle, you come thru stronger than ever. All tests coming from the Lord are for our good and we'll pass them if we truly love him. By the way, the sign of losing our peace is always our best clear warning. Worth emphasizing, going against God will cause us the worst of all pains. I shudder at the thought that those in hell suffer this pain forever!

*God-Given Talents

        The Lord God gave each of us unique talents. As I have an eye for photography, I find it very easy to compose a shot to make it look right. I thought that was nothing until I met photographers who struggled to get the composition right. But they are probably better than I in other things, I am sure. Anyway, I realized that whatever talents we have all came from God. I entered the world and the talents were there; they certainly didn't originate from me. If I had acquired them from some source, they still wouldn't have be mine. Since the Lord created all of us, he created all our talents too. Know this in order not to inflate your ego.

**Depiction of a Sad Life

         In my last post, I talked about the purpose in life. Most people lack a clear permanent purpose. They try to have a good time, and when they are having one, they try to forget all their troubles. And before you know, life ends. This is a rather sad picture. Without God, all happinesses pass. Deep, permanent joy is found in the God of Christ only.

*My Purpose in Life

        There has to be a purpose in life for us to live meaningfully. The best purpose I have found personally is to live for Christ only, then everything becomes meaningful and the ending of this life will begin the best part of my existence. There are no better purposes, for Christ is already the truth.

*Conversion As Urgent as Ever

         As the world becomes increasingly chaotic and disordered, we feel greater urgency for the world to convert. We've already been warned about the impending illumination of conscience. Actually, the urgency for us to convert has always been around, for we must be ready and prepared, not knowing when the Lord will come again. Besides, we are all going to die anyway. Not knowing when that day will be alone makes our conversion urgent. That the times are more evil than ever now has only made us extra aware of that urgency.

*Timesaving Tip

        You may not realize that when you look for happiness, you are basically looking for God. For true happiness can only be found in God. Now that I have tipped you off, I should save you a lot of time. 

***Onwards to God!

         We have all suffered setbacks, experienced disappointments and frustrations, had dreams broken or never realized, did things that were foolish or wrong.... But once you are made anew by Christ, you don't ever look back again, for the new joy makes you forget all your past. There's the great beauty of the Lord to behold and nothing of the past to regret anymore. Onwards we march toward heaven!

**How to Influence God

        Pray as if your prayer would always tip the scales in God's favor in whatever you pray for, then you'll be able to influence the Lord greatly.

***Transformative Love

         Only the love of the God of Christ has the power to transform our inner being, for only this love can cleanse and heal our soul! Personally, knowing this love has made it impossible for me to ever consider abortion and possible for me to love all my enemies. This is the love that can perfect us.

**Jesus, Admirable and Inspiring

        I prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary today. Jesus went through his agony, was scourged, crowned with thorns, and finally nailed to a cross. I found the 4th mystery, The Carrying of the Cross, to be extra offensive; it added insult to injury. Yet the Lord took it in stride, in perfect obedience to the Father. This is truly admirable and inspiring. It shows that he is indeed the Christ. 

*****God Needs Our Permission!

        If we abandon only 10% of ourselves to God, he'll have only 10% of his freedom to help us. If we go 50%, he'll have a lot more freedom and you will know it because you'll find it a lot easier to refrain from sinning and grow spiritually. Imaginer what'll happen when you go all the way! When the Lord is allowed to take over completely, he is now 100% free to help you, and you start to grow spiritually by leaps and bounds effortlessly. Finally, your spirit gets to soar and glide in total freedom! Now you know how to receive all of what the Lord wants to give you.

****God's Constant Presence

        We live as if God is absent or not aware of what we are doing. The fact is that even if we don't see him or sense his presence, he is right present and knows each one of us to the most minute detail, more than we know ourselves. For example, we might have forgotten some of the sins we have committed, but not the Lord. I hope that once we realize his is all-knowing and always present, we will refrain from sinning so freely.

*Budapest Eucharistic Procession

        Another clip from EWTN showing the recent Eucharistic procession held in Budapest. It seems that Hungary is stilled a blessed country.   

*A Humble Request*

         If reading this blog does mean something to you, then I hope that you'll let as many people know about it as possible. This is not to make me popular; it's to glorify God. If each of you can glorify God a million times more than I can, I would be overjoyed being the least effective servant. I know that this blog is not for everyone. If it were, it would have gone viral a long time ago. If you have considered or are considering attaining union with God, then he has indeed called you. The first step is always the hardest one to make, then God makes every next step easier and easier. Once you take off, your spirit will soar with his effortlessly in total freedom. Life is short, but never too short for achieving union with God. Besides, your desire to be one with him is exactly what he loves to hear from you and shall unquestionably fulfill! (Do God's will always and your life will be a great success.)