****Beautiful Form of Prayer

        From today's Psalm 62, we read "Trust in him at all times, O my people! Pour out your hearts before him; God is our refuge!" Pouring out our hearts to God is most pleasing to him, for he is our most beloved Father. It shows that we hide nothing from God and love to let him know all about us. It is truly a beautiful form of prayer that endears us to him. With the aid of the Holy Eucharist, this puts us on the path to direct union with God.

**Our Choice to Make

       We know that when we do good works for the glory of God, we store up treasure in heaven. In today's first reading from Romans 1, Paul warns that those who judge others, do not esteem God's kindness, and remain impenitent are storing up wrath for the day of judgment. And God will repay everyone according to his works. What a contrast—storing up treasure vs. storing up wrath! The choice should be obvious.

***Today's Sad Reality

         God is absolutely real and wants us to return to him, and evil surrounds us and dwells in our hearts. Yet we are unaware of, or do not see or wish to see this. It's the saddest reality today.

**Our Omniscient Lord

        The Lord God is all-knowing. Being aware of this fact has made me feel secure and want to become holy and trust in him as well. It has also stopped me from worrying and judging others. Last, prayers are made so much easier.

*****Through Christ . . .

we are saved, we can enter heaven, we are able to remain alive on earth, we get to enjoy all the good things in life, we can directly reach our creator and Father, we become one with him and all others who love him, we learn what pure love is, we become selfless, we are liberated, ad infinitum—all good or great things!

****Most Wonderful Grace

         I feel that the Lord is preparing me for meeting him. This is such a wonderful grace. I know I can never reach him on my own. But once you have abandoned yourself to him, he just does all the work for you. This is his infinite mercy—he takes total care of you.

**What God is to me

        Besides the fact that God is my creator and savior, he is an anchor to keep me from drifting away, a ballast to hold me steady, a refuge to provide me protection, and a beacon to light my way. Above all, he's the sanctuary in which I find heavenly peace and joy. He is all I need.

**To Believe in Jesus or Not

        If you don't believe in Christ, you'll never know God. So what not try believing in and be open to him? Then when he reveals himself to you, you'll know that he is real. Talking common sense here. Of course, if you've already made up your mind not to look into Christ, then there's nothing anyone can do about it. Personally, I wouldn't want to be in such a state ever, for it's the most miserable state one can be in, not knowing the truth.

**Childlike Faith Leads to Liberation

        To have a childlike faith in God is a beautiful thing. Since the God of Christ is the true God, it works out beautifully. In fact, the older we get, the more childlike we should become. Let this lead you to total abandonment in God. Now the soul is completely liberated, and God and you become one, attaining your highest state of existence on earth. 

*Waiting for the Lord

         We wait for the Lord's Second Coming, but we also need to wait for the Lord to show us what to do every moment. This takes patience, for we tend to rush ahead thinking that this is a good thing to do for the sake of the Lord and end up failing. God has his timing for us and we must follow it for best results. To do God's will is to follow him in all things.

***Most Fundamental Relationship

         Speaking of relationships, our relationship with God is our most fundamental and important one. Let this relationship take care of all other relationships. Not the other way around. This is putting God first and making him truly your Lord. And your reward will be great!

***God Utterly Needed

         Communion experience. I feel I absolutely need the Lord. He not only sustains my life on earth, but also heals my soul to prepare me for entering heaven! There is nothing more important than these two things and I appreciate and am most grateful for that!

***What Not to Possess

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 10, Jesus said to a rich man who had observed all the commandments, "You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." Clearly, the Lord wants us to detach ourselves from our possessions. It's interesting that when we want to possess things, we are actually letting them possess us. Later, Jesus said to the disciples, "Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come." So, we should even detach ourselves from our families. When we are free of worldly possessions, we become free to let God possess us and we end up possessing the Lord as well.

*Extreme Foolishness

        From today's second reading from Hebrews 4, we heard "No creature is concealed from him, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account." So it would be extremely foolish for us to do whatever we wish to do and ignore the will of God. In fact, we should never live apart from his will, for we are naked before him and will be judged by him. Wise up before it's too late.

***First Humility

        Man fell because of pride, so humility is the key to returning to God. Our first humility is to realize that we are sinners and need to repent of our sins. Before Mass started this morning, the Lord made me see that this realization is one of his great graces, for it can start our journey back to God. When Neil Armstrong took his first step on the moon, millions of us heard him say "That's one small step for a man, one giant step for mankind." Repentance might seem to be a small step, but it's a mighty step as far as the soul is concerned. Let's embrace humility and appreciate and treasure this great grace. 

**Leaving All to God

        We see some of the things happening around the world and do not know what's going to come next. We don't even know how much time we have left to live on earth. Does it matter? No, it shouldn't because the Lord God knows everything and is in charge, and that should be good enough for us. We just follow him and leave all else to him, and we'll enter eternal life in the end. 

***To Experience God's Wonders

        I believe I posted about this before, but it's worth sharing one more time. If you are in tune with the Lord, you experience wonders. "To be in tune with" is "to be totally open to." One example to illustrate what I mean. You may be familiar with the phenomenon of being slain in the Holy Spirit. That is, when you are blessed by a spirit-filled priest, you fall to the ground and experience great peace. It's as if the Holy Spirit had kissed you. I had experienced this quite a number of times. You just have to be totally receptive and open. I still remember the time a holy priest came to the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento, Ca, close to where I lived. He blessed all present with a piece of wood from the cross on which Jesus was crucified, and we all collapsed to the floor. Since you must leave space for others, you got up within a minute or so. Otherwise, you probably could remain in that peaceful state for a long time. Anyway, there's one time I went up to be blessed by a priest and didn't fall like the others. That's when I had a littler bit of extraneous thoughts on my mind and wasn't 100% in tune with the Lord. The lesson I learned was that God knows everything about us and we must be totally in peace with him to experience his wonders.

**What Makes Me Happy*

        Nothing can make me happier than making God happy, even though I don't always succeed.

***Abortion IS Evil!***

        Life begins at conception, this should be obvious. Anything that grows has life. Even the animals instinctively defend their newborn. Yet many human beings choose to exterminate the unborn. Evil has indeed taken possession of them.

****God's Way to Peace****

        It is significant to me that all the messages coming from heaven to us, whether from God the Father, Jesus, Mary, St. Michael the Archangel, or others, have asked us to continue to hold onto our faith, pray hard, convert ourselves, and do good works. Not once did a message tell us to go out and harm any evildoer. This is in total conformity with how Jesus lived his life on earth. It is clear that God wants us to rely upon him to fight the battle and not do what we feel like doing as human beings. This makes sense, for if we take matters into our own hands, we'll never have peace for long. The world's problem is like our own, which is best solved thru submission to God. Also, his way makes sense and is clearly best if you wish to save as many souls as possible.

***Presenting the True Reality

        Death is not the end, but the beginning. For the Christian, it's the beginning of the sweetest part of their journey and they eagerly look forward to it! Nothing can be happier than being taken care of by your most loving Father and creator for all eternity. This is true fulfillment! God has prepared the way to save us. We believe in the Son, follow him, and we pass the test. Now we are ready to enter heaven. It's all so clear and real. It's just terrible not to see this and be lost forever! But if you hear me, you still have time. May we all know Christ and see the true reality!

**Believing in Jesus' Promises

        Jesus has made many promises to us. His prophecies and many of his teachings are essentially promises. If we believe that he is God, then we must believe in all his promises. And the big promise I firmly believe in is that we will have eternal life if we believe in him. And the evidence for that is overwhelming.  

**Evildoers Are like Goats

        In Matthew 25, Jesus told his disciples, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left." Sheep and goats describe the good people and the bad people, respectively, well. I know a little about them, for I have used both in controlling weeds around my house. Goats are clever, wild, and destructive. They jump over fences, climb trees, and kill plants indiscriminately. They killed the only tree that displayed beautiful yellow leaves in the fall on my property. It was a sizable tree; they just chewed a ring around the trunk and that was it. I felt bad about that. The evildoers are like that. They don't care about others, and do and destroy whatever benefits them.

*****Best Gift for Us on Earth

         In today's Gospel reading from Luke 11, Jesus said to his disciples, "What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?" Obviously, the Holy Spirit is the best gift our Father can give us on earth. Therefore, ask for that from him so that you may become one with the Holy Trinity! 

***Most Fundamental Act

        In my last post, I talked about doing all things for God. What comes before that is even more fundamental. It is that we surrender ourselves completely to God. This forms the basis for doing everything else. If we can do that, we solve our biggest problem with God, will bring peace to the world and eliminate any chastisement coming our way.               

***To Be Great in God's Kingdom***

        Doing one simple little thing for the Lord God means infinitely more to him than doing a million big things for ourselves. So if we can do the million things all for God, imagine how great we will be in his kingdom!***

***Way To Be Perfect

        Obeying God is most important. But since we are human and cannot attain this perfectly, our intention to be totally obedient becomes more important than how perfect we turn out to be. 

**Why I Blog

      I've been told that my messages judge others. All I can say is that they may make some people feel uncomfortable, but God forbid that I should judge anyone. We have only one judge, the Lord God. I am merely a lowly servant spreading the gospel. I do it out of pure love for him and for all. I speak what I believe to be the truth, nothing more. Any reader is free to accept or dismiss what I say. I only wish the best for all.
        I've also been let known that what's coming from me might not be the truth, for it might not have come from the Lord. Sorry I can't prove to you in any way that it's from him, but I can say that everything I say is scripture based, not something I've made up. In fact, I never have to think about what to post next; the thoughts are just there in my heart and I experience great peace. If you want to hear from Jesus only, then there'd be no point in listening to any human speakers, saints included, anymore. That leaves reading the Gospels only to hear from Jesus. Then again, Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John only reported what they heard from or about Jesus. Open wide your heart to the Lord so that you may discern whether any message is from him or not.
        May God bless all of you, especially in turbulent times such as ours now.

**Trust in God's Love Only . . .

for no human being can love as perfectly as he loves. 

***Focusing on Jesus Alone

        To know Jesus, I have always advocated going to him directly, for this is the fast and effective way to get to know him. There is another reason for doing it this way. Many people seek signs and miracles in looking for God, but there are dangers here. First, signs and miracles can become their main focus instead of the Lord. Also, the Devil can produce deceptive signs and miracles to confuse you too. I would think of Jesus as the greatest of all signs or miracles. Go to him and ignore everything else would be fine.

**A Spiritual Breakthrough

        If you can realize your own ugly sinfulness and then see the truly beautiful holiness of the perfect God, you will want the Lord to bring you into his light to be transformed by him. It's like you were in darkness and discovered daylight, and you just want to enter that light to be able to see all the beautiful things.    

***Our Biggest Concern

        The Devil is already evil; you can't change that. And God will totally take care of him in the end. Besides, if we are with God, he cannot possibly hurt us. Our biggest concern is about ourselves. For we can obey God, even become saints, and be saved forever or, if we do not watch out, stray away from God, and become lost forever. The plan for our salvation has already been worked out by God and offered to us, so we only need to accept that while we are still alive on earth.

***Central Truth Revealed

      Look at Almighty God with his infinite power, he remains meek and humble. He never rushes to judge us. He wants to give us all the possible chances we can have to get ourselves saved. He respects us and pities those who need mercy. Then look at ourselves. What a contrast! We who need to be saved ourselves judge others, condemn others, and look down on many without any pity. Shame on us. The only cure for us is to surrender ourselves to God. I am revealing or reiterating this central truth for all to see and embrace. If you still don't want to hear it, I can only pray for you, but know that your own prayer here will always be most effective. 

***Live for Eternity

        You can watch the volcanic eruption on La Palma, Canary Islands, live now on YouTube. The power and force are spectacular and awesome. The sight made me think of God, evil, heaven, hell, and the fragility of life. Even though Canary Islands are over 5,700 miles away from where I am, disasters of such magnitude can happen here too. It'll be foolish to live as if I am not going to die. So wake up! In a fire like the one on La Palma right now, we'd be totally consumed in a second. Live for eternity and you'll have eternal life. Live for now and that's all the life you are going to get.

*Mastering Our Free Will

        Each of us possesses a free will and we get to exercise it wisely or foolishly. The ultimate choice for us is whether we follow God or not. We must not let our free will get out of control. Perhaps it helps to see that the free will is just a will there free for us to steer in any direction. We are still its master, responsible for all our choices. You just can't say "My free will made me do it."

*The Way to Be Wise and Strong

        1 Corinthians 1: 25, "For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength." Anyone who thinks that he is wiser and stronger than anyone else is basically a fool and a weakling. But if he will humble and submit himself to God, he receives both God's wisdom and strength and is set free. 

***Simple Truth Difficult for Many

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 10, Martha's sister Mary sat beside Jesus at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, was not happy that her sister did not help her, and complained to the Lord about it. He said to her in reply, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her." So we really only need to listen to Jesus speak. But this can be easily misinterpreted. If I speak the truth that I only need to trust in God, people think that I am living in a bubble or dream world and even laugh at me. This is how the world see Christians or even how some Christians see other Christians. It's a sad situation. 

***The Way to Be Free of Sin!

        From today's Psalm 130, we read "If you, O LORD, mark iniquities, LORD, who can stand? But with you is forgiveness, that you may be revered." Because God can forgives our sins and will, if we repent, we no longer need to fear sin anymore! This is such great news and relief that we can surely rejoice about. The only alternative is to carry your iniquities all your life and die.

**Foolish, Dangerous Living

        A lot of people still hear the small voice of their conscience telling them that they should do this or not do that from time to time. But being so much enslaved by the world, they easily turn away from that voice. Unless they already worship Satan, they do not outright reject Jesus. So it's living day to day, avoiding facing the Lord. To me, this is extremely foolish, dangerous living.

**Not Belonging to This World!

         During the trial before Pilate, Pilate asked Jesus, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here." (John 18:35-36) For us who follow Christ, our home is not in this world either. Since we belong to Christ, our permanent home is in heaven, awaiting us now!

**Not Knowing What They Do

         I pity the evildoers, for they know not what they do. But I also feel sorry for another category of people. These may even be nice people, but just totally lack humility. They may claim that they believe in God, but live life the way they want for themselves anyway. They think they know more than God, for when they believe that what they do is the right thing, it must be all right with God. They take full charge of their own life and think that those who trust in God to provide every need is not living in reality. Obviously, they erroneously believe that trust in God means doing nothing on your own and just letting God work all the miracles for you. Anyway, these people are usually judgmental, unforgiving, and look down on other less fortunate people; they do not know what they do either. Prayer seems to be the only resort to make them see, for they wouldn't listen to anyone speaking the truth to them. Pride can be as detrimental to the soul as doing evil.

*Great Error Causing Great Sorrow

        Great error: not taking Christ seriously. Great sorrow: being cut off from God for eternity.

***Most Special Reception***

        Today's Communion experience. I am receiving the Lord I am going to enjoy being with in heaven for all eternity! 

**A Most Special Trip

        Going to Mass is a so very special trip—you go to receive the Lord in person for him to enter you!

*Contrasty Effects

        The love of money causes us to do evil. By contrast, a pure heart enables us to preserve inner peace.

**Letting God Inspire You

        Alfred Cortot, the renowned French pianist of the the 20th century once said, "You should convey the music not just through the notes, but through some kind of inspiration drawn from its immortal spirit." This inspires me not to become a better piano player, but to become a better Christian. Imagine how the Holy Spirit of God can inspire us if we open up to him. The Lord is always yearning to be one with us; we are the ones who are usually reluctant to cooperate. So open wide to let him inspire you with his love, and you'll be filled with hope and zeal, feeling uplifted at all times. 

***Created for God*

        I do feel that there is no one in this world I can fully trust and rely upon. Close family members and friends can make me feel good to a certain degree, but ultimately, I am still alone. No so with the Lord, for I feel that he is always with and for me, warts and all. He never gives up on me as long as I live. This is exactly what we all need. We were truly created for him. 

**Best Thing for Us in This World

        Well-wishers on various occasions commonly wish others good health as if it were the most important thing for them. I suppose if you do not consider God, it is rather important. And they wish others success in whatever they do. Of course, success here usually implies making a lot of money. Then they also wish others happiness, but how do you acquire happiness? Anyway, we all more or less become worldly in this world. If I wish someone go to heaven, I am sure I would most likely offend that person. My point is that good health, becoming rich, and happiness in this world are not really the best things for us. The only thing that's truly good for us is knowing God

***Only Source of Mercy

        We can be merciful to others, but our mercy is only temporary and always limited, while God's mercy is forever and infinite. Only God can save our souls. If you need mercy, you must go to him, the God of Christ, for there is not another source besides him. 

**Our Most Urgent Task

        The reality is that we live in a sinful world and that should make fighting evil our most urgent task, for our souls are at stake! This means that we must choose God to lead us in this battle. If you don't see this, then you've already been deceived or captured by evil.