"Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)

Sunday, June 11, 2017

*Love's Urgent Concern

        Losing your soul to Satan is the worst possible thing that could ever happen to a person. Therefore, if you have loved ones in this life, you must do your utmost to make sure that this won't happen to any of them. Otherwise, your love falls way short.

Specific Request

        Communion experience on this Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. It was the perfect time for me to ask the Lord to help me imitate Christ so that I might be able to react correctly to anything in any living situation.

Mercy Granted

        When we ask God not to lead us into temptation (in saying the Lord's Prayer), we really pray that he will not test us to the point that we fail – this is asking for a specific kind of mercy. I do believe that as long as we remain in (union with) him, this mercy is already granted.

Saturday, June 10, 2017

Good Enough Promise

        Jesus never promised to make us happy (from the world's point of view) in this life, but he did promise to make our eternal life happy (from any point of view) if we follow him, and that's good enough for me.

Making Loving God Easy

        The first commandment requires that we love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all my mind, and with all our strength. How is this possible? Well, fall in love with God and that will no longer be an issue.

Fulfilled by God

        Communion experience. The feeling was "God has fulfilled me in every way." I was totally content.

Effective Way of Presenting Christ

        If you want people to get excited about a certain product, you want to tell them how wonderful or great that product is, not how it is made, what you should do with it, how to use it, or where and how you can buy it. The same applies when it comes to getting people excited about Christ the Lord. We must exalt him, praise him, telling others how wonderful and awesome he is. Christianity is all about knowing Christ to take possession of him. Outside the Church, you find many inspiring personal testimonies and conversion stories posted online. The Church could definitely use this means to fire up the faithful.

**God Most Personal

            In today's Gospel reading from Mark 12, we learned that Jesus sat down opposite the treasury in the temple area and observed how many rich people put in large sums and a poor widow came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. He called his disciples to him and said to them, "Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she from her poverty has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood." The big, clear lesson: Jesus cares most about how much we love him, less about how much good we have done. Our Lord is a most personal Lord.

Friday, June 9, 2017

Direct Approach to Knowing God

        I was watching Fr. Richard Rojas journey home story on EWTN. He was a former Presbyterian pastor and Anglican priest who came home to the Catholic Church. At one point in his journey, someone asked him if God would let him into heaven if he showed up before him and what he would say to God when asked why he should let him in. These are good questions that force you to think. Evangelizers use such techniques to pique your interest. But if you are going to explore on your own anyway, I suggest absolutely the best and most effective way is to go directly to Christ, open yourself up, and tell him what you seek, what you desire, and everything else from your heart. Then you'll get fast answers from him if you remain humble and attentive. Remember that God is accessible and the direct track is always the fast track. 

**Two Steps to Heaven

        Communion experience. Jesus cleansed my entire soul! It became crystal clear to me that we must first know and believe that God is love and then have Christ remove our sins before we can enter heaven.

*Spiritual Warfare

        The spiritual warfare going on between God and Satan is in a way one that involves just God and you, for you are the swing vote – if you join God on his side, you are saved and both you and God win; otherwise, Satan wins. Sadly, many are so deeply mired in sin that they do not not see this truth until some unfortunate event befalls them.

Thursday, June 8, 2017

*All-Encompassing Prayer

        That every one of us living will attain union with God in this life.        

*Beauty Through Christ

        Communion experience. Through Christ, we are transformed into beautiful beings for him to behold. Through Christ we enter his beautiful world to enjoy him forever.

Proofs Jesus Is God

        The Resurrection of Jesus is clear proof he is God. Another subtler evidence easily overlooked is that he forgives sins! 

*Zeroing in on Christ

        In today's Gospel reading from Mark 12, Jesus gave us the greatest commandment: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength." You have to go against logic and common sense to disagree with that. To me, this is saying that we are to focus on the Lord alone with full attention and maximum trust. Therefore, seeking union with him would be the way to go, for to want to be one with him is to show our greatest love for him.

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Great Calming Force

        Communion experience. Jesus always advises us not to worry, not to be anxious or afraid. It is true that he is my greatest calming force. After I received him, I felt time stopped and it was just he and I communing with each other. His peace is what the world sorely needs.

Learning to Know God

        When I first started following Jesus, doubts still surfaced in my mind from time to time. As I let myself go deeper and deeper into him, I found the Lord to be more beautiful than I could have imagined and everything I knew about him was absolutely true. I knew then it was I who did not open myself up to God fully earlier on, and never his fault, for he's been the same yesterday, today, and forever.

God's Plain Message

        Today's Gospel acclamation taken from John 11 and John 14: I am the way and the truth and the life; whoever believes in me will never die. Can you possibly make the meaning any clearer? What do you not understand about it?