***Being Spiritually Smart

        God is the only one you can totally trust. People in the world, being sinners, will always fail, disappoint, or shock you. So expect that and don't let anything they do ruin your inner peace. In fact, let it motivate you to trust in God even more. When things go negative, you go positive. No matter how far others stray away from God, you counterbalance that submitting yourself to God even more. 

*Reality We Are to Face

        Matthew 13:36-43 was today's Gospel reading at Mass. I urge you to read these verses. For in explaining the Parable of the Weeds, Jesus made it plain that God the Father, the Evil One, angels, judgment, heaven and hell are all real. 

*Key Step to Salvation

        In today's reading 1 from Exodus, Moses called his people a stiff-necked people before the Lord. Indeed, this description fits many people today too. We have the Lord to whom every knee shall bend (Isaiah 45.23, Philippians 2.10). So it is necessary for everyone who knows the Lord to beg for mercy from him in order to be saved. 

**Choosing Money over God

        Jesus has made it clear that we cannot serve both God and mammon and promised that if we seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all things we need will be given us besides. But sadly, people just don't get it. They are always talking about making more money, spending more money, selling this or buying that. Do they ever question if they serve God in what they do? Do they ever consult him about what they should do and how they should do what they do? How sad that against money, God doesn't have a chance! It's safe to say that if we don't choose God now, he won't choose us later either.

**Cure for Impure Thoughts

        Men by nature have more trouble than women with keeping their thoughts pure, for they are more easily aroused sexually. Such impure thoughts provide them instant gratification, but also rob them of inner peace. If you are more of less addicted, only turning to God can help. You must have the Lord take away all your sins and heal your soul. Then you'll experience that clean feeling only a pure soul can experience. And you won't want to revert to your old ways again. 

**Beautiful and Powerful Faith!!

         Today's Gospel reading came from John 11. Martha's brother Lazarus had already died. Jesus was coming and Martha went to meet him. She said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you." Wow, what faith! It's so beautiful to believe that nothing is impossible for God. 

       Jesus told Martha that her brother would rise. He finally said, "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die." Let's not forget this promise: Believe in the Lord and we'll live forever! 

***Help God Win!

       Wake up! Satan is waging a ferocious war against the Lord God nonstop and we are the targets. For Satan, knowing that we are loved by God, wants to destroy our soul, and God is defending us. Christ has already made all this clear. So if we can keep our soul safe, God wins. What should we do? Here, defense is our best strategy – all we need to do is to dwell within the Lord God and we'll be safe. Therefore, seek union with God to be one with him. We are always concerned about safeguarding our physical health, but saving our soul should absolutely be our first priority!

*Shaping Our Own Journey

        Your spiritual journey can be arduous, tedious, and long, or delightful, exciting, and prompt. It all depends upon you, for you are either in God's way or out of his way. Abandon yourself completely in him to get out of his way.

The Lord Easily Accessible

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 11, Jesus taught his disciples about prayer. Beside teaching them the Lord's Prayer, he said to them, "Everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." Therefore, ask for the Holy Spirit and he is yours. Question him if you don't understand anything and you shall find the answer. Knock on the door if you want to enter to be one with him and you'll succeed. Of course, once in union with him, prayer becomes delightfully spontaneous.   

Extreme Foolishness (a Warning)

        Those in the world who attack the Lord God are to be pitied the most, for they are being extremely foolish to attack the one who is holy, perfect, who loves them and will judge them in the end. There are plenty of them right now in this country alone. May they wake up to God's mercy as the last days approach.

**Save Yourself First

         We want to save the world, seeing how sorry a state it's in. The best way to save it is to save yourself first, and the best way to save yourself is to surrender yourself to God. Then you become one with the Lord and know his will for you in all things. Now, through his power, you can go about saving the world under his command.

***Our Good News!

        Can we save ourselves for ever? Of course not! The good news is the God can and is ready to save us for all eternity. Read the Gospels to get to know Jesus – it's all there. The good news is now our best news! No more uncertainties, no more worries. Christ is our only true answer. To know him is to know God. To not know him is to be lost, uncertain about our salvation. This is my good news to you all.

**God Expects High Expectations*

        Jake Shimabukuro is an amazing ukulele virtuoso from Hawaii. People who have seen him play often come away with a new love and respect for the instrument. He jokes that one of the best things about a traveling ukulele player is that audiences all over the world have such low expectations. I bring this up because I want to say that one of the best things about following Christ is that we can have our highest expectations of the Lord and still come away being amazed by him! 

To Be More like Jesus

        Jesus connects with his people because his messages are authentic, concrete, aiming directly at the heart and soul. And you remember his sayings forever. The least effective messages you hear today are inauthentic, abstract and intellectual, and not coming from the heart, more like observations. They are instantly forgettable, leaving no impact. We are not Jesus, but by seeking to attain union with him, we can be more like him in every way.

Amazing Jewish Belief

        It is amazing that the Lord God did speak to the Israelites from the very beginning. That explains why the Jewish people had always believed in the one personal God.  

**My Fulfillment

        If you find something that is so precious and means everything to you, you would be so happy to want to hold onto it and never let it go. Can this happen in real life? Yes. I've found Christ the Lord to be that something. I don't even need to hold onto him, for he swoops me into his kingdom and I am his forever. He is my fulfillment and the cause of all my joy!

**Still Self-Centeredness*

        We try to make all things turn out perfectly, and if they don't, we are upset. Meanwhile, we never think about trying to be perfect ourselves so that God might be pleased. You don't think about yourselves, but it's all about yourself. It's still pure self-centeredness all right.

No Part-Time Christians

        Following Christ is a full-time job, so anyone working only part-time as a Christian is being derelict and risk not being able to get into the kingdom of God. The Lord demands our full commitment and we need to give it to him.