More Dark News

**Dark Days of the Church*

        Worldwide abortion of the unborn continues on, less and less Catholics believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Most Blessed Sacrament, the Church membership dwindles, and Catholic universities are become increasingly secular—just to name four alarming facts. I don't see the Church doing much to turn the tide. Instead I see the Church continuing to cover up the various scandals, not providing complete transparency. Millions and millions of dollars were paid out, resulting in the closure of many parishes and schools. The Holy Father seems to be more concerned about "global warming" and conciliating the various other religions and the secular world than saving his own flock. We with the Church are going through some very dark days. 

***Get Personal with God***

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 7, a sinful woman showed great love for Jesus—she brought an alabaster flask of ointment with her, stood behind him at his feet, weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears; then wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment. And Jesus forgave all her sins. 

         Lessons. For those who show great love for God, much will be forgiven; but to those who love little, little is forgiven. The Lord is not someone remote or from whom you need to keep a distance. In fact, he loves you to get personal with him. Therefore, tell him everything and show your affection—there should no barrier between you and such a loving God. He wants all sinners to go to him so that he may free them from their sins! There is no other Savior than the God of Christ. Yes, seek union with him and he even becomes your soulmate!

What We Forget to Do to God

        We pray to God, praise him, thank him, and serve him diligently, but we often forget to rest ourselves in him, which is equally important.

Most-Pleasing-to-God Prayer

        May your will be accomplished in us and through us.        

**Our Only Resort

        At troubled times like these today, the only resort for us is to enter even deeper into our Lord. In fact, this is what we should always do. The only way to achieve that is to surrender or abandon ourselves to him even more.

***No Prejudging Others

        Because the window installer came, I had to skip morning Mass. Nevertheless, I looked up the Gospel reading for today from Luke 7. Jesus said to the crowds, "For John the Baptist came neither eating food or drinking wine, and you said, 'He is possessed by a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking and you said, 'Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'" This is prejudging others, worse than judging! We are the same today. We rarely remain open-minded, making up our mind about whom we like and whom we hate before knowing all the facts. This is not the way the Lord sees us. In Matthew 5.37, Jesus taught, "Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes" and your 'No" mean 'No.' Anything more is from the evil one." Let's be genuine and honest to ourselves; let's be like Jesus.

*Surprise in Seeking Union with God

        I mentioned that a pair of metal French doors that open up to the outside deck area from the family room at my home just would not close. It must have been the hot weather that caused the door bottoms to scape the threshold. An installer I contacted weeks ago finally showed up this morning. I thought he would surely lower the threshold somehow or grind the door bottoms. To my amazement, he sized up the situation and decided to shim up the door frames at the top, forcing the rectangular frame to be out of square, just enough to clear the door of the threshold at the bottom. It was a surprising solution that worked perfectly. Again, my thought turned to seeking union with God. There is no surprising approach here. Submitting yourself directly to God is the only way. The surprise comes from how God can truly fulfill your desire and make your life exciting.

***Shocking New Teaching!***

        When I first heard that Pope Francis asked us all to obey the United Nations, I couldn't believe it! I really would have liked to hear him say that we should obey Christ our Lord. Now I came across this new video by Mother Miriam who has always inspired me ever since I heard her telling her conversion story many years ago. At the time, she was Rosalind Moss before becoming a nun. The headline of this video is "Pope's proposal for 'new humanism' would 'wipe out Christianity.'" I watched the video and was appalled. This is the message all faithful Catholics should hear. Yes, it's time to prepare ourselves for persecution or even martyrdom! Here is the video. (Since Mother Miriam answers email questions in the second part of this presentation, you only need to watch the first 26 minutes of it.)

**Time to Be Somber

        Reading my church bulletin, I saw one neighboring church announcing its coming Annual Multi-Vendor Sale of crafts, food, and gently used items, and another local retreat center publicizing its Annual Autumn Splendor Gala on the theme "A Night in Venice." All these fundraising events are fine, except I can't help thinking about all the somber, tragic events happenings around the world such as the continuing murdering of the unborn, the infiltration of Satan into all levels of our societies and governments, the failure of the Church to lead and teach the faithful causing vast numbers of Catholics to leave the Church and division within . . . and more. It is the time to pray together, repent, fast, make amends. It is already late! Always remember that Jesus will come at an our we do not expect. 

Fulfilled and Completed

        Communion experience. More than joy, I felt fulfillment in the Lord and being completed by him.

*To Know Yourself

        To know your ego is to know yourself.

*In God's Hands

        In today's Gospel reading from Luke 7, As Jesus drew near to the city Nain, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her and said to her, "Do not weep." He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearer halted, and he said, "Young man, I tell you, arise!" The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. I know that my own life is completely in the Lord's good hands too.

**Most Important Call

        Normally, we don't see any rain until November here, so it was a big surprise when I came out of my church this morning after Mass that the skies had turned grey and a relatively heavy rain was pouring down from above. The earlier sunny vision had turned gloomy, and I thought of the the metal door that lead to the outside deck area at home which I couldn't close, due to expansion caused by the heat. Then I thought if Jesus were to ask me to go to him right then, I would let the gloomy weather and the door that wouldn't close go and happily comply with the Lord without hesitation.

**Receiving the Greatest Gift

        Communion experience. I was still on earth, yet I was receiving the bread of heaven that came down from heaven!

A Simple Question

        You know you are a sinner and God died for you to save your soul—how can you not trust in him?

*With Mathematical Certainty

        For anything we do for the love of God, we will be rewarded by him. If we stand by the Lord through thick and thin, we will eat and drink at his table in the end. These are as certain as 2 + 2 = 4.

Is God in charge?

        If you believe that God is not in complete charge of all things, then there's no point in believing in him at all! If you believe that God is in complete charge of all things, then you have no choice but to trust and obey him in all things.