***Everything God's Is Ours!***

        In today's Gospel reading from John16, Jesus said to his disciples, "Everything that the Father has is mine." In the parable of the lost son (Luke 15), the father said to the elder son, "My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours." In Romans 8, Paul wrote: We are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him. In conclusion, everything God has can be ours! Think about it and rejoice. Also, everything God has is good. It is impossible that he will not give us what's good for us when we ask for it. We can even have the Lord God, the Father, to ourselves!

**Don't Forget Returning to God

        In today's reading 1 from Acts 17, Paul said to the Athenians that it's in God that we live and move and have our being. How true! Without God, we won't even be here. But as sinners, we lack one thing: not all of us have given God our heart yet. So we just go through the motion of living, moving, and having our being in God. Give your heart to God and we can say that we live, move, have our being, and are returning to our God. 

***Having God Support Us to the Max

        As I was walking and praying outside the house this morning, the Lord made me see that the more we trust in him, the more we shall experience his wonders. Obviously, if there's zero trust, you won't experience him at all. Most Christians have some faith in God, so they experience him to some extent. But if you put all your trust in him, he will support you to the max! The truth is that our Father has always wanted to support us fully; it's us who won't let him do it. Such a loving Father will never leave us as orphans. Put all your faith in him. Do not struggle and labor on your own. Rely upon him completely to experience his love and care. Let him catch you whenever you fall! 

        By the way, it had happened quite a few times in the past that I would have a thought to post and find out that Fr. Mark Goring had basically the same thought presented on his YouTube video that day. Today I got back into the house and watched his new video and the same thing happened again. You can hear him below.

**Simple but Difficult to Accept

        In today's reading 1 from Acts 16, Paul and Silas were put in prison in Philippi. About midnight, while they were praying and singing hymns to God, there was suddenly such a severe earthquake that the foundations of the jail shook; all the doors flew open and the chains of all were pulled loose. When the jailer woke up and saw all this, he trembled with fear. He rushed into Paul and Silas' cell and fell down before the two. Then he brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they answered, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved." So simple, right? But what bothers me is that people are willing to go through hoops to win some trivial prize, yet they don't even want to consider believing in Jesus to be saved forever! Something is very wrong here for sure.

**Best Treasures for Us

        You can accumulate and store up treasures of the world, but they are perishable and can never be truly yours. Besides, when you die, you have to give them up all if they haven't perished yet. Then if you follow Christ and serve him faithfully, you accumulate and store up treasures in heaven that will never perish. When you get to where they are in the end, they are yours forever! The difference between the foolish and the wise is even greater than that between earth and heaven.

**Signs of Abandonment to God

        No matter what you face or go through, you have peace deep down in your heart. Suffering for God's sake is a joy. God is now your greatest joy. You trust in the Lord and are no longer concerned about consequences. Anxieties and worries are gone. All his will is now your will. In your urge to praise the Lord, you receive the gift of praising him in tongues. When a Spirit-filled priest pray over you, you rest in the Spirit and experience profound peace. You feel completely liberated. You know that you are in the Lord.

**What Life Is All About

        Life is all about how much you submit yourself to God. Our time on earth is limited. We can let God be our God or play God ourselves—these are the two extremes. As long as we do our best to let God be our Lord, we are on the right track. Once you attain union with God through the Holy Eucharist, you belong to him totally and are ready to enjoy eternal life. Receiving the flesh and blood of the Lord completes and perfects that union.

***About Truth*

        How do I know that Christ is true God? My answer: the Spirit of truth reveals it to me. It sounds as if I am trying to avoid an argument, but I am telling you as straight as I can. Truth is never complicated nor roundabout. It's always blunt and never slippery. It cannot be scientifically proven. If you have to explain a truth, it cannot be one. Truth always challenges us to accept it or reject it, so faith is required. And you must discover it on your own.

***God Breaks Down All Barriers

        When you are in union with the Lord, no barrier exists between you and him. When you meet another person also in union with him, no barrier exists between you and that person either. The Lord breaks down all barriers among those in union with him. It follows that the best possible friends we can find in this life are to be found through union with the Lord. 

***Why Jesus Causes Division

        In Luke 12.51, Jesus said, "Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division." That Jesus causes division is precisely because he is the one against whom we'll all be measured. We choose either to follow his example or not to follow his example.

**Union with God Promised

        John 14.23, today's verse before the Gospel: Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord, and my Father will love him and we will come to him. When they come to us, of course they are not just going to say hello and leave; they are going to enter and stay with us! Union with God is promised here. 

*Standing Tall in the World

        In today's reading 2 from 1 Peter 3, Peter advises all to keep the conscience clear and remain righteous. This is truly the right way to live. If you are blameless in the eyes of God, who can really harm you? Whatever others do to you no longer matters.

***God Deserves to Be Praised!

        After watching today's Fr. Goring video, I am prompted to post my own thoughts on praising God. Catholics in general are not used to praying aloud spontaneously. During my involvement in the Catholic Charismatic Movement four decades ago, I learned that openly praising God was the key to receiving the Holy Spirit in full. We thank God a lot, but we don't praise him enough. The Lord loves hearing us praising him. The charismatics say "I praise you, Lord" repeatedly. After all, there really are not many other ways of saying it. In the urge to praise God (in frustration, you could say), strange words start to flow out of the mouth. This is the beginning of singing or praising God in tongues. It is really the natural outcome of wanting to praise God as prompted by the Holy Spirit. Speaking in tongues can also mean speaking a language the speaker personally does not know. I believe that's a more special gift the Lord gives with a different purpose. Anyway, we must not stop praising God, whether we do it in tongues or not. Wonderful things will surely happen to anyone who praises the Lord unceasingly.

**Pushing God to the Limit

         First, God is almighty and nothing is impossible for him. Secondly, he loves us! Yes, he absolutely loves us! So we should feel free to approach him and ask for whatever we want. If what we ask for pleases him, we shall receive it. If not, we shan't and know that we were wrong. At any rate, God would be pleased that we regard him to be our loving Father, as long as we don't intentionally sin against him.

*****Our Greatest Joy!

        I want to talk about Jesus only, all the time. I want to tell the whole world about Jesus! Why? Because he is pure joy, the greatest joy we can possibly experience! This is the joy that comes from heaven and can gladden our souls and uplift our spirits. This is the joy that can purify our hearts, wipe clean our conscience and make us forget all our troubles and sufferings. If everyone is filled with this joy, we'll have peace on earth. It is irrepressible, to be enjoyed to the fullest by the soul. It surely is the greatest gift from God, the Lord himself. How I wish that everyone will given in to him to experience such sweet joy! Then we can all live happy, die happy, and be happy forever.

***Critical Fundamental Choice

        There are many ways of living out there for us to choose from. With the world in such a horrible shape, I see clearly that there are only two basic ways of living: we either live in Christ or outside of him! It is critical that we make a choice at this most fundamental level ASAP while we still have time. 

***The World Our Enemy

        In today's Gospel reading from John 15, Jesus told his disciples that the world did not know the one who sent him and thereby hated him and them for not belonging to it. Dear Christians, be aware that the world is your enemy, so do not fall in love with it. Evil has infiltrated and influenced the world to a large extent, setting it up as a trap to ensnare as many souls as possible between now and final judgment. Don't fall for it. Stop seeking happiness in this world. Instead, detach yourself from the world by seeking refuge in the Lord so that you may survive safely till eternity. Christ is our only hope, the one who can vanquish evil.  

**Better than Miracles

        Miracles are wonderful and shouldn't surprise us. They serve a purpose. But it you already have faith, you don't need to witness them anymore. Remember what Christ has said to Thomas: Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed. Besides, Jesus as the enabler of all miracles has to be greater and more glorious than all of them. He has already come to us himself. So if you already believe in him, you only need to focus upon him and not the miracles.