***We Are Most Fortunate

         In today's Gospel reading from Luke 9, Jesus said to his disciples, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.” They did not understand this saying, but they were afraid to ask him about it. It is understandable that after witnessing his awesome power at work in so many instances, they were hesitant about asking him questions. We are in a most fortunate situation, for we already know that Jesus is God the Son, that he was handed over to men, got crucified, and rose from the dead, and that he became our Savior. So we are free to ask him any questions and even receive his body and blood in the Eucharist to become one with him! This is something we can greatly rejoice about.

***Awaken, World!

        The world is in a sad state. It does not see the love of God nor the existence of evil. Not realizing that we are sinners and need salvation is to remain lost. To follow ourselves is to follow the Devil, I want to be blunt and truthful about it. There are signs and messages all around urging us to convert now, it's sad that many Catholics don't even pay them any attention. To feel the urgency doesn't mean that you do not trust in God anymore. On the contrary, you now put yourself completely at the Lord's disposal to do all you can to assist him. If we all be attentive and obey God, God wins the spiritual war, period. God now needs us more than ever, or, rather, we now need him more than ever!
        Listen to the Holy Mother's counsel in the following video.

***Be Ready for the Unavoidable

        We'll face Christ when he comes next or after we die, whichever comes first. So facing him is unavoidable. Since we also do not know when either of these two events will happen, the time to be ready and prepared for facing the Lord is right now. (And I know I am correct in saying this.)

**Examination of Conscience*

        When I first became a Catholic many decades ago, I learned about the practice of examining your conscience at the end of each day to see what sins you have committed and how you can avoid committing them again. This practice seems to have been forgotten altogether. Examining our conscience on our own is necessary for making spiritual progress. One great advantage for one who has attained union with God is that his conscience remains so sharp at all times that he senses any tendency to sin, and every sin now repels him. This eliminates the need to examine the conscience regularly. The video I am posting below again talks about the coming illumination of conscience, but it also talks about the need to examine our conscience to prepare ourselves for the event.

***Christ, Unique and Compelling***

        This is to go over again what I think is important to know. Christ is the only one in whom we must believe totally or not at all, for we must accept him either as God or not God at all. No one else can challenge us like that, for no one else is God. 

***Greatest Joy in Heaven

        Although heaven is the most beautiful and happiest place in existence, I feel that in heaven I would derive my greatest joy from being with God, as he is love and the source of all beauty and our happiness. Of course, I would enjoy the company of all the saints and angels too, especially the Holy Mother whom I love. 

***Formula for Happiness

           Unhappiness is caused by the ego when our desires are not fulfilled. Since it's impossible to not have any desires, why don't we can make God's desires ours to make both God and us happy? This is the wise, proper solution.

***Satan's Big Trick

        Satan is good at tempting you with something to make you believe that it came from God. You give in and you lose all your peace, but the temptation can be so enticing that you hope that it indeed did come from God. You are now totally confused. This struggle can be so painful that you feel like you are going through hell. Of course, God does allow such a thing to happen to you to test you. If you fall for it, he wants you to taste the pain of going against him. If you win the battle, you come thru stronger than ever. All tests coming from the Lord are for our good and we'll pass them if we truly love him. By the way, the sign of losing our peace is always our best clear warning. Worth emphasizing, going against God will cause us the worst of all pains. I shudder at the thought that those in hell suffer this pain forever!

*God-Given Talents

        The Lord God gave each of us unique talents. As I have an eye for photography, I find it very easy to compose a shot to make it look right. I thought that was nothing until I met photographers who struggled to get the composition right. But they are probably better than I in other things, I am sure. Anyway, I realized that whatever talents we have all came from God. I entered the world and the talents were there; they certainly didn't originate from me. If I had acquired them from some source, they still wouldn't have be mine. Since the Lord created all of us, he created all our talents too. Know this in order not to inflate your ego.

**Depiction of a Sad Life

         In my last post, I talked about the purpose in life. Most people lack a clear permanent purpose. They try to have a good time, and when they are having one, they try to forget all their troubles. And before you know, life ends. This is a rather sad picture. Without God, all happinesses pass. Deep, permanent joy is found in the God of Christ only.

*My Purpose in Life

        There has to be a purpose in life for us to live meaningfully. The best purpose I have found personally is to live for Christ only, then everything becomes meaningful and the ending of this life will begin the best part of my existence. There are no better purposes, for Christ is already the truth.

*Conversion As Urgent as Ever

         As the world becomes increasingly chaotic and disordered, we feel greater urgency for the world to convert. We've already been warned about the impending illumination of conscience. Actually, the urgency for us to convert has always been around, for we must be ready and prepared, not knowing when the Lord will come again. Besides, we are all going to die anyway. Not knowing when that day will be alone makes our conversion urgent. That the times are more evil than ever now has only made us extra aware of that urgency.

*Timesaving Tip

        You may not realize that when you look for happiness, you are basically looking for God. For true happiness can only be found in God. Now that I have tipped you off, I should save you a lot of time. 

***Onwards to God!

         We have all suffered setbacks, experienced disappointments and frustrations, had dreams broken or never realized, did things that were foolish or wrong.... But once you are made anew by Christ, you don't ever look back again, for the new joy makes you forget all your past. There's the great beauty of the Lord to behold and nothing of the past to regret anymore. Onwards we march toward heaven!

**How to Influence God

        Pray as if your prayer would always tip the scales in God's favor in whatever you pray for, then you'll be able to influence the Lord greatly.

***Transformative Love

         Only the love of the God of Christ has the power to transform our inner being, for only this love can cleanse and heal our soul! Personally, knowing this love has made it impossible for me to ever consider abortion and possible for me to love all my enemies. This is the love that can perfect us.

**Jesus, Admirable and Inspiring

        I prayed the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary today. Jesus went through his agony, was scourged, crowned with thorns, and finally nailed to a cross. I found the 4th mystery, The Carrying of the Cross, to be extra offensive; it added insult to injury. Yet the Lord took it in stride, in perfect obedience to the Father. This is truly admirable and inspiring. It shows that he is indeed the Christ. 

*****God Needs Our Permission!

        If we abandon only 10% of ourselves to God, he'll have only 10% of his freedom to help us. If we go 50%, he'll have a lot more freedom and you will know it because you'll find it a lot easier to refrain from sinning and grow spiritually. Imaginer what'll happen when you go all the way! When the Lord is allowed to take over completely, he is now 100% free to help you, and you start to grow spiritually by leaps and bounds effortlessly. Finally, your spirit gets to soar and glide in total freedom! Now you know how to receive all of what the Lord wants to give you.