***God's Monumental Triumphs

         When Jesus died for us on the cross to redeem us from the clutches of sin, it was a monumental triumph for God and all of us. When he comes next to judge all the nations and put Satan in his place, it'll be another monumental triumph, but this time for God and only his sheep.

*Mending Relationships with Others

        Mending relationships with others is necessary but not always easy. The most important relationship we need to mend is our relationship with the Lord God, our maker. Once that is made whole, you'll be able to mend all other relationships with ease. 

**Dealing with Your Enemy

        Today is the day to pray the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. There is much to learn from how Jesus took the Passion he underwent. He remained meek and humble, and perfectly obedient to the Father. He even prayed for those who crucified him. When we are attacked unjustly by someone in any way, we get upset and tend to defend ourselves as best we can. Sometimes I think remaining silent is the best policy, especially when it's obvious that you cannot "convert" the attacker. Again, take your burden to the Lord is the way to go. Be like Jesus and not your enemy.

***Made Anew by Christ

        I was going thru my old papers and found something I wrote in preparation for attending an inner healing workshop in 1976. I recalled and wrote down all the things I wanted the Lord to heal. After reading all twelve pages (yes, it's that long), I felt I was reading about someone else. I was then truly a different person, very much like anyone else in the world. To find happiness, I tried so hard to fit myself into the world. The result was I found more unhappiness and little happiness. Today I follow the ways of Christ only and I no longer need to compromise myself, for he has made me anew, set me free, and made me forget all my poor past. In him, I remain new and content.

**Getting Ready to Meet God

        I remember watching the British TV sitcom Waiting for God in the 1990s about a pair of aging delinquents living in a retirement home, which was pretty funny. Since I am aging too (but no delinquent, thanks be to God), I don't think "waiting for God" is good enough. "Getting ready to meet God" would be more appropriate for oldsters. What I am happy about is that if this is what you desire, the Lord will actually prepare you for meeting him, and you can be sure that he'll do a bang-up job on you. 

***Bearing Burdens Together with God

        From today's Psalm 68, I read "Blessed day by day be the Lord, who bears our burdens..." It is true that God bears our burdens. He even died in our place on the cross for us. Every burden we feel he feels. And he wants to carry our burdens for us so that we may have some rest. Such is our loving Lord. By the way, bearing burdens along with the Lord is a most beautiful way to bond with him.

***Fleeing from God Impossible

        The enemies of God ignore, reject, or even attack God, but they don't realize that they will not be able to escape his judgment! No one can flee before the Lord, period. And whatever they do to others will come back hitting them like a boomerang a thousand times harder. We should let the love of God alone draw us to him. If we wait until we feel God's wrath, we should know that we are now being given our last chance to make peace with him.

**Suffering with God

        In today's first reading from Romans 8, Paul writes that we become heirs of God if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. To suffer with God is to feel or experience his sufferings. This unites us to him as one! The glory we receive will be joy now and heaven forever later.

Prayer Battle

         You ask the Lord to do a good thing and wait for him to respond. You know that he wants you to persist in asking, so you pray even harder. You don't give up until he gives in. Now, prayer becomes like a battle between God and you. Unless what you ask for is clearly wrong, I don't believe that the Lord minds.

**Response to Communion

         Today's Communion experience. I was speechless. Total submission was all I could think of.

***Realization Before Communion

        At Mass today when the bread and wine were consecrated to become the body and blood of the Lord, I realized that the Lord gave up his own body for our salvation and poured out his own blood for our redemption. This shows how truly precious we are to him! Therefore, we must not neglect ourselves spiritually anymore.  

***Our Only True Joy

        At Mass this morning, I felt that Christ was my only true joy. Sure, there are many things that do make me feel happy at times in this world, but that kind of happiness is never deep or permanent and is often just self-gratification, while the joy of Christ liberates your soul and permanently renews your spirit. All pleasures and delights of the world simply pale in comparison. That Christ is our only true joy is no exaggeration. 

*****Union Leads to Perfection

        To be perfect, we must be like Jesus. To be like him, we must seek to attain union with him first. And the perfect moment to do that is right after you receive the Holy Eucharist, which is a direct invitation from the Lord to ask you to be one with him in spirit.

***Goal of Receiving Holy Eucharist

        We receive the Holy Eucharist at Mass to be nourished by the Lord to become spiritually strong. But specifically, it is more important and a higher goal to receive the Lord so that you may attain union with him.

***Quality Prayer Needed

        The Lord needs our prayers to convert the world. For Catholics, the Holy Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy are powerful weapons. Of course, we can always pray in our own words too. The more people we have praying, the more we can be of help to the Lord. If there are not enough prayer warriors, we who pray can always increase our fervor. There is no limit to how earnestly we can say our prayers. Meaning every word we pray from our hearts is a lot more helpful than having a much greater number of people praying without zeal. So pray boldly, humbly, and with your heart on fire.   

***God a Joy to Deal With*

        I am a human being and as one who have lived long enough, I know that we beings love to be clever, to devise ingenious ways of attracting others or making things attractive, and plot and scheme to achieve our goals. Now, I look at the Lord. He is so refreshing because he is absolutely straight forward, completely transparent, always genuine, tells it like it is, and his "Yes" means "Yes" and his "No" means "No." He is a joy to deal with. That's why I love and trust in my Lord.

**Praying for Recourse to Mary

        Mary's favorite prayer is the one she instructed St. Catherine Labouré to inscribe on the Miraculous Medal: O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. (I know it's her favorite prayer after hearing the amazing conversion story on this video.) I thought for those who do not know the Holy Mother yet, we could pray "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for those who do not have recourse to thee yet."

**We Are Miracle Workers!

        God works all kinds of miracles. Many such miracles happen because of our prayer. So we are in that sense miracle workers too. We don't create miracles ourselves, but we can make God do it for our sake. In Matthew 17:21, Jesus said to his disciples, "Amen, I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Yes, have faith and become miracle workers.